The technology has changed and the audience has changed. Attorneys don’t learn the same way that secretaries do and paralegals don’t learn the same way as either of the other two groups. I would also offer up that Partners don’t want to learn the same way that Associates do. Before I left big law, I worked on a project with my new employer to analyze a practice group in the big law firm. I came away with the discovery that Secretaries still prefer classroom training, Partners ask their secretaries how to use technology and Associates learn from each other.

After observing how many attorneys are flocking to tools like the Blackberry or Iphone and social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, I’m not sure they are as technology adverse as we originally thought. I think they just prefer to jump on board with emerging technology rather than make up for the years of not using the word processor.

Even though we have a lot on our plate already – how many third-party apps do you have to know to teach Word these days! — we have to learn more about social networking, web conferencing, document collaboration via Google Docs. We also need to enhance our delivery skill set. Take advantage of those social networking concepts by creating Learning Communities within our firms. If they are going to ask each other, then let’s give them a way to do so with the correct information. And we need to learn how to effectively deliver a web presentation, consider moving some e-learning to a mobile platform. When the attorneys realize that the technologists are concerned about understanding the tools they are using, then we at least have our foot in the door to the “traditional” training that needs to happen.

At the same time we are asking our legal users to learn, trainers have a lot of new concepts and technologies to learn as well.