Learning to be a lawyer in transnational law firms: communities of ...

So important is such observation and experience that many global training events are run as
simulations. Transactions are mocked up with those attending the training event taking the role
of lawyers on the deal. Either senior lawyers, or in some cases training consultants or even
actors, play the role of the client. Such simulations allow lawyers to experience the ways of
working and the values and attitudes that other lawyers from different offices throughout the firm
display when dealing with everyday challenges and when interacting with clients. This allows
individuals based in offices throughout the world to learn about how their approach to being a
lawyer fits with or differs from that of other lawyers working for the firm and particularly those
from the home-country of the firm. As the global head of training quoted above reported:
“’The Real Deal’, which is a mock up of a deal, and they each have a coach who follows
them through this course, the course lasts between three and four days depending on what
the deal is, and they literally have to kind of run the deal as if they would, they’ll be
running meetings with clients, people playing clients, they’ll be briefing partners, so
that’s a very interactive course that’s a combination of technical and developmental”.
For one junior lawyer who had experienced such simulations, the benefits were described as
follows:
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