How to solve problems as a law firm partner

Partners are promoted for being good lawyers, but the role quickly becomes about managing issues, solving problems and making decisions — skills that are rarely taught alongside legal expertise. This webinar looks at how partners can think more clearly, work more effectively and approach problems in a structured way, rather than simply responding to whatever lands on their desk.

It will explore two principles: doing less and doing it better, by reducing unnecessary commitments and protecting time for quality work; and thinking clearly and purposefully, by defining the problem, testing assumptions and choosing the right approach. The webinar will introduce practical mental models that can be applied to personal productivity, team performance, client relationships, matter management and crisis situations, with worked examples showing how they apply in a law firm.

For supervisors and leaders, this is also relevant to professional obligations. The SRA Code of Conduct requires solicitors to provide a competent service in a timely manner and makes them accountable for work carried out through those they supervise. How individuals and teams organise their work, make decisions and respond to problems therefore matters.

Delivered by Paul Bennett, partner at Bennett Briegal LLP and a regulatory solicitor acting for law firms in England and Wales, this practical webinar is aimed at partners, supervisors and leaders who need to solve problems for clients, lead teams and manage the competing demands of a law firm.

The webinar will cover:

• Diagnosing problems before solving them – using practical mental models including first principles thinking, inversion, second-order thinking and “the map is not the territory” to understand the problem before deciding how to tackle it.
• Personal productivity – protecting time for focused work, reducing shallow work and using a reliable system to capture and clarify commitments.
• Team productivity – improving how work flows through a team, using autonomy, mastery and purpose to support motivation, and creating an environment where people are willing to rethink and challenge existing approaches.
• Client retention and management – understanding what clients actually need, identifying early signs of problems or disengagement and handling difficult conversations effectively.
• Problem-solving on client matters – framing the right question, breaking complex problems down, testing assumptions and using techniques such as pre-mortems before committing to a strategy.
• Crisis management – maintaining a clear head under pressure, using pre-agreed checklists, separating the quality of a decision from its outcome and recognising when slowing down is the better response.
• Building better habits – developing practical approaches that help make clear thinking and structured problem-solving the default for individuals and teams.