Towards better management

Simon Young argues that management training is not only important for partners but should be a recurrent theme for all practising lawyers

I was both glad and sorry to read a recent letter to the editor that suggested the current Law Society management course stage one was 'pointless' and an 'obstacle course' (see [2003] Gazette, 15 May, 16).

I was glad, because the writer went on to suggest that management training should be compulsory for those who reach partnership, which I firmly believe to be correct.

However, I was sorry because of the perception that management is only important at firm or partnership level.

Management should be a theme throughout lawyers' careers, with early concentration on self-development and people management.

Currently, apart from the stage one course, lawyers may enter into the partnership arena without any training for what they will face.

Approaching partnership requires an understanding of accounting issues to assess the risks the partnership candidate is to take on, and the rewards to be expected.

That requires knowledge of accounts that is way beyond most lawyers.

New partners plunge into a world where they are employers, not employees; with a bewildering range of roles to perform (people manager, marketer, entrepreneur, strategist, decision-taker); where expectations of them may never have been articulated; and where the time commitments may seem impossible.

We give no help, and nor do we seek to protect ourselves as a profession from the problems that the lack of training and assistance in this regard will cause.

How do we compare with others? The Law Society of Scotland requires all solicitors about to enter into partnership, or who have just done so, to attend a two-day course on regulatory and management issues.

The possible trend for other professions finds its most extreme example in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

From this autumn, the RICS will require all entrants to the profession to acquire, within the first five years of membership, management training from a recognised educational establishment equivalent to 60 MBA credits - an expected 600 study hours.

The institution believes the move will make candidates more keen to join, not less, as they will recognise that they will be required to be businessmen, not just abstract 'professionals'.

Some efforts have been made.

The Lexcel initiative effectively pushes solicitor partners towards management skills.

The Law Management Section has, over the past few years, established a significant role as a provider of management training at its well-supported conferences and forums.

And Law Society Publishing has established a helpful list of books on various management topics.

But that is not enough.

Any legal management consultant will tell you that the simple lack of understanding of management issues at partner level is the clearest single thread running through the problems of firms.

Those problems then show up in a lack of systematic management, leading to claims and complaints, and eroding all the efforts to instil a client-centred culture.

What is more, they show in firms' bottom lines - a well managed firm with a clear idea of its strategy and plan will make more for its hard-working partners than one that simply muddles along.

We as a profession need to bite the bullet and make sure that solicitors get the help they need, with properly planned and phased practical training aimed at what they will have to cope with at each stage of their career.

Simon Young is a Law Society Council member and management consultant.

He is the author of New Partners' Guide to Management, published in June by Law Society Publishing.

The views expressed here are his own