I’m a mentor for a summer associate who I believe could be a great lawyer here (V100, small market if that matters). However, it is apparent he has no understanding of technology (redlines, word, excel). Based on his background, I believe it’s due to a lack of access. Would you ever recommend to your firm that he be given a course to catch up? Should I try and get him training on my own? Stay out of it? I dont want to overstep but believe this would help him as this puts him way behind his peers
You should raise this issue. It's an easily fixable spot on an otherwise good associate.
I would %100 recommend training! I asked for a refresher course on word/excel last year. It sounds like maybe he comes from a disadvantaged background (like myself) and as his mentor that could really help him.
If you’re at an V100, your firm will already have plenty of this training available for para professionals and support staff. A gentle email to him connecting him to these resources/training team is all you need to do.
This. Most firms already have access to these types of trainings, and hopefully, it’s catered to the firm’s software environment.
Can you phrase it like, “I took this course on Microsoft Word and found it so helpful, I highly recommend you check it out!”?
Otherwise, hands on training here and there can be a great bonding experience for you both. I’ve done both courses and hands on training (and received such training myself). Just make sure you phrase those offers positively and in a judgment-free way such as: “Firm likes to do things this way. Have you done it before? Happy to walk through it if not”
You sound like a good mentor. Congrats. Most aren't and mentors really don't exist anymore. Connect him to training and you'll change his world.
Never knew what a redline was until I started at the firm. However, LinkedIn premium has course on word and excel. I would point him towards that
Pro
There are tons of free or inexpensive Microsoft Office trainings online—even on YouTube. If he’s motivated, he can get the training on his own, and even complete it outside work.
Rising Star
Such good karma points! I would ask the firm and if they don’t have a resource, there must be free trainings online you can point them to, so many in tech are self taught now, there has to be something similar to that for Word/Excel/PP.
He’s lucky to have you in his corner!
Okay so I’m in recruiting at a v100 in New York, and i Can tell you if you tell the recruiting team this they should 100% be receptive. We literally thrive off associate opinions of our summers and if you recommend they need more training. they will provide it to ALL the summers, so just be aware of that if it’s not something you want:
What about partners. Can you train them?
Wow, I can't imagine him in my office, where Word Perfect is still king. You will pry reveal codes out of my cold, dead hands!
MA1 I don't believe you, that cannot be true!
Definitely. These are extremely learnable tasks/tools.
Love this
Legal tech is just a matter of competence in what matters. If you think they could be a successful lawyer, I'd reverse into the outcome -- what will future partners require from him, and what tech competence will be mandatory to generate that minimum viable product?
Then let him know pretty clearly that he has to make a minimum investment. Easy way to get him leveled up here is to call the vendors (redlining tools, or just basic Microsoft training).
I have no sales interest and am not being paid for this, but procertas is a pretty great way to check for basic legal competency in things like MS Office, esp for legal drafting tasks
I think you should also be very intentional and transparent in communication. In life, what you don’t know, you don’t know. He might not even be aware that this is the standard required of him and his peers, and by building this skill he remains competitive with the rest of the market. You might even want to have him assess his competency before you show him what good actually looks like.
I’m not sure how anyone finishes college and enters law school without knowing word, but there are components of word that are particularly specific to the legal practice and even subject practice specific, particularly the use of redlines and comparative draft function. Has zero to do with being “disadvantaged.” I’m sure a lot of old school partners don’t know how to do it either. Suggest some online training.
I'd also say that it's one thing to know Word, it's another thing to know the formatting and redline capabilities. And that's a significant step change in skill
Nothing like competent redlining. Nothing worse than incompetent redlining ... except when people actually change the color font and use strikethrough.