Improving the Efficiency of Legal Services
The browser can provide many sources of information to the avatar. These include websites visited, the amount of time spent actively on a Web page, searches performed (including client-matter data, when entered), content viewed, URLs shared with others, pages printed, PDFs created, downloads, RSS feeds and financial transactions.
Enabling the Avatar
Lawyers are dependent on handheld devices, such as BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, to deliver responsive client service. Activities on these devices should be watched by the avatar—emails, phone calls, browser usage, calendar appointments and contacts can all be monitored and examined for their KM potential.
The avatar can collect all relevant information in a data warehouse, and then categorize it by individual demographics. This will include both a unique user ID and the type of user (partner, associate, paralegal, secretary, librarian, marketing staff, etc.). It will also note that individual’s geographic location, practice area, billing rate, a unique firm ID and the range of firm size. This information will be used to help classify the information each individual reviews and creates. Given the strict ethics of the legal profession, preventing the inadvertent sharing of confidential and privileged work product, all this information must be kept secure and anonymous. It will not be necessary to identify individuals by name or firm.
Once the avatar collects this information from a lawyer, it can start to see patterns. It will note recurring subject matter topics in the various content sources reviewed. It will measure the strength of relationships by noting the frequency and duration of written and telephonic correspondence, as well as in-person meetings. In short, the avatar will note the time and emphasis that the lawyer spends on various subjects, people, and industries.
The more people that the avatar watches, the more precise it can be in developing patterns. If it looks at one lawyer, it has a low accuracy rating. As it starts to look at lawyers by user type, by practice area, by firm, by firm size, by city, by country and globally, it becomes increasingly precise.
Now that the avatar knows what the individual is looking for, it can provide data that the lawyer may not have seen. For example, LexisNexis provides more than 36,000 different sources of data today. One person cannot hope to be familiar with more than 200 sources, and most are only familiar with one or two dozen that they use repeatedly. In addition there are countless sources of free information available on the Internet, with user-generated content such as blogs boosting the volume of data daily. The avatar will have knowledge of all these data sources as they are reviewed by lawyers that it is aiding.
The avatar will match the lawyer’s interests with the known data sources, and point the lawyer to new information that is pertinent to their business needs. That information could originate within their firm. It might come from a free data source that is deemed reliable by the lawyer or their firm. It might also come from a subscription information service, such as LexisNexis or the Wall Street Journal.
The avatar will use recommendation engine technology to present the potential information sources to the lawyer. Recommendation engines are familiar to Netflix users who receive suggested movie titles based on their personal rating of movies they have watched. Amazon users also receive recommendations of books and music based on their buying patterns and personal ratings. A legal recommendation engine will analyze the information collected by the avatar and suggest appropriate data sources that have not been reviewed by the lawyer.
For example, an antitrust lawyer representing a client in the energy industry will want to know about antitrust suits filed against all significant energy companies around the globe. Today they can set up clipping services and other monitoring devices to gather this information. The avatar will not only gather this same data, without setup requirements, but it will also continually analyze subject matter and relationships to add new data sources to its review.
Some of these avatar-like capabilities are available today. Systems are available to analyze email traffic, voice-over-IP (VOIP) telephone calls, document management actions, browser traffic, handheld activity and other applications. These systems are available to help lawyers produce accurate timesheets. They can be applied to much more when integrated with content review.
Challenges Ahead
There are significant challenges to the successful implementation of this passive KM digital avatar system. First, it seems too much like Big Brother. No one likes someone watching their every move. Thus security will be paramount in the establishment of the system to increase trust. Independent monitors, perhaps from various legal bar organizations, may be utilized to ensure the anonymity of the data.
Second, the system must produce suggested data with a high degree of relevance. Amazon users treat the service with disdain when they continually receive recommendations for new tea sets due to their purchase of something similar for their aunt’s birthday three years ago. Lawyers will not rely on the data unless it is timely, accurate and pertinent.
Third, pricing this system will be challenging. There may be a charge for the data-collection process, based on a scale reflective of how many data sources are analyzed. Perhaps discounts will be offered for the anonymous contribution of data for the collective benefit of all users, as opposed to blocking your data. There may also be an impact on the cost of subscription services.
Despite its challenges, the value of this passive KM system cannot be minimized. It could revolutionize legal practice and other professional services. A zealous legal advocate may someday be remiss in not having a digital avatar sitting on his or her shoulder.
The LexisNexis Product Suite
LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com) delivers many KM tools today. These include, but are not limited to, the industry-recognized CRM system (InterAction), a widely distributed document assembly system (HotDocs), document management services using the SaaS model (NetDocuments), a work product retrieval system built on the FAST search engine (TotalSearch), an automated profiling tool to increase reliability of search for document management (Document Profiling), a court activity monitoring service (CourtLink), a competitive intelligence service (atVantage), and an award-winning practice management system (Time Matters).