Wisdom of the ages

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: A&O reveals its secrets...

in-house

Top City firm Allen & Overy has been probing the minds of its leading lawyers, prizing out their secrets and distilling the results for the past two years and has made the findings available throughout the firm.

The firm this week launched its knowledge management project, code-named Fountain, which was devised by the firm's board in the late 1990s and developed in-house.

Head of banking Philip Wood is its general editor.

With knowledge management increasingly important, the magic circle firm has produced 40 books of information gleaned from each practice area in hard copy and on the firm's relaunched Intranet.

Clients do not have access to them.

The books go beyond the old 'info-bibles', because they indicate what advice should be given in particular circumstances in a codified and easy-to-use system.

'I am willing to bet that no other firm has got anything like this,' Mr Wood said.

He revealed that around 200 international partners have invested millions of pounds' worth of fee-earning time in brainstorming sessions aimed at pooling their knowledge.

'The old club system where people could learn through osmosis doesn't work,' Mr Wood said.

He said 320 jurisdictions around the world meant a 'terrific amount' of legal risk for clients: 'The firms which can allow all of their lawyers to have access to their top experts are clearly going to win, because that's of direct benefit to clients.'

Anne Mizzi