The Knowledge Manager is the dedicated role - or function - responsible for ensuring that the legal team’s collective knowledge is actively curated, maintained, and leveraged. It’s the person who makes sure that what the team learns doesn’t get lost, and that what the team knows is accessible, usable, and continuously improved.

This station is about ownership. Without someone accountable for knowledge, even the best insights, templates, and precedents will drift, decay, or disappear. The Knowledge Manager ensures that knowledge harvesting and capture are not just one-off exercises, but part of a living system that supports the legal team’s performance every day.

The role is not just administrative. It’s strategic. The Knowledge Manager works across the legal team to identify knowledge gaps, improve asset quality, drive adoption of tools, and align knowledge with the Group Legal Policy. They also act as a bridge between legal and business units - helping translate legal knowledge into usable formats for non-lawyers.

GLS helps legal teams define, scope, and implement the Knowledge Manager role - whether as a dedicated position, a shared responsibility, or a function embedded in legal operations.

The scope of the Knowledge Manager station includes:

◼️Oversight of the legal team’s knowledge strategy and execution Management of the legal knowledge platform and asset repository

◼️Coordination of knowledge harvesting and capture activities

◼️Quality control and periodic review of knowledge assets

◼️Alignment of knowledge with the Group Legal Policy and legal team priorities

◼️Training and enablement of team members on knowledge tools and protocols

◼️Engagement with external providers to integrate relevant insights

◼️Reporting on knowledge usage, gaps, and impact

In GLS legal ops speak – the Knowledge Manager is considered a “Foundational” resource within the process ecosystem of an in-house legal team.

The Foundational Resource is a CRE that is responsible for determining the overall performance capabilities of a “critical” legal function. If it is not optimised, the function can never be optimised. 

The best practice features of the Knowledge Manager station are as follows:

◼️A clearly defined role with documented responsibilities and KPIs

◼️Integration with legal operations and reporting frameworks

◼️Authority to drive knowledge initiatives across the legal team

◼️Regular review cycles for all knowledge assets

◼️Active engagement with team members to encourage contribution

◼️Alignment with legal tech platforms and collaboration tools

◼️Visibility into usage analytics and performance metrics

◼️Connection to external knowledge sources and law firm inputs

The Knowledge Manager delivers the following value to the Business:

◼️Faster Deal Execution: Ensures that the right templates, guidance, and precedents are available when needed

◼️Improved Risk Management: Maintains consistency and alignment with approved legal positions

◼️Reduced External Spend: Enables internal teams to handle more work without relying on law firms

◼️Scalable Legal Support: Institutional knowledge allows the legal team to grow without increasing headcount

◼️Enhanced Business Confidence: Stakeholders trust legal advice that is consistent and well-informed

◼️Better Decision-Making: Legal input is grounded in shared experience and validated knowledge

Operational Efficiency: Reduces time spent searching for past work or duplicating effort

◼️Improved Collaboration: Shared knowledge strengthens team cohesion and capability

◼️Faster Onboarding: New hires ramp up quickly with access to curated knowledge

◼️Enhanced Professional Development: Lawyers grow through exposure to team-wide experience

◼️Reduced Knowledge Loss: Insights are retained even when team members leave

◼️Template Evolution: Legal documents improve based on real-world experience

The Knowledge Manager is essential for:

◼️General Counsel

◼️Heads of Legal Operations

◼️Legal Team Leads

◼️Legal Knowledge Managers

◼️Legal Technology Leads

A legal team operating without a Knowledge Manager will face a wide range of inefficiencies including:

◼️Fragmented Knowledge: No central oversight of legal assets or insights

◼️Repeated Mistakes: Lessons are not captured or shared

◼️Stagnant Templates: Precedents fail to evolve with practice

◼️Slow Onboarding: New hires struggle to access team wisdom

◼️Low Team Learning: Lawyers miss opportunities to grow from each matter

◼️Underused Technology: Knowledge platforms are not maintained or adopted

The Knowledge Manager station strongly leverages technology. It benefits from:

◼️Knowledge Management Platforms: To store, tag, and retrieve captured insights

◼️Template Management Systems: To update and distribute legal documents

◼️Collaboration Tools: For capturing informal peer learning and team reflections

◼️Legal Ops Dashboards: To track capture activity and usage metrics

◼️Search & Retrieval Engines: To make knowledge easily discoverable