Education is the basis for future law firm growth

Manufacturer Ben Serotta, founder of Serotta Competition Bicycles, had a problem: The sales staff at his 320 independent bike retailers failed to fit their customers properly; the result was that his hand-built frames didn’t satisfy his objective. He decided that the instruction manuals, brochures and occasional face-to-face sessions with the disparate sales staff just didn’t suffice.

His solution: Training programs at the plant for a reduced distribution network of 130 stores. The results were outstanding. The retailers sought him out for more training. He charged $1,000, later raised to $1,600, for each staff person who attended his training. And, the sales have doubled!

The results are really significant: A financial reward of doubling the sales; happier sales staff; and many more satisfied customers.

There is a resonant sound to this in the legal field. The most common request from associates: more and better education/training from the firms that employs them. And a significant complaint from dissatisfied associates is that their law firms don’t pay enough attention to education and mentoring of the associates.

This need is relevant to all attorneys, in large as well as in small law firms. In fact, I suspect that a major attraction for retention of associates is the factor (or lack thereof) of education by the firm of its lawyers — and staff!

Categorized in: Management