As the consolidation of legal markets, new technology, outsourcing and more astute clients continue to shake the legal sector, what skills do lawyers and firms need to cultivate for the future?
Gone are the days when lawyers could just bring their legal expertise to the table, says Ann-Maree David, CEO of Queensland’s College of Law.
“They have to be able to build rapport with all manner of clients, both personally and on a corporate level. A whole suite of additional skills is important in modern practice.”, she says.
The impact of the consolidation of legal markets, technology, savvier clients and a tough economic environment on the traditional model of the one-size-fits-all lawyer has been explosive. To retain clients, law firms are specialising, outsourcing work and insourcing lawyers to fill gaps in expertise. Lawyers are working in clients’ offices, in teams and in ways that most would not have anticipated when they were in law school.
Push for specialists with general skills
Now there is a two-way pull on lawyers to be both specialists and generalists – a specialist in their area of practice but with a swag of commercial, marketing and soft skills.
“Lawyers have to think more broadly now beyond legal skills and legal knowledge, as to how they can manipulate what they know to suit a more aware and mature client,” says David. “We as lawyers have to become more agile, refining our areas of expertise. So we’ll see more specialists, but with the broader brief of being able to assist the client in all issues that relate to that area of specialisation.”
There’s a presumption now that lawyers will have a strong commercial orientation.
“Even if they’re not doing strictly corporate work, they have to understand the commercial arena.”
Lawyers as clients shift the skill set
With a growing number of in-house counsel, private practitioners will be dealing with more lawyers as clients – clients who will be directing the legal services they require and on terms that meet their budgets.
“Lawyers talking to lawyers – that’s a skill in itself.”
The list goes on. Lawyers of the future, particularly those working as in-house counsel, will need skills in:
- Finance: Reading and understanding of financials, preparing project budgets, monitoring and reporting performance against budgets.
- Legal process analysis: Knowing exactly which parts of the legal work need to be farmed out and at what cost/benefit.
- Project management skills: In order to maintain control of work farmed out.
- Superior negotiation skills: If, for example, they have carriage of work tenders.
Learn to collaborate
As cases become more complex, lawyers will increasingly be working on briefs for clients in interdisciplinary teams, requiring the lawyer to work with the client’s accountant, and one or more subject-matter experts, such as an engineer or town planner.
“You’ve got to be able to work with that team; not solo and not as an adversary. That is not a skill taught at law school. They have to be able to collaborate. We’ve gone from learning how to negotiate and mediate; now we’ve got to learn how to collaborate!”
Risk management has also become integral to the role of many lawyers now, requiring skills in taking proactive action to ensure clients stay risk free and that legal issues don’t arise.
“Everyone should be more aware of risk management now. In terms of assisting the client before an error occurs, there’s more proactive legal work in terms of risk management. Lawyers need to be advising clients on how to reduce risk so that legal issues don’t arise.”
Soft skills in a tough market
Other than fine personal skills and the ability to network, David says lawyers have to learn to listen. That means keeping their ear to the ground and being alert to movements in the market.
“The traditional tools of our trade – our oratory and writing skills – are introduced in law school, but we’re not taught to listen. Lawyers have to become more focused on the clients and their needs. They’ve got to listen to the client.”
Of course social media skills, not yet a subject at most law schools, are vital for branding and communicating with colleagues, as well as current and future clients.
“Networking isn’t limited to corporate golf days or wine-and-cheese events. Social media allows lawyers to amplify the professional reputation which they are building for themselves in practice. Networking today sees lawyers blogging, commenting on Twitter and connecting on LinkedIn. Lawyers have to be very conscious though that, like everything we do in practice, our use of social media is governed by rules of conduct, and the bottom line is that they have to use it responsibly.”
Here’s to the future
So what is the ideal lawyer of the future?
“I think they’ll be proactive, knowing how quickly the legal landscape can change, and they’ll anticipate that their clients are more informed, commercially astute and more demanding.”