Discussions abound regarding knowledge management and the use of technology to make the information more readily available. One of my partners recently attended TechShow 2005, and came back talking about blogging behind the firewall, but could not elaborate much on the concept. . . there is a great post from Feedmelegal referencing an article this seems to discuss this concept more fully. It include this quote which sums up the concept:
"A well-designed blawg can serve as a critical document-management tool for organising and archiving legal information. The very act of trading relevant links and useful ideas electronically, via blog posts and reader response, captures crucial matter-related content automatically, rendering it searchable and browsable. ... the firm acquires a valuable, annotated repository, user-friendly and equally accessible to individual lawyers, internal practice groups ... and organisational departments ... . Not incidentally, both productivity and information exchange increase through better time management and resource allocation."
Imagine creating a blog within particular practice groups, or even across more general areas such as what might affect all litigators or all attorneys in a firm who work on an industry team - if you have such things. Keeping it behind the firewall, allows for the freeflow of ideas, and the trading of a firm's collective brainpower for the purpose of others within the firm. If everyone who uses it can post, maintenence is essentially non-existent (very important as it would not be used if it was time consuming to maintain or add a post.)
This could prove to be a more profitable use of blogging within the legal community than as the form of communication with the outside world.
