Two new Codes of Conduct

On 25 November 2019 the SRA Standards and Regulations will replace the SRA Handbook. There will be seven Principles instead of ten, and two codes of conduct, one for Individuals and one for Firms. They are much shorter than the current Code of Conduct. Whilst they adopt most of its key themes, they abandon its approach based on Outcomes and Indicative Behaviours. Instead the new codes focus on lawyers and firms using their professional judgement and justifying their actions.  “Nothing new there” you might think, “we can carry on as normal”. You would be wrong.

Big changes for every lawyer

There’s a significant change of emphasis because of a new duty to demonstrate compliance with your regulatory obligations. Just how are you going to do that for every tricky decision you make every day of the week?

Other changes include:

• A new principle of honesty – how does it work alongside the principle of integrity?
• A new duty not to waste the court’s time.
• Reinforced duties for supervisors in relation to the work and competence of their teams.
• Changes to the exceptions to the duty of disclosure to clients
• Reporting obligations which may (or may not) be satisfied by notifying your COLP.
• A new duty to take remedial action if a client suffers loss or harm when things go wrong – What kind of action will be appropriate?

A time limit for providing prescribed information to clients when a complaint has not been resolved to their satisfaction.

E-learning for busy lawyers

In October we will release our e-learning course on the new SRA Standards and Regulations, with an introduction and three short modules, one on the Principles and one on each new Code. They will focus on what you need to know, not on what you don’t.  You’ll learn enough to stay compliant, and know where to look when things get tricky.   Like all our e-learning this course is quick, relevant and engaging.

Contact

Get in touch if you’d like a sneak preview, a heads-up when we launch or if you want to discuss options for hosting the course on your own LMS.

Email: Kath@kinchrobinson.com
Phone: Kath on 0114 273 8300.

E-learning that really works

“Looks nice, but does it work?” She looks up from the iPad demo. Not the response I’m expecting. She asks again - “Looks nice, but does it work?” Good question. Here’s a good answer.

Scroll back two or three years – insurer and law firm clients are troubled by junior staff making incorrect and inconsistent liability decisions in RTA cases. Poor decisions are costing them money. They want some online training. So we get to work, and we make something great. See for yourself.

(If you’re reading off-line, we have 130 RTA animations (left and right turns, roundabouts, overtaking, car parks, and so on). You watch the accident on screen, you look at resources that might help (e.g. the Highway Code) and you make a liability decision. And then you watch an experienced barrister reviewing the evidence and the key issues, and giving a view of the likely outcome in court.

“Brilliant!” we thought. And to be fair, so did some clients. But not all of them. The non-believers wanted reassurance. Fair enough.  So we designed a “proof of concept trial” involving a test before training and a test afterwards. One of our clients took the idea and ran with it. This is what happened.

They selected 22 learners (of mixed levels of experience), explained the trial and demonstrated the scenarios. The learners then completed the first test in one week. It included 10 scenarios with the barrister’s review stripped out. For the next three months the learners worked through over 130 scenarios in separate sections covering carparks, roundabouts, country roads, etc. Then we stopped their access to the scenarios, and they took a second test on 10 different (but similar) scenarios.

We gave 10 points for an answer the same as the barrister and 5 points for an answer that was within 10% of the barrister’s view.

Here’s what we found.  The e-learning works!  Every learner improved and their decisions were more consistent. Here are some of the key points.

1. They made more correct decisions (decisions on or within 20% of the barrister’s view). The smallest improvement was 5% and the largest improvement was 75%. The average improvement was 33.6%. See Table 1.
2. They made fewer incorrect decisions (decisions more than 20% away from the barrister’s view). The smallest improvement was 5% and the largest improvement was 90%. The average improvement was 37.5%. See Table 2.
3. Their decisions were more consistent (taken all together, their decisions were spread over a narrower range after the training). Wildly different decisions on the same evidence were much rarer.
4. The tests helped to identify “tricky” decisions (those decisions, like roundabouts, which the learners found challenging). This will enable the client to focus further learning and resources on supporting staff to improve in specific areas.

June 2019

Contact: Jody Jezusek
E: jody@kinchrobinson.com
M: 07717 750042

The profession is not getting any less stressful any time soon.

Metal health and wellbeing of staff are crucial considerations for any employer and many firms are running initiatives this week to promote these important issues.

Encouraging mindfulness, meditation and yoga all have their place.

But at Kinch Robinson we focus on helping fee earners and support staff change their working practices to reduce stress and improve work life balance.

• Our new Legal Project Management courses for trainees and qualified fee earners provide training in a critically important skill that helps fee earners deliver great results for clients and improves your firm’s profitability
• Our ‘Regain Control’ sessions provide masses of practical suggestions to help you get on top of your work, from dealing with conflicting priorities to smooth and effective delegation
• And if you want help with understanding law firm finances, improving your writing skills or increasing you reading speed we can help with that too

Call Kath Kinch on 0114 273 8300 for more information.