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Shining a light on the digital revolution

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Over the next few months at CPD Interactive, we will be shining a light on the digital revolution. From Bitcoin to e-trial process to online legal research we will give you a little taste of the legal landscape in the context of digital change.

As lawyers building online learning we feel we are right in the thick of it.  Since our inception around 8 years ago as one of the first kids on the block with interactive online learning in the legal space, we have had quite a ride in experiencing the digital revolution first hand. When we first launched, smart phones and iPads had not yet hit the marketplace and access was all by desktop or laptops.  Making the leap to a multitude of platforms and search engines and getting it all to work seamlessly was never an easy feat but one we had no choice but to embrace and conquer.  Since then, we have completely rebuilt our learning management system to create a unique solution for our product and to meet the needs of our customers and now utilise a unique video editing tool called Vidversity to create our courses.   For all businesses, professions and organisations, changes in the ‘digital landscape’ constantly throws up challenges – do we change how we learn, teach, transact and process?  Do we take up digital solutions, do we stay with what we know or do we do a little of both?

Ultimately we are all humans adapting to change and the challenge for all digital solutions is to make sense to those using it and to make life easier, more efficient and to improve the quality of our experiences in and outside the workplace.

So with this framework in mind, follow us on our journey in the next month or so as we explore the digital revolution in substantive law issues that directly impact on lawyers and their clients, plus new ways of delivering learning to staff including legal research in the digital era.   We will explore New Law and ways firms can use digital platforms for the growth of their practice and their skills.  

Subscribe to our blog for more or you can follow us on LinkedIN, Facebook or Twitter.  Look forward to seeing you out there in the digital world!  

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Forget Clients – Does Your Website Repel Lawyers?

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Forget Clients – Does Your Website Repel Lawyers?

Your law firm website has a number of objectives; to promote your services generally, to showcase the firm legal expertise through blogs, to impress prospective clients, to reassure existing clients, and to introduce your firm culture to future co-workers. Wait…what was that last one?

Prospective hires will do the same as prospective clients; they will check out your website. Job postings may create the initial interest, but research from the Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession (“CLP”) shows that those seeking professional advancement and leadership roles will examine the messaging of the firm website as well. What does your website, particularly the homepage, convey to lawyers looking for the right work environment?

But before getting to that, let’s briefly consider the content of a job posting for a litigation lawyer, as an example, tested at CLP in two versions. After all, if the job description is off-putting, your website won’t much matter. By combining job elements, a test posting reduced the list of job responsibilities from 15 in the original ad to 6 in the updated ad. While the job remained the same, the shortened list reduced the intimidation level. And by softening such testosterone-laden vocabulary such as, “strong, superior ability to satisfy clients and manage firm’s association with them,” to, “sensitive to clients’ needs and committed to a relationship with clients,” the number of female applicants rose from 62.3% to 72.5%, resulting in a larger applicant pool from which to select the best candidates.

Similarly, women and minority applicants appear to better relate to the job and to the firm behind it when firm leaders go out of their way to emphasize the value of diversity. A few choice quotes from senior lawyers such as, “the diversity of our people is the cornerstone of our ability to serve our clients,” broadened the applicant pool. And including a video, that features both male and female lawyers that speaks to firm values and showcases a range of employees happy in their work, helps connect an applicant to the job posting, perhaps making it possible to see themselves in a role that may have appeared daunting without the reassuring words and visuals. Positive comments from current minority lawyers also reinforce the notion that the firm is accepting and that advancement is fostered. Just seeing others with whom an individual can readily identify can go a long way to encouraging a job seeker to send in an application. When the commitment to diversity is made clear, applications from female lawyers jumped from 63.8% to 83%.

While the CLP studies highlighted the changes in the number of female job applicants, the changes that appealed to female lawyers in the job posting and on the firm website also resonated with others and encouraged a mixed pool of applicants. A larger and more varied number of job applicants is certainly positive and can bring in talent that might have otherwise bypassed a firm.

Article By: Lydia Early

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