By Tom Baldwin and Ron Friedmann, Partners at Fireman & Company

Introduction

Many firms are planning major upgrades to their document management system (DMS) over the next 12-18 months. This move to a modern DMS experience offers firms the opportunity to address one of the previously intractable problems of document management: lawyer adoption. Firms now realize that driving adoption is the key to enhancing security, embracing governance policies, leveraging know-how, informing pricing, driving knowledge management, maximizing the potential of artificial intelligence, and achieving other goals that cut across the practice and business of law.

The criticality of user adoption is leading forward-thinking firms to take the approach of sharing DMS ownership between a technology and a business lead. This move recognizes that a DMS is more than another piece of software – it sits at the core of how lawyers practice. At both Faegre Baker Daniels and Perkins Coie