Director of Knowledge & Innovation

McDermott Will & Emery•Austin, NY

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Knowledge & Innovation leads the firm’s modern knowledge function, overseeing the people, structure, and standards needed to deliver consistent knowledge management and AI enablement across every practice group and office. This is a strategic leadership role: The Director helps set and execute on the firm strategy and roadmap for knowledge management and legal AI, ensuring the team’s day-to-day work aligns with that broader vision. This position combines strong team leadership and strategic planning with deep expertise in modern knowledge management in the age of AI, ensuring institutional knowledge is captured, structured, and put to active use through AI, consistently firmwide. The Director of Knowledge & Innovation reports to the Chief Innovation Officer and directly leads the firm’s Knowledge & Innovation Attorneys, Counsel, and Senior Counsel across all practice groups, setting shared standards and priorities so the team operates as one cohesive function. The Director will be a key member of the Innovation Department leadership team and will work closely with Practice Technology, Information Technology, Information Security, Information Governance, the Office of General Counsel, practice group leaders, and other relevant stakeholders to advance the firm’s knowledge and AI enablement objectives. This position operates with full autonomy and final decision-making authority over the Knowledge & Innovation function, drawing on extensive experience and executive judgment to build, manage, and develop a high-performing, consistent Knowledge & Innovation team — spanning Attorneys, Counsel, and Senior Counsel — across the firm.

Requirements

Juris Doctor (JD) required
At least twelve (12) years of experience in knowledge management and/or legal practice roles, including significant experience directly managing and developing teams
Demonstrated experience developing and executing strategic roadmaps for knowledge management and innovation, including setting priorities and measuring progress against them
Proven track record leading distributed or embedded teams across multiple offices or practice groups
Knowledge of legal practice workflows and the matter lifecycle across practice groups
Working knowledge of how legal content and data should be organized and structured to support effective use by AI and search tools
Familiarity with legal AI platforms and related concepts
General familiarity with how prompts, AI agents, and workflows are used to apply legal knowledge, sufficient to guide the work of embedded Knowledge & Innovation Attorneys, Counsel, and Senior Counsel
Demonstrated interest in and working familiarity with the firm’s AI platforms (e.g., Harvey, Claude, ChatGPT, CoCounsel, Copilot) and how they apply to legal work in the practice area
Experience working with other practice technology and knowledge platforms (e.g., Practical Law and Practical Guidance, litigation analytics tools, brief analyzers, deal closing tools, document automation tools, data extraction tools, etc.)
Strong leadership, coaching, and team-development skills
Ability to build consensus and drive consistent standards across a matrixed, multi-office organization
Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills
Ability to work effectively with partners, practice group leaders, and firm leadership
Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills
Ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives in a fast-paced environment

Nice To Haves

Prior experience managing global or cross-office knowledge teams is preferred

Responsibilities

Build, lead, and grow the firm’s knowledge function, including the Knowledge & Innovation Attorneys, Counsel, and Senior Counsel embedded across all practice groups, by hiring, onboarding, and developing the team to support firmwide knowledge and AI enablement initiatives.
Help develop and execute on the firm’s knowledge and AI strategy and roadmap, aligning priorities with the firm’s broader business and innovation goals and ensuring consistent standards, quality, and knowledge-sharing practices firmwide, regardless of practice area or office
Set clear goals, priorities, and workload expectations for the Knowledge & Innovation team (Attorneys, Counsel, and Senior Counsel), and conduct regular performance management, coaching, and career development, including final ownership of leveling and promotion decisions across the Attorney, Counsel, and Senior Counsel track.
Define and enforce governance standards for how legal content and precedent are captured, tagged, validated, and retired across the team, keeping knowledge assets current, consistent, and defensible.
Direct the team’s ownership of the firm’s knowledge management strategy, including the curation of past briefs, contracts, precedents, and templates so attorneys are not reinventing work already done.
Direct the team’s design and maintenance of data taxonomies and knowledge structures that prepare firm content for legal AI, search, and retrieval tools, and oversee the prompts, agents, and workflows the Knowledge & Innovation team builds with the firm’s Practice Technology and AI team to put that content to active use.
Foster a firmwide culture of knowledge sharing, resolving conflicting practices or standards across offices and practice groups so the team operates as one cohesive function.
Partner with the leaders of the firm’s Practice Technology and AI team, along with other firm stakeholders, to align the knowledge team’s output with firmwide AI and technology initiatives.
Serve as a key member of the Innovation Department leadership team, representing the knowledge function
Manage knowledge-related risk across the team in partnership with Information Security, Information Governance, and the Office of General Counsel, covering data handling, confidentiality, and responsible-use guidelines.
Track and report on team performance, knowledge asset usage, and adoption, using metrics to guide resourcing and staffing decisions and demonstrate the team’s value to firm leadership.
Monitor developments in AI and legal technology, identifying opportunities to improve legal service delivery and client service.