Law firms being innovative

I think we are going to see the next generation with a new skill set that will help law firms to cover that gap off skills, which, which may be currently is not available, to allow diversity to bring in new skills that are not in their own firm at the moment. 

So I'm thinking about a program that covers those those different areas where lawyers learn how to master the information technology profession and new opportunities. And it comes back to what we were saying before lawyers have to our other moment, the way they're trained, probably rather know how managers and skills controllers, but have in the future projects they're working on are going to require from them to be legal service providers and analytical skills, probably entrepreneurial skills, innovative skills. 

So it's a program that that will have to to help lawyers to develop those skills but to learn them further develop that during during their career. It's probably the understanding is important that it's not possible to learn something for the future and then you're set is probably very much going to be the future. To have this understanding to have the the the competency to to adapt to new situations is what lawyers will need. So it's a very interesting time actually now to think about that. And we're trying to reach out to partners other institutions on and see if if there is possibility to create synergies on developing something together because for sure, this is something not happening Only in one market or one place. But it is really something that is, uh, having an impact on probably worldwide happening in the legal profession. 

To provide an international approach

So an international approach is probably even desirable in such a situation to to create a new standard off the legal profession on the legal service. And this is stuff that I've talked about in my article that I wrote for Legal Trek about a year ago on redesigning legal education. And in that I talk about from a legal education point of view, I talk about soft skills. It's an area that I think has been. I think, that law firms soft pedal on soft skills, and I certainly I think that training institution, certainly in the UK don't dedicate enough time to development of soft skills. What's your take on that? Do you agree, or do you have a different perspective? Well, absolutely. I agree from from my experience, but maybe to go back to the time I was a student, I learned law being something like a problem with a solution. 

But then later on, when I started my legal career, I became part of the international law student competitions. Other had to change my view on that and to find out the beauty of a totally new concept, a client centered approach. Um, seeing the client as a human being and not an AI robot? Yeah, or a business, um, that needs a tailor made solution on meeting their interests off the clients.  

I found it is a wonderful, wonderful concept that that gives me a better understanding of how we can train law students and young lawyers for for meeting those those challenges of the future. If the client has more specific needs on on new projects that have not come up in the past, lawyers will even more have to listen to the clients listening skills, interest oriented, analytical skills, developing projects in interdisciplinary team with the client together trying to develop solutions. So that is a very important part that that will be important in the future when, when lawyers are in the profession communicating with each other, whether that is now project process and project management, whether that is in, in information technology, it's it's always going to be about communication, and I think that will make high performance teams and that will develop efficient work if people are able to communicate effectively together.

From my point of view, emotional intelligence and empathy is something that I say to my students all the time. You really we were talking yesterday about drafting letters to the client. I said, Look, all four tables. You're all interfacing with this. From the point of view off lawyers analysing the client's situation now go around the other side and look at it from the client's situation. What's keeping them awake at three o'clock in the morning? And they all stopped and had I said, actually imagining, empathize. Imagine you're this client and they said, Yeah, the process of doing that is a complete readjustment. So I think focusing on emotional intelligence empathizing. 

Marketing

And this links with marketing as well that we did a podcast the other week, all about legal marketing. And it's all about doing empathy maps really focusing for a good two or three hours on exactly what your clients feel, what problems are they having and then empathizing with them as they go through the process of interacting with your law firm deal with your the people, the different touchpoints working out. Exactly How does the client feel about their own problem? About how we're relating to them about that? So I think emotional intelligence and empathy. These is at the heart of that. I think it's a key skill on. 

 That that is, is something really I can just echo. I think is, is part of this t shaped skill set off a lawyer to be able to adapt to the different situations in practice. 

I'm involved in international law student competitions.  On what skill sets are you developing through these competitions? We are focusing on client consultation and client interviewing on one side on legal negotiation on the other side of the intersection we are focusing on the information technology and innovation side. But the beauty about those programs that there are purely educational programs is that on the national level. Technology lawyers were trained in those skills in eight in national programs in national competitions on the winners, then get the opportunity to compete with each other on the international level on bond. By doing so learning from experts being in the jury receiving a feedback, receiving comments from an outside perspective on how in legal practice, um, problems would be solved differently. 

So really getting the experience, on their own by interviewing a client acting as a client or by negotiating with another team of students, a contract or a transaction enables them to really apply the law and to understand it in a business context, which is a new experiential learning, which is a practical learning. I think this kind, this method off teaching and of education has a great impact on students and helps them to understand much better than them, purely limiting, ow how transfer to  theory and when it's applied in in the situation where they can see what impact it has on a client, where they have to advice legal and nonlegal elements on, especially including that in at the level of legal education shows to me that it has a great impact to students experiencing that kind off situations during their studies.