Business simulations for legal training

Before looking at legal training programmes, consider for a moment how you would train a commercial pilot.

Would you:

explain the theory of aviation
give them a manual
followed by a test
followed by a demonstration
and then let them practise until they get it right?

Probably not. Where the stakes are high and failure can be life-threatening, it is no surprise that simulation rather than experimentation, placing either the learner’s or others’ lives in danger, is highly preferable.

Minimising risk is a strategic imperative that drives many successful training initiatives, in which simulations are set to play a crucial role. They give learners opportunities to practise and reinforce their learning in a safe environment. They allow the learner to follow different decision trees and explore the consequential effects of an incorrect decision. Examples of simulations can be seen in aviation and other high-risk professions such as medicine or the military.

The reasons for using technology-based simulations are clear: the more realistic the simulation, the more effective the learning and the more quickly the learner can transfer the acquired skills into the real world.

Simulations do not have to be hi-tech, but the advances in gaming and learning technologies are making it possible (and financially viable) to develop simulations and incorporate them into courses. In this article we look at how city firm Lovells is developing their training by using simulation-based programmes and some of the motivators for creating these systems.

Simulation projects at Lovells

Lovells has introduced the simulation concept into legal training by developing a simulation programme for lawyers called TransAct. TransAct is a series of specialist business simulation programmes which are used to train Lovells’ lawyers and their clients in international transactions conducted in English. Each programme, developed by a Lovells project team, working with consultants from Sherwood PSF Consulting, is tailored for use within a specified area of legal practice. Lawyers work at their own desks and form teams with colleagues in other jurisdictions, communicating by email and telephone and dealing with a number of realistic issues as they arise.

Each simulation involves lawyers being instructed on a fictional deal by a client (such as an in-house lawyer or investment banker) who communicates using usual transactional methods (for example, by email, by telephone and in meetings). The lawyers must respond as they would on a genuine transaction. The clients are played by lawyers with specialist training expertise who have designed the TransAct programmes and/or leading partners from within the practice group.

The naturalism of the simulation emphasises to delegates the relevance of the learning to their practice, at the same time as providing flexibility to address within the programme’s design any training and educational needs from across the firm’s business, for lawyers of any chosen level(s) of experience.

For example, TransAct has been used to promote:

technical training
commercial acumen and profit-generation in support of specific business goals
practice management and internal processes
behavioural/soft skills (eg client management and meeting skills).

In addition, TransAct incorporates a richness of opportunities for intervention which produces highly-tailored, personal learning. As delegates respond to the simulation, the trainers are able to monitor and assess performance with precision and, as a result, identify and address specific training needs instantly. For example, the client can provide interventions (by email or phone) to a delegate or team during the simulation, to provide specific support or to set additional challenges. In a plenary session at the end of the simulation, public feedback is given to all delegates on performance.

TransAct finally dispels the fallacy that “the only real training is on-the-job training”. Since it simulates on-the-job experience, it creates experiential learning which is recalled as effectively as on-the-job training, but by means of a learning process which is more concentrated and more efficient. Technical knowledge and business skills which would take months or even years to acquire on transactions can be selected to be developed, and delegates’ performance can be closely monitored and improved, by the use of tailored interventions from the management team.

Attributes for success

Quality and timeliness

The training programmes which form part of TransAct are carried out online – but online with a difference. For a long time, online learning has been seen as a budget option for training but this assumption is now being challenged. Designing online learning (particularly simulations) is a time-consuming business and requires high-quality instructional design. It also means that the training has to be designed with the specific type of learner in mind: it has to be immersive, relevant and credible in order to succeed.

For many firms, particularly those with a large and geographically dispersed workforce, it simply isn’t possible or practical to deliver all training without employing learning technologies. Lovells has found that its lawyers appreciate the benefits of being able to take their training just-in-time and at times that suit them. This avoids the issues surrounding timetabling, interrupted sessions and conflicting deadlines. The firm benefits because it minimises risk (the lawyers get the training when they need it), it makes optimal use of down time and, because the training is available online and reusable, it leverages use of partner time in delivering the training.

Repetition

We know that repetition is the key to developing a lasting assimilation of new skills. Technology allows our learners greater opportunities to repeat and review their training.

Changing behaviours and attitudes

The most difficult challenge for the trainer is around changing behaviours. Getting a student to unlearn so that they are ready to acquire new skills is a huge obstacle. By putting the learner at the centre of a simulation, technology can help with this process by showing the benefits of a change in behaviour.

The TransAct simulation has been enormously successful in this regard. Lovells reports the following benefits:

a more consistent client-service across the firm’s international network;
improved commercial acumen and confidence of lawyers at all levels in growing the firm’s business;
wider technical excellence;
greater use of management team services and related IT products (such as financial spreadsheets, the firm’s CRM database and online knowledge management resources); and
improved personal development, by meeting individual training needs.

Serious play

On the subject of entertainment in learning, games-based learning (GBL) is on the increase. Marc Prensky, a well-known commentator on this trend, has catalogued over 500 examples of “serious” games (at marcprensky.com), including recent examples from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, to name just one of the many products designed specifically for training professionals.

Credibility and permanence

Technology enables learners to get access to experts that they may not otherwise have been able to reach. For the learner this gives the training much greater credibility, while for the expert and the designer the increased investment and the relative permanence of the products focuses attention on quality.

Looking back at the effect of the Lovells TransAct programme, the firm has found that its framework of realistic, simulated technology-based transactions not only provides a memorable learning experience but has also captured the enthusiasm of practitioners.

Motivated learners

An important part of any training programme is making sure that learners are motivated to participate. In all training programmes, the more we can use technology to create a realistic and credible environment for the learner, the more we can also motivate our learners to engage with their training.

e-Learning at LexisNexis

Part of the LexisNexis Butterworths strategy is to look at ways to enhance the delivery of our resources to practitioners, providing the right tools to support the modern lawyer. This will lead to us developing integrated tools that deliver knowledge and learning in a variety of flexible formats which support the development of realistic learning environments.

The technology to deliver innovative learning solutions now exists and the generation of new lawyers will expect to have access to learning and knowledge resources that support their professional development by providing immersive and accessible learning opportunities.

Internet for Lawyers Newsletter

Edited by Nick Holmes