Developing a Portal to Share Firm Content

Technology once used solely to power attorney-client collaboration can be used to develop content management systems that make data sharing among office locations a breeze. Here's how we did it at Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold.

Sedgwick is an international law firm with 400 attorneys and 424 support professionals, in 14 offices throughout the United States and Europe.

In December 2008, our Drug and Medical Device practice group faced the challenge of sharing large amounts of information across all offices quickly and efficiently, particularly for business development opportunities. They turned to our internal technology subsidiary, the Xerdict Group, for help.

Linda Willett, a New York-based partner and chair of DMD, assessed the practice group's technology effectiveness, finding it similar to most large law firms. Although our collaborative nature did foster ad hoc information sharing, there was no formal mechanism for broad-based, quick and effective information transmission.

Additionally, our practice groups did not have an electronic system for collaborating on cross-marketing opportunities.

It was clear that a facilitated collaboration vehicle could help the DMD lawyers reduce costs, while improving service to existing clients, and recognizing and developing new business.

To develop that technology would involve adopting a new project management approach -- a methodology broadly used within IT but a relatively new methodology for sharing of practice group information.

Our goal was to develop a content management system that would provide DMD with the ability to create, edit, manage, search against and publish various types of digital media, such as case alerts and business development materials. The practice group envisioned a system where its content could be posted and shared through a single portal. DMD also wanted easy access to administrative tools, such as budgets, monthly meeting reports, team objectives, group calendars and other management materials.

To Continue Reading: Click Here
----------------------------------------------
Source: law.com
By: Kenneth Jones