Inside Legal KM: London

Knowledge Management in UK law firms is undergoing its most consequential transformation since the profession first formalised the function in the early 1990s.

Is your knowledge infrastructure ready to power the next generation of legal work?

The pressures reshaping legal knowledge management, from AI infrastructure to the evolving role of the knowledge professional.

Only 19% of firms report measurable AI productivity gains, not because the tools aren't powerful, but because the underlying knowledge infrastructure isn't ready. The gap between AI potential and AI performance is overwhelmingly a knowledge management problem.

• 19% — firms with measurable AI gains (PwC)
• 85% — at some stage of AI adoption
• 65% — reduction in retrieval time when KM is AI-ready

AI magnifies data quality issues at pace and scale. Before layering generative AI on top of document management systems, firms must confront the messy reality of inconsistent taxonomies, siloed repositories, and years of ad hoc filing conventions.

• Taxonomy inconsistencies are the #1 AI deployment blocker
• Rob Taylor (Tiger Eye): "AI will magnify any data issues at scale"
• Pre-deployment data audit is now a market standard requirement

The KM function is undergoing a strategic repositioning. New titles — Chief Knowledge Officer, Knowledge Director, AI Knowledge Lead — signal a shift from legal process support to organisational intelligence leadership. Salaries have surged to reflect the stakes.

• 20% — Director KM salary increase YoY (Totum Partners)
• £167,260 — Director KM median salary
• 31.8% — KM cost-per-lawyer growth 2017–2023 (outpaces all functions)

From iManage's dominance in the document layer to Harvey AI's deployment across 3,500+ A&O Shearman lawyers — the KM technology stack is being rebuilt. Understanding which tools to pilot, sequence, and integrate is the central strategic challenge for 2026.

• iManage: ~40% large firm DMS market share
• Harvey AI: deployed to 3,500+ A&O Shearman lawyers
• 10.5% — KM tools spend growth in 2025 (fastest ever)

General Counsel at sophisticated clients increasingly expect law firms to demonstrate knowledge discipline — not just legal expertise. Firms that can surface bespoke market intelligence, curated client-specific content, and AI-powered insight tools are winning mandates on capability as well as cost.

• GC expectations now include firm KM sophistication
• Vable: contextual AI-curated client intelligence becoming standard
• 93% — mid-sized UK firms using AI in at least one workflow

The generational knowledge transfer problem has reached a crisis point. As AI handles more routine drafting, junior lawyers spend less time on the tasks that have historically served as apprenticeship — while senior practitioners who retire take irreplaceable tacit knowledge with them.

• Tacit knowledge flight is the most underdiscussed KM risk
• AI-assisted capture tools now a priority investment area
• 60% — reduction in contract review time (Luminance) changes training dynamics

Practitioners, founders, and researchers defining the new legal landscape.

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Clifford Chance (formerly)

Clifford Chance (formerly)

Clifford Chance (formerly)

Clifford Chance (formerly)

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Practitioners, founders, and researchers defining the new legal landscape.

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A focused day for the UK's senior knowledge professionals — Directors, CKOs, PSLs, Knowledge Lawyers, and information leaders — to examine where the function is heading and how to lead the transition.