On October 18, Julie Mazza, formerly Manager of Law Firm Partnering at DuPont and now Director of Legal Expense Control at Citigroup, will share her experiences in an informal roundtable at the offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York. Space is limited. For details, see http://www.montague.com/rou ndtable25.htm

In the early 1990's, DuPont began to look for ways to reduce its legal costs and leverage the know-how of its legal suppliers, especially outside counsel. The company created a new way of working that shifts the focus from processing lawsuits to resolving the corporate client's business problems.

The result was the DuPont Legal Model, which includes strategic partnering, early case assessment, use of technology, alternative fee arrangements, and strategic budgeting. Information technology is used for electronic invoicing, integrated case management, electronic research (discovery), and document imaging. DuPont's cost savings are in the range of $ 8 million to $ 12 million per year. This is knowledge management in action with measurable results.

This event will be of special interest to legal information practitioners in both corporate legal departments and law firms. Others will benefit by learning more about a professional services collaboration model that successfully combines technology, strategy, fees and incentives, and training.

See also our article, "Managing knowledge in law firms: is it really different?"

Remember that this is not a training session. It's a discussion forum for experienced practitioners.

The roundtable will be offered in both face-to-face and teleconference format. The cost for face-to-face attendees is $600 for members of the Society of Knowledge Base Publishers ($850 for nonmembers). The cost for teleconference attendees is $700 (members), $950 (nonmembers)

The Knowledge Base Editor's Digest is a free new monthly alert about information productivity and integration in:

• print, Web, and database publishing processes
• tabular data and textual information
• internal and external business intelligence
• content consumption and production
• enterprise, workgroup, and personal knowledge management

Articles often present a unique or even contrarian perspective that will appeal to people who need to think beyond their professional and functional boundaries. Navigation and access tools include an A - Z index, site search, and RSS news feed.

The Digest contains annotated links to articles and Web sites, many of which are available on the public Web. New items are added monthly and cover a wide range of editorial, research, management, and technical topics.