Microsoft Search Technology for the Legal Industry
XMLAWBy Rob Saccone
Legal professionals are surrounded by information. In fact, they are buried in it. From online legal research, to firm client and matter information, to the hundreds or thousands of documents produced each day, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get to the information needed in order to practice law effectively. Attorneys are "knowledge workers" that rely on fast access to information, and though most firms have plenty of valuable information and content, it is only an asset if you can find it. Not knowing what information you have, or how to access it when needed, is a liability.
So what can be done to tame this overload of information? Enter Microsoft and their information management and enterprise search offerings - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Microsoft Search Server 2008. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, or MOSS for short, has received a lot of buzz in the legal industry over the last few years. And deservedly so; MOSS is one of the fastest selling server applications in Microsoft's history with more than 100 million licensed users of the product since the release of its third version in 2007. Microsoft Search Server 2008 is a subset of MOSS and was released earlier this year. In this article, I'll keep things simple and refer to SharePoint when discussing both products.
SharePoint provides tools to reach across multiple sources of information, making it "findable" through simple and familiar Web-based search applications. Users want a "Google-like" experience when looking for information inside or outside their firm, and SharePoint provides this nicely. It is capable of searching a number of information sources: documents stored in folders on network servers, internet and intranet Web sites, Microsoft Exchange public folders, Lotus Notes databases and content stored inside of SharePoint itself (SharePoint is also a solid content and document management system, but that's another article). While these sources cover a lot of content, most law firms have important information in other places where SharePoint can't reach.
Building on SharePoint's Strengths
Like most Microsoft products, MOSS and Microsoft Search Server provide a broad set of powerful capabilities, but they do not necessarily cater to the specific needs of the legal industry. Microsoft relies on specialist partners to extend and build upon these capabilities to deliver industry specific solutions.
XMLAW is one Microsoft partner specializes in using Microsoft technology to solve legal industry specific information problems. Our OneView™ suite of information management products – one of only a handful of products built with the legal industry in mind -- includes tools that extend and enhance Microsoft search, building on SharePoint's strengths and overcoming the out-of-the-box limitations that law firms encounter when using SharePoint. While developing our products, we focused on three primary areas: extending SharePoint's reach into critical law firm systems, combining sources of related law firm information to extend the value of individual systems, and most importantly, the end-user experience when using MOSS to search for answers.
OneView provide "connectors" for systems that law firms use to manage their most valuable information, such as document management systems like Interwoven Worksite or OpenText LiveLink eDocs (Hummingbird), or practice management systems such as Thomson Elite or Aderant Expert (CMS). These connectors enable SharePoint to quickly and efficiently "crawl" those systems to make them searchable, while fully respecting the security settings of those systems. SharePoint alone cannot provide these capabilities.
OneView can also combine information from different sources through explicit or inferred relationships, which provides the ability to "drill down" through different sources and explore different paths of information while using the search tools. For example, a corporate attorney may be searching for previously created work product related to trademark issues resulting from cross-border M&A in the software industry. By relating and searching across multiple sources of information at one time - work product (from the document management system), client location and/or industry (from the time and billing system) and practice area specific information (from the practice management system) - attorneys can ask questions that individual systems or information sources can't answer effectively on their own.
In addition indexing and relating information, OneView extends the search user interface by providing tools that make it easier to look for and act upon information in a single place. By adding "drill-down" capabilities so that search results can be narrowed based on information retrieved in previous results, and by adding links to related information (such as client, matter or attorney details to documents), attorneys can more effectively navigate large volumes of information.
And finally, it's important to note that law firms can use SharePoint not just for searching, but for a number of information and knowledge management tasks. They've invested in SharePoint for many reasons. By combining all of the features, including the things SharePoint does well out of the box, you get a powerful, more holistic solution and a better return on your investment.
Are Search Tools Enough?
To get the most out of SharePoint as a search solution, you will likely need to invest in products that "fill the gaps". However, implementing effective search solutions with SharePoint not only requires an understanding of the technologies involved but also an understanding of the nature of the information to be managed; its sources, how it relates to other information, and how it ultimately will be used. There are a growing number of add-ons that extend SharePoint's technical capabilities and it seems everyday more vendors offer brand new faceted-concept-based-parametric-magic-search tools for SharePoint that claim to solve your problems. While some of these tools can certainly get you started, they don't necessarily guarantee a workable search solution. Buying a hammer and some twelve penny nails doesn't make you a tree house this weekend - in fact, it will probably leave you with a sore thumb and another unfinished project. It is critical that you build the internal expertise necessary to use and maintain SharePoint and these tools, or find a trustworthy partner with the experience necessary to deliver workable solution.
In closing, SharePoint has proven to be a powerful platform that firms can use to help solve their information challenges. By leveraging its enterprise search capabilities combined with the other features it provides, firms can provide new and useful tools to their professionals that make information they need more accessible. However, effective information management, particularly enterprise search, is both an art and a science. But with a little help, Microsoft SharePoint is the perfect palette to begin painting your vision of a more efficient, productive, and profitable law practice.
Rob Saccone is the president and CEO of XMLAW, a Microsoft Gold Certified partner that specializes in information and knowledge management solutions for legal professionals. Rob is a published author, speaker and technology evangelist, and for over 10 years has focused on solving information challenges in the legal industry.
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© 2008 XMLAW
