PRACTISING LAW INSTITUTE

In the developing world the outrage over the low and falling standards of education have largely become background noise and institutions have decided to employ the strongest candidates available and created courses or training programmes to make sure new hires are competent enough to do the work the business does.

These courses and training programmes are salutary and have thus created a channel that can serve another purpose. That of building deep levels of talent, well above the requirements of the market place.

Law firms that set up their own in-house school that produces courses for their needs, that sets standards for hundred years of greatness and that spreads the institutional knowledge across the entire firm have borrowed a leaf from similarly situated businesses.
Even if the education system was perfect, the law firm that is seeking to be around in robust health for a while would evolve to the position where it has Olympic Gold Medal level processes set up in its in-house training capabilities.
It is seeking to stretch the standards it holds itself up to on an institutional level so that whoever passes through its employ would already have a deep tradition of performance behaviours to guide his native intelligence and experience in the work he does for the firm. His contributions will also be preserved by the in-house training system thus increasing and deepening the competitive advantage the firm has, going forward.

The thinking represented by this in-house training process as a permanent feature of the law firm is similar to the training academies of football clubs, of basket ball teams and Canadian hockey teams.
The more your law firm deals with talent on an institutional level the better you are at managing it and directing it.

Welcome to the Adult table.