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Business Change for the Legal Sector


Most people rarely stop to think about what their time is worth.


If you’re salaried, it’s an easy calculation: just divide your after-tax paycheck by the number of working hours in an average month.


Most working professionals who are active on LinkedIn may be surprised at the number. It certainly makes it easier to justify outsourcing certain activities: cleaning, DIY, mowing the lawn (unless, like me, you’ve decided to ‘rewild’ the lawn – aka give up entirely!).


In fact, most dual income families rely on outsourcing large swathes of the admin of running a household, and technology has certainly helped: grocery shopping, travel booking, ordering essentials – most of these can now be done with a couple of clicks.


But what if you had to go back to the days of visiting a travel agent to books your holiday? Or a hardware store to buy a new saucepan? I certainly shudder to think about having to do my weekly shop in an actual store (although perhaps I’m still traumatised by my experiences trying to shop with two children under two).


The fact is, most of us now have far more time to focus on paid work than our predecessors. Whether this is a good or bad thing is open for debate, but the fact remains: we would struggle to live happy, productive lives if we had to go back to previous ways of doing things without fit-for-purpose technology to streamline the most commons tasks.


And yet, this is exactly the situation many lawyers find themselves in, hamstrung by outdated IT systems, struggling to log enough billable hours to meet their target while also getting a good outcome for their client.


Unlike most salaried employees, lawyers have the same targets for chargeable work, regardless of whether they spent 15 minutes or 5 hours completing non-chargeable activities like learning how to use a new IT system or business process.


As business change professionals, we always try to be cognisant of employees’ time when creating communications or training collateral, but with law firms, time really is money. Here’s how we tailor our approach to meet the unique needs of the legal sector.


Understanding the context


Like many organisations, law firms typically have two categories of worker: those who serve the customers and generate revenue (in this case, the fee earners and Partners), and the supporting functions (Secretarial Services, Finance, IT, HR…etc) who manage the systems and processes that make it possible for them to do so.


As business change consultants, we are usually brought in by the business services functions (often IT). This is important, because these functions operate in a similar way to their counterparts in most other companies with many of the same challenges, including often being seen as ‘keeping the lights on’ functions rather than strategic enablers for the business. 


Due to the Partnership model, power is more widely distributed throughout the firm, meaning budget decisions can sometimes be constrained more than other companies and it can be more difficult to gain consensus for large programmes of work.


Finally, during rollout it can be more difficult than normal to generate engagement for non-fee-earning activities such as workshops, communications and training. This makes it even more important to create compelling, tailored and engaging materials during any change projects.


How we tackle these issues in practice


At Epion, we have a consistent, proven approach to enabling change using our 5Es methodology: Envision, Engage, Equip, Embrace, Embed


1.     ENGAGE


First we need to engage those impacted by the change to understand their unique ways of working. For fee earners and Partners, this means focusing on activities which are reducing the amount of time available for value-added work. For example:


  • Time-consuming or inaccurate time logging process

  • Poor integration between systems leading to data quality issues

  • Unclear or inconsistent business processes meaning time spent asking for guidance

  • Lack of information to support client development or cross-sell opportunities

  • Inappropriately long or confusing communications and/or training

  • Manual admin tasks or rekeying of information in multiple systems

  • Unintuitive or poorly configured systems


However, getting this information takes time, so whereas we would normally prefer a small workshop format as part of our discovery exercise, for fee earners (and especially Partners), we prefer short (15-30 minute) one-to-one sessions.


2.     ENVISION


Normally we very clearly differentiate between user benefits and business benefits – after all, most staff don’t care if the CEO makes her bonus! But Partners are direct beneficiaries of the firm’s success, and fee earners aspire to be Partners one day.


This means our communications can include information about how the change will drive better business performance.


Other benefits we might focus on include:


  • More time for billable work – how will the change reduce the admin burden for Partners and fee earners, freeing them up to drive revenue for the firm.

  • More time for business development – developing trusted relationships with existing clients and winning new ones is an essential part of a lawyer’s role, so if the change will make this easier or more effective, it’s something we will want to shout about.

  • More interesting work – no-one enjoys boring, unnecessary work that doesn’t fit their skillset. Lawyers are highly trained, smart people who have worked hard to get their qualifications, skills and experience. Showing how the change will enable them to do more of what they’re good add speaks to this need. 


3.     EQUIP


We equip legal professionals with a combination of concise communications and user-friendly upskilling materials to help them understand what the change means for them. It is essential these are tailored to the specific needs of the role: generic materials are confusing and off-putting.


  • Consider the culture – law firms often fit towards the ‘late-majority’ end of the change curve. This means they tend to be slower to change than many organisations and more risk averse. This is appropriate (you don’t want your lawyer taking risks – at least not on your case!) but means you need to be more aware of potential resistance. The way power is distributed to Partners also means these individuals are highly influential, so it’s essential to secure Partners’ buy-in through ‘white glove’ support.

  • Use multi-channel communications and blended learning – just like any organisation, you’ll find a mix of preferences for different communications and training media and channels. One interesting nuance of law firms is that lawyers tend to be more comfortable with text-based comms and training as they spend so much time reading lengthy documentation. While brevity is still an essential quality, we might use written communication more with a law firm than another type of client.


4.     ENBRACE


By considering the unique needs of law firms, staff are much more likely to embrace the change, but there are a few best practices that reinforce buy-in.


  • Campaigns – it’s easy to underestimate the pull of old habits. There’s no getting away from the need for volume here, delivered as a consistent, well-integrated campaign. Without trivialising the process, it’s important to make it fun and exciting through creative communications and engagement activities in the run-up to, during and after the change is live.


  • Celebrating success – we all like to be appreciated for our efforts, and sometimes it’s even more enjoyable to praise others. That’s why we try to gather real-world examples of people succeeding both during and after the change, while also setting up mechanisms for those impacted to celebrate each other. In a law firm, Partners often hold enormous prestige so involving them in the process can be extremely powerful.


5.     EMBED


Many change methodologies see embedding as a stage that comes at the end of a project. At Epion, we take a different view: embedding should take place throughout the life of the project.


  • Building a change network – these staff are our eyes and ears on the ground and have the credibility and local knowledge to help us deliver the change effectively, both during and after the project. Secretarial staff often make excellent change agents as they know the firm inside out.


  • Troubleshooting – it’s so easy for a project to drift off course, or to pursue a blinkered approach that isn’t working for those impacted. Some of the tools we use to combat this include clinics, snagging and regular reset sessions where we stand back as a project team and challenge ourselves against the original outcomes we were meant to deliver for the firm. The network is invaluable here to provide rapid feedback, helping us course correct where necessary.


  • Skills transfer – throughout the project we are looking to make ourselves redundant. Only then can the change be fully embedded, so we look to pass on knowledge and experience, acting as coaches to our change agents and the business-as-usual team so they have the confidence and tools to continue after we leave.


While these are some of the tips and techniques we use in our work with law firms, there is no one-size-fits-all approach – each firm is unique and while some pride themselves on their long tradition, others are highly innovative and committed to modernisation.


At Epion, we bring our experience and lessons learned from working with law firms, but never assume we have all the answers. As with all our clients, we start by listening actively to what is consistent with previous clients, and what is different in each specific situation.


It’s that commitment to listening that makes our approach both effective and unique.


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