Tech competence = improved profitability?
The answer is surely a resounding YES! We all know that skills gaps exist, lawyers are often proud of their inability to remember how to do some fairly basic stuff on their computer! Their excuse - they are busy, highly intelligent people and often prefer to rely on support staff to help them navigate their way around the various applications they use day-to-day. However support staff are becoming few and far between and they may have their own issues with some of the new software they are faced with. Trainees leave law school very tech savvy but haven't used Outlook or a DMS before and are unlikely to have recorded their time. Then they get asked to work on a multi-page document with cross referencing, schedules and definitions and panic sets in!
That's why LTC4 was created, it is unprecedented in its cross-firm, cross-country collaboration which led to the creation of a comprehensive set of legal tech core competencies - therefore no need to re-invent the wheel. It has been a brilliant example of really smart collaboration, a coalition of legal IT, training and legal professionals across the world getting together to address the skills gaps they were very much aware of from their own experience. This work was done voluntarily and this non-profit organization is still managed almost entirely by volunteers.
The 10 workflow based Learning Plans which resulted are designed to reflect the way people work, and can assist L&D, Professional Development and IT Training teams to structure training delivery which is appropriate and totally relevant. LTC4 believe it is important to assess competence so that clients and customers can be reassured that legal teams are efficient and productive. Clients should demand some proof of competence with technology, it can be a differentiating factor when selecting their legal advisers - whether they are within in-house legal teams or outside law firms. LTC4 Certification does just that...and not just with Microsoft applications but also with the management and security of their documents and their data.
The legal industry is evolving and new business models are being introduced. The new technologies will undoubtedly change the nature of much legal work however the fundamental skills will still be needed. The LTC4 member community consists of firms, law schools and legal departments, as well as enlightened vendors and training service providers. They recognise that to be able to show measurably improved efficiency and productivity helps them gain competitive advantage.
Joining LTC4 is simple (www.ltc4.org/Membership) as so many have discovered whether they are large global players or smaller regional firms. Being part of a global community also brings the benefits of sharing ideas, issues and solutions with a network of your peers. Email: info@ltc4.org