Building a stronger workforce in a holistic way
LPM editor Andreea Dulgheru speaks to Alisa Gray, director of learning at BARBRI, about the major pitfalls of training the next generations of lawyers, the secret ingredients to the perfect training programme, and how BARBRI is supporting law firms to nurture their talent
1.) In your opinion, where do you think the biggest skills gaps are in the new cohort of lawyers joining the profession and what are the main reasons for them?
According to BARBRI’s recent research four areas were really prominent. 75% of firms cited both business acumen and business development as primary skills gaps , closely followed by client relationship management (65%), and commercial understanding (60%). Legal technology also remains a pressing concern, with 38% of surveyed firms highlighting a shortfall in legal technology proficiency. Other highlighted skills gaps included time and case management, effective communication skills and the ability to quickly adapt to professional environments.
There are several factors that have contributed to these gaps, including the pandemic. Firstly, our new generation of lawyers have more limited opportunity to learn from observing or interacting in-person with senior people. Secondly, the world is moving at a rapid pace and it’s hard to keep up. The SQE, introduced by the SRA in 2021, focusses far more on skills than the old route to qualification, but we have to accept that a licensing exam for a professional qualification can only go so far. The assessment was designed to ensure everyone is equipped with the fundamentals regardless of which type of practice they join. The SQE therefore doesn’t fully address the broader range of non-legal professional skills now demanded by law firms.
This is why we developed our junior lawyer skills competency model — to bridge that gap between academic learning and professional practice and help law firms cultivate a better-prepared legal workforce.
2.) Where do law firms often fall short when it comes to building the right training programme?
Time and resourcing; they’re always in short supply. Internal learning and development teams may be able to recognise the skills gaps, but they may not necessarily be able to fix these problems by themselves. They need support and involvement from already busy senior practitioners.
Most experienced lawyers want to share their knowledge and help develop the next generation. The problem is finding the hours in their daily schedule to allow them to contribute. Sometimes, you can be lucky and find a senior lawyer especially engaged with training, but it’s likely to be limited to their area of specialty or interest. This can lead to pockets of excellence, with other topics and skills neglected and an imbalanced training programme.
3.) What are the core elements of an excellent training programme for junior lawyers?
The first thing is relevance. The training must be relevant to the needs of the people you’re trying to help. This is why, when we designed our competency model, we did an awful lot of research and spoke to a range of people — including trainee and senior lawyers, senior law firm leaders and in-house counsel — to truly understand what the demands of the job are, and what expectations they had for future generations of practitioners.
The other crucial element is how you deliver that training. Junior lawyers have huge demands on their time. It can be incredibly challenging for junior lawyers to really engage with learning in a high-stakes, busy environment. As such, for training and learning to be effective, it has to be as accessible as possible. This means delivering it thoughtfully and through a range of different modalities — such as online and in-person training, different reading materials and resources for individual learning.
Work culture is also key. Aside from the importance of psychological safety, it’s very important that law firm leaders regularly emphasise the importance of training and recognise and reward people that actively put effort into completing their training.
Individuals also have a responsibility to think carefully about where their particular skills gaps are, how they can overcome them, and what support they might need to fill these gaps.
4.) How exactly does BARBRI’s junior competency model fit within a law firm’s training programme?
Unlike traditional legal education, BARBRI programmes leverage case simulations, real-client scenarios, and tailored coaching to simulate the challenges junior lawyers face. The framework also integrates seamlessly with firms’ existing training structures, enabling legal teams to cultivate not just technically proficient, but also commercially informed and emotionally competent lawyers.
The model identifies eight core skills essential for junior lawyers, ensuring they are equipped not just to perform legal work but also to excel in their roles. These include:
- People management — Junior lawyers must build trust, manage relationships, and effectively collaborate within teams – skills rarely cultivated during their academic training.
- Case management — High-pressure legal environments demand exceptional organisational ability, attention to detail, and familiarity with evolving legal technologies.
- Personal management — Balancing workloads, managing stress, and maintaining resilience are critical to sustainable performance and long-term career success.
- Dynamic thinking — Creativity in problem-solving and adaptability to changing circumstances are required, especially as the legal industry evolves.
- Solution-finding — Junior lawyers need to independently analyse problems, identify actionable solutions, and present client-centric recommendations clearly.
- Successful communication — Whether drafting persuasive legal advice or navigating sensitive negotiations, strong communication skills are indispensable for earning client trust and delivering results.
- Business awareness — Understanding a client’s industry, goals, and commercial pressures is vital for delivering practical and impactful legal advice.
- Knowledge management — Lawyers must proactively enhance their technical knowledge and skills to meet evolving professional expectations and new industry standards.
We shaped the modules in a way that reflects and encourages the development of all these competencies. There isn’t a specific module solely focused on each area — instead, there are a range of models that incorporate all different aspects of these competencies.
Take people management for example. There’s all sorts of aspects to getting on well with other people at work – it would be hard (and frankly rather boring) for one course to cover everything. One issue that is a very hot topic at the moment is working across generations. We have developed engaging and targeted courses on how to cope with intergenerational differences within the workplace. The courses are presented from the perspective of different generations to explain differences in working styles. This way, both junior and senior lawyers gain a greater understanding of different working practices and management styles and most importantly learn how best to adapt and work with those differences to improve relations and ultimately performance.
5.) What other projects will BARBRI focus on over the next 12 months?
We’ve got lots of irons in the fire! One particular project we’re very serious about is helping people use AI responsibly and introduce it effectively into their workflow and practice. This is a good example of a learning programme that isn’t just a junior competency, but actually something relevant for anyone who doesn’t have these necessary skills, regardless of seniority. We’re working very hard with a number of experts to pool resources and uncover best practices, so we can build a really useful programme.
Another thing we’re focusing on is helping newly qualified lawyers understand and navigate the workplace. When they first enter a law firm or in-house legal team, they might not know how to deal with the office politics, how things are done there, or how workplace culture affects their job. We think helping new lawyers in this area will reduce the anxiety of those early days, weeks and months and build their confidence to shine as brilliantly as they are.
