How much does learning and development cost for law firms?
Learning and Development is a vital component of any successful law firm. Sections 4.2 and 4.3 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Firm provides that firms must ensure employees and managers are competent to carry out their role compliantly, ethically and legally.
But even without the regulatory requirement to maintain competence, it makes good business sense. Without an effective L&D programme in place, firms are at risk of non-compliance, delays in their matters and loss of talent to competitors. This puts the firm at risk of hefty fines, reputational damage and increased recruitment costs, each of which could lead to thousands of pounds in costs.
That is why law firms should see learning & development as an investment rather than a cost. This investment will protect the firm against the threat of cyber criminals and money launderers, while also providing staff with the knowledge to complete work swiftly and competently. How much this investment will cost depends on the type of training used, of which there are many.
How much does webinar training cost for law firms?
How much you pay for webinars depends on where you get them from. Access Legal usually hosts at least two legal webinars each month completely free of charge, including our monthly Compliance Update webinar, which has nearly 2,000 legal professionals registered.
There are many providers of webinar training content, including The Law Society, most local law societies, MBL Seminars and For Legal. Costs for webinars can vary depending on the topic and provider. Some providers such as The Law Society offer a mix of free and paid for webinars that range from £60 - £90, while MBL seminars charge £300 for each webinar or a subscription based model giving access to all webinars. Similarly, For Legal provide unlimited access to their webinars for £29.99 per month for a single user.
Access Legal also provides premium webinars as part of it’s Governance, Risk and Compliance for Law Firms e-learning which operates a subscription payment model, which we’ll cover next.
How much does e-learning cost for law firms?
Access Legal provides a library of regularly updated content online as part of its GRC for law firms package. This training uses a variety of content types, from the previously mentioned premium webinars, interactive courses, podcasts, case studies and videos all designed specifically for law firms and CPD-accredited.
Costs for e-learning are a maximum of £100 per user per annum but decreases as the number of users increases, making it a cost effective method of keeping staff up to date with their compliance and regulatory knowledge, while also providing you with the tools to evidence that this training has been completed should your regulator seek this.
In addition to its GRC for Law Firms package, Access Legal is also the only provider of CQS training outside of The Law Society, costing just £70 per user as of March 2023, but also including much more value, including template CQS policies and precedents, a sample of our legal learning content as well as a range of other benefits.
Access also provide wider training on business and soft skills, cyber security, mental health, health and safety and much more.
In-person training
In person training can often be more engaging than online training, depending on the skills of the presenter. If it is training you are carrying out in-house, this will likely only cost you the time spent on preparing to provide the training. If this is done by a Partner, then consider how many billing hours have been spent on preparing and delivering this training. Such training usually takes several hours to complete and may also involve travel for staff who may have to attend from a different office, so again consider how many billing hours are going to waste here.
Many local Law Societies often provide in-person seminars on specific topics, delivered by experts and with helpful resources, with costs that vary depending on whether you are a member or not. For example, Surrey Law Society offers in-person training courses for £95 for members or £180 for non-members, so it may be beneficial to become a member of your local law society and take advantages of the benefits that brings.
Which training is best for law firms?
In an ideal world, a combination of each type of training would work best, catering to differing learning styles and needs, while ensuring regulatory compliance. But where budget restraints are in place, you should decide which method satisfies the greatest needs in the most cost effective manner.
Our Governance, Risk and Compliance for Law Firms training provides all of your regulatory training requirements in an engaging, interactive format. Content is regularly updated and hosted on a market leading Learning Management System that allows you to track and report on your users learning.
