Reimagine Law

How is law and regulation being used to support the world’s attempt to slow climate change and achieve environmental sustainability?  In this episode Zaneta Sedilekova, Associate in Climate Risk at global law firm Clyde & Co, and Biodiversity Risk Consultant at the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative explains to listeners how current climate issues are being implemented into international legal frameworks – the challenges which legislators face, and progress that has been made.

We discuss how these issues translate into the daily work of lawyers and how legal teams are being created to advise organisations on issues surrounding Climate and Biodiversity risk, helping them to understand the fast-moving regulatory requirements in this area. 

Zaneta also talks about how her own career has taken her into this area of work, the career path decisions she made, the importance of seeking out practical placements and experiences in these new areas of law, and skills you can usefully develop as you build a legal career in the area of climate and biodiversity law.

Resources for listeners:

·         Law Society report on climate change and the law: Climate Change Risks: the future of law as we know it?

·         Biodiversity risk and liabilities:  Biodiversity liability and value chain risk report 

Action for listeners:

Look at the Law Society report provided above:  

1.       Pick one of the Climate Change risks identified on pp. 5-9.

2.       Discuss with a friend or colleague for 15 minutes what skills and knowledge you will need to develop as a lawyer to help governments or other organisations to work on these environmental elements of the law in the next 10 years. Think across disciplines, not just legal skills and knowledge!

The ReImagine Law team are joined by Jane Cotton (Pro Bono Manager at Eversheds Sutherland) and Rebecca Wilkinson (CEO of LawWorks) to join in the discussion and unpack all things pro bono.

This episode gives listeners an in-depth look at the definition of pro bono and some practical examples of how it works in practice.  Current issues in the pro bono sector are discussed, as well as ways that listeners can get involved.

We always encourage listeners to undertake practical actions after listening to the episode.

• Have a look at what is happening during National Pro Bono Week, held each year in November http://probonoweek.org.uk/
• Research pro bono opportunities that you can get involved with in your local area, perhaps via your education institution, local court or Law Centre / Citizens Advice.

Useful resources

• The Pro Bono Protocol: https://www.lawworks.org.uk/why-pro-bono/what-pro-bono/pro-bono-protocol
• National Pro Bono Week: http://probonoweek.org.uk/
• LawWorks website: https://www.lawworks.org.uk/
• The Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishing of Offenders Act 2012: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/contents/enacted

How should we approach making career decisions?  What should be the balance of logical analysis versus our “intuition”, and how can one guide the other?  Also, are there lessons from how we make decisions in other contexts which we can apply to our career planning?

In this episode, Roger Parker, former EMEA Managing Partner at global law firm Reed Smith, adviser to leaders and mentor to those beginning their careers at Resurgo, shares tips and advice on how we can approach career decision-making.  Roger reflects also on how he needed to make decisions in his senior management roles and the principles which one can take from those approaches to decision-making related to our career paths. 

Roger considers a range of issues ranging from how one aligns with one’s values to the importance of listening to feedback from your trusted circles of friends and colleagues.  Also, Roger emphasises how important it is to balance risk and opportunity, to consider saying “no” to opportunities, and also to be patient and considered at times of uncertainty: having the confidence to “wait for the fog to clear” as one plans a next career step.   

Action for listeners:  Spend 10 minutes making notes about these 3 career questions, and then discuss your answers with a trusted colleague:   1.       In my current, and next role(s), what do I want to contribute?  (Tip: think about your values, what is really important to you.)  
2.       Think about a potential next role you have considered and ask yourself: what would I be giving up, as well as gaining, if I took that route? (Tip: Think about networks you may lose, and also future opportunities in a current role which you would no longer have.)  
3.       If you are uncertain about a possible career route, stop and consider: what is driving that uncertainty? (Tip: Breaking down the uncertainty can help you to clarify what conversations, or data, you need before taking your decision.)  

In this episode we speak with Lisa McClory, who talks about how she developed her career from practising as a solicitor in large firms to running her own consultancy advising businesses on Knowledge Management, data, AI and ethics.

Lisa reflects on her career path choices and what she particularly enjoyed about the different phases of her early career as a solicitor: ranging from working at major City firms on institutional clients to a subsequent phase when she specialised in clients in the charities sector.  

In addition, Lisa explains how her interest developed in regulation and how she has seen regulation drive transparency and behavioural change at an industry sector level – plus the challenge of establishing objective metrics for measuring such change.  As an example of such industry-level shifts, we discuss the “Environmental, Social and Governance” (ESG) agenda, reflect on where pressure has come from for organisational engagement with these areas, and also discuss the related area of ethics in technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

Finally, Lisa discusses how she sees the impact of technology as a driver of collaboration across the legal sector and the collaborative work being done by many firms to establish industry standards and benchmarks which will benefit all stakeholders.

Resources for listeners:

·         What is Knowledge Management in the legal sector? https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/w-014-7368?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true 

·         Understanding the EU’s AI regulatory proposals: https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/news-and-insights/publications/key-provisions-of-the-draft-ai-regulation#:~:text=On%2021%20April%202021%2C%20the,regulating%20artificial%20intelligence%20(AI). 

Action for listeners:

1.       Look at the website of “The Chancery Lane Project”.  

a.    For 10 minutes, capture some notes on why you think that competitor law firms want to collaborate on this project.  

b.    Discuss your notes with a friend or colleague. 

Apprenticeships are a paid job and a programme of study funded by your employer. Within Law firms, Public Sector and In House, there are apprenticeships be to become a Solicitor or Paralegal, and there is a growing volume of Digital, Finance, Business Admin, HR, Project Management opportunities too

In this bumper episode we hear from some of the experts at BPP, on the hugely important topic of Apprenticeships:

How your apprentice qualification can take you right up to graduate and even post-graduate level, with no tuition fee debt!

Whether you come via the apprentice or undergraduate route, the final assessment (SQE) to become a solicitor is the same for all

What you should both expect and look for from your Employer and the Training Provider, who delivers the apprentice training, in terms of training, resources, support and how to manage your time to both work and study    

And finally how for some, an apprenticeship in the legal sector could be the ‘Golden ticket’ to a great and long career!

 Some useful links:

SRA | Solicitor apprenticeships – is it for you? | Solicitors Regulation Authority

Solicitor Apprenticeship | Law | BPP

Legal sector apprenticeships | The Law Society

Law apprenticeships | Prospects.ac.uk

Apprenticeships in Legal Services (cilex.org.uk)

https://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/

https://www.allaboutschoolleavers.co.uk/ 

https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/

As a final revisiting of our “Skill-Kit” episode for listeners, we think about the related areas of communication and project management.  What does “good” look like when we are managing a project in terms of our communication?  What choices of communication do we need to consider in general?  And how have things changed as we emerge from the pandemic into a world of hybrid working, where communication options become potentially more complicated?  Again, all three episodes will offer our ideas, perspectives, and some practical approaches to try!

Communication

Two ears and one mouth! Use them in that order and proportion. Communication is not about talking at another person, it is a complex and intricate process which actually holds listening at the heart.

If Albert Mehrabian is right and only 7% of communication are the words that we use, what is the other 93 %? In this episode Kerry and Simon from the ReImagine Law team get under the skin of what is involved in the two way process of communication. How do you make sure that you are totally present in the conversation, and really listen to the other person? And what difference does tone and body language make?

This episode explores whose responsibility it is to make sure the other person ‘hears’ and why does Simon not consider an email as communication? Are your own views on communication holding you back from being a great communicator?

Useful resources
 
 -Read more on Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 Rule of Personal Communication: https://www.rightattitudes.com/2008/10/04/7-38-55-rule-personal-communication/

- 70% of business mistakes are due to poor communication says US Firm Gartner: https://www.careeraddict.com/the-importance-of-effective-communication-in-the-workplace

Project management

Project management is something we do every day, often without realising it, but how do we, first, identify project management in our lives and then articulate it as a skill / competency that we have

Law firms and chambers often list project management as a key competency, but what does it actually mean and how can you develop this skill? In this episode Simon and Kerry demystify what project management is and help listeners identify where it exists for all of us in our daily lives.  They discuss the ‘nuts and bolts’ of managing a process of activities to reach an outcome, with simple, yet powerful approaches to use to use such as ‘What needs to be achieved’, ‘by when’ and ‘by who’ and ‘who needs to be involved?’, this episode also discusses mile stones, inter-dependencies and of course the joy of ‘keeping it simple'
 
 Useful resources
https://lawahead.ie.edu/the-rise-and-future-of-legal-project-management/
https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/project-management-skills

 Collaboration

We are all told to collaborate and be good at team work, but what does it actually mean? To launch our mini-series looking at different skills, Nigel and Simon from the ReImagine Law team discuss the practical realities of collaboration.  

This episode discusses how to develop your creative mind-set in ways you might not have considered. Nigel and Kerry discuss the fact that creativity includes; having an open mind, experimenting and thinking ‘what if we did X’. They give practical ways to increase creativity as you work towards a wider goal.   See how far you can go with a creative mind-set, and be persistent, continuing to explore – perhaps part of the original idea will stick and become a great new way of doing things!  
 

Useful resources

• Tim Harford: A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity | TED Talk
• Building a Culture of Innovation with Dr. David Ricketts: Part 1 | IGNIUM (igniumconsult.com)
• Linda Hill: How to manage for collective creativity | TED Talk
• Adam Grant: The surprising habits of original thinkers | TED Talk

Creativity

In an ever-increasingly competitive legal services landscape, creativity is fast becoming an essential skill for lawyers.

This episode discusses how to develop your creative mind-set in ways you might not have considered. Nigel and Kerry discuss the fact that creativity includes; having an open mind, experimenting and thinking ‘what if we did X’. They give practical ways to increase creativity as you work towards a wider goal.   See how far you can go with a creative mind-set, and be persistent, continuing to explore – perhaps part of the original idea will stick and become a great new way of doing things!  
 

Useful resources

• Tim Harford: A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity | TED Talk
• Building a Culture of Innovation with Dr. David Ricketts: Part 1 | IGNIUM (igniumconsult.com)
• Linda Hill: How to manage for collective creativity | TED Talk
• Adam Grant: The surprising habits of original thinkers | TED Talk

Innovation and risk taking

Transformative change can come in many small and incremental ways, and is ideally led by the user experience.   In this episode Fran and Nigel discuss what innovation and risk-taking really is, and how it can be developed and articulated.

We often think of innovation and risk-taking as being linked to big, stressful ‘eureka’ moments. The truth is that change can be quite small, simple and uncomplicated.  Innovating is about connecting with the person you are trying to communicate with, or the person who might use your product or service. How does this link with the principles of delivering legal services?  In this episode Fran and Nigel explore these issues, starting with the question: ‘If you could change one thing about the way we work together, what would it be?’  There are also practical examples to help listeners identify their own innovation and how they might present it.
 
 Useful resources
 
-       The importance of team culture to innovation and giving each other the confidence to take risks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WylNA2LWsfQ
-       The Harvard Business Review, The Discipline of Innovation by Peter F Druker (August 2002)
https://hbr.org/2002/08/the-discipline-of-innovation
-        Forbes, Why Innovation Is Crucial To...

Resilience and agility

We often talk about the importance of resilience, but what does it actually mean in the workplace and how can you build this key attribute?

Nigel, Simon and Fran from the ReImagine Law team discuss the interconnectedness of resilience and agility, as well as giving some key tips to listeners to help them develop these skills.
 
 Most of us learn most from when we fail at something, so one key to building resilience is to try something different where you’ll find it a stretch.  Keep a curious, mind-set, and have ‘fail fast and learn fast’ as one motto to build resilience, with ‘FAIL’ as a ‘First Attempt In Learning!  We often talk about the ability to bounce back.  If you try something new the advantage is that you will bounce back in a slightly different direction ‘because if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got’!
 
 How can connecting with different people help you build resilience? This episodes encourages listeners to embrace failure, jump in the deep end and think about stretching their boundaries to ensure they have opportunities to develop, and develop at speed!
 
 Useful resources
 
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/resilience.htm

https://www.ted.com/talks/raphael_rose_how_failure_cultivates_resilience

Self-awareness and emotional intelligence

The expression; ‘people buy people first’ demonstrates the importance of using ‘emotional intelligence’ to understand the impact you have.  It is a key professional and personal skill. But what is emotional intelligence and how can it be developed?

In this episode, Nigel and Simon discuss what emotional intelligence is and how you can use this skill to build self-awareness.  They share tips and tricks about how these capabilities can help you to develop your career, increasing your impact in key situations and building strong networks.   
 
 Useful resources
     
 Daniel Goleman (psychologist – 5 core elements of emotional intelligence)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU
       
Five ways to develop emotional intelligence, Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2018/05/29/5-ways-to-develop-your-emotional-intelligence/?sh=31371e986976

Personal brand and impact

How would you like to be perceived by others? What impact would you like to leave? This episode discusses how to build your own personal brand and highlights some of the common errors that people make!

In this episode, Kerry and Simon discuss the balance between being authentic to yourself, and purposefully creating the right impact.  What do you want people to say about you when you are not in the room? In an increasingly consumer-oriented society, authenticity is important – and you need to get the balance right between raising your profile and not ‘over-selling’! So look deep and let your values lead how you structure your personal brand.  The team give some helpful examples of authentic and non-authentic behaviour they have seen from individuals when interviewing for a new job or promotion.
 
 Useful resources
 Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2018/11/08/10-golden-rules-personal-branding/?sh=71e9c7a458a7
Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2011/03/reinventing-your-personal-brand

Reflective practice

We know that reflection is not a ‘fad’ – it is one of the key ways we learn and develop as human beings. But how can you do it effectively to benefit your development and gain the most from your experiences?

Reflection is an important tool to turn an experience into a moment when learning is captured for the future.  In this episode Nigel and Fran explore why it is important to reflect and how to do this practically.  They discuss the importance of ‘journaling’ (or even ‘double journaling’) and how your peers and networks can help you with reflection.
 
 Useful resources
-       What is reflection (The Open University): file:///C:/Users/ltw571/Downloads/Activity%2011%20What%20is%20reflection.pdf
-        Jisc – Student Self Reflection: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/transforming-assessment-and-feedback/self-reflection

Ted Talks – Personal Empowerment through Reflection and Learning https://www.ted.com/talks/dr_craig_mertler_personal_empowerment_through_reflection_and_learning

In this episode we speak with Lucy Dillon, senior Legal Knowledge and Innovation Consultant, and Michaela Hanzelova, trainee solicitor at Reed Smith who has worked on a number of projects in the firm’s “Innovation Hub”.

Lucy speaks about how innovation in the delivery of legal service needs to be a key focus for law firms now, and also talks about the positive impact this can have in terms of a firm’s relationships with its clients.  

In addition, Michaela talks about her early experiences working with the Reed Smith Innovation Engagement team led by Lucy and Alex Smith, and later by Adam Curphey, reflects on the different skills built during these projects and, importantly, how some of the projects helped her to ask different questions of herself and her clients (both internal colleagues and external clients). 

Lucy and Michaela also reflect on what this means for the skill-sets of future lawyers, the importance of a strong basis of legal knowledge, and how such early placements and formative experiences in areas of a firm such as an “Innovation Hub” can enrich your perspectives of legal practice and your career!

Action for listeners:

·         Think of one of your favourite suppliers and the service they deliver to you.  Now think: “And if they could no longer deliver it in that way, how might they supply it differently?”

In this episode we speak with Deborah Lawunmi about the different elements of her career path.  We discuss how Deborah first became interested in law, in particular her interest in civil liberties and Human Rights.

Deborah explains how her career developed, her specialisation in employment law, and the roles she held working across different Whitehall departments in the Government Legal Service, before moving to an advisory role in the Office of Fair Trading, advising businesses on regulatory compliance issues.

Deborah’s interest in driving greater inclusion in the legal sector, particularly in elite City law firms, led her to study for a PhD at Queen Mary University of London – and Deborah speaks about her findings of how firms can be more successful at attracting, developing and retaining lawyers from different backgrounds.

Finally, Deborah speaks about her most recent career phase, working as a consultant in a UK-wide network of lawyers, an example of the more flexible career models now available in one of the new types of legal service providers.

Actions for listeners:

·         Look at the different areas of the Government Legal Service (now called the Government Legal Profession) to find out about career opportunities there.

·         Understand more about “alternative legal service providers” and the types of career opportunities they offer in this article.

Useful Resources: 

·         A short video on the Government Legal Profession careers options.

·         Career information from an “alternative legal services provider”, Axiom.

·         For details of Deborah’s PhD research at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, on the career experience of socially marginalized groups in elite City law firms, see this summary.