The idea that today’s litigators can survive as ‘one-trick ponies’, concerned only with steering a dispute through the court process and all the way to trial, while maximising fees at the client’s expense along the way, is wholly at odds with reality in today’s demanding legal market and the sophisticated clients who operate in it.
So the recently reported move by some law firms to give their trainees a three-week ‘crash course’ in litigation, rather than the traditional six-month seat, is high-risk and ill-judged. The move is either due to the outdated perception of the role of the litigator or just a desire to keep the most able trainees for their corporate and finance groups.
