Law firm training highlights business relationships and tech skills

The pressure from clients on law firms to offer broader consulting services and to keep pace with innovations in legal tech is leading to a rethink in training and staff development.

The technology available to law firms covers a widening range of activities, from automation to data analytics and contract management, that is now also powered by recent iterations of artificial intelligence. Lawyers and their colleagues require digital knowhow, problem-solving skills and overall adaptability to deal with such shifts.

But, as in all organisations, pushing people to learn new skills can be hard.

“Change management within professional partnerships is particularly important and challenging,” observes Brian Tang, executive director of LITE Lab, which covers the interaction of law, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship, at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

Law firms aiming to improve their skills training should focus on “understanding the root demographic and practice strengths of the firm and finding internal champions”, adds Tang, who is also co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation & Technology Association.

The feedback was that we needed to listen more and that we had missed a few subtle hints

Part of the challenge is that traditional development programmes rarely result in “consistent, scalable growth”, says Pernilla Linden, a senior leader in business development at Ashurst, based in Melbourne. “In the past, we have tried and tested a number of external models, but they didn’t stick.”

Instead, Ashurst developed an in-house programme called Propel, which is designed to teach lawyers how to identify and develop sales opportunities and build relationships with clients. Since launching in Australia, it has been rolled out globally.

Sydney-based dispute resolution partner Luke Carbon says it is central to the firm’s strategic growth plan. Clients were involved in the programme from the start, he says, adding: “We had clients in the room for role-play sessions.”

In one example, a client became a fictional customer seeking “a strategic partner” that would collaborate on answers to business challenges instead of providing a service “at arm’s length”, Carbon says. “The feedback was that we needed to listen more and that we had missed a few subtle hints.”

Training in broadening commercial relationships means learning to have conversations with clients “not just about the matter we’re working on, but also about their business and how else we can help them”, Carbon says.

Propel is aimed at people across the whole of the firm, but training schemes in law firms often have a narrower focus.

Pinsent Masons, for instance, has introduced an integration programme designed to smooth the transition for new partners.

“Part of this is understanding what skills development these new partners may need to help them align to their own business goals and those of the firm,” says Leah King, head of Asia-Pacific human resources at Pinsent Masons, in Sydney. The programme was set up to support partners joining from outside the firm — and latterly those promoted from within — to meet key performance indicators, including revenue. Another key aim is to encourage them to develop collaborative relationships within the firm.

Some tech-savvy junior lawyers can also be encouraged to be reverse mentors to the more senior lawyers

At Corrs Chambers Westgarth, training and development has started to focus on “empowering” senior associates and special counsel, alongside its existing partner programmes. “Senior non-partners have new ideas and a creative energy,” explains James Abbott, partner in charge of the firm’s Sydney office.

Training programmes can face resistance. At Ashurst, Carbon notes that “role playing is uncomfortable for a lot of people” and that Propel’s goal of increasing revenue can also jar. “No one likes to think of themselves as a sales person,” he says.

Tech adoption and digital transformation remain a key business issue for law firms, but requirements to upskill to keep pace with the latest legal technology can also meet some reluctance.

King, at Pinsent Masons, notes that some lawyers try to ignore new technology. “It can be difficult to get on their radar,” she says. But one solution has been to find and encourage early adopters at the firm to help show others the way.

Equally, as Tang from HKU’s LITE Lab observes: “Some tech-savvy junior lawyers can also be encouraged to be reverse mentors to the more senior lawyers.”

A third challenge for anyone devising training and development programmes in law firms is how to prove to the rest of the business that they are effective.

“Because the focus is [on] building long-term relationships, it’s hard to reduce it to quantifiable measurable numbers,” says Abbott about the programmes at Corrs.

“How we know it’s successful and worthwhile is through qualitative feedback from partners and clients . . . It’s a human thing,” he says. “That’s a low-tech answer,” he acknowledges.