DALLAS, May 25, 2021 – BARBRI announces a solution to a critical law firm need – a paralegal skills gap – that will help law firms reduce their hiring spend, fill vacancies with well-qualified and trained individuals, and boost employee retention. The new Last Mile Training program from BARBRI pairs law firms with specifically-trained paralegals in all areas — including areas like Immigration Law, Intellectual Property, and Estate Planning. Utilizing core content and training from its CLS by BARBRI arm, which has a rich 40-year history of training paralegals to be “job ready,” Last Mile Training will help firms fill the gaps in their workforce with qualified, gritty professionals.
“When we talk to our major law firm partners, it is always the same issue which troubles them most – the perpetual arms race to find and keep the people they need to serve their clients and grow their practices,” explained Andrew Gates, Managing Director at BARBRI. “Last Mile Training lets firms be intentional about building a pipeline of the right people in the right places.
With the Last Mile Training program, BARBRI will partner with leading colleges and universities to train those graduates who want a career in law, effectively slotting trained paralegals in the exact practice areas and geographic markets that the law firms need.
Especially in the most competitive practices and metro markets, the higher education system doesn’t produce enough legal support staff with the right training in the right practice areas. Because demand outstrips supply, a whole industry (legal recruitment) makes money from law firms moving qualified experienced staff from firm to firm.
“We know that the “switching costs” when an experienced paralegal leaves are very high for the firm, and it leaves them in a lurch as they try to fill that person’s role with a similarly-trained individual who can jump right in,” Gates further shared. “Last Mile Training trains these individuals to quickly fill the firm’s need.”
BARBRI takes a practical and purposeful approach to helping firms fill their paralegal needs: first by identifying high-achieving college graduates, and then providing them the step-by-step paralegal and specialty-area training that CLS by BARBRI has provided to more than 10,000 individuals since 1980. The result is a win-win for law firms: instead of throwing money at filling a vacancy, they are filling it with experienced people in the right places to effectively serve clients and help with the firms’ strategic goals. One of the major benefits of the Lat Mile Training program for law firms is that BARBRI’s investment in these graduates means the firms are no longer overpaying to attract scarce talent in tight employment markets.
While BARBRI’s approach is unique in the paralegal space, it is not a new concept. The information technology industry faced a similar challenge – too few well trained coders in the right geographies who were sought-after by too many employers. Last Mile Training is designed to solve the same problem for law firms.
“BARBRI is the right company to enter this space due to rich experience in training paralegals and through its close alignment to the law firms,” Gates said. “We’ve got a proven history of training those in law firms through some of the most critical times – whether it be preparing incoming attorneys for the bar exam or training paralegals to be job-ready on Day 1.”
About CLS by BARBRI
Founded in 1980, CLS has trained paralegal and legal support professionals through online and live legal studies courses delivered in partnership with nearly 200 colleges and universities. The new CLS by BARBRI is backed by BARBRI’s extensive legal learning data science and court methodology developed by its team of legal experts. Its 7- to 14-week courses offer students 24/7 access, allowing students to work the courses into their busy schedules. It’s the most flexible, job-ready legal education on the market.
About BARBRI Global
BARBRI Global is a global learning company dedicated to meeting the legal education and specialized training needs of law students, attorneys, and other professionals throughout their careers. BARBRI’s success is built upon its unmatched technology and innovative pedagogy, combined with the ability to harness data analytics, behavioral economics, learning science, and more to develop solutions for learners and institutions. Building on the success of its core bar courses, which have helped more than 1.3 million lawyers around the world pass a U.S. bar exam, BARBRI offers a comprehensive suite of learning solutions for higher education institutions and law-related businesses. These include U.S. bar prep, curriculum, assessment, global license preparation, online program management, and professional development.
Contact
Katie Saylor
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913-219-4444
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