Biglaw

Closing The Biglaw Training Gap

Training -- whether informal, formal, or a byproduct of a “sink or swim” culture -- plays a vital role, not only in the process of becoming a lawyer, but in associate satisfaction.

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In the legal profession it is common knowledge that “becoming a lawyer” is a process distinct from graduating from law school, passing the bar, or even landing a coveted Biglaw job. Training — whether informal, formal, or a byproduct of a “sink or swim” culture — plays a vital role, not only in the process of becoming a lawyer, but in associate satisfaction.

Last month we asked you about your firms’ training and professional development programs. We heard from associates at over 60 law firms. (If you have five minutes to take our survey here, we’d love to hear from more of you.) For the purposes of our survey, we divided training and professional development into three distinct categories: (1) Legal skills, (2) Professional “soft” skills, and (3) Business skills.

Legal skills (5.86 out of 10)

Of the three distinct training categories we identified, associates felt their firms’ legal skills training was strongest. Associates rated the strength of the following aspects of their employer’s training and professional development programs as follows:

1. Practice group training (e.g., trial skills): 6.49
2. Research: 5.77
3. Negotiation: 5.33

One happy junior associate described his firm’s legal skills training as follows:

“I find that the best training happens informally–on the day to day inclusion in strategy decisions, brief writing, and communications with the client. The partners and senior associates I work go out of their way to bring me on to the team in every way possible. This makes me feel connected to the people here, and greatly increases my job satisfaction.”

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Professional “soft” skills (5.50 out of 10)

The fact that “people management skills” got the absolute lowest rating of all the training categories probably requires no commentary. Here is how associates rated the rest of their firms’ “soft” skills training.

1. Effective communications: 5.87
2. Collaboration skills: 5.61
3. Business development: 5.44
4. People management skills: 5.09

One junior associate’s comments underscore how “soft” skills development takes place at his/her firm:

“I am thoroughly impressed. The partners actively involve everyone in a team (including junior associates) in discussions about the relationship between our services and the client’s business, and how best we can position our practice to add value in the short- and medium-term.”

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Business skills (5.44 out of 10)

Business skills training got the overall lowest rating of our three training and professional development categories.

1. Understanding your clients’ business: 5.76
2. Project management: 5.51
3. Legal industry market forces: 5.33
4. Finance skills: 5.14

Perhaps we should have also added “tech-savvy” to this category? One senior associate had a bone to pick with his firm: “For a firm that does a lot of complex employment (including wage-and-hour) litigation, there should be more associates (and paralegals) who know how to use Excel!”

A midlevel associate explains the Biglaw training dilemma this way: “Being that attrition is a necessary aspect of the law firm model, there is no motivation to provide better training or develop talent. I’ve seen intelligent, capable folks by any measure forced out needlessly when a little more training early on might have allowed them to flourish.” Other associates described their firm’s training programs as “virtually nonexistent,” and having “gaping holes in content.”

So how can firms improve their overall training and professional development experience?

Our most positive response to the survey came from Kirkland & Ellis — not surprising, considering associates rank them #3 in overall training per the ATL Insider Survey.

“My firm actually does partner with a number of outside companies to bring in consultants for mini-MBA classes for new associates as well as other similar trainings. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how many training opportunities there are and I’ve been amazed at how comprehensive they are. I feel so much better at my job than I otherwise would have been and I really appreciate all the resources the firm puts into the trainings.”

More than half of you agreed that your employer would benefit from partnering with an outside company specializing in training and professional development for the legal profession. Perhaps it’s time that law firms consider outsourcing more than just doc review.

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