Management training for the bar

The Bar Council has recently amended the CPD Regulations so that management training can count towards a barrister’s annual CPD requirement, recognising the need to train those that are involved in running their chambers.

Once upon a time all that was regarded as necessary to train as a barrister was some academic legal education, and a pupillage. The rest came through experience and by observing others. Today, in common with almost all other professions, the Bar recognises the need and value of continuing professional education and development.

The Sherwood law firm finance simulator

Sherwood has been using a simple but effective law firm finance simulator with a number of clients. Here, the way it works and its benefits are briefly explained.

Having those difficult conversations

It’s never going to be easy having a difficult conversation. Clearly, the better the relationship you have with the other person the more chance the conversation will work. A technique called Non-Violent Communication can help.

Life in a law firm can be hard. One of the things that makes life difficult is the process of confronting and solving problems and of having difficult conversations.

On the shelf

In our consulting and management development work we happily credit the wide range of sources from which we get some of our ideas. We are occasionally asked, “what would be interesting to read?” So here is an eclectic current top twenty that we hope will inspire, instruct or entertain. In alphabetical order

Business development training – getting more bangs for your buck!

Professional firms are using a number of different ways of improving the business development skills in their practice groups. But are some training formats better than others?
Sherwood PSF Consulting ran Breakfast Workshops to explore potential developments to help training become more effective. We discovered that there are three different levels at which firms are operating:

Managing young talent

Managing talent clearly isn’t easy in law firms. The headlines in the trade media are often about stars leaving one firm and joining another or law firms upping their salaries to stop Associates leaving. Our conversations with Senior Associates continue to reveal that many of them are not happy with their lot and would like more challenge, more feedback (particularly about partnership prospects) and more reward.

But what about the talented younger lawyers? Evidence suggests this is where things are starting to go wrong. What do they need, or seek, from their bosses to allow their talents to flourish? This was the question put to a group of talented young people at a conference at Clare College, organised and chaired by Dennis Sherwood, MD of the Silver Bullet Machine Manufacturing Company.

Dennis writes….

So, what’s the most interesting thing about coaching?

Here are four aspects of coaching that I find particularly interesting.

1. Selecting the topic

Coaching begins with the client choosing a topic to work on. Often the client comes prepared:

Coaching – Soviet style

Recent discoveries in the state archives of the former Soviet Union give a fascinating insight into the development of coaching behind the Iron Curtain. Are we only now beginning to catch up? We are indebted to Professor Natasha Pushemova for permission to use her translation.

Making pitches less speculative

The smart firms are deciding not to wait for clients to invite them to pitch for work – they’re going out there to present their credentials. Not only can this speed up the process of winning instructions, but it can also cut out competitors as well as save the firm the time costs of going through a potentially more rigorous formal pitch.

Pricing: a response

We always welcome responses to our newsletters. Here, Stephen Gillespie of Allen & Overy LLP, the former co-head of banking who now supervises the firm’s strategy, comments on our previous articles on pricing