While ongoing learning is vital for lawyers to keep atop of rapid evolutions in laws, business and technology – and to deliver the best service to clients – it can also provide huge benefits in terms of a sense of belonging, purpose and good mental health, says Duncan Weston.
“With our CMS Africa Academy, we’re trying to build strength and depth in the local arena with a faculty that really understands the markets,” explained Weston, Executive Director at CMS, a future-facing organisation of independent law firms with 80 offices in 40 countries. “We look for senior business leaders and academics, bring in partners from various sectors, and bring our African associates together in one location for training relevant to those markets.”
Weston is extremely passionate about education, having studied continuously throughout his career, earning Master's degrees at London School of Economics and IMD in Switzerland, and an Executive PhD in digital business model innovation from Université Paris Dauphine.
“I find it very, very important for people to learn throughout their careers. I push education all the time. We set up the CMS Academy in the first place, starting with a partner induction programme with IMD, to create some impetus and excitement, and an alumni of partners so that when they work together in future they know each other. It’s worked really well,” he shared.
The CMS Academy first expanded to training international associates in Europe, and has recently grown to be “on the ground” in Africa as well. “It’s very client focused, very service orientated, and gives associates the opportunity to be together and feel part of a firm,” Weston highlighted.
Ongoing education goes beyond the hard skills needed by modern lawyers, notes Weston. Rather than focusing on legal skills or legislative updates, CMS Africa Academy and its brethren bring associates together to learn and practise “soft skills” that are vital for successful lawyers. “It’s more about service delivery, how people work together, and leadership in teams across multiple jurisdictions,” said Weston. “It’s more human than legal.”
That ethos has been greatly appreciated by participants, and had flow-on benefits for clients.
Nomfundo Mkatshwa, a senior associate in CMS South Africa’s dispute resolution team who attended last year’s Africa Academy in Maputo, says it delivered a range of training, coaching and seminars on soft skills, was helpful in solidifying the importance of mental health and productivity in the workplace, and created ongoing connections with colleagues.
“I met a colleague from the UK office who I’d been working with on a matter,” she said. “We connected on a social level, and that benefited our working relationship when we returned to our respective countries, as we’d easily WhatsApp each other often, which assisted in instances where we needed to deal with something urgently. The academy made it possible for us to form a deeper relationship that positively impacted our work.”
That’s music to the ears of Weston, who knows these programmes, developed over time in Europe, can be life-changing for lawyers and are key for CMS as partners with universities, clients and business experts, to develop the next generation of legal talent.
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