Essential Soft Skills for Lawyers
What They Are and How to Develop Them
Published: 2020
Pages: 191
eBook: 9781787423404
This Special Report offers a research-based view into the importance of soft skills for modern lawyers and how law firms develop essential soft skills – whether to comply with SRA rules, to lead productive teams, to provide the best service to clients or to grow their practice
Through interviews with lawyers, leaders and human resource professionals at large and small firms, the report provides an overview of the essential soft skills required by modern lawyers, competency frameworks and insights into how best to develop them and guidance on some of the essential soft skills required.
Interpersonal, emotional intelligence, communication, learning, adaptability, problem-solving, negotiation, team management, leadership and business development are amongst the soft skills explored for high-performing lawyers.
This report is the guide to developing the skills needed to get ahead and stay ahead in your legal career.
Table of Contents
| Cover | Cover | |
|---|---|---|
| Title Page | 1 | |
| Copyright Page | 2 | |
| Table of Contents | 3 | |
| Acknowledgements | 7 | |
| I. Introduction | 9 | |
| II. What do we mean by 'soft skills?' | 11 | |
| 1. Technical legal and technology skills | 11 | |
| 2. Is it practical intelligence? | 12 | |
| 3. Is it commerciality? | 12 | |
| 4. Are they emotional or people skills? | 12 | |
| 5. Are they attributes? | 14 | |
| III. The importance of soft skills for lawyers | 15 | |
| 1. World Economic Forum's Future of Work report | 15 | |
| 2. Management experts | 16 | |
| 3. Client perspective | 17 | |
| 4. Solicitors Regulation Authority | 17 | |
| 5. Legal sector commentators | 18 | |
| 6. Commercial and trusted advisers | 20 | |
| 7. T-shaped lawyers | 24 | |
| 8. O-shaped lawyers | 25 | |
| 9. The Delta Model | 25 | |
| IV. Emotional intelligence for lawyers | 27 | |
| 1. What is emotional intelligence? | 28 | |
| 1.1 Self-awareness and personality assessments. | 28 | |
| 1.2 Self-management | 30 | |
| 1.3 Social awareness and empathy | 31 | |
| 1.4 Relationship management | 32 | |
| 1.5 Being politically astute | 32 | |
| 2. Client views on emotional intelligence in lawyers | 34 | |
| 3. The link between confidence and perfectionism | 36 | |
| 4. Stress, resilience and wellbeing | 37 | |
| 5. Decision making | 40 | |
| 6. High-performance environment | 41 | |
| V. Methods of developing lawyer soft skills | 43 | |
| 1. Approaches to training and development | 44 | |
| 1.1 Dedicated learning and development function | 44 | |
| 1.2 Training academies | 48 | |
| 1.3 External training suppliers | 48 | |
| 1.4 Self-managed learning | 49 | |
| 1.5 Best practice | 52 | |
| 1.6 On-the-job training | 52 | |
| 1.7 Case studies and scenario analysis | 52 | |
| 1.8 Peer learning | 53 | |
| 1.9 Secondments and shadowing | 53 | |
| 1.10 Part-time (voluntary) roles | 53 | |
| 1.11 Digital training and e-learning | 54 | |
| 1.12 Role models | 58 | |
| 1.13 Feedback | 58 | |
| 1.14 Coaching and mentoring | 59 | |
| 2. Law Society research | 61 | |
| 3. How to promote learning and different learning styles | 62 | |
| 3.1 Fear of change | 62 | |
| 3.2 Fixed and growth mind-set | 63 | |
| 3.3 Adaptive third | 63 | |
| 3.4 Change management | 63 | |
| 3.5 Learning theory and process | 63 | |
| 3.6 Learning styles | 65 | |
| 3.7 Reflection | 66 | |
| 3.8 Retention | 66 | |
| 3.9 Motivation to learn | 68 | |
| 4. Competency frameworks | 68 | |
| 5. Measuring the effectiveness of training | 71 | |
| 6. Awards for soft skills development | 73 | |
| VI. The range of soft skills required by lawyers | 75 | |
| 1. Essential soft skills for lawyers | 75 | |
| 2. Lawyer qualities and attributes | 78 | |
| VII. Five essential soft skills for lawyers | 81 | |
| 1. Personal skills | 81 | |
| 1.1 Goal setting | 81 | |
| 1.2 Making an impact, messaging and personal brand | 87 | |
| 1.3 Creativity | 89 | |
| 2. Communication skills | 93 | |
| 2.1 Non-verbal communication | 95 | |
| 2.2 Active listening | 98 | |
| 2.3 Storytelling | 102 | |
| 3. Building relationships | 105 | |
| 3.1 A model of business relationships | 106 | |
| 3.2 Understanding different types of relationships and how they are formed | 107 | |
| 3.3 Creating rapport and trust | 112 | |
| 3.4 Navigating difference and conflict | 122 | |
| 4. Leadership - managing a team | 126 | |
| 4.1 Delegation | 128 | |
| 4.2 Coaching | 133 | |
| 4.3 Feedback | 140 | |
| 5. Business development - marketing, selling and referrer management | 144 | |
| 5.1 What is business development? | 145 | |
| 5.2 Networking | 148 | |
| 5.3 Presenting and performing | 153 | |
| 5.4 Selling | 155 | |
| VIII. Soft skills in other professions. | 159 | |
| 1. Solicitors Regulation Authority | 159 | |
| 1.1 Core competencies | 159 | |
| 1.2 Professional Skills Course | 160 | |
| 1.3 Practice Skills Standards | 160 | |
| 2. Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales | 160 | |
| 3. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors | 162 | |
| IX. Concluding observations | 165 | |
| X. Signposts to other learning resources | 171 | |
| 1. Recommended books | 172 | |
| 2. Training organisations | 178 | |
| Appendix I. Illustrative competency dictionary and framework | 179 | |
| Appendix II. Example RICS mandatory competency - communications and negotiation | 181 | |
| Notes | 183 | |
| About the author | 189 | |
| About Globe Law and Business | 191 |
Every so often, a book is published which you know will become the ‘go-to’ text in its field.
For lawyers, L&D and HR professionals, trainers and coaches, Kim has skilfully crafted a definitive guide to essential soft skills for lawyers.
It contains a wealth of resources offering a research-based overview into the importance of soft skills.
With real life practical examples from leading law firms, it is well referenced with a comprehensive list of sources. Easy to dip into for an understanding of different soft skills, or to broaden knowledge of a familiar topic.
Caron Murphy
(Former Head of L&D, Russell-Cooke LLP)
This timely book is the first of its kind which I’ve encountered and provides a hugely important perspective on the professional skills required by the next generation of lawyers. The text is accessible and practical in outlook while also offering a wealth of detail and recommended resources which will be invaluable to students and practitioners alike. It brings together the full range of existing and emerging competencies such as legal technology and business development, and offers insightful guidance on how to enhance these skillsets. I would recommend this book to all law students embarking on a career in legal practice and to practising lawyers seeking to future-proof their careers in a dynamic legal marketplace.
Christopher Howard
Director of Professional Legal Education, The Professional Law Institute, The Dickson Poon School of Law (King's College London)
Kim Tasso
Managing director, RedStarKim Ltd
[email protected]
Kim Tasso BA (Hons) DipM FCIM MCIJ MBPsS MBA is the managing director of RedStarKim Ltd. She is an independent management consultant and professional coach/trainer, specialising in the professional services sector, with over 30 years' experience.
After qualifying in psychology and working for several years in the technology sector, she worked for a number of leading professional service firms (Deloitte and Nabarro Nathanson (now part of CMS)) before starting her own business in January 1994.
She has since worked for more than 300 clients, including solicitors' firms, barristers' chambers, patent attorneys, accountancy practices, insolvency practitioners, actuaries, surveyors, marketing services agencies and management consultants.
She advises on and provides training and coaching in the strategic and operational aspects of management, change, marketing, business development, sales and client relationship management. She has published six books (on selling, media relations, growth strategies and business relationships) and hundreds of articles.
She has held various non-executive director positions in the property industry and is a trustee of a mental health charity.