Alex Smith, global search and AI lead at iManage, wrote a useful article this week describing the need for law firms to think more foundationally about their GenAI aspirations in order to realize their potential at any scale. The core of the article is nothing new—anyone who has even a cursory discussion with data professionals relating to an AI workload will very quickly be reminded that...
While not as profound, this equation is as fundamental as E=MC2 when it comes to any AI application.
In the article, Alex makes the point that you need to get the foundations right with a sound information architecture (IA) so you can build a wide range of applications from a strong base.
"...it’s critical to have a store of contextually aware, up-to-date data that is maintained on an ongoing basis."
He points out that the process can do a lot of the heavy lifting and describes the real-world issues that cause attorneys and their staff to fail to follow the process. At this point, I want to pick up where Alex has left off—that is, by highlighting the reality that a combination of people, process, and technology is necessary to ensure that the correct IA is built and, most importantly, actively maintained and developed.
In any practice group's daily battle to meet clients' needs, adhere to outside counsel guidelines, grow revenue, and wrestle with well-intentioned but flawed technology, there is one thing we can count on. Information practices will be compromised frequently enough that some sensible mitigations are required. From an information security perspective this requires specific preventive methods (such as data loss prevention and identity and access management programs) are in place to prevent the most critical failures.
However, this doesn't address Alex's point about providing a sound foundation for AI-driven innovation programs to create new value for the firm. Information security programs and controls need to be complemented by information governance programs that take responsibility for ensuring that the firm's information assets are subject to continuous oversight for compliance and risk management and are ready to be leveraged for benefit.
A sustainable information governance program must be built upon a clear understanding of the firm's entire information estate and an empowered team of information professionals responsible for its upkeep. This is critical because individual knowledge workers are deeply engaged in their day jobs, and so, to complement this necessary focus, the firm needs knowledge workers who are focused on the big picture.
Working in concert with legal operations, information architecture, general counsel, and information security, an information governance team addresses the reality of how data is used and stored daily and ensures that risky practices are identified and addressed and that the firm's data assets are made available to meet Alex's vision. They complement tools in the document management system to ensure that work product is appropriately managed across all repositories, from email and file share through Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint into the record repository.
Without a properly funded and empowered information governance team (or equivalent) armed with data and metrics on what data is where in the firm, any IA will likely decay because the data it shapes will be of poor quality. If you like, think about information governance as a data health program to ensure that the firm is fit for its current and future needs and, most importantly, meets its clients' health and hygiene standards.