Law firm, barristers’ chambers, inhouse legal counsel - learning and development, coaching, consulting
We have been doing a lot of work with firms on pricing and scoping work. These are the issues:
Here’s a conundrum. Surveys show that price comes about seventh down a list of top ten criteria that in-house lawyers use when choosing external firms. Yet when we speak to law firms, they seem to consider that price is paramount to their clients and, certainly, in-house lawyers are always keen to know a firm’s hourly rates. So what’s going on? Continue reading ‘How much will it cost?’
Sherwood members Des O’Connell and Gwyn Price played a major role in the Commerce & Industry Group conference Managing an in-house legal department in a cost-effective way, held in London in March and chaired by Richard Tapp, Director of Legal Services, Carillion plc.
The key areas of focus Continue reading ‘In-house’
Earlier this year, Sherwood held a number of coaching workshops attended by law firm partners and HR professionals.
In particular, we looked at:
One of the major challenges facing large and increasingly diversified law firms of the future is how to achieve consistent and high quality client service by addressing differences in culture and geographical location. Training and knowledge management systems are key to meeting this challenge.
Traditional methods of learning, in the form of either formal instruction or on-the-job experience, are increasingly inadequate and ineffective in developing lawyers in large international law firms. Dispersed locations, even within a single jurisdiction, increase these problems. They make the delivery of firm-wide training impossible, impractical or too costly. As a result, much of the training or learning will continue to be local and likely, therefore, to reinforce a diversity of cultures.
A conjunction of three developments,
provides a means of overcoming these problems. Continue reading ‘Knowledge management: using knowledge management systems to support on-the-job learning’
A forcefield analysis of what supports and hinders the successful use of coaching in firms – based on participant responses at a recent Sherwood coaching workshop.
What factors can provide a positive influence on introducing a coaching culture? Continue reading ‘What’s helping and hindering firms introduce a coaching culture?’
A large number of law firms are not going to survive in their present form. They are not viable in the long term. Those that survive and prosper will do so because they get right two fundamental deals – two sorts of business relationship – that are the basis of success for any professional firm. The deal with the clients and the deal with the firm’s people – all their partners and staff. How can they get these deals right and ensure success and survival? Continue reading ‘Of deals and spiral staircases’
