Applying knowledge management with IT for Sri Lankan law firms

Abstract

In the Journal of Information Law and Technology, Professor Gottschalk argued that law firms represent an industry that seems very well suited for knowledge management research [16]. The term Knowledge management in law firms (KM in law firms) can be defined as: The way in which lawyers optimize the relation between knowledge and knowledge processes with the help of Information Technology. Given the potential for improvement through the use of KM in law firms. I find it quite surprising that the popularity of knowledge management in legal circles stand at a very low level. I believe a contributing factor to this is the dearth of research and publications 011 Legal Knowledge Management by persons within and outside the legal industry-/ Knowledge Management (KM) usually focuses on the level of an organization, while (academic) lawyers arc known to be more people-oriented. This difference can beidentified as another factor to the lack of interest towards KM in law firms./ The majority of law firms overseas use Information Technology (IT) for Knowledge Management. In some firms, highly sophisticated analytical tools are used to make expert judgments. Moreover, new advance technology, such as. mobile technology is used for KM within law firms. In comparison to these changes, the Legal industry in Sri Lanka is at a ground-level in terms of IT. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the law firm industry in Sri Lanka. The detailed investigation includes the current "IT status" in these firms, for instance. Infrastructure, Software Usage (e.g.. End-user tools. Who Knows What systems. What They Know Systems, and How They Think systems). Communications. Backup Policies, Virus Protection as well as the lawyer's IT literacy level. In terms of Knowledge Management the researcher is interested in identifying the knowledge management practices in these firms, for instance. Knowledge sharing attitudes. Knowledge Capture, and Disseminations. In addition to this, the researcher w ill focus on the possible relationship between Knowledge Sharing Perceptions and Reward attitudes for lawyers as well as the relationship between Knowledge Sharing and Information Technology. Finally, the researcher will identify the barriers to Knowledge Management and suggest recommendations to improve the use of Knowledge Management perspectives in Sri Lankan Law firms/