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Role purpose

To develop and implement a Knowledge strategy for the IGs and Service Lines, partnering with the relevant Steering Committees (SC), business and Professional Business Service (PBS) leads to ensure the strategy fully meets the IGs’ and PG's client strategies and objectives. To ensure that the Knowledge support, content, projects, and policies in the IGs and Service Lines meet the needs of both the IGs and the Firm’s wider Client & Market and Knowledge strategies. To lead or contribute to strategic projects to advance the Firm’s Knowledge initiatives and strategy.

Main responsibilities

• Develop and implement a Knowledge strategy for the IGs and Service Lines, ensuring that it underpins and furthers the Firm's strategy and IGs’ business goals and that it is appropriately communicated within all the IGs
• Support the Global Director of Knowledge  (GDK) in the implementation of the global Knowledge strategy, ensuring that the IGs’ Knowledge Plans and support for Service Lines are fully aligned, and take a lead role on global Knowledge projects and initiatives as and when required
• Advise the IG and Service Line Business Leaders and relevant PBS leads on Knowledge issues and strategy as required and work with them to prioritize projects
• Ensure that the IGs and Service Lines have the Knowledge talent or support that they need to meet their goals, aligned with the Firm's Knowledge strategy and budget, making a business case for additional hires as required, and managing the Lead Knowledge Lawyers across the IGs
• Partner closely with the Knowledge IG and Service Line and Business Development, Marketing & Communications (BDMC) leads to ensure the IGs’ and Service Lines' Business Plans reflect the contribution that the Knowledge team can make and that such contributions are implemented
• Work with the Knowledge Lawyers to take responsibility for all legal content in the IGs and Service Lines, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that a comprehensive set of first-class knowhow materials is accessible to all lawyers in the IGs and Service Lines globally
• Work with the IG and Service Line Knowledge Lawyers to establish a core foundation of Knowledge, including working with the Director of Knowledge (Practices) to identify existing and missing precedents for the IGs and Service Lines in all key markets and to ensure that documents are drafted and maintained as appropriate
• Ensure IG and Service Line Knowledge is readily and easily accessible in line with Firm standards and strategy and kept up to date
• Develop relationships with lawyers who have expertise relevant to the IGs and Service Lines, building communities of interest and facilitating the sharing of expertise
• Ensure that all content is of a first-class standard and that quality control measures are implemented and followed consistently
• Work with the Director of Knowledge (Practices) and IG and Service Line Knowledge Lawyers to collaborate on an appropriate core training curriculum ensuring accessibility of high-quality training materials for each topic in the core curriculum. Link the IG's and Service Lines' training programs to the Knowledge strategy and to broader Firm training initiatives
• Build systems and processes to ensure the IG and Service Lines' Knowledge team monitors, analyzes and informs the IGs and Service Lines lawyers of legal developments and trends, articulating how these legal developments and trends will affect practices and clients
• Lead the IGs’ and Service Lines' efforts to find innovative ways of using their knowhow to add value to key client relationships. Work with the BDMC team to identify opportunities to collaborate and for client centric approaches, opportunities to pitch to the press, for thought leadership or to develop external webinar or seminar series, picking out key developments and “hot topics” that provide an opportunity to showcase the Firm’s expertise and insight
• Collaborate closely with the Directors of Knowledge, Lead Knowledge Lawyers and Knowledge Specialists supporting practices and various areas of the business, sharing best practices with them and learning from them in order to ensure alignment of the IGs’ and Service Lines Knowledge plans and objectives with those of other groups
• Create and develop a strong Knowledge community within the IGs and Service Lines, ensuring that all Knowledge staff with an interest in the IGs’ and Service Lines' work are in regular contact with each other
• Help establish a knowledge-sharing culture within the Firm and the IGs and Service Lines in particular through focused communications to publicize the benefits of Knowledge
• Help develop and promote the Firm’s Knowledge content, systems and tools, liaising with users to gather feedback and actively promoting use within the IGs and Service Lines

Function

The Knowledge function is a Firm-wide team of nearly 300 professionals, including Knowledge Lawyers, Information & Research professionals, and a variety of other functional specialists. The Knowledge function helps the Firm deliver better legal solutions by producing and providing easy access to high quality, relevant legal information for both lawyers and clients. The focus is on the following areas:

• Content - creating, collecting and providing access to market-leading precedents, sample documents, practice notes, training materials and other knowhow for our lawyers and clients, reviewing and updating regularly, to ensure that the content is current and market-leading
• Systems - working with the Technology function to design, develop and build user-friendly and flexible platforms to store knowhow and deliver it intuitively to lawyers and clients, adopting common systems across all offices and practice/industry groups
• Culture - striving to establish Knowledge as a core part of every lawyer's role, engaging actively with all lawyers in the Firm and encouraging them to share their own knowhow and expertise with colleagues as openly as possible; embracing a "one team" culture within the Firm's Knowledge community ensuring that all team members create and develop high quality local content while being aligned with our global strategy and approach

Technical skills, qualifications and experience

• Law degree (or other degree, plus a conversion to Law qualification)
• Current license to practice law (or eligibility for one)
• Extensive experience as a practicing lawyer, including significant experience as an industry lawyer, of knowledge management and of working closely with BDMC
• Demonstrates knowledge of the law in relevant areas and is regarded as an expert, with outstanding drafting and analysis skills
• Displays a deep understanding of client centric Knowledge strategy and its implementation
• Track record of leading, managing and delivering at a global level
• Takes ownership of substantial work streams and demonstrates a proactive approach; self-initiating, seeks direction and advice as needed but is also prepared to take ownership and progress tasks independently
• Works well in a virtual team setting; able to manage a remote team effectively and bring the best out of people with little direct face-to-face interaction