Access Legal’s lowdown on learning for law firms report 2021

“With the rapid adoption of virtual training the challenges remain – how do we fit engaging and relevant learning into an already squeezed work schedule?” Sarah Mian, digital learning product owner at Access Legal, asks.

The world of work has transformed in the last year. We have been challenged to do our jobs under very different and difficult circumstances. As I spoke to clients during the first national lockdown, I discovered that the impact of the COVID pandemic was extremely tough for law firms. They were being asked to do more with less, to maintain their usual rigorous standards while allowing for the flexibility that clients and teams needed, and to protect their businesses while facing an uncertain future. Certainly, our survey respondents emphasised that they were still just trying to ‘survive’, ‘stay safe’ and ‘stay healthy’ both physically and mentally – all priorities I can relate to.

And yet, the longer we live with this pandemic the more we have found ways of working which are beginning to feel like the ‘new normal’. Many have brought unexpected benefits and some we will be pleased to say goodbye to. Only time will tell how many of these new ways stay with us but, at the least, the change has allowed us to learn different skills and reflect on what we do and why.

This includes learning and we launched our Access Legal Learning Survey to take a look at how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted legal training and some of the current and future trends. I have worked within legal training for almost 13 years now, creating a range of learning from law degrees to PSC to CPD programmes and have been lucky enough to work with some of the leading law firms and subject matter experts in the field. While I know this sector well, I always relish the chance to understand the latest developments and conducting this survey has given me a golden opportunity to do that.

I hope you enjoy reading our report. I hope it allows you to reflect on the challenges and changes you have seen and appreciate the potential future of legal learning.

We look forward to navigating 2021 with you. – Sarah Mian, digital learning product owner at Access Legal

Find the full report on Access Legal here.

In this report we share insights gained from law firms following our survey about learning within the sector.

The report details the impact the pandemic has had on training and learning, including:

• The top learning challenges
• The priority topics and subject matters
• The preferred format for training
• Views on learning cultures

Finally our training experts at Access Legal provide advice on what best practice learning looks like, key questions for firms to consider and where to go for more support.