Lawyer retention and client impact
Retention of talent isn’t a challenge unique to the legal industry, but it’s never been more prevalent in law firms than it is today. Even outside of the firm, clients are also feeling the knock-on effects of poor lawyer retention.
Janice D’Costa, Legal Operations Manager at Meta joined a panel at the BigHand Conference 2024 completed by Kevin Hogarth, Principal Consultant at PSFI and Camilla Jagger, Head of Operations at DLA Piper. Janice explained how Meta spends a significant amount of time educating lawyers about their business. If the law firm cannot retain that lawyer, Meta’s investment will be wasted.
The broader scope of this panel was to discuss how effective resource management can improve operational efficiencies in the legal industry, and hearing the perspective of a legal client was invaluable. For me, this highlighted how BigHand’s impact can resonate beyond the law firm and improve the bottom lines of their clients.
Another powerful story that came from one session detailed the need for respect and proper delegation within teams. People should be encouraged to make mistakes and learn from feedback without creating a blame culture. At BigHand, we are encouraged to ‘fail fast’; own our mistakes, and recover quickly by taking on and applying constructive feedback.
Of course, there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all' approach in legal resourcing, but it’s true that elevating skilled individuals and nurturing their growth is crucial. For younger associates especially there are demands for certain standards and talent development initiatives that firms must meet. Broadly, the clear generational differences between lawyers mean practice leaders must manage this dynamic to understand what truly retains talent beyond basic salaries.
Clients wanting more for less
Client outcomes were a recurring topic at the BigHand Conference. In the session "The Balancing Act of Running Support Services in a Law Firm", an expert panel discussed clients' increasing expectations, specifically their reluctance to pay for low-value administrative tasks handled by lawyers. The panel included Sandie Craciun, Director at Konsept Services, Justin North, Consultant at Pickering Pearce and Sue Kingdon, Head of Operations at Dentons.
Sandie shared a story about her daughter's experience as a trainee lawyer. She approached support services for help with some administrative work and was turned away after the PA explained how she wasn’t responsible for junior lawyers! Sandie’s daughter then became very self-sufficient with admin work, instead of delegating these tasks to dedicated support staff, simply because she hadn’t been properly trained in or introduced to those services. Sandie went on to say that her daughter did not stay at that firm very long!
Firms really need to prioritize training on accessing support services to prevent lawyers from handling admin tasks that detract from client work. This highlights the importance of optimal workflow practices to ensure that tasks are appropriately delegated, enhancing operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
The changing role of the partner
Implementing optimal workflow structures takes a certain amount of agility across a firm, and this mindset must extend to the top. Partners need to consider business development and firm profitability more than ever before. We spoke with James Markham, Consulting Director at Markham Consulting, who explained, “There is an increasing expectation from firms that partners are better versed in financial literacy. They may or may not have had that training coming through the ranks, but there’s a real gap around the education piece that firms need to address and support their partners with.”
To this point, my colleague Eric Wangler recently wrote about how leveraging data-driven insights from business intelligence and financial software can support sustainable growth and success in law firms. Eric explained how financial literacy training and access to performance data facilitate a broader knowledge of operational factors such as workloads and time management. Ultimately, understanding the actions that contribute to a firm’s business goals will help partners make better profit-driven decisions.
Embracing and adopting change
It’s one thing to highlight why partners need to embrace change, but it’s another to affect it. At the BigHand Conference, I had the pleasure of hosting a session alongside Christopher Ryan, Chief Growth Officer at Harbor. We discussed driving effective change management and the importance of continuous iterative change through AI and legal technology. A learning that really resonated with me and with the attendees was the following formula for transformational change that Chris presented:
Vision + Skills + Incentives + Resources + Action Plan = Transformation
If you remove any component, it results in a breakdown in the transformation process. The question then becomes how you can implement the formula for transformational change. The key to successfully adopting change through legal technology is bringing the product to life:
- Communicate your shared future: Craft the story of “why” you need to change.
- Build the community: Align stakeholders to the future firm state.
- Spark the movement: Bring the technology to life with focused messaging.
- Amplify early success: Leverage early successes to tell your transformation story.
Overall, the BigHand conference emphasized the importance of adaptability, continuous learning, and collaboration. I'm excited to apply these insights and contribute to the ongoing transformation in our industry! If you’d like to delve deeper into building a culture of change at your law firm, reach out to discuss how BigHand’s solutions can help transform your growth strategy.
