Firm Directory Creator Neudesic Launches New Research Directory

A couple of years ago I wrote about an interesting new legal technology product called Firm Directory, a fancy internal directory for law firms.

Usually when we think about legal directories, we think of publicly accessible products aimed at buyers of legal services, but directories come in many forms, and the concept of a sophisticated internal directory struck me as a good idea.

With the mega mergers of recent years, and more likely on the way, some law firms now have thousands of lawyers,

In such massive organizations, lawyers often know little about their fellow partners and colleagues in other offices, so arguably a good internal directory and collaboration tool, is just as important as a product that enables outsiders to find them.

And an obvious advantage of an internal product is that lawyers may wish to share information, which wouldn’t necessarily be suitable for an external audience.

The company behind Firm Directory, California-based Neudesic, has now launched a new product, The Research Directory, which it says is a “first-of-its-kind knowledge repository for the legal industry”.

Essentially the Firm Directory was based around people – the lawyers in the firm – whereas the Research Directory expands on that platform to allow firms to profile anything that is important such as clients, matters and alumni.

Jason Noble, Neudesic’s vice president of solutions, said:

We’re combining robust profiles with a firm’s existing data to create a customized directory that serves as a single source of searchable knowledge.”

And, as you might expect from a technology business, customization is very much at the forefront of the design: Research Directory enables law firms to search and share knowledge with custom directories that can be easily configured and integrated with systems like SharePoint.