In Thomson Reuters’ Legal Executive Institute, Bob Dolinsky of Dolinsky Consulting discusses the importance of digital upskilling programs for lawyers and staff members.
How many law firms have digital upskilling programs for their lawyers and staff members? Based on what I hear and read, very few, if any.
Amazon, for example, recently announced a commitment of more than $700 million to its “Upskilling 2025” program, an internal training initiative designed to promote customer satisfaction and worker advancement. Another example is PwC, which has a digital upskilling program to develop its in-house talent pool called “New world. New skills.” In 2019, PwC announced that it would invest $3 billion into job training for its 275,000 employees around the world, enhancing its workforce and client service delivery to better address emerging digital needs.
The goals of these and similar initiatives is to help ensure that employees have the skills in the digital arena to be successful, to position these organizations as preferred employers, and to provide customer and client service excellence.
Most law firms (even the largest firms) have yet to embrace the digital upskilling concept. Law firms don’t need programs with investments the size and cost like Amazon and PwC are making; they can be done with relatively modest investments. If done properly, law firms can position their attorneys and others to not only better themselves but to also enable them to provide better client service and thus improve profitability…
