5 skills needed to deliver innovation in legal services

Legal firms are beginning to disrupt their reputation as traditionalists to embrace tech-savvy talent and a diverse talent pool. Grayce round up five essential skills needed to deliver innovation in legal services.

As legal services continue to evolve, driven by new technology and changing customer demands, so too does the talent and skills needed to innovate in this space. UK law firms face high competition from the ‘Big 4', as well as US law firms’ increasing expansion into the UK market. To retain their competitive edge, many law firms are now transitioning to focus on professional services as a whole, with a specialist focus on law. In light of this, the talent needed to deliver innovation must come from much more diverse range of backgrounds than law.

Innovation Analyst and Grayce Project Analyst, Robert Hurley says, “Innovation is a big part of any organisation. Whether it’s in a day or over decades, businesses that don’t innovate will always fail. Looking forward and understanding what’s new and how it can help a business generate value and get the edge on their competition is of great importance.”

According to new research from a Parliament Street think tank, the Ministry of Justice has spent £3,802,021 on digital skills training over the last three financial years. To take a fresh approach requires talent with different skills set, in particular those who are digitally literate with technical capability. Although innovation will look different for every organisation, the underlying goal is the same: deliver legal services to the customer faster, cheaper, and more transparently.

Legal services are beginning to disrupt their reputation as traditionalists to embrace tech-savvy talent and a diverse talent pool. Here we round up five essential skills needed to deliver innovation in legal services.

1. Commercial mindset

Having good legal knowledge doesn’t guarantee success in today’s market. Law firms today require talent with a commercial mindset as they continue to broaden the scope of their services. As law firms become ‘one stop shops’ for a range of professional services, a strong understanding of business and good commercial knowledge provides useful insight.

2. Digitally literate

From the rise of invisible legal services to AI-powered document automation tools, technology is the key driver for change in legal services. Today’s emerging workforce are digital natives who have always lived in a technology-driven world. Consequently, they have an inherent understanding of technology which allows them to pick up new programmes and systems intuitively. The emerging workforce are then well-equipped to help organisations embed new technologies into their operations.

3. Resilience

The path to successful innovation inevitably has some missteps. Law firms then need talent who can consistently come up with new ideas, as well as bounce back if they aren’t successful on the first try. Innovation is a learning experience for everyone, so talent that can embrace feeling uncomfortable is essential. Resist fearful thinking to cultivate an environment where it’s okay to fail in order to allow resilient talent to add real value to the team.

4. Agile ways of working

Innovation in any industry is an ongoing process that is well supported by Agile methodology. This means delivering change incrementally, and assessing what’s working and what isn’t, then adjusting the plan as you go. Talent with good knowledge of Agile ways of working are then well-equipped to overhaul the traditional methods used in many law firms.

5. Collaborative approach

No one can deliver successful change on their own. And even an excellent idea cannot be executed without a strong team. Talent that take a collaborative approach will be able to communicate their ideas to a range of stakeholders, ensuring the whole team is onboard with transformation projects.

On acquiring a team to deliver successful change, Grayce Digital Director, Lee Egerton says: “From my perspective, it feels like resourcing strategies for change and transformation programmes are at a critical turning point. Not just because of legislation changes, but also because of the shift from regulatory driven transformation to digital and technology driven transformation. The skills required demand a different approach and could signal the end of armies of contractors dominating the transformation landscape.”

Today’s emerging workforce are well-equipped to support innovation in legal services. Having always lived in a digital world, their inherent understanding of technology means they are suited to driving technology change. At Grayce, we bolster this understanding with our Development Programme. Over three years, Grayce Analysts gain the accredited qualifications, training and career-coaching to support change in legal services and beyond. Using top graduate talent to support change programmes nationwide, Grayce provides a low cost, low risk way to solve organisations’ resource challenges. As well as addressing short term capacity challenges, Grayce help to build organisations’ capability with clear talent pipelines.

Grayce have been partnered with public and private sector organisations since 2013. Our growing Analyst Community are supporting cutting-edge change programmes in banking, cybersecurity, law, insurance, IT, retail - and much more. Working on industry-leading projects nationwide, our Analysts add value from day one and bring the capability and resilience that’s vital in the fast-paced world of transformation.

Find out how our highly capable Analysts can add value to your innovation strategy