Practical magic: Experiential learning for lawyers

Key takeaway points:

1. Learning retention. Traditional lecture-based learning may provide some knowledge, but is not an effective means of learning and embedding behavioural skills.

2. Cost of learning. The overall cost of learning goes beyond the cost of the course. Non-billable time and the value people place on their personal career development are key considerations.

3. Preferred learning styles. Maximise personal development experience by ensuring that learning is designed and delivered according to lawyers’ needs.

4. Experiential learning. Help lawyers to learn by doing, as opposed to learning by simply hearing, reading or observing.

 

Ponder this fact if you will: top professional services firms allocate up to one per cent of their annual revenue turnover to their total learning and development budget. This may sound relatively small but, for some firms, this total alone may exceed £2 million. Interesting, but so what, you may ask?

What if research demonstrated that, when learning is typically delivered in lecture format, only five per cent of the information provided is usually retained? (See Figure 1)

In other words, for a one-hour lecture, the participants may only recall approximately three minutes’ worth of learning. Now add on lost billable time for all those partners and associates who participated in training lectures that may or may not have ‘stuck’ and a new picture emerges.

Using a simplistic example to demonstrate the point, a City firm with around 200 associates could quite easily lose £280,000 in lost billable time if all those associates attended a half-day training course at a rate of £400 an hour. That amount is for just one course. Take into account the 16 hours of continuing professional development that is required per solicitor and the lost billable fees easily exceeds a million for the same firm.

At the end of the day, a typical firm could lose close to £2 million in lost budgets and fees, with very little to show for it in terms of the professional, intellectual and personal development of its workforce.

The problem doesn’t stop there. Poorly-developed managers without the right level ?of skills development and emotional intelligence may become the primary ?reason why a firm’s brightest talent ?decides to move to the competition.

Linked to this is the fact that employees are quick to question the value placed on their career development. What is the firm actively doing to ensure their career development is kept on track and is ahead of the competition? How is the firm adding value to their individual worth in the marketplace?

If the way that learning is delivered has such a large impact on costs and resources, surely learning and development professionals should consider how lawyers prefer to learn and tailor the learning solutions accordingly to maximise the learning outcomes.

So, how do lawyers prefer to learn?

How lawyers learn

By the very nature of their work, lawyers are risk-averse individuals. They prefer to stand back and ponder experiences and observe them from many different perspectives. They naturally gravitate to the source/solution where there is authority. They research precedents and rulings, collecting information both first hand and from others. They prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusion.

At the same time, they need time to conceptualise in their mind what they already know about the subject and what outcome is required before inputting or reaching a decision. Unless they have fully prepared ?their research and have all the facts at hand, they will not be comfortable or prepared to give an informed opinion or advice on ?a particular matter.

Interestingly, the role of the lawyer has developed significantly over the past decade. No longer are they seen purely as dispensers of legal advice. Today, lawyers are expected to be an extension of their client. In other words, they need to demonstrate commercial pragmatism.

Lawyers are expected to put on their business hat and demonstrate knowledge and commercial insight into their client’s business. In so doing, lawyers are developing the ability to try out new and innovative ideas, theories and techniques to see if they work in practice. In other words, they need to be able to see the client’s problem/ opportunity/ threat and provide practical legal/ commercial advice that enables the client to develop its business ahead of the competition.

We all have preferred ways of learning and learn better from some activities than others. In the mid 1970s, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford developed a set of learning styles for use with a population of middle/senior managers in business. It is commonly believed that most people favour some particular method of interacting with, taking in and processing information.

Essentially, there are four distinct learning styles:?

1. Activist: I’ll try anything once.

2. Reflector: I’d like time to think about this.

3. Theorist: How does this fit with that?

4. Pragmatist: How can I apply this in practice??

While the purpose of this article is not to explore Honey & Mumford’s learning styles in depth, nor is it to stereotype or pigeon-hole the way lawyers learn, my experience is that many of the lawyers with whom I have worked typically learn using the ‘reflector’ and ‘pragmatist’ styles.

Practising law is essentially a people business. Lawyers don’t produce or make anything. They have nothing to sell but their time and the value they can add to the client’s business. Given this level of interaction between lawyer and client, it is important to recognise the value in behavioural skills training, which is primarily about people.

As we have already identified, basic lectures provide little if no development in terms of knowledge retention and skills development. You cannot simply lecture for an hour on pitching, negotiation, project management and so on, and expect the delegate to apply the skills in practice without having practised them in a safe learning environment.

Back in 450 B.C, the Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius said “tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, let me do and I understand”. Confucius’ philosophy is backed by the NTL Institute’s research, which found that learners retain approximately 75 per cent of learning when they practise the skill in question and retain about 90 per cent of learning when they use the knowledge gained immediately or teach it to someone else.

So, if learning retention is highest when someone performs the learning in question, how could this learning be delivered to achieve maximum retention?

Experiential learning

Experiential learning involves learning by doing, as opposed to what is simply heard, read or observed.

Direct, purposeful learning experiences that represent reality or the closest reality to work experience provide the highest level of learning retention. Apart from actual on-the-job experience, experiential learning provides the most practical learning experience, simulating real-life scenarios in a safe environment.

Experiential learning can be delivered in as little as ten minutes or ten weeks; time is not a key factor. Experiential learning can also be delivered using a blended approach (such as classroom based, on the job and e-learning) to suit different learning preferences.

It is particularly suitable for lawyers when you revisit their typical reflector/pragmatist learning styles. The theory ?could be delivered via e-learning or a classroom-based workshop, followed by some case scenario analysis and group-based activity performed on the job to simulate real-life experience.

The following two examples demonstrate our approach to experiential learning at Baker & McKenzie.

?Example 1: Pitching to win

Our ‘pitching to win’ programme provides delegates with practical and accurate-to-life experiences of competitive pitching. The learning simulates every aspect of the pitch process, from initial receipt of the request for provision of legal services (RFP) to pre-pitch meetings with clients, project management planning and preparation, presentation rehearsals, delivery of the pitch presentation, post evaluation review, feedback and follow-up with the client.

Stage 1: Delegates attend an interactive three-hour workshop co-facilitated by an external training provider and members of the business development team. At the end of the workshop, delegates are placed into three to four teams. The teams are given a detailed commercial case scenario focusing on a global client (an RFP, company background, secondee report, media clips, and so on).

Stage 2: To maximise the learning experience, three partners with strong global pitch experience role play the client panel. Each partner receives a separate biography and background information on the company, allowing them to immerse themselves into their respective roles. ?They are able to challenge and ask searching questions of each team, based on their own client interactions. Each ?team may take the opportunity to meet the panel members pre-pitch to learn more about the client’s needs and the panel members’ motivations.

Stage 3: The business development and marketing team provide continuous support, coaching and the opportunity for teams to rehearse and receive constructive feedback prior to the main pitch presentations to the client panel.

Stage 4: After five weeks, each team is given 45 minutes to deliver their presentation and answer questions put forward to them by the client panel. Each presentation is filmed and observed by two assessors.

Stage 5: Delegates are invited to attend a feedback and evaluation session. The external provider and assessors provide detailed constructive feedback, examples of clips from each presentation and the delegates are encouraged to provide feedback and comments on the overall programme.

The learning curve is quite steep, especially in the area of behavioural engagement. While associates may be used to engaging clients on everyday matters either through face-to-face meetings, emails or phone calls, the behavioural skills required in pitching are more demanding. The delegates have to learn how to:?

• interpret and meet the requirements set out in an RFP from the client’s procurement department;

• recognise that panel members may have different motivations and personal agendas outside of their organisation’s requirements;

• work in a collaborative manner with people outside of their practice group and with the various support departments; and

• respond to challenging questions and obstacles thrown up by the panel.?

They also recognise that in-house counsel and procurement teams are a lot more sophisticated today than in the past and expect a greater value add from law firms (such as a shifting of risk when it comes to fee arrangements).

Example 2: Project management

Following on from the success and overwhelming positive feedback on our ‘pitching to win’ programme, we recognised that the learning application could be extended beyond the pitch to cover project management.

Winning the work is one thing, but managing the matter in the most efficient and effective way to ensure the client receives maximum value for money is another. The ability to provide a true estimate of legal fees is critical to both clients wanting certainty around their legal spend and law firms wanting a profitable outcome.

Stage 1: Delegates are provided with an interactive e-learning tutorial on fee negotiation and how to apply alternative fee arrangements.

Stage 2: A team of delegates negotiates the matter fee with the client panel (still played by the same partners from the ‘pitching to win’ programme), observed by two assessors.

Stage 3: Project management teams are selected to actually manage the matter using a budget based on the outcome of the fee negotiation. A simulated data room tests the delegates’ ability to manage document review in the most efficient manner. Red herrings are also thrown in by the ‘client’ to test how the teams manage aspects such as scope creep and the risk of going over budget. Teams record the matter progress using dedicated project software that includes full client access.

Stage 4: After five weeks, each ?team is evaluated by the supervising project manager and the client panel ?to see whether they delivered on time ?and to budget.

Hands-on experience

We have found that experiential training provides practical, hands-on learning that vastly increases learning retention. Lawyers appreciate the opportunity to try things out for themselves and, more importantly, apply what they have learned immediately in their work environment.

Phillip Westermeyer is the learning ?and development manager at ?international law firm Baker & McKenzie ?(www.bakermckenzie.com)