Law Firm Portals and SharePoint Joshua A. Fireman VP & Senior Consultant jfireman@ii3 May 26, 2009

1. Law Firm Portals and SharePoint Joshua A. Fireman VP & Senior Consultant jfireman@ii3.com May 26, 2009

2. Who Am I?

3. About Joshua Fireman • VP Market Development and senior consultant • Former attorney and corporate counsel • KM professional since 2000 • Legal industry thought leader

4. About ii3 • ii3 is an independent, full-service knowledge management firm • Our focus is on legal, accounting and government • Our main areas of practice are: • Strategic consulting • Enterprise search • Matter-centric DM • Portals • ii3’s clients are across the United States and Canada

5. ii3’s Clients KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP

6. Portal v. Intranet

7. What Is a Portal? • Information: • A portal allows us to assemble information from different sources to meet one or more business goals • Collaboration: • A portal can improve matter-based collaboration (at the lawyer and the client level) • Workflow: • A portal can simplify and compliment business processes • The firm can automate workflows via the integration of information sources. • Example: Seeing invoices before they are sent to clients is a workflow aspect, automated via the portal (the lawyer has a prompt for review, before it is sent out) and integration (the lawyer can see additional client information associated with the invoice)

8. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

9. SharePoint Server 2007Connecting people, process, and Information across boundaries Server-based Microsoft Office Excel® spreadsheets and data visualization, Report Center, business intelligence Web Parts, KPIs/Dashboards Documents/tasks/calendars, blogs, wikis, e-mail integration, project management “lite,” Outlook integration, offline documents/lists Enterprise Portal template, Site Directory, My Sites, social networking, privacy control OOB workflows, WF integration, rich and Web forms–based front-ends, LOB actions, pluggable SSO Platform Services Integrated document management, records management, and Web content management with policies and workflow Enterprise scalability, contextual relevance, rich people and business data search

10. Creating a Law Firm Portal

11. Six Commandments • Syndicate content from existing repositories whenever possible. • Encourage “true source” content management. • Personalized information access is critical; not every piece of content is relevant to each user. • The portal platform must encourage, not prevent creative information sharing. • Content will be managed; trust must be earned. • All portal initiatives must add business value to the firm.

12. Core Concepts • Matter centricity • Matter lifecycle • Matter context • Archetyping (user and matter) • Syndication • True-sourcing (and reverse information flows) • Content services • Context-driven information access

13. A Reality Check • The first matter centric portals promised that these web sites would “become the lawyer desktop” • This proved to be wholly incorrect, because little thought was given to understanding the nature of matter management from a lawyer’s perspective • The promise of a “one stop shop” proved illusory • Consequently, users were individually searching the same systems they had used in the past – there was no obvious advantage to the portal’s Lilliputian view of their existing desktop

14. Can Matter-Centricity Work? • Focus on what matters most to lawyers • E.g. Easy access to relevant financial information • Leverage the matter lifecycle, not just matter-related information • Search should be integrated with the portal • Information should be syndicated to the portal, rather than presented as mini-applications

15. Search and Portal | 1 Why combine search and portal? • They are both core components of the firm’s information retrieval architecture • They both integrate with and serve up information from syndication sources • They are both dependent on the true-sourcing activities • Combined, they are able to produce a context-driven information management system that exceeds their independent value

16. Search and Portal | 2 The role of search in a portal: • Single point of access findability • Context-driven searching (“canned searches”) • “Pushing” relevant information • An enterprise search engine is, in effect, a light integration tool; it combs through multiple repositories and suggests relevant content based on search criteria • We can use the search engine to present content to attorneys without requiring them to enter any search criteria

17. Avoid Taking On Too Much • Approach the portal as a program with a series of releases • Each release should (1) deliver distinct value and (2) build on previous work • Many portals try to be everything to everyone – define goals and communicate them

20. Portal Project Phases Planning & Requirements Implementation Deployment & Adoption

21. Sample Project Phases

22. Planning & Requirements • Project planning is critical to the project’s success • ii3 frequently assumes this role, in coordination with a firm PM • Detailed business and functional requirements are essential to: • Scope • Software selection • Cost • Adoption • Our goal: Establish a baseline of content and functionality critical for immediate value and adoption

23. Adoption Is a Program • An adoption program reflects the difference between a time limited activity (e.g. 3 months) vs. a more enduring approach (e.g. 12 months) • A program is a “concert” of on going activities conducted by its owner to ensure the goal of adoption, beyond the development and early rollout days • The notion that the “product will sell itself” is a risky proposition

24. Adoption Activities • Set goals • Build momentum through consensus and support • Establish user support • Improve training • Communicate and brand the portal • Track and monitor usage • Make improvements and changes

25. THANK YOU! Joshua A. Fireman ii3 Inc. VP & Senior Consultant jfireman@ii3.com 416.418.6622