Putting the law in their own hands

A new York-based law firm is using portal technology to organize and maintain the large volume of information used in its practice. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has implemented a knowledge management solution from LexisNexis geared specifically for law firms. The tool gives Milbank attorneys and legal professionals one location to access the Milbank Research Portal, the Internet and the firm's intranet, documents, memos and precedence database. Those resources can be searched at the same time through the portal's one-search capability. The portal is powered by Plumtree Software.

"The [solution] will save our attorneys, paralegals and administrative staff significant hours of valuable time," says Alirio Gomez, Milbank Research Portal project manager. "We now have much more effective access to and use of the information universe inside and outside the firm. This has allowed us to dramatically increase our efficiency, which in turn increases our productivity and profitability."

LexisNexis tailored and integrated its information content and productivity tools into the workflow of Milbank's users, minimizing the learning curve. Users can:

• organize, collaborate, share and reuse the firm's intellectual capital;

• broaden their access to internal and external information sources;

• increase productivity; and

• take advantage of flexible pricing options.

"Milbank is a knowledge-intensive organization," says Gomez. "Our market position depends on the quality and quantity of knowledge resulting from transactional work with clients. It is critical that our portal be customized to allow us to integrate and organize in-house and outside information resources for the most efficient attorney/client access."

Besides its New York headquarters, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Palo Alto, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.