INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON PERFORMANCE OF LAW FIRMS IN NAKURU TOWN, KENYA

Knowledge management in law firms involves a number of tools and services for more effectively managing, sharing, and using knowledge in a variety of areas: the law and how to provide legal services; clients and their businesses and indus¬tries; the expertise, skills, and backgrounds of firm attorneys and staff; and referral sources, experts, possible merger candidates or lateral hires, and other third parties. However, studying KM practices in legal firms in Kenya has not been sufficiently considered in literature, and limited studies have been conducted o investigate the effect of KM practices on their organizational performance. The purpose of the study therefore was to establish the influence of knowledge management practices on legal firms. The study targeted all 162 registered law firms. The study employed a descriptive research design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study used close-ended questionnaires to collect data using simple random sampling from the law firms. The questionnaire was piloted to ensure validity and reliability. The collected data was coded and analyzed by the aid of Statistical Package for Social Scientists presented in tables. For purposes of establishing the strength and direction of the variables in the study, a correlation analysis was carried out. The study established that all four practices influenced performance of legal firms. Knowledge sharing (r = 0.664) had the most influence on performance of legal firms while knowledge implementation (r = 0.213) had the least influence on performance of legal firms. The study recommended that law firms should enhance their knowledge management strategies in order to enhance performance of legal firms