Increasing numbers of firms are asking future trainees to defer – but that doesn't mean their development needs to be put on hold, says Nigel Spencer

Last week we unveiled to our future trainees what we see as a groundbreaking approach in their development: a fully-fledged MBA with BPP's Business School.

Why is Simmons & Simmons doing this? Given the current economic climate, there was a need to give real consideration to our staffing needs. As a firm we actively manage our business, and ensuring that we have the right number of trainees at the right time is key to this. This year presented a unique challenge, given the changes in the market that have occurred since hiring our 2010 trainees. At the end of last year we asked our March 2009 intake if they would like to consider deferring. Many firms now seem to be thinking along the same lines for their September 2009 intake.

When it came to deciding what we could do for future trainees, we knew we wanted to offer them more than just a straight deferral with financial support – instead, we tried to devise an option that could help underpin the firm's business strategy and contribute to our vision of enhancing client value and career development.

I had already agreed with the firm's leadership in 2007 a global learning and development strategy, of which one element was to explore strategic link-ups with business schools. We then approached BPP as it was in the process of launching a Business School in the City. We both had a desire to create an innovative approach to client service and career development, and therefore we devised the plan for the first MBA of this kind.

Simmons & Simmons managing partner, Mark Dawkins, said: "The launch of the MBA is extremely exciting and I see it as a keystone for our firm's future. This is not just about sending our future trainees on a course; it is something much more fundamental, which will deliver increased quality and value to our clients, and also offers a career development opportunity for our future lawyers that will be unique in the market. It is about creating an MBA that is focused on the business of being a lawyer."

Creating the concept

It is not uncommon for law firms to make claims about being client-led in their strategy. Many have ventured down the sector route – to greater and lesser success – in an attempt to offer more client focused and commercial advice. At Simmons we are careful not to become complacent with the success of our sector strategy.

Clients need lawyers who really understand their business – above and beyond having glanced at the Financial Times that morning. They need lawyers who understand where the commercial and regulatory pressures are coming from and who are able to help them predict what the challenges of tomorrow will be as well as what the solutions to those challenges are. In other words, they need business lawyers.

This MBA is one strand of our strategy to ensure our lawyers are dynamic business thinkers who provide a powerful contribution to our clients' strategic thinking and provide an added quality to our client relationships. Quite simply, we are investing upfront so that our new lawyers will begin to add value through their commercial understanding from day one through their contribution to our sector teams.

Colin Dworkin, director of BPP's talent development programmes, explains more about the content of the MBA course: "This pre-experience MBA will be a flagship programme to support firms in developing their people and achieving competitive edge – it will include modules exploring not only current trends in the commercial and business environment, but also cover drivers of profitability, governance, leadership, strategy alignment and management. It really is very exciting to be developing this programme with Simmons & Simmons. We see this as the first step in building a framework of programmes around the theme of legal business."

A new generation

Nick Benwell, graduate recruitment partner for Simmons, highlights the career development opportunities on offer:

"Building on BPP's LPC, the MBA will give our future trainees a great head start in terms of gaining commercial business skills, but the skills they acquire will remain with them for life. It is unique in the legal sector and will be exclusive to our firm in the first year – you can't even go to Harvard or London Business School and take an MBA course that focuses specifically on legal business, so we are offering those people who want to develop a career at Simmons & Simmons a unique opportunity."

Both inside and outside the firm, the career development aspect is seen as an exciting innovation.

Des Woods, chairman of the Moller Professional Service Firms Group Cambridge, who has also worked extensively with Harvard over a number of years, commented: "I am delighted to see that a City law firm such as Simmons & Simmons has taken this huge step to develop the commercial skills and knowledge of its future trainees through an MBA. It is a groundbreaking development and will launch a new generation of business-savvy lawyers who really do know how clients tick and what they want."

Within the firm, Michael Sinclair, a partner in Simmons' information, communications and technology practice who has lectured on the Edinburgh University MBA, believes that the BPP Business School MBA is a great way to prepare students for a future life in business. He notes that "it creates a more rounded individual who really can act as a 'trusted adviser' because they will have a better view of the wider business consequences of legal decisions".

Des Woods adds: "In addition to 'thinking client', Simmons & Simmons has also demonstrated something else – a sense of care for the future careers of their people, and that is something which only a few firms have been paying any serious attention to in the turbulence of the last few months."

Other firms will, no doubt, watch with interest when the MBA launches in September. The clients and future trainees of Simmons can look forward to an exciting development that may well define how future advisers in the legal sector are trained and how they add value to their clients.

An emerging curriculum

BPP believes there is now an emerging curriculum in the way lawyers prepare for practice in the 21st century. Technical expertise is critical, but today's curriculum must also address the broader commercial awareness that will enable lawyers to relate closely to the client's business agenda as well as the knowledge and skills that will enable them to drive success in their own firms.

The MBA, which has been developed in conjunction with Simmons & Simmons, is just the first of the talent development initiatives BPP is putting in place to support lawyers (whether working in law firms or in house) to acquire knowledge and skills in legal business.

Dean of BPP Business School, Chris Brady, says: "BPP is committed to raising the bar in professional education for lawyers and developing programmes which will equip them for the challenges of practice in the 21st century. We are delighted to be building this MBA with the support of Simmons & Simmons and we are confident that the result will be a pioneering programme."

Nigel Spencer is head of learning and development at Simmons & Simmons.

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