Wikis & Law Firms

The "Wiki for law firms train" has already left the station. We are way beyond just the chatter of legal tech consultants hyping Web 2.0! Cisco's General Counsel discusses why outside counsel that wants to work for the Fortune 500 may be toast unless they get on board here. One of the UK's dominant "magic circle" law firms discusses its Wiki rollout strategy here.

However, if you believe that the value proposition has to do with internal operations (especially vis-a-vis marketing to the Fortune 500), you have completely missed the point. Sure, Mark Chandler at Cisco wants a "collaborative space" where he and his staff can work more effectively with outside counsel, but he is MORE interested in how your knowledge management strategy is increasing the value that your firm delivers (i.e. how it helps deliver higher quality work at competitive rates).

In other words, there is far more to the strategy than mere platform advantages. The platform advantages are easily copied, the real question is "how are you leveraging the platform to create value for the client?"