The Running Librarian

Scary...sort of :-)

This is an interesting article which I recommend you read, it's not long so you wont have wasted too much time reading it, if you don't  like it. Anyway at first glance you might think this article is targeted at fee-earners, the title is a bit confusing as I think it should say "Knowledge Lawyers" or "Professional support lawyers" rather then just lawyers.

When you read it you'll see how actually it could apply to any Knowledge & Information role, not just the Senior Knowledge Lawyers Sam mentions later in the article. The article itself is an interview with Sam Dimond who recently moved from Clifford Chance to Norton Rose to become Global Director of Knowledge.

In the article Sam describes how the process of "going global" will mean and has meant massive changes for Knowledge Staff and that right now, things are pretty scary for Knowledge Staff. If that's not enough Sam's next quote is that if Knowledge Staff resist these changes then they're going to be "miserable"

So what can Knowledge Staff do to avoid being miserable. Well Sam suggests that "resistance is futile" I'm not sure if the reference to Star Trek and the Borg is deliberate, anyway the point Sam is making is that Knowledge Staff shouldn't be resisting change, they should be embracing it and working to enable it. Essentially this means become a "change agent" rather then someone who blocks change. Now I'm sure most Knowledge Staff would always want to be perceived as change agents rather then blockers, but it would seem that this is even more important in the age of global law firms. Sam also suggests that Knowledge Staff should look even closer at the value they add to an organisation and their relevance in our increasingly large organisations.

Sam also briefly talks about how different attitudes to sharing information in law firms affect the role of Knowledge Sharing staff. Sam puts this in the content of a merger, where unsurprisingly knowledge workers tend to feel very vulnerable. This isn't surprising given that most support services include Knowledge & Information Services will be scrutinised closely as part of any merger with the potential for redundancies or outsourcing of existing roles.

So is there anything positive to take from this article? Yes I think there is and that is the Knowledge & Information staff can be and are change agents and that we have a crucial role to play in law firms, especially where we're adding value by providing knowledge services to clients.