"Who only knows about law, doesn't even knows law". This quote, very dear to our founding partner, José Manuel Galvão Teles, has been said, written and glossed here at Morais Leitão, and contains in itself a whole way of being in advocacy.
Article by Martim Krupenski |Reading time 3 minutes
The specialization and compartmentalization (or fragmentation) of knowledge is simultaneously one of the great virtues and one of the greatest pitfalls of our time (to practice law, but not only, of course). It is a virtue because the new generations have a fantastic level of technical (in our case, legal) preparation. However, it is also a stumbling block because there is an excessive taper of knowledge. Today's society is a markedly technocratic society and highly values knowledge specialization. Specialization by area of knowledge. Specialization within this area of knowledge. And specialization within that specialization. A matryoshka of specializations, to use an expression dear to Ricardo Araújo Pereira. In the city, today a good lawyer specializes, for example, on corporate, but specifically in M&A, and more specifically, in M&A of companies in the TMT sector. It completely dominates, we hope, its small niche of knowledge.
This specialization has very useful aspects and it is evident that it is not possible to know everything about everything. But it is essential to know something about a lot. Neither the knowledge nor the respective use in the exercise of the profession is watertight. Know a little about economics, logic, but also philosophy, art, etc. helps a lot in the practice of advocacy. It is not as tangible help as knowing the most recent jurisprudence of the STJ in our (sub) area of specialization, but it is just as or more important (I leave out the space known as soft skills, but which are evident and equally indispensable to the practicing law or practically any other profession).
Who only knows about law, doesn't even knows law. I have no doubt that an "ideal" individual (or machine ...), who knows everything about M&A from TMT companies but nothing about any other branch of knowledge, will make a bad lawyer.
It is from this awareness that the great concern of Morais Leitão results in covering in its training to lawyers numerous branches of knowledge. Previously, still in the recruitment phase, it favors those who show interest in knowing something about a lot - it favors those who show a very healthy curiosity about things.
Hence the importance of management in law, one of the cornerstones of the Morais Leitão training program, which we have been developing in annual programs.
A lawyer is not a machine that "spits" out legal solutions to concrete problems. In fact, if so, the sustainability of the profession was seriously threatened. As a starting point, it is obviously essential to have very solid technical and legal knowledge. But that's not enough: in a law firm, much of the work involved in a lawsuit is not legal work. It is internal and external management work. It is also about knowing how to act in the value chain that goes from the proposal of services to the billing and collection of the services provided. And for that it is essential to have notions of management: knowing how to deal with and manage teams, managing projects, measuring profitability and other management indicators, dealing with customers, having appropriate negotiation strategies, and so on.
With Nova SBE, we built a customized training program, designed to the law and the particular characteristics of the sector. At least this crossbeam no longer escapes us.
This article was developed by Martim Krupenski, lawyer and director of Operations, HR & Training, within the scope of the customized “Project Manager Lawyer” co-created by Nova SBE and Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados - Sociedade de Advogados, SP, RL.
