[Co-author: Stephen Dooley*]
With AI and other emerging technologies driving rapid transformation in legal tech, firms can’t afford to let innovation take a back seat and lose sight of tradition. The key is striking a balance, blending fresh ideas with operational excellence to keep pace with evolving client demands. A practical approach to innovation prioritizes strategic shifts that enhance efficiency without disrupting workflows, allowing legal teams to refine processes while uncovering new opportunities for growth.
One often-overlooked pillar of this transformation? Knowledge management. By embedding it into innovation strategies, firms can quickly identify valuable insights, streamline decision-making, and supercharge productivity. Appointing dedicated innovation leaders, fostering a culture of collaboration, and tracking impact through key performance indicators ensure that firms remain agile, maximize value, and unlock the full potential of both traditional and forward-thinking approaches. For legal technologists looking to make an impact, understanding this intersection of innovation and knowledge management is a game-changer.
Why eDiscovery Pros Are Built for KM
Suppose you’ve spent the last decade navigating terabytes of unstructured data, aligning with evolving privacy regulations, or orchestrating review workflows across teams and time zones. In that case, you’re already doing Knowledge Management, just under a different name.
Here’s why eDiscovery leaders are uniquely suited for the modern KM revolution:
- Data fluency: KM today is all about making sense of structured and unstructured data (emails, contracts, case files, metadata). That’s eDiscovery’s home turf.
- Cross-functional collaboration: eDiscovery sits at the intersection of Legal, IT, Compliance, and sometimes InfoSec. That’s precisely the type of coordination KM requires to scale effectively.
- Governance mindset: Whether you’re mapping data for litigation holds or validating defensibility in TAR workflows, eDiscovery pros bring the rigor and defensibility KM needs to succeed under regulatory scrutiny.
- Tool fluency + skepticism: eDiscovery veterans have seen the full tech hype cycle. They know what works, what doesn’t, and how to stress-test systems before firmwide rollout.
In short, KM isn’t a new muscle for eDiscovery; it’s a natural extension of the discipline.
KM Is Ready for a Reinvention
Legal KM has historically been about documents and templates. But in 2025, it’s evolving into something far more powerful:
- Connected intelligence that links prior work products to current matters in real time.
- An AI-assisted classification that supports contract analysis, case strategy, and even pricing models.
- Process visibility that tracks and refines how work gets done across a distributed, often hybrid workforce.
This isn’t about replacing lawyers with robots. It’s about giving professionals, especially those in eDiscovery, the tools, and context to reuse insight, eliminate duplication, and accelerate outcomes.
Three Reasons Law Firms Are Finally Paying Attention
- Clients demand efficiency. General Counsel are no longer just asking for outcomes; they want repeatable value. A robust KM framework is an effective way to provide that across jurisdictions and practice areas.
- Burnout is real. Reusing intelligence reduces rework, particularly for junior staff. It’s not just a tech strategy. It’s a retention strategy.
- Compliance complexity is escalating. ESG disclosures, AI audit trails, cross-border data flows. Firms need a framework to track it all. KM, informed by IGRM and EDRM principles, is that framework.
KM Isn’t Sexy. But It’s Strategic.
Too often, law firm innovation becomes “innovation theater,” a flurry of dashboards and pilots with no lasting impact. But KM? It’s the backstage crew that keeps the whole production running smoothly.
For those of us who’ve evolved alongside the eDiscovery industry—from Concordance to TAR, from on-prem to SaaS—this moment feels familiar. The tech is maturing. The hype is cooling. And the real work of transformation is beginning.
KM is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s the engine that will drive performance, compliance, and institutional memory into the future.
And eDiscovery professionals? We’re already in the driver’s seat.
*Stephen Dooley: Director of Electronic Discovery and Litigation Support at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
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