By Legal Futures Associate iManage
iManage, the company dedicated to Making Knowledge WorkTM, today announced that Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) – a fully integrated global law firm with over 1,400 lawyers in 31 offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia – is expanding its use of the iManage platform with iManage Knowledge Unlocked providing its professionals with quick and easy access to a highly valuable, curated database of knowledge assets. The Knowledge Management system, known internally as BCLP Discover, equips the firm with the ability to rapidly surface valuable knowledge assets bringing even more value to the firm’s clients and drive better business outcomes.
“We are constantly seeking new ways for our lawyers and business professionals to work smarter for the benefit of the clients we serve,” said Connie Hoffman, Chief Information Officer. “Our use of iManage Knowledge Unlocked to underpin BCLP Discover furthers our data‐driven organisation capabilities, in line with our recognised leadership in applying legal service and technology innovation on behalf of our clients.”
After successfully piloting BCLP Discover with pilot groups of end users, BCLP is announcing the offering across its offices today, providing firm‐wide access to nearly 3,200 professionals this year.
Search and access valuable knowledge
Currently, BCLP Discover integrates with the firm’s existing proprietary knowledge base and features several knowledge relevant tabs, including a Knowledge tab that allows users to search for high quality curated knowhow documents, including pleadings filed with the courts across the US, closing binders globally, and a Matters tab which enables lawyers to search the firm’s experience with similar matters, and connect them seamlessly to associated knowledge documents. Through Knowledge Unlocked, the BCLP is able to deliver contextually relevant content through a streamlined, user friendly environment.
“Using Knowledge Unlocked, BCLP Discover will do a fantastic job of making the firm’s collective knowledge easily accessible and consumable by our lawyers across our network.” said Judy Mackenzie Stuart, Chief Knowledge Officer. “Early feedback from our lawyers is that BCLP Discover ‘feels as if it has actually been designed by lawyers’, which is testament to how easy the search experience is, and how it is completely tailored to lawyers’ needs.”
There has been sophisticated thinking around data management and connections to other firm data sources to maximise value of Discover to lawyers. Knowledge Unlocked goes beyond simple search, and the firm will continue to leverage the knowledge graph model to create ever-greater connections between relevant content, like prior work, firm knowledge, best practices, templates, and internet‐based research stored in disparate repositories and locations.
The ability to build on the iManage foundation and the flexibility to expand and easily connect BCLP Discover with the firm’s expertly curated knowledge base, as well as other data and information sources, was crucial to the firm’s choice of iManage. Having identified many other opportunities to leverage data across BCLP Discover, the KM team is progressing with an All Matters Documents tab that uses an automated workflow to make populating and finding firm documents and filed pleadings information seamless to the user.
“We are thrilled at how BCLP has put iManage Knowledge Unlocked to use within its BCLP Discover system, providing the firm with a valuable resource that delivers a competitive edge,” said Alex Smith, Global AI Product Lead, iManage. “By making the rich, accumulated firm knowledge work harder with powerful search, BCLP’s professionals can work smarter – enabling them to meet their clients’ highest expectations across all of their service areas.”
With a long‐time global deployment of iManage Work for document and email management in place, Knowledge Unlocked further enables BCLP to take advantage of the broader iManage platform for knowledge work and deliver value to its clients.