DLA Piper AC

[Lauren]

How will a firm creating a new consulting arm impact upon the work of trainees? As it drives to become an all in one services provider?

 

[Alice G]

How will a firm creating a new consulting arm impact upon the work of trainees? As it drives to become an all in one services provider?

Hi @Lauren, were you wanting some assistance with these questions? If so, it would be great to hear your initial thoughts and ideas and perhaps we can help you to build from there.

 

[Lauren]

Hi @Lauren, were you wanting some assistance with these questions? If so, it would be great to hear your initial thoughts and ideas and perhaps we can help you to build from there.

Thank you Alice, I was thinking it could help more exciting work come to the firm from clients who may otherwise use the legal arm of the big four accountancy firms? Also, would it feed into DLA Piper's overall strategy to be true business partners to their clients by taking a more holistic overall view of their clients work?

 

[Alice G]

Thank you Alice, I was thinking it could help more exciting work come to the firm from clients who may otherwise use the legal arm of the big four accountancy firms? Also, would it feed into DLA Piper's overall strategy to be true business partners to their clients by taking a more holistic overall view of their clients work?

You raise some good points and are thinking on the right lines.

Consultancy is something many firms are looking toward because as the big four have looked to legal services, there is a bit of a fear of competition there and so law firms are looking to be a one-stop shop for clients who might otherwise go to one of the big four. So, you are right in the sense it would bring some exciting work and give trainees more of a holistic experience. For example, some trainees may be seconded to the firm's consultancy arm which might give those trainees a fresh perspective on business strategy and be able to build closer relationships with clients (if lucky enough to get that contact) or simply understand a client's business on an even deeper level.

The relationships point may also be significant - if a client decides to use a firm for consultancy too, the client will work more closely with the firm and the relationship there will naturally deepen - trainees will benefit at the time from this but also as they progress through the firm. A stronger relationship may also mean more client secondment opportunities.

It is possible that consultancy driven work will require a slightly different skillset or some skills might be more frequently utilised so this could present a good opportunity for trainees if they were to do a potential consultancy based seat in broadening their skills etc.

Having that further revenue stream may also make an impact on trainees as well as the wider firm - the firm might have more income to invest in new technology or offer more competitive benefits as a result.

If you want to have a tangible real world example, I think A&O consulting might be a good case study for you here to get a better sense of how they have done it and it could help you further with this answer.

Hope this all helps a bit!

 

[Lauren]

You raise some good points and are thinking on the right lines.

Consultancy is something many firms are looking toward because as the big four have looked to legal services, there is a bit of a fear of competition there and so law firms are looking to be a one-stop shop for clients who might otherwise go to one of the big four. So, you are right in the sense it would bring some exciting work and give trainees more of a holistic experience. For example, some trainees may be seconded to the firm's consultancy arm which might give those trainees a fresh perspective on business strategy and be able to build closer relationships with clients (if lucky enough to get that contact) or simply understand a client's business on an even deeper level.

The relationships point may also be significant - if a client decides to use a firm for consultancy too, the client will work more closely with the firm and the relationship there will naturally deepen - trainees will benefit at the time from this but also as they progress through the firm. A stronger relationship may also mean more client secondment opportunities.

It is possible that consultancy driven work will require a slightly different skillset or some skills might be more frequently utilised so this could present a good opportunity for trainees if they were to do a potential consultancy based seat in broadening their skills etc.

Having that further revenue stream may also make an impact on trainees as well as the wider firm - the firm might have more income to invest in new technology or offer more competitive benefits as a result.

If you want to have a tangible real world example, I think A&O consulting might be a good case study for you here to get a better sense of how they have done it and it could help you further with this answer.

Hope this all helps a bit!

Thank you, very helpful!

 

[Lauren]

You raise some good points and are thinking on the right lines.

Consultancy is something many firms are looking toward because as the big four have looked to legal services, there is a bit of a fear of competition there and so law firms are looking to be a one-stop shop for clients who might otherwise go to one of the big four. So, you are right in the sense it would bring some exciting work and give trainees more of a holistic experience. For example, some trainees may be seconded to the firm's consultancy arm which might give those trainees a fresh perspective on business strategy and be able to build closer relationships with clients (if lucky enough to get that contact) or simply understand a client's business on an even deeper level.

The relationships point may also be significant - if a client decides to use a firm for consultancy too, the client will work more closely with the firm and the relationship there will naturally deepen - trainees will benefit at the time from this but also as they progress through the firm. A stronger relationship may also mean more client secondment opportunities.

It is possible that consultancy driven work will require a slightly different skillset or some skills might be more frequently utilised so this could present a good opportunity for trainees if they were to do a potential consultancy based seat in broadening their skills etc.

Having that further revenue stream may also make an impact on trainees as well as the wider firm - the firm might have more income to invest in new technology or offer more competitive benefits as a result.

If you want to have a tangible real world example, I think A&O consulting might be a good case study for you here to get a better sense of how they have done it and it could help you further with this answer.

Hope this all helps a bit!

Could I ask what would be the differing skillset required in consultancy, perhaps a more sales based approach?

 

[Alice G]

Could I ask what would be the differing skillset required in consultancy, perhaps a more sales based approach?

I’m not really an authority on this as I never looked into consultancy but maybe you’d need to be more comfortable with business metrics. That’s just an educated guess really though and you’d need to research into consultancy more to better understand the work. If in doing so you are unsure about the degree of difference with legal trainees, let me know and I can try help from there with an insight more into the legal side

 

[Lauren]

Yes, I have experienced consulting work for myself at University and tbh it seems quite similar to skills I use now as a paralegal e.g research, drafting and commercial awareness. Can you see any particular differences from your experience as a trainee?