Developmental Order: How to Quickly Build Professional Development Resources in Law Practice

Law firms generally don’t have any sort of organized collection of internal professional development resources.  That can come up as a problem, in a whole host of ways.  For one thing, it reduces the quality of your staff, who sort of have to figure everything out themselves.  For another thing, it decreases your efficiency, because everyone is just waiting around, to ask their supervisors about what to do next, when they can’t figure it out.  Finally, it means that your staff may be looking for jobs that are more supportive of their professional growth. 

 

But, even for those managing partners who believe that providing professional development resources would be a viable way to avoid that string of disasters, the question is how they would do it. 

 

It seems like it would be hard, and might take a lot of work; however, there are a bunch of levers that could be pulled, with respect to generating professional development materials, to at least get you started. 

 

So, here’s how to build your professional development resources from scratch: 

 

First, find a holding place, that’s accessible to your entire team.  Microsoft SharePoint or Google Drive can work.  Create a folder for professional development, which can grow to include subfolders. 

 

Second, grab all your document templates, and throw them in there.  (Sure, organize them, yes; and then, look to build them into a document assembly tool.) 



Third, record your substantive workflows – use video, screenshots, documents . . . whatever works for you.  (Again, we’re just looking to get you started; and, you can refine these & add to them later.)  If you don’t have any, start recording yourself when you perform repetitive tasks. 

 

Fourth, upload any CLE documents you’ve acquired over the course of time, including addenda. 

 

Fifth, generate a list of all the software that is accessible for law firm members, and add a brief description of what each does; this is not the same as a law firm policy – but, since it’s staggering how little law firm staff know about the full breadth of resources available to them, this can be a really helpful guide, that is easy to build. 

 

Again, you can tweak any of these initial components; but, as far as a foundation for your new professional development program is concerned, this is pretty darn solid. 

 

. . . 

 

Want to find out more about how to build a viable professional development program for your law firm?  Contact us today!

Through a unique partnership between the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar and Jared Correia’s Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, Maine attorneys have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discounted rate. 

To get started, visit Red Cave’s landing page for Maine attorneys, and start running your law practice like a business.

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