In the competitive world of legal services, client satisfaction is paramount. What often differentiates the best law firms from the rest is not just the services they offer but how they deliver these services. At the heart of this exceptional service delivery is effective law firm training. Let’s explore how investing in comprehensive training programs for attorneys and staff can lead to higher client satisfaction, setting the stage for law firms to not only meet but exceed client expectations.
Training within law firms isn’t just about checking boxes. It’s an absolute necessity for the successful operation of any law firm that has a strategic and significant impact on client satisfaction.
Law school alone doesn’t provide the skills needed to practice law effectively. It isn’t enough for law graduates to have only a theoretical understanding of legal issues; they need a comprehensive, well-rounded grasp of both the law and its more subtle strategic applications. With this knowledge, they can serve their clients well by advising them with precision and responsiveness and by addressing more law-relevant client needs that inevitably arise.
Long-term, high-quality training assures firm lawyers that they can meet any complex legal issue head-on and resolve it with precise and thoughtful legal analysis. This, after all, is what clients pay big bucks for—the lawyers’ bespoke understanding of their unique problems and situations. Even more valuable is the legally trained talent that is content to serve as the lead in recently enacted, not-yet-fully-settled, or on the draft board for the next five years of legal terrain. The firm is content to have its lawyers render advice in these “head spaces” because that advice satisfies clients and earns the firm a premium place in the legal market. Long-term training ensures their lawyers are well-versed in serving their clients in all these legal spaces.
Law firms seek to cover various subjects in their training programs. These subjects include not just the arcane knowledge of the law but also knowledge that is practical and useful in the contexts in which lawyers usually find themselves. What I call practical skills training is often part of these programs, too, and for good reason: the best way to learn something is frequently to do it under the watchful eye of an experienced mentor or to do it in a simulated setting that is as close as possible to the real thing. In law, as in other professions, training that imparts practical skills is vital. Practical skills training, as the programs in law firms are often called, focuses on the essentials: lawyers learn how to draft documents that have the desired effect and how to negotiate in a way that is advantageous to the client.
Training programs that develop not only the hard skills but also the soft skills necessary for success in the legal profession are important and, I would argue, essential for law firms seeking to improve the quality of their practice and the satisfaction of their clients. Why? Because it’s no longer enough for attorneys to simply know the law and practice it efficiently. They also need to be exceptionally skilled and effective communicators. That’s what clients want. They want their attorneys to be able to communicate complex legal ideas and analyses clearly, concisely, and intelligently to them and to all necessary third parties, such as judges and juries. Clients equally want their attorneys to be good listeners—attorneys who not only hear what their clients are saying but also “get” it, comprehending the essence of the matter at hand. Finally, and not insignificantly, clients want and need their attorneys to be problem solvers—individuals who will help them through difficult times and circumstances, no matter the tight deadlines and great pressure involved, and as creatively as necessity allows.
Crafting law firm training into the fabric of the firm can be challenging. The reason for this resistance often boils down to three major obstacles: firms typically have too little time, too little budget, and too little enthusiasm, mainly from leadership, to embrace what is often seen as a necessary evil. Getting past these three “too lates” requires training to be reframed as a “strategic investment” rather than an “expensive obligation.” Time can be freed up, at least partially, by scheduling training sessions during the less busy times of the day or week. Using the quarter system instead of the annual system to report training outcomes can offset disappointment. And if training can’t be made to fit into the workflow of the entry-level employee, then it’s clearly going to be harder to digest for the busy associates and partners.
As for budget difficulties, law firms can take a push-start approach to training staff and make it work on a limited budget. Cost-effective, small-scale training initiatives can be mounted that allow the firm to gradually and inorganically expand, just like the government does when trying to take over a small country. Cheap online training is one alternative; another is the use of in-house seminars and peer-led workshops, which, if done right, can deliver real value with little risk and investment. If those seminar leaders and workshop leaders are themselves, lawyers who are getting something out of the experience that is not just futile demonstrate-to-a-remote-class miming, this is perfectly sensible. Indeed, there’s some reason to think that in-house training works better than fancy out-of-house training.
For example, if client satisfaction surveys reflect improvements in communication or responsiveness, we can attribute this success to our training efforts. Our retention rates are another key metric, and, steadily improving, they reflect the long-term impact of our training on client relationships. Quantitative metrics tell part of the story; qualitative feedback is also crucial. Performance evaluations yield insights that help us understand the broader impact of our training. And one-on-one discussions with staff allow us to dig deeper. We focus on listening to understand how training might have influenced staff work and client interactions. Continuous improvement in staff performance is essential to maintaining high levels of client service and satisfaction. For law firms, this is an “almost daily” business.
A commitment to constant learning creates a culture of excellence and innovation. That is what this firm is all about. In a rapidly changing legal landscape, the firm is not merely maintaining its past status but is always on the move—forward and upward. How? By embracing the latest laws, regulations, and practices as they emerge and then using those to serve its clients. Yes, those firm lawyers primarily work in traditional settings and practices, but that makes even more sense because—to adapt a business truism—the firm needs to understand where its bread is buttered. And the lawyers do understand. They constantly find new ways to serve long-time clients and frequently push the envelope, doing tasks for those clients that other firms would have handled in the past or that might not have been addressed at all.
It is clear that there is a direct link between client satisfaction and the training received by law firms. Our research shows that highly trained legal services teams perform much better than less trained teams. They are more competent, confident, and capable of delivering the top-quality service clients deserve and expect. When it comes to the highly paid, high-stakes, high-risk world of serving up the law, training makes a difference. And that’s no surprise. The best-trained, best-commanded, and better-led legal team serves its client better than the less-trained, commanded, and led team. And that’s a correlation directly linked to client satisfaction, if not the litmus test. Contact the Law Firm Management Academy today, to see how our programs and training can increase the effectiveness and profitability of your firm.
