ILTA White Papers

www.iltanet.org Many organizations overvalue the knowledge assets produced and undervalue the beneficial outcomes of using those assets. group, on training programs for junior lawyers and on current awareness. These tasks had previously been undertaken by lawyers themselves or by partners as part of their leadership and management roles. PSLs therefore contributed to improved utilization, and lawyers' nonbillable time was reduced. Over the years, PSLs have become established as part of the standard law firm headcount. In many of the larger U.K.-based firms, there are teams of PSLs to support the most significant practice groups. Over the past decade or so, the PSL model has been exported to other jurisdictions. It is still the case, though, that it is more typical in U.K. firms than elsewhere. Even before the recession hit, firms were beginning to re-examine the PSL role and ask what the proper role of PSLs should be. Juliet Humphries's report, "The Changing Role of the Professional Support Lawyer," was the most comprehensive and influential review, but others were also beginning to write and speak about the need for change. When the economic situation started to require firms to look at their costs, it seemed likely that PSLs would be seen as easy cost savings. However, things don't appear to have worked out as expected. On a "show of hands" survey of firms that I conducted at the annual KM Legal conference in 2010, there was a clear distinction between firms that had let go of their PSLs alongside support staff and fee-earning lawyers, and firms that had protected their PSL groups. Even where layoffs had 60 ILTA White Paper taken place, some PSLs still remained. This suggested that there is a minimum level of PSL provision that larger commercial law firms still need to compete effectively. Today's PSL: If the PSL role is considered important and necessary, what form is it likely to take? There are a number of ways in which the role has changed, and will continue to change. The original role, which was more clearly a supporting one, is no longer appropriate. Now there are usually better ways of achieving what early PSLs did, and firms that are less profitable as a consequence of the economic squeeze should not be paying expensive lawyers to perform purely support functions. Before looking at what a PSL might do, it is worth outlining what a PSL is. Typically, this is much the same as it was 20 years ago. PSLs are usually experienced lawyers with an interest in developing good ways of working. Because they do not usually have direct client demands, they have the time to build strong relationships with other lawyers in their group, as well as more widely across the firm. Their constant exposure to new information means that they are often the first to spot possible new areas of work or market pressures that might affect the firm or their group. Their experience and career history often make PSLs a costly resource. In better times, firms had the luxury of being able to recruit PSLs to perform tasks that might otherwise have distracted fee-earning lawyers. What often happened, however, was that PSLs ended up doing things that could

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