Melanie
Farquharson
CONSULTANT

My career began in an international law firm, where I became a partner in 1994.  I was always looking for ways to do things better and took an interest in the way knowledge was shared across the firm, so that we did not reinvent the wheel.   In 2001 I became the firm’s Director of Knowledge Management and found I had a great interest in the business of law, as much as the law itself.  That role provided many opportunities to be involved in wider change projects.  This gave me a real insight into the potential for technology to improve the delivery of professional services.

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As the competitive environment becomes tougher I fear that firms that don’t change with the times will suffer.   But I understand that fee earners get weary of initiatives that make their lives even harder. 

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I now see my role as making sure that the firms we work for do what is necessary to improve efficiency, not by introducing technology for its own sake, but by delivering systems and ways of working that make it easier to deliver a consistently top class services to the ultimate client.

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My experience includes:

• Legal process analysis, identifying potential efficiency improvements, including, where appropriate, the use of automation or other technology

• Identifying financial reporting and dashboard requirements and selecting a product to deliver these to the lawyers in real time, in order to enable them to manage their practice  more effectively

• Helping firms to develop a knowledge management strategy and assisting Professional Support Lawyers with strategic planning

• Assisting firms in developing legal project management approaches

• Consulting with a firm’s clients in order to understand their foreseeable requirements for financial information from the firm

• Assisting law firms in establishing processes to collect and organise their data so that analysis of past matters can inform pricing, business development and knowledge sharing

• Consulting across all parts of law firms (management, partners, other fee earners, support staff and PAs) in order to identify requirements for new systems, by identifying current pain points and discussing potential new ways of working, which may not previously have been considered.