Learning and Development for Legal organisations
Challenging, vibrant and rapidly developing – that’s how we see the current climate in the legal sector. Looking back over the past twelve to eighteen months we have seen some powerful pressures and trends:
Market position
In a crowded and highly competitive market, firms are taking their market position and brand differentiation extremely seriously.
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Market position
In a crowded and highly competitive market, firms are taking their market position and brand differentiation extremely seriously. Conscious attention is being given to how the firm is perceived and to ensuring total clarity in what it can offer. Winning the best and most active clients, doing the most rewarding and lucrative work – these things are directly linked to how clearly the firm is differentiated from competitor firms. The readiness of clients to go through a ‘beauty parade’ is accelerating this process. In a competitive tender, you have to know what makes you special, different and attractive.
Talent management
Taking a lawyer from recruitment to qualification can cost the firm not far off £250k. No wonder that attracting and retaining the brightest and best talent is a major priority.
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Talent management
This is seen as absolutely crucial. Firms are looking at the entire life cycle from recruitment to exit. Increasingly, that exit from the firm is not retirement at 60 or 65. Lateral moves to other firms are far more common. A very significant number of associates are leaving private practice to work in-house or to take their careers in a totally different direction.
Firms are investing in the development and training of their new recruits, in structured programmes of associate development and in making the journey to partnership far more transparent and open. Taking a lawyer from recruitment to qualification can cost the firm not far off £250k. In some City firms, a newly qualified lawyer can achieve a salary of over £90k. No wonder that attracting and retaining the brightest and best talent is a major priority.
Part of this landscape is work life balance. If partnership is so hard to achieve, why would I want to surrender body and soul (and sometimes sanity and marriage) to the God of chargeable time? Societal shifts are underway. The psychological contract between employer and employee is going through significant change.
Process improvement
Many firms are recognising they have to work smarter in terms of the processes and systems they use.
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Process improvement
Many firms are recognising they have to work smarter – not in terms of the legal and intellectual insight they bring to the work they do – but in terms of the processes and systems they use. Fresh thinking about matter, transaction or case management; improving the billing process; looking at every aspect of profitability – these are just some of the areas in which investment and innovation are bringing real rewards.
Internationalisation
Some of the biggest UK firms now have more lawyers working in their foreign offices than they do in London.
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Internationalisation
Some of the biggest UK firms now have more lawyers working in their foreign offices than they do in London. Every firm has had to think carefully about how they service clients in an increasingly globalised and international economy.
Diversity
Firms are having to ‘get real’ about the diversity of their workforce.
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Diversity
This is coming out of the HR closet. Firms are having to ‘get real’ about the diversity of their workforce and their ability to understand and to work with the diversity they find in their clients. It links to the hunt for talent – for some time now, firms have been casting their net into a far wider pool of potential recruits. The leading firms in this area have realised the enormous benefits that flow from actively embracing the principle of diversity.
Clients
What was seen by clients just a few years ago as a top-of-the-range, added-value service is now seen as market standard and is taken for granted.
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Clients
Every year, the bar is raised higher. What was seen by clients just a few years ago as a top-of-the-range, added-value service is now seen as market standard and is taken for granted.
The fad for hugely expensive (and often under-used) Client Relationship Management software is being replaced by a new understanding - it’s all about people. IT is just a tool. What counts is the quality, frequency, consistency and pro-activity shown in the firm’s approach to managing client relationships.
The demand for high-level service is matched by a rumble of discontent about the level of fees charged. There is an increasing focus on value – what am I getting for those eye-watering hourly rates?
What the future holds
JSB believes that the best firms will keep their nerve.
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What the future holds
Credit crunch stalks the economy. The banks are writing off massive sums of money and busy re-building their balance sheets. The markets are volatile and shaky. The deal flow seems to be diminishing – and finance for many deals is proving harder to find and more expensive to acquire.
JSB believes that the best firms will keep their nerve. In an uncertain world all the themes we list above become even more important. A passion for the clients who trust you to advise them, a clear eye on the essentials of a well-managed business, a structured approach to keeping the best people on board and fully motivated – with these things in place, the future is a place where law firms can not only survive but thrive.
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Developing a Coaching Culture Law firms rely on self starters who take responsibility and who are demonstrably confident. These skills and abilities can be most effectively developed through a culture of coaching. Learn more » Developing your Practice Programmes on leadership to improve strategic planning and the implementation of new policies and initiatives; recruitment planning and best practice;
practical recruitment interviewing skills
Learn more » High Value Communication From creating and delivering high-impact client presentations and developing client-focused business writing skills to handling the media and refining facilitation skills. Learn more » Profitability, Productivity and Performance Helping to bring the disciplines of project management to the way law firms work with clients; working to enhance the management skills of associates and partners to improve motivation and retention; development modules for staff in other areas of the firm to help ensure the firm has the best possible resource and support. Learn more » Recruitment, Retention and Talent Management Strategies for your Firm As the level of fee-earner movement between firms grows and as graduates become more discriminating about their choice of firm, recruitment and retention have become business critical. Learn more » Retaining and Developing Clients The fad for hugely expensive (and often under-used) Client Relationship Management software is being replaced by a new understanding - it’s all about people. IT is just a tool. What counts is the quality, frequency, consistency and pro-activity shown in the firm’s approach to managing client relationships. Learn more » Trainees and The Knowledge Developing targeted programmes to help trainees make the transition from recruit to contributing member of the firm.
Read an article by Matthew Solon, as published in the LETG newsletter 2008. Building a personal brand; Managing performance, pressure and priorities.
Learn more » Winning High Value Business Highly-focused modules on networking, business development and pitching to improve the flow and quality of new business into the firm. Learn more » |
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