Combining KM & PD to Turbocharge Attorney Performance

By Chris Boyd, Guest Contributor –

A corporate associate learning how preferred stock anti-dilution adjustments work and why they’re used in venture financing deals – that’s professional development (PD).

A corporate associate quickly finding examples of past anti-dilution adjustment provisions to use in drafting documents for a current deal – that’s knowledge management (KM).

PD and KM can work well together to help attorneys perform better and deliver more value to clients. Formal training programs, one-on-one performance coaching, “shadowing” (watching by learning), and other PD resources help build skills before the attorney does the work; model forms, relevant samples, expertise locators, matter databases, and other KM resources provide immediate support while the attorney does the work. Combined effectively, PD and KM can boost attorneys’ capabilities, as explained in more detail in “Turbocharging Attorney Performance.”

What are some quick ways that law firm PD and KM leaders can combine their offerings to boost attorney performance?   Here are some ideas:

1. Train new employees on KM resources and bake them into first-year associate training programs. For example, the firm’s KM team should highlight key firm-wide KM resources during the new employee orientation, such as the enterprise search engine, referral database, forms and samples collections, and so forth. The team should ideally follow up with each new attorney to give them a quick training on practice-specific resources. The PD team should ensure that in the first-year associate training program, the class on corporate formation should use the firm’s standard forms of certificate of incorporation, bylaws, and other charter documents, and the litigation class on legal research should reference the firm’s case database and document collections.

2. Reference KM resources in advanced training classes. For example, the PD team should ensure that a public offering training class on recent experience with the SEC should reference the firm’s public offerings database and third-party databases that provide convenient access to SEC comment letters.

3. Embed training resources into search results and practice pages. If the firm has an enterprise search engine, it should index and serve up links to internal and external training classes (such as Practising Law Institute) as well as links to third-party reference materials such as Practical Law Company. Similarly, if the firm has practice-specific knowledge sites, those collections should link to the above-mentioned resources.

Guest Blog Author

Chris Boyd is the senior director of professional services at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he leads the firm’s attorney recruiting, knowledge management, and professional development programs. These programs help the firm recruit, develop, and retain the best attorneys for its clients and culture, and provide these attorneys with the tools they need to deliver maximum value to clients.

Chris previously was a corporate and securities associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, representing technology and life science companies. In this role, he handled numerous initial public offerings, venture financings, and acquisitions for his clients. Chris left the practice of law in 1997 and assumed the leadership of knowledge management programs at several companies before returning to the firm in 2001.

Following graduation from law school, Chris served as a law clerk for the Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to law school, Chris worked as a management consultant.