Typing pool to equity poolFIRMS ARE recognising the value of giving training to NON-LEGAL STAFF.

LINDA TSANG REPORTSNon-legal staff are no longer just the people who type the letters and collect the post.

With the general shortage of young lawyers and ever-present competitive pressures on firms, the importance of non-legal staff is growing rapidly.And training is no longer just what a firm's lawyers receive.

Training is now a priority for non-legal staff too, both with the aim of improving what non-legal staff already do and opening up career horizons for them.

Chichester-based Thomas Eggar Church Adams is an example of the former.

One of the leading practices for financial services work, it has hived off that part of its practice into a separate company, Thesis Asset Management.John Stapleton, managing partner of the law firm and chairman of the financial services business, says: 'The firm facilitates training and there is a clear divide between the lawyers and the financial staff.

We facilitate training across the firm, and the advisers in the financial planning department of Thesis all have financial planning certificates under IMRO [Investment Management Regulatory Organisation] so that they can give that advice, with a per capita allocation for that training'.As an example of the latter, top Sheffield practice Irwin Mitchell recently became the first major law firm to offer in-house legal executive training to secretarial and paralegal staff.To achieve this, the firm approached John Westwood, managing director of ILEX Paralegal Training.

He says that recent changes in the legal profession and practice have already led to law firms having to rethink the training of all employees.

'Firms are becoming more conscious that training is an important aspect across the board, from the senior partner down.

Until recently, the emphasis in most firms was on CPD for the lawyers and how they could complete the compulsory number of hours needed.'In contrast, the training of support staff was not usually high on the list of priorities.

Generally, it was for the support staff to organise their own evening classes if they wanted training, but it was certainly not formalised or provided professionally.

But recently, with the introduction of the Legal Services Commission and the requirements in relation to legal aid franchising and contracting, firms have realised that training is an important element of the firm's practice.'The Irwin Mitchell programme is essentially a modern legal apprenticeship, with the option to move on to the Institute of Legal Executives qualifications, and staff can gain an NVQ (National Vocational Qualification), a legal secretarial diploma, or a paralegal certificate.

The programmes provided by Mr Westwood's company are based on NVQs, and so can attract funding from TECs (Training Enterprise Councils, which become Learning and Skills Councils in April 2001).David Body, the partner in charge of training in the personal injury department at Irwin Mitchell, says: 'The idea was to bring all aspects of that training in-house and to make it more attractive to both secretaries and paralegals.'The training is now available in all our offices, and we are working on bringing in, next term, those who are already doing part 2 of the ILEX programme under their own steam.

We are pleased with the take-up since September, and the general feedback has also been favourable.

Of course, it doesn't make getting the ILEX qualification easier, but bringing all the stages in-house does ease up on the practicalities.'The training can be provided by an educational institution (at Irwin Mitchell, it is from lecturers from Sutton Coldfield College), or by an independent training provider.

There is scope for flexibility, depending on what is negotiated between the firm and the training provider and assessors.

Mr Westwood says: 'You can have the training providers go into the firm once a month to give the staff an underpinning knowledge and that can also cover assessment so the staff do not lose out by having to take time to go somewhere else to be trained.

The advantages are obvious: the trainers go to the firm, the firm gets trained staff in-house, financial support is available, and the training providers have customers.' One former secretary at Irwin Mitchell is now a paralegal at the firm and is doing the ILEX programme.

Kathryn Clarkson was a secretary for more than 12 years, and says: 'It is a culture shock switching to being a paralegal and doing the course, but it is a chance to get more client contact and use the skills I learned as a secretary.' In the Sheffield office, 20 employees, including paralegals, current and former secretaries attend the practice-and-law sessions every Monday and Friday mornings.

She adds: 'For the secretaries, it also gives them another option if they want to switch to practice.' Mr Westwood comments that in relation to the secretarial qualification side, this is a sensible move because of the current shortage of legal secretaries.

He says: 'Legal secretaries are increasingly seen as an essential cog in the working of any law firm.' And staff development at Milton Keynes firm Fennemores is so advanced that a partner was appointed recently who had begun at the firm as a secretary.

Training manager Patricia Watson says: 'With continued support and encouragement from the firm and her own dedication to study, sheer hard work, and perseverance, she has achieved a first-class degree in law followed by distinctions and prizes at law school and rapid progression to partnership.' She adds: 'The firm is conscious of the benefits of training and is therefore very supportive in encouraging all its employees to enhance their performance in the workplace by developing their skills and knowledge.' Non-legal staff at the firm such as junior secretaries have combined studying for the Modern Apprenticeship and the ILEX Legal Secretaries Diploma.

Last year, five secretaries at Fennemores were the first in the country to complete the new Modern Apprenticeship in Business Administration, together with merits and distinctions in the ILEX components of legal practice, audio-text, and information processing.

They have then been able to progress further to take ILEX Paralegal Vocational qualifications or ILEX professional examinations.

Work-based training is becoming an increasingly regular feature in all businesses, where employees are assessed on their abilities and competence in the workplace instead of only on passing exams, and that is increasingly attractive to businesses such as law firms.Mr Westwood says the rationale for firm-wide training is obvious.

He says: 'Whether it is meeting the criteria for getting a quality mark or the requisite for legal aid practice or just improving the firm, training tends to have a domino effect - it encompasses everyone in the firm, and firms are realising that the training will pay dividends in terms of staff retention and client care, and that is the most effective argument for it.'Both internally and externally, firms are having to meet other criteria, with quality marks such as the Law Society's Lexcel, ISO or Investors in People.

The larger firms normally have resources to provide training in-house, and have been doing that for years.

Nick Jarrett-Kerr, management board chairman at south-west firm Bevan Ashford, says: 'We have had an ongoing programme to build on the technical training that we have always given across the firm, since we got Investors in People four years ago, and that covers everything from file management, to developing other skills such as mentoring and management.'It is not particularly rocket science but you should try to be methodical about it.

Essentially, it is about enhancing and developing an individual, and the training is focused on the needs of that individual.' And Irwin Mitchell's Mr Body is also looking at going further with in-house training: 'Once the full ILEX programme is set, the next project is to get the in-house training schemes accredited so that the qualified staff can do an in-house LLM [Masters in Law].

As for why, why not? Everyone from the most junior to the most senior should have the opportunity to do something new to develop their career.'Linda Tsang is a freelance journalist