Climate change and the Legal Services Act

Christine, when you say 'we', the assumption must be that you are referring to fee earners including managers. As an attempt to get the movers and shakers in firms to think about the issue, you should be commended. Fee earners are probably too concerned about more mundane things right now such as paying the bills! I would take the views of 'non-legal consultants' with a pinch of salt. No one has an idea how things will turn out unless they have conducted some research into the area. Otherwise, how can we assess the validity of what we are told? Regards

Legal Trainer -11 Mar 2009 | 00:00

Christine, it's good to see somebody talking about changes on the horizon during the meltdown. I've never seen anybody draw an analogy between Climate Change and the LSA, it does fit. That said, we need to stop looking outward for solutions. Looking outward, instead of changing inwards, lies at the root of our problems. The LSA is built on a blind spot towards the learning capabilities of lawyers themselves. It assumes that if it infuses new skills into the firm, this will somehow solve the problem. The problem stems from contempt among lawyers, of non-legal learning. This contempt has its basis in fear. If legal learning carries a liability, what liability might come from learning management, numbers and - gasp - marketing? We need to start by divesting lawyers of this contempt, and teaching them all the cross skills MDPs are supposed to magically create within the firm. The proposed regime is based on a fallacy, that lawyers cannot learn. Furthermore, it proposes competition among regulators, and sneakily tries to do away with the current training mechanisms. The Government seems to be saying 'lawyers can't learn, let's build non-lawyers who can do law instead'. I wonder if climate change has a similar learning for all of us.

Suhasini -12 Mar 2009 | 00:00

I like the comparison with climate change and believe that, in the same way we all now use less plastic bags, we can change habits. It is an old truism that lawyers need to realise that they are managing, or employed by, businesses. As a freelance practice manager, I find that this is often the biggest hurdle with smaller firms. Indeed one partner said that the concept that he was running a business was "a novel idea"! Culture change, like climate change, will take hard work - start early!

Anita Amies -20 Mar 2009 | 00:00

This is a percipient article from one of the few members of the legal profession who is actively thinking about these topics. More will have to engage.

I and my colleague, Daniel Muzio at Leeds University Business School, are setting up a research project on this very topic. We would welcome all opportunities to talk to interested people about this. Please, if you are interested, do contact me: johnaflood@gmail.com.

John Flood -23 May 2009 | 01:00