Morrison & Foerster is a big law firm that knows how to have its cake and eat it too. They developed an award-winning knowledge management system and use it as competitive differentiator.
A MoFo team led by Oz Benamram, Director of Knowledge Management, developed “AnswerBase,” which won the Fourth Annual Law Technology News “Most Innovative Use of Technology by a Law Firm” award. AnswerBase is “an intelligent knowledge management system that allows users to find answers about documents, people, and matters from across a rich array of MoFo data sources” reports the 1/28/06 ALM press release. (For background on AnswerBase and its development, see Lawyers As Shoppers – It’s All About Finding Information, an article I helped Oz write.)
The firm also differentiates itself with AnswerBase. AnswerBase has its own page on MoFo’s web site, including a narrated demo (link on left nav bar). Furthermore, the firm retained law firm consultant Bruce MacEwan of Adam Smith, Esq. to write a report explaining the system and its value.
AnswerBase is a legal tech grand slam: a great system, promoted effectively, and appealing to to three key audiences: clients (for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness), potential new associates (for making work easier), and laterals (for enabling cross-selling).