It’s who you know...PSLs, knowledge brokers and firm-wide innovation

The role of the professional support lawyer (PSL) continues to be debated. Some firms think them essential to knowledge-sharing activities while others are cutting back on numbers, saying that they too easily convince lawyers that they have no part to play in KM. ANN DONAKEY, head of know-how at Linklaters, assesses the ongoing role of the PSL and argues the case for turning a PSL into a knowledge broker.

No-one working in a law firm today can afford to rest on their laurels and merely continue to perform their role, fee earning or not, as they have in the past. There is constant pressure to raise standards of work as firms actively compete in the ever-changing global legal market. Technological changes have raised clients’ expectations of lawyers and we have to deliver on those expectations. Knowledge-management staff are in an excellent position to support their firm in its quest for competitive advantage. Now is a propitious time for professional support lawyers (PSLs) to take up the challenge and raise the PSL role to another level by actively becoming knowledge brokers for their practice.

PSLs are an expensive resource. They are typically paid the same or only a little less than a fee earner of equivalent qualification. In addition, they are usually eligible for a discretionary bonus. As law firms have moved towards more efficient and effective operations, attention has focused on the relatively high levels of PSL remuneration. However, many firms, including Linklaters, have seen the benefit of having lawyers dedicated to knowledge work and have, rather than cutting back on PSL resource, actively recruited more PSLs in recent years. Linklaters, for instance, has twice as many PSLs now than three years ago. Some firms have held the numbers of PSLs down and even made redundancies in a quest to save expenditure. I believe this route is a false economy that directly affects a firm’s capabilities and hence its ability to compete with its rivals in the legal-services market.

Generally, the PSLs have had firm backing from their practices, but more is demanded from them, especially as the PSL role has become a serious career choice for lawyers, with career progression to senior PSL roles and even to partner status in a few firms.

One of the main sources of competitive advantage of a firm like mine is its distinct capabilities, which need to be:

Inimitable: difficult for other firms to imitate or acquire;
Durable: have a lasting effect;
Relevant: actually deliver competitive advantage.

The key factor that gives a law firm its competitive edge is the ability to innovate, a capability enhanced by systematising the innovation process.

Such systematisation is both inimitable and durable as it concerns the ongoing process of generating ideas; innovation becomes something that can be planned for and invested in, rather than the ad hoc product of a eureka moment. I believe that knowledge staff can play a key role in actively promoting innovation in their practice. Traditionally knowledge staff such as PSLs have focused on precedent drafting and knowledge capture (see box one), rather than using the knowledge captured to propose innovative uses for it. Innovation has generally been left to already overstretched partners.

What is innovation?

Innovation is more than just coming up with a new idea – it involves applying that idea or applying an existing idea in a novel way. So an invention only becomes an innovation when it is applied for some purpose.

Everyone can have ideas but not everyone can take an idea and apply it – this takes vision, courage and determination.

Why is innovation so important to law firms?

Client expectations are constantly rising with each technological advance. Law firms have to constantly innovate to be better than their rivals.

PSLs as knowledge brokers

Applying an old idea to a new problem can be a very effective way of innovating. However, the person with the problem is often unaware of the idea that could help them. In law firms, much knowledge is localised and fee earners are constantly tackling issues that have been dealt with by other fee earners elsewhere in the firm. Thus knowledge brokers have a strong role, in that they can:

Capture good ideas – PSLs should focus on scavenging constantly for promising ideas and see old ideas as their primary raw material;
Keep ideas alive – to remain useful, ideas must be passed around and considered. Effective PSLs can keep ideas alive by spreading information on ideas and who knows what in the firm;
Imagine new uses for old ideas – PSLs can innovate by plugging in old ideas that have been captured into new contexts;
Put promising concepts to the test – to see if a promising innovation has commercial potential. Valuable lessons can also be learnt where an idea is a complete flop and PSLs can capture and disseminate this learning too.

PSLs have traditionally been the gatekeepers of know-how and are therefore ideally placed to take the role a step further and become knowledge brokers. The increased focus on innovative uses of existing ideas and know-how will add real value to the practice.

Barriers to innovation

What can stop innovation happening?

The Open University Business School has discovered that although resource constraints are a barrier to innovation, most constraints on innovation are people related:

People working in their narrow boxes (the silo mentality) – typical in a law firm where fee earners are grouped into practice areas;
Fear of the consequences of failure (the blame culture) – hopefully not typical of law firms as many innovations have come out of failures (such as post-it notes) and many lessons can be learnt from mistakes;
Lack of perceived adequate rewards for the risk – untypical of law firms with highly paid staff;
Hoarding of the best people by unit managers – typical everywhere;
People operating in a formal (bureaucratic) way – unlikely to be a big issue in a law firm with a collegiate atmosphere;
Not-invented-here attitude (at the implementation stage) – sadly a very human response;
Poor organisational communication – communication can always be bettered,
but my impression is that communication has improved generally in the larger firms in recent years;
Reluctance to relinquish an erstwhile successful product – clients will force
the issue here;
Technical obsession/insufficient client orientation – unlikely in a law firm with the strong focus on client needs;
A business-as-usual preference and priority over innovation – clients constantly push for new solutions,
so those firms who take the lead and develop systems to generate innovations gain a big competitive advantage;
Short-termism – this could be an issue in those law firms where there is too strong an emphasis by partners on return on investment and lack of investment in the future.

How can partners support their PSLs?

Partners should bear in mind six important factors that encourage PSLs in creativity:

Challenge;
Freedom;
Resources;
Workgroup features;
Supervisory encouragement;
Organisational support.

Challenge. PSLs are highly qualified and experienced lawyers. They are high performers who need to be challenged in their work. The increased focus on innovation will challenge PSLs and sharpen their interest in their practice.
Freedom. A PSL should have freedom to approach a problem in his or her own way. The objective should be clear but the means of achieving it should be up to the PSL. Resist the temptation to micro-manage your PSL.
Resources. The PSL must have sufficient time for exploration and incubation of ideas. This time can be released by providing know-how support resources for the PSLs. In recent years, there has been a rise in know-how paralegals who support the work of the PSL (see figure two). A recent article in the Gazette pointed out that 89 per cent of the top City firms were planning to recruit more paralegals in the coming year. Paralegals who focus on know-how work can add real value to hard-pressed PSLs. Although paralegals are professionalising (the National Association of Paralegals is introducing paralegal licences for those with a legal qualification and two years’ experience), paralegals are a much less expensive resource than PSLs. It is more cost effective for a firm to employ paralegal support for PSLs enabling them to become truly excellent knowledge brokers who can innovate constantly for their practice.
Workgroup features. Well designed mutually supportive teams with a diverse range of expertise and experience can encourage creativity. PSLs should be encouraged to set up their own teams spanning different practice areas, offices and jurisdictions to share knowledge, both legal and best practice, and to brainstorm potential innovations. Each PSL would then take back to their know-how partner suggested innovations directly relevant to their practice. Implementation of innovations can be prioritised by the know-how partner and PSL and a timescale for implementation set.
Supervisory encouragement. How partners respond to ideas has a profound effect on motivation. Whether failures are seen as an opportunity for learning, or for blame, can significantly affect a PSL’s future creativity.
Organisational support. Law-firm cultures are generally supportive of collaboration and the free exchange of ideas, and partners should actively encourage PSLs to participate in all meetings, away days, conferences and networking opportunities, wherever possible. PSLs should also be encouraged to join PSL groups across firms, which tend to be focused on particular practice areas, for example, corporate, finance, etc., as much can be learnt from sharing experiences with PSLs in other firms.

In return, PSLs must have confidence in their own skills and knowledge and their ability to deliver innovations that will sharpen their practice’s competitive edge. It is of course implicit that PSLs will need to build up their client contacts to innovate successfully and this will increase both their profile within the firm and their confidence.

Ann Donakey is head of know-how at Linklaters. She can be contacted at ann.donakey@linklaters.co