Knowledge Management: Managing Legal Information Via the WWW and Intranet

Abstract

The legal profession is an industry that has yet to exploit the Web to its fitllest extent. In an industry that resolves around documents, issues surrounding their creation, delivery, storage and management will have important ramifications, not only on productivity, but also on profit. Web-based technologies (intranets, extranets, enterprise information portals), and groupware in particular, have given finns the ability to access and organize information, share (explicit) knowledge, and communicate and collaborate in ways that were difficult, if not impossible, previously. The premise is that people wilt act more effectively and intelligently if they have access to the right knowledge at the right time. Therefore, there is the need to assess where tacit and explicit knowledge resides in the organization or group, and map the ways it max be shared within the firm. Keeping up with what is happening and emerging is not optional, but fundamental to survival.