Why there has never been a better time to work as a Knowledge Management Lawyer

If you are a lawyer who still loves the law, but is experiencing fee earner burnout, you are not alone.

If you are a lawyer who still loves the law, but is experiencing fee earner burnout, you are not alone.  Transactional lawyers often come to me asking what else is available to them as there are a limited number of times you can get home from closing a deal at 3:00 am before it has a seriously negative impact on your life.
The good news is that there is another option, and it’s a great one!  As a skilled lawyer with 5+ years’ PQE, you can transfer into a knowledge management role.  These roles go by many names: Professional Support Lawyer (PSL), Knowledge Development Lawyer (KDL), Professional Development Lawyer (PDL) or Knowledge Management Lawyer (KML), but no matter what you call it, this role is vital to a firm’s success.
These roles have existed for a long time, but are now more interesting, varied and dynamic than they have ever been.  In addition, the people who take them are given greater freedom to be innovative and carve their own niche within a firm.

Once upon a time, these roles were limited to answering fee earner queries and creating precedents, and they are still responsible for those things, but now there is so much more you can do.  As a knowledge management lawyer today, you will be involved in:

  • Creating and implementing a training program that will fill in the knowledge gaps of the junior lawyers who missed out on key learning time during the pandemic;
  • Horizon scanning to see how changes in legislation or world events will impact your team;
  • Investigating legal tech and innovation initiatives and implementing a strategy with respect to making your team and the wider firm more efficient;
  • Working with the firm’s marketing team on marketing, BD and profile raising initiatives;
  • Finding creative ways to disseminate information in ways that easy to access, be it you tube channels, podcasts, vlogs, etc.

 

These roles are on the cutting edge and provide you an intellectually stimulating role, with flexible working alternatives, stable working hours and they offer very attractive salaries.  They also offer fantastic career progression opportunities, you can move into a senior PSL role, Head of Knowledge Management, Global Head of Knowledge Management, KM Partner.

As previously mentioned, the salaries for these roles are very attractive, but they do vary from firm to firm.  If you are considering a PSL/KM role, this is what you can expect to earn:

Level US Firms Magic/Silver Circle Top 50 Firms
KM/PSL £135K-£150K £125K – £140K £95K-£105K
Senior KM/Senior PSL £150K-£185K £140K-£155K £105K-£115K

 

With all of the positives about this role, I can’t imagine why a fee earner wouldn’t explore becoming a KM/PSL.  If you are curious about how these roles could suit you, please get in touch with Jennifer Wellspeak on jwellspeak@talislegalrecruitment.com or 03300 526 362.

 

Jennifer Wellspeak has an extensive background in legal recruitment dating back to 2003, during which time she has held roles in both agency and in-house legal recruitment, with a focus on the London market.

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