Our delegation skills training for lawyers is a practical session tailored for lawyers at different levels. Work has to be carried out at the right level to ensure cost effectiveness. Senior lawyers need to develop the competence of their team and the practice area. This training session helps lawyers to improve their delegation skills.
Our delegation skills training for lawyers compliments training you can do inside your firm.
Your internal training is best placed for training your lawyers on what to delegate in detail. We can compliment that with the behavioural change training needed to delegate more. We’ll explain why lawyers don’t delegate as much as they need to and how to develop their delegation. Then we give lawyers the strategies and tips to improve their delegation skills.
"The trouble with delegating is I could do it quicker myself." Senior lawyer.
Why are delegation skills a challenge for many lawyers?
This is a common challenge for lawyers at all levels including Associates and Partners. Here are some of the common reasons:
- "It would be quicker for me to do the work myself."
- "I haven't got the time to delegate."
- "I will need to check and correct their work anyway!"
- "The client expects me to do the work."
- "It's my client."
- For the analytical lawyer it is a question of getting the work done correctly.
- For the direct lawyer it is a question of not having the time, or patience to delegate.
"My challenge is that I need to delegate to someone who is much older than me." Junior lawyer.
Levels of Delegation Skills training from Senior Lawyers to Junior Lawyers
We have developed this delegation skills training session to work at different levels in the firm, from senior lawyers to junior lawyers. The difference with these levels is that senior lawyers know they should do it and have the confidence to be able to do it. Mid level lawyers tend to have the challenge of delivering billable hours whilst developing the team. Junior lawyers very often do not have the confidence. Our training is adapted to the level of lawyers we’re working with.
Delegation Skills for Senior Lawyers
Senior lawyers often don’t delegate as a conscious choice, even though they know they should. This could be for a number of reasons as indicated above, plus a belief that the junior person won’t do a good job, or simply a lack of knowledge on how to delegate successfully. Senior lawyers tend to need a workshop which understands their challenges and gives them tools to improve their delegation.
Delegation Skills for Junior Lawyers
For the junior lawyer the session needs to work on their confidence in their delegation skills and how to delegate successfully. As one participant put it, “I’m delegating to someone who is much much older than me.” or as another said, “I have to delegate to someone who has been at the firm longer than I have been alive!”
At the junior lawyer level we include role plays. We have these already written as drafts and then develop the role plays based on your typical situations. These include conversations with PAs, secretaries, business services and paralegals.
Participant Reviews
Excellent!! A++
I sincerely enjoyed the training I took with Martin on presenting virtually. Highly recommend!
Excellent and engaging session
Martin’s session on “presenting with impact virtually” was extremely well structured and engaging, and appears to have something for everyone irrespective of where they are on their presentation journey!
Interactive workshop on assertiveness
The workshop was well structured, interactive and informing. Especially helpful when discussing how your circadian rhythm impacts our energy levels and organising your work load around that.
Clifford Chance Professional Business Communication training with Martin Chapman
Martin delivered a very interactive and fun professional business communication session. It was very interesting and it helped me to gain new skills in communication.
Martin does it again - absolutely great workshop on delegation skills.
I attended Martin Chapman’s 1.5 hour workshop on delegation skills on 6.6.2024. He does not fail to impress. Martin’s workshops are methodical, easy to understand, very team-focused (as I was attending with some of my colleagues), and encouraging.
Objectives of the session
For the senior lawyer successful delegation skills are fundamental to a motivated team. For the junior lawyer delegation skills are essential to manage work efficiently. The workshop explores the individual lawyer’s automatic style of delegating. This automatic style is often driven by their personality, for this we use our work styles model. This model is simple to understand and easy to apply. It reviews a variety of ideas for developing delegation skills in the context of a time pressured day.
The specific objectives for the session are:
- Deliver clear and effective ideas on how to improve delegation.
- Ensure the ideas and concepts covered are easy to understand and simple to apply.
- Relate the ideas to the participants' real situations.
- Help the participants with their challenges in delegation.
Timing
This session can be delivered in any of the following formats:
- One hour taster session.
- 90 minute workshop - one of the most popular durations.
- 2 hour workshop - one of the most popular durations.
- 3 hour workshop.
- 6 hour workshop.
Delegation skills based on personality
Delegation Skills Agenda
- Introductions and objectives.
- Why delegating is a challenge for many lawyers.
- How not to delegate.
- Impact of not delegating professionally.
- Challenges of delegating within the team and with other teams.
- Benefits of delegating.
- Styles of delegation.
- Understanding work styles as a basis for delegating.
- Gaining commitment as a delegator.
- Agreeing to follow up.
- Working across departments.
- Participants' scenarios
- Practice situations
- What to do in different situations.
- Personal actions
We will adapt this agenda to suit the needs of your firm and the participants. We can make it practice area specific and suited to the specific level of lawyers, whether they be partners, 3 to 4 years qualified, or junior lawyers.
Follow up support
Emails are sent to participants as a reminder of their action points. We find these are well received as even when lawyers like a session, they soon get distracted once back to their desks.
Outcomes
This session gets excellent feedback because it is very practical and based on real situations. Participants gain the following:
- A better understanding of the dynamics of delegating.
- Ideas on how to improve their delegation skills.
- Concepts to better appreciate the needs of the people they are delegating to.
- A personal action plan.
- Improved delegation skills.
Internal training on delegation compared to using an external provider
Delegation training on what the client wants, preferred style and context, is probably better carried out internaly. But explaining why lawyers don’t delegate, understanding the personality drivers of delegation and frameworks for delegating are often better coming from an experienced external trainer
Why choose ITD for your Delegation Skills training?
20+ years' experience
We've been working with law firms for over 20 years. From large international firms to smaller regional firms.
Tailored to your needs
We will tailor the training to suit the needs of your firm and the participants, at no extra cost.
Work at all levels and roles
We work with all levels of fee earners and business services, so we understand the importance of delegation.
Countries and cultures
We've worked in many different countries and cultures from UK & US to UAE, Africa & Far East.
Client Case Studies
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Start a conversation
Call us to discuss your needs for delegation skills training on +44 (0)800 804 8086
