Knowledge management officer

Our knowledge management ( KM ) experts play a key role within our lawtech team, supporting the effective management of the firm's knowledge using knowledge technologies and systems and by working closely with partners, knowledge lawyers and staff on knowledge sharing and collaboration initiatives.

We are responsible for developing, maintaining and promoting our :

• knowledge systems, related practices and processes, including ensuring compliance with GDPR and other relevant law and regulation;


• the firm's know-how and precedent databases, architecture and taxonomy;


• the firm's intranet and internal collaboration solutions;


• our enterprise and legal search engines and associated integrations and;


• the firm's culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration


The role

The role is of key importance to the central KM team and involves the delivery of a broad range of work including :

• assisting with creation of intranet pages and team sites on our enterprise collaboration platform, ensuring compliance with UI / UX house style and naming conventions;


• working closely with the intranet's content editors on a day to day basis to ensure they are posting, editing and tagging content correctly;


• assisting with the ongoing maintenance and review of the firm's legal know how library and taxonomies and providing input to help improve the rules which facilitate automated processes and classification;


• helping to evolve and deliver KM projects, including trialing proposed new systems / features and providing feedback and recommendations;


• liaising directly with partners, knowledge lawyers and staff to provide regular updates on central KM team activities and projects;


• building strong working relationships with the firm's knowledge lawyers and working with them closely to answer day to day queries relating to adding know how to the firm's know how database and optimising how this content is provisioned via the legal search engine and the intranet;


• actively contributing to a culture that values and leverages the firm's knowledge by assisting with training, communications and attending face to face meetings to raise the profile of the KM team, promoting its services and encouraging contribution by the firm's lawyers;


• providing day to day advice and support to lawyers and other users on how to use our knowledge systems and platforms;


• delivering refresher training and new joiner induction to staff, lawyers and trainees on how to use the firm's knowledge systems, including the intranet, by way of one-to-one, group or classroom-based sessions;


• creating and maintaining user guides and training materials (including e-learning) on how to use the firm's knowledge systems;


• managing day to day lateral hire new joiner set up processes;


• collaborating closely with the firm's IT department to coordinate the testing and maintenance of the firm's knowledge systems, in particular when new features / functionality are added to these systems;


• coordinating the regular running of statistical usage reports and analysis of the firm's knowledge systems; and


• attendance at vendor user groups and supplier meetings and keeping up to date with industry developments and new technologies.


This job description encompasses the main duties of the role and is by no means exhaustive. It is anticipated that duties may vary from time to time according to the needs of the department.

The candidate

The right candidate will be committed to providing high quality technical support to our central KM team. The individual will work closely with lawyers, knowledge lawyers and business services staff across the firm to help drive the delivery of KM projects and programmes.

Enthusiasm and a passion for knowledge management must also be demonstrated.


• at least two to three years' experience of working in a knowledge management or information role in a legal, corporate or professional service environment;


• experience of working with knowledge systems and / or digital content management systems;


• an undergraduate degree, similar higher education or equivalent experience;


• a masters in Information Science or similar (desired but not essential);


• an organised, meticulous and methodical approach to work and a keen eye for detail;


• an aptitude for using technology and be highly computer literate, including familiarity with MS Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), database and search engine software and typical office IT systems generally;


• excellent written and oral communication;


• strong project management, critical thinking and problem solving skills;


• the ability to be self-motivated, disciplined, take a pro-active stance, work flexibly and independently following appropriate instruction or in a team, and take responsibility for the work product delivered; and


• effective interpersonal skills and the ability to interact with people at all levels.
  
  We are a distinctive London-based law firm with a unique combination of services built and shaped around the needs of our clients.


Our unrivalled blend of expertise, agility and culture means we have the flexibility to meet their most challenging demands and adapt to the changing world around us.

While many of our services can be found at other firms, the mix cannot.

We find, recruit and train talented people from all backgrounds, building careers for the long term, to one day shape and lead the firm.

We know each other personally which means we work together with more cohesion, and less formality. Our culture is thoughtful, challenging and supportive, and we are a place where everyone, at whatever level, can thrive.

We remain focused on equal treatment in recruitment, retention and promotion.

The team

Emerging legal technologies, new tools and alternative approaches are driving significant change within the legal profession.

They are changing the way we do our work, how we deliver services to our clients and the range of services we offer to our clients.

They offer us ways to do what we do more effectively and to enhance client service, as well as the opportunity to offer exciting new services to our clients which are enabled by those technologies, tools and alternative approaches.

Our lawtech practice is at the forefront of how we, as a firm, respond to this evolution and how we embrace those technologies, tools and alternative approaches for the maximum benefit of our clients and teams alike.

We recognise that fusing legal and technological expertise seamlessly can help our clients solve their most challenging business problems in more innovative, more sophisticated and more technologically-advanced ways.

By bringing together people, process and technology, we help ensure the firm is able to achieve excellence in all aspects of legal practice and client service., Any offer of employment with us is subject to our pre-employment checks which are conducted by a third-party screening provider.

These may include but are not limited to your professional and academic qualifications, any criminal records and employment references.

These checks will be initiated with your consent and your offer will be subject to the successful completion of these checks.

Our commitment to inclusion

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our employees and partners. Improving diversity is one of our key priorities and it is a goal we are actively working towards.

We believe that an inclusive, forward-thinking culture is intrinsically important and enables us to provide innovative solutions to our clients.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, bringing different perspectives and experiences, making Macfarlanes an exciting and stimulating place to work.

We seek to recruit the best candidates, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, social or economic background, religion, disability, sexual orientation or any other characteristic.

As part of this commitment, we will ask you certain diversity questions. We would really appreciate you and / or your recruiter completing these questions when submitting an application to Macfarlanes as this data enables us to measure our progress towards improving the diversity of our applicants, and ultimately, our hires.

This data is anonymised to maintain the privacy of applicants.