Page 19 - Leaders in Legal Business and The 1000 Leaders and Influencers - Draft 1
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only to a small handful of international law firms. Today, however, as global mergers and
expansions have become more common, these networks must reexamine their purpose and grow
their value beyond the merely cross-jurisdictional. This is especially the case given the
increasing number of such networks and the rise of unexpected competition from sources such as
Dentons LLP, which is aggressively expanding its own international referral network.
Success is likely to flow to those networks that can build a truly integrated and
collaborative environment for their members. It will not be enough simply to help facilitate
referrals between member law firms; networks will have to build solid, long-term relationships
among their law firms in which numerous types of collaboration can thrive. These will include
industry group conferences, management summits, “best practices” databases, associate
exchanges and secondments, and so forth. The goal should be to tighten the bonds that hold the
firms together, to build a “most favoured nation” alliance of similarly situated but non-competing
firms. The networks’ administrators will do what they can, but ultimately, the fate of these
networks rides on the willingness and ability of member firms to take concrete steps to foster
bonds of collegial inter-dependence among themselves. The degree of active commitment by
their firms to the whole project might determine the fate of many law firm networks.
Professional Developers
Over the past decade or so, in response to a more competitive market environment, law
firms have begun to pay more attention to many internal business and human resources matters.
But perhaps no area has experienced as much growth in this regard as legal professional
development. Whereas many firms were once content to let lawyers thrash away on
straightforward tasks in order to “learn the ropes,” most firms have now instituted formal,
structured programs for upgrading the skills of their lawyers in several dimensions. Almost every
midsize or larger firm has a PD director and staff, and many have established their own bespoke
training systems, practice update services, and even internal “academies” or “universities.”
Tomorrow’s law firm professional development will bear little resemblance to
yesterday’s “CLE” culture of one-to-many, in-person, knowledge-update gatherings of unpaid
lecturers and expert panels of talking heads. Both private sector and in-house providers of
professional development will shift their focus away from “what’s new in the law” toward skill-
building sessions, client-relationship role-playing, hands-on legal technology engineering, and
other practical applications of legal expertise. Major firms will tailor their PD plans for each
individual lawyer, customized to his or her needs and interests. Lifelong, multi-dimensional
learning will be seen as a natural part of basic lawyer competence, and likely will be regulated,
administered, and enforced as such. The professionalization of law firm PD, already well
underway, will only accelerate and add new dimensions in the coming years.
Marketers and Salespeople
It wasn’t easy to be a legal marketer when lawyer advertising was a de facto ethical
violation or when the typical lawyer’s view on the subject was that “the good work I do is all the
marketing I need.” But times have changed, and by any measure, legal marketing has matured
and flourished within the legal profession incredibly rapidly. Every major law firm now employs
marketing personnel, including C-level marketing directors who play a growing role in strategy
and business development. As data and analytics flourish in the legal industry and new
5
expansions have become more common, these networks must reexamine their purpose and grow
their value beyond the merely cross-jurisdictional. This is especially the case given the
increasing number of such networks and the rise of unexpected competition from sources such as
Dentons LLP, which is aggressively expanding its own international referral network.
Success is likely to flow to those networks that can build a truly integrated and
collaborative environment for their members. It will not be enough simply to help facilitate
referrals between member law firms; networks will have to build solid, long-term relationships
among their law firms in which numerous types of collaboration can thrive. These will include
industry group conferences, management summits, “best practices” databases, associate
exchanges and secondments, and so forth. The goal should be to tighten the bonds that hold the
firms together, to build a “most favoured nation” alliance of similarly situated but non-competing
firms. The networks’ administrators will do what they can, but ultimately, the fate of these
networks rides on the willingness and ability of member firms to take concrete steps to foster
bonds of collegial inter-dependence among themselves. The degree of active commitment by
their firms to the whole project might determine the fate of many law firm networks.
Professional Developers
Over the past decade or so, in response to a more competitive market environment, law
firms have begun to pay more attention to many internal business and human resources matters.
But perhaps no area has experienced as much growth in this regard as legal professional
development. Whereas many firms were once content to let lawyers thrash away on
straightforward tasks in order to “learn the ropes,” most firms have now instituted formal,
structured programs for upgrading the skills of their lawyers in several dimensions. Almost every
midsize or larger firm has a PD director and staff, and many have established their own bespoke
training systems, practice update services, and even internal “academies” or “universities.”
Tomorrow’s law firm professional development will bear little resemblance to
yesterday’s “CLE” culture of one-to-many, in-person, knowledge-update gatherings of unpaid
lecturers and expert panels of talking heads. Both private sector and in-house providers of
professional development will shift their focus away from “what’s new in the law” toward skill-
building sessions, client-relationship role-playing, hands-on legal technology engineering, and
other practical applications of legal expertise. Major firms will tailor their PD plans for each
individual lawyer, customized to his or her needs and interests. Lifelong, multi-dimensional
learning will be seen as a natural part of basic lawyer competence, and likely will be regulated,
administered, and enforced as such. The professionalization of law firm PD, already well
underway, will only accelerate and add new dimensions in the coming years.
Marketers and Salespeople
It wasn’t easy to be a legal marketer when lawyer advertising was a de facto ethical
violation or when the typical lawyer’s view on the subject was that “the good work I do is all the
marketing I need.” But times have changed, and by any measure, legal marketing has matured
and flourished within the legal profession incredibly rapidly. Every major law firm now employs
marketing personnel, including C-level marketing directors who play a growing role in strategy
and business development. As data and analytics flourish in the legal industry and new
5
