Page 20 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (n)
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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
opportunities for competitive intelligence-gathering open up, marketing will continue to expand
its influence in law firm decision-making.
But the real growth story of the next several years will be in sales. Law firms have long
resisted the use of the “s” word, preferring the euphemistic term “business development” to
preserve lawyerly dignity. It will become increasingly clear to law firms, however, that most
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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
opportunities for competitive intelligence-gathering open up, marketing will continue to expand
its influence in law firm decision-making.
But the real growth story of the next several years will be in sales. Law firms have long
resisted the use of the “s” word, preferring the euphemistic term “business development” to
preserve lawyerly dignity. It will become increasingly clear to law firms, however, that most
5
