Lawyers only needed a specific set of talents to succeed in their careers until a few years ago. The main condition was that the lawyers had the necessary skill set to comfortably carry out their profession. However, with the changing times, increased hurdles, and quickly increasing competition, a lawyer now requires some additional talents to be successful in his or her career.

According to the American Bar Foundation (ABF), roughly a quarter of lawyers leave the field within the first seven years, and one of the main reasons for this is the lack of upskilling after leaving law school. Upskilling is tough for even the most passionate lawyers. However, today upskilling is critical for all professionals, and we cannot overlook lawyers. So, here are five major talents that all lawyers must maintain in 2021.

1. Understand the Client and their Requirements in Detail
Meeting client demands is critical to attracting new clients and ensuring positive satisfaction, which can only be accomplished through the use of people analytics. This will assist you in not just understanding your clients’ demands, but also in developing a dynamic law practice that will enable you to service clients both remotely and in person, as well as providing secure remote access for your personnel.

It’s important to create a more flexible workplace for both clients and employees, as both have a direct impact on your company’s revenue. As a result, people analytics is a trend that lawyers should follow as well.

2. Effective Communication
A successful and rewarding profession requires excellent communication skills. Clients, staff, partners, associates, other lawyers, and vendors all require effective communication. Improving your communication skills will allow you to speak more confidently, which will help you attract more clients and influence your peers and reference sources.

Master good communication, and your practice will be more fun because people will respond favourably to you if you communicate well with them. Master good communication, and your practice will be more fun because people will trust and appreciate you if you communicate well with them; moreover, your practice will be more profitable.

3. Team Work
Working individually gets monotonous and boring at times. Professionals must have a high level of enthusiasm and interest. That’s where teamwork comes into play. Teamwork allows lawyers to employ a more diversified set of talents and people in order to manage their client concerns.

Technology’s expansion and invention have a significant impact on the profession of law. Today lawyers and clients are working on the most complicated challenges at a pace they were seen never before, which frequently necessitates global knowledge and collaborative teams of lawyers.

Lawyers must be extra eager while engaging with clients in order to perform better in terms of negotiation and persuasion, this also requires efficient use of law firm resources in order to be profitable, especially in these times when clients are expecting more for less.

4. Empathy
Empathy is extremely beneficial to a lawyer. It enhances the ability to connect with the human components involved. It serves as a reminder that behind every case report are people whose lives have been impacted financially, emotionally, and in a variety of other ways to understand the impact of justice upon individuals’ circumstances.

Empathy is important in many aspects of life. It can help you cope with a wide spectrum of people, including coworkers. It can also improve your connections with family and friends by assisting you in better understanding and respecting their perspectives. In fact, the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement for Barristers emphasizes the need of knowing when and how to show empathy, largely due to the fact that it is a useful tool for establishing a strong contact and rapport with your clients.

5. Technologically fit
According to studies, organizations that use specific forms of technology generate up to 39% more money per lawyer than those that don’t.

Also, according to the Legal Trends Report’s findings: Clients say technology is more important to them now than it was before the epidemic, with 69 percent preferring to transfer papers electronically, 56 percent preferring video conferencing to a phone call, and 65 percent preferring to pay with electronic payments.

Nowadays, clients have become more acclimated to technology and began to use it more frequently. Clients are more reliant on the ease and convenience of solutions like electronic payment systems, client portals, and client intake and CRM solutions. Lawyers who used them had a huge advantage in terms of casework and revenue, demonstrating the necessity of being technically fit.

With the changing trends and technology, all professionals must be interested in upskilling themselves by learning and adopting new technology in order to retain their effectiveness and profitability.