The legal market is undergoing an undeniable transformation: Clients are demanding more value for less money, while emphasis on the business of law and legal operations is growing. There is still an incomplete vision for educating today’s future class of lawyers, and current metrics do not gauge practice-readiness or the ability to meet client expectations. Moreover, average citizens’ access to justice continues to get worse – 50% of the economic middle class and 80% of the lower class do not have ready or affordable access to legal services.

The solution to these problems cannot be achieved through efficiency initiatives or new technology alone. The foundational paradigm of legal services must shift and indeed, it is. Believing that empirically measuring the quality of lawyer work offers great untapped value, we wanted to work toward a solution where the client defines the quality and value of the work instead of the current measure that values a lawyer by the number of hours worked or billed. 

At the same time, many legal experts say the legal industry is at an inflection point resulting from an increasing pace of change, driven by many factors – technology, client demand, disaggregation of matter workflow, the rise of millennials approaching mid-career status, and the faster pace of business in general.

We envision a legal marketplace with greater alignment between lawyer and client – engendered by a movement toward collaboration, shared vision, and strategic partnership. This begins with a movement toward agile lawyer competency models and law school curricula that are continuously updated based upon feedback from customers and analyses of concrete metrics. In this ideal state, treating the training and development of lawyers as an investment with measurable returns leads to gains for the business and an increase in job satisfaction for lawyers.

The “I” to the “T” to the delta-shaped lawyer competency model 

For a long time, good lawyering followed the model of an “I-shaped” professional, focusing almost exclusively on an individual mastering the single competency related to traditional legal knowledge and skills. Before the 2000s, these were the primary skills that were in demand.

Figure 1 – The “I-Shaped" lawyer competency model

Then, following the financial crisis and with the influence of new legal technology, things started to change. Clients increasingly demanded that their lawyers use technology tools and process improvement to enhance delivery of their legal services. Enter the “T-shaped lawyer,” a term coined by Amani Smathers in 2014. 

Figure 2 – The “T-Shaped" lawyer competency model

The inclusion of additional knowledge, skills, and attitudes transformed the “I-shaped professional” into the “T-shaped lawyer.” The stem (or I) of the “T” reflected the legal skills and knowledge learned in law school, and the horizontal cross stroke of the “T” reflected the areas of technology and workflow changes that were mainstreamed in how legal work now is completed. These competencies included such key factors as design thinking, data analytics, technology, project management, and the use of business tools.

This “T-shaped lawyer” model gained considerable traction as the only model to represent the need for lawyers to expand their skill set. However, the model was still not one that met two ongoing challenges: 1) clients’ demand for better relationship management; and 2) how to empirically measure these qualities.

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the law, we are seeing an increased focus on lawyers’ emotional intelligence (EI), which is the human side of lawyering. Indeed, the pace of change and the shift of the center of power to the buyers of legal services adds to the increased demand for improvements in how lawyers relate to clients. And increased EI makes for better lawyers who can then more effectively act as trusted advisers for clients.

For the purpose of our effort, we adopt the well-known definition of EI as having two parts – self-awareness and social awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to manage the emotions of oneself and to regulate one’s emotions, particularly during stressful situations. Social awareness is the ability to “read” others’ emotions during daily interactions through empathy and to adjust the response for effective relationship-building and conflict resolution when necessary. 

During a one-day working conference in 2018, we hypothesized that a more inclusive model reflecting both the demands for lawyers to gain skills in technology and the business of law as well as skills related to EI would more comprehensively reflect the diverse skills, attitudes, and knowledge that lawyers need to reach the highest level of client satisfaction. Building off the T-shaped model, we used research literature and anecdotes to develop a model that included skill sets related to three areas: law, business and operations, and personal effectiveness skills. We called our creation the Delta Model.

We sought to build on the excellent body of work from well-known lawyer education and skills development experts including Bill Henderson, David Wilkins, Alli Gerkman, Amani Smathers, Andrea Schneider, and Jim Lupo. We desired to highlight the need not only for T-shaped lawyers, but also for lawyers with high-character quotients, emotional intelligence, leadership, and collaborative problem-solving skills.

In our analysis of the current state, we discussed the competency models used by firms to evaluate lawyer talent, the many requirements that impact the quality of lawyer work, the relatively new standards from the American Bar Association (ABA) requiring law schools to offer experiential learning opportunities, and the tools of evaluation, such as the bar exam, that certify whether a lawyer meets the requirements to practice law.

Our design of the “Delta” Model started with the foundation. We included the foundational Legal Knowledge & Skills that are table stakes for any lawyer passing the bar exam and practicing law. These attributes included Legal Research, Legal Writing, and Legal Analysis. This grounded the model with the widely accepted “lawyering” skills being taught in law schools. 

Figure 3 – the “Delta Model” of lawyer competence

Rather than reinvent the wheel, we built off the existing models developed by peers in the legal community. Thus, we chose to include the skills identified in the T-shaped model. These skills include technology, project management, data analytics, and business tools. Technology spending by law firms continues to be a primary area of investment, underscoring the accelerating pace of change with the ongoing rise of big data and workflow technology greatly influencing how lawyering gets done. Moreover, combined with big unstructured data, AI creates opportunities to analyze siloed data sets to gain insights in numerous new ways. We placed these process, data, and technology skills on the right side of our base of foundational legal skills.

But the model at this point remained incomplete. Anecdotally, we observed an increasing number of clients saying that they wanted their lawyers to reflect a new humanity. Additional research also supported the notion that certain skills and character qualities were necessary to succeed in law. Thus, we built the third side of the model with Personal Effectiveness skills such as Character, Entrepreneurial Mindset, and Communication. We placed these Personal Effectiveness skills on the left side of the model. 

Rather than have two uprights on a base, we chose to lean the Personal Effectiveness skills and the Process, Data & Technology skills toward each other forming a triangle with the base. This shape, reminiscent of the Greek character delta, gave us the name for the model. Knowing that delta is often used to represent change, this reflected the need for change within the legal field. The placement of the sides also reflects our observations that both sides are equally important for a successful 21st century lawyer and that each side would function to support the other. Further, the visual draws the eye upward – reflecting our belief that these skills are necessary for upward advancement in the legal industry.

An empirical research plan to assess the skills to improve client satisfaction

In order to study and back up this otherwise theoretical model, we kicked off a research study in Fall 2018 to investigate the skills, attitudes, and knowledge that purport to increase client satisfaction. Moreover, in order to create impactful change in the practice of law and legal education, we believed it was critical to demonstrate measurable outcomes related to these competencies. We kept our ultimate goal in mind: Highlighting the changing nature of the delivery of legal services, providing a competency model that is based on empirical research, and ensuring ongoing, critical evaluation of the model and the lawyers who follow it. 

The first key step in our research plan was to evaluate the Delta Model and validate the competencies that were highlighted. Our longer-term goals were to prepare a menu of professional development options for applying the Delta Model competencies and identify or create a series of metrics to determine whether a lawyer demonstrates the effectiveness of each quality. At the end of 2018, we embarked on Phase One of our research. During that phase, we conducted interviews with buyers of legal services and law firm talent specialists to validate the model and prioritize competencies.

The insights gained from the interviews were surprising in some ways and not so surprising in others. We had hypothesized that Personal Effectiveness skills were as important for a successful 21st century lawyer as were the skills obtained in law school. This turned out not only to be true, but as some practitioners stated, Personal Effectiveness skills were valued as even more important than those skills typically obtained in law school. In fact, many remarked that the “lawyering” skills could be taught, but Personal Effectiveness skills were more difficult. Indeed, 50% of the top 10 competencies named by our interviewees were classified in the area of Personal Effectiveness skills.

• 92% of survey respondents cited Relationship Management as a top 10 competency. As one in-house lawyer stated: “Even when you are an in-house lawyer, you are still in client service, which I don’t think people realize. I still have clients and they get paid by the same company – they don’t pay you.”
• 83% named Communication as a top 10 competency. Respondents noted that “knowing your audience” was particularly important. In fact, the Chief Human Resources Officer of an Am Law 200 law firm indicated that communication is a top development area for the firm, framing it as “understanding your audience and what is right for a particular client or a particular partner that a lawyer works with.”
• 75% named Emotional Intelligence as a top 10 competency. A professional development director in an Am Law 200 law firm said that the self-management part of EI is really critical. “Self-management is key, and the ability [for any lawyer] to take responsibility for their own behaviors and for their own wellbeing” at any level is a top 10 competency.
• 66% named Entrepreneurial Mindset as a top 10 competency. An in-house lawyer offered her view of what this looks like as the willingness of a person to put “their hand up and say, ‘I see a problem and I have an idea of how to solve it’ or ‘I heard of this really great tool.’”

Our findings in the area of data and technology were more surprising. More specifically, the discussion around technology was not so much about having expertise in technology but rather “understanding technology tools and knowing when to use them.” For this reason, we changed the right-hand side of the triangle from Process, Data & Technology to Business & Operations. Further, 83% of those we interviewed named Project Management as a top 10 competency; and 67% of the group named Business Fundamentals as a top 10 competency. Only 50% of our interviewees named Data Analytics as a top 10 competency.

Finally, it was no surprise that the skills learned in law school made it into the top 10. Based on our interviews, we separated out Legal Subject Matter Expertise, as many of the individuals we interviewed stressed that staying current on the law and practice areas of expertise were critical for a successful lawyer in the 21st century. At least 25% of our interviewees stated that skills listed under The Law – the bottom part of the Delta – are top 10 competencies.

After the interviews, we prioritized the competencies found on each side of the triangle. Gathering a broader range of perspectives on the Delta Model helped us identify which competencies to include in the model. We used the critiques to update the model to Version 2.0.

In Version 2.0, the base of the model morphed from Legal Knowledge & Skills to The Law, which expanded from Legal Research, Legal Writing, and Legal Analysis to include Legal Subject-Matter Expertise. Process, Data & Technology became Business & Operations with key components of Business Fundamentals, Project Management, and Data Analytics. Finally, Personal Effectiveness Skills was renamed Personal Effectiveness.

Figure 4 – Delta Model 2.0

Surprising findings in Personal Effectiveness (again) 

In early 2019, we initiated Phase Two of the research plan. We designed this phase to gain a wider scope of feedback on the Delta Model. Once again, the findings helped the model to evolve. More specifically:

• The Law: Most of the participants indicated that The Law remains the most important category for the successful 21st century lawyer.
•   Personal Effectiveness: 80% of those surveyed found that this was an important skill for client satisfaction.
• Business & Operations: 67% agreed that Business & Operations was an important category for client satisfaction.

There was also a shift within each category, and the biggest change occurred in the Personal Effectiveness category. The top three competencies were:

• Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Emotional Intelligence
• Character

In fact, 91% of respondents identified Entrepreneurial Mindset as the top attribute, and 59% and 55% indicated that Emotional Intelligence and Character were the second and third most important for client satisfaction, respectively.

During the interviews, Relationship Management, Communication, and Emotional Intelligence represented the top three attributes at 92%, 83%, and 75%, respectively. 

Figure 5 – Change in Personal Effectiveness category 

An entrepreneurial mindset points to the need for agility and adaptability for the success of lawyers in the 21st century and as a way to expand problem-solving beyond solely legal issues. Indeed, more than 60% (20 out of 33) of respondents classified proactive problem-solving as extremely important on a 1-to-10 scale within the Entrepreneurial Mindset competency of the left-hand side of the Delta. 

Figure 6 – Proactive problem-solving 

A key lawyering skill is the ability to craft arguments that find gaps, loopholes, or an alternative perspective on legal issues – legal issue problem-solving. However, this problem resolution paradigm applies primarily to strictly legal issues and is largely reactive. Perhaps the key word in this question was “proactive” because identifying a legal argument is reactive. Moreover, necessitating the possibility of reframing legal work as problem-solving enables the agility of the skill in other areas of the profession. 

We note with interest the fluctuation of Emotional Intelligence from the top 3 spot in the interview portion of our research and being at No. 2 during the survey, but with a smaller portion of the survey (59%) indicating that Emotional Intelligence was a top 2 attribute, compared to 75% during the interviews.

One of the other interesting shifts was in the strength of the Relationship Management and the Character competencies in the top 3 categories in the survey results, when during the interviews, they did not emerge as within the top 3. 

Within the Emotional Intelligence category, there was a slight favorability for self-awareness, though the same number of survey respondents selected self-awareness and empathy (15 vs. 15) as extremely important (8 and above on a 1-to-10 scale), but more people (12 self-awareness vs. 7 empathy) selected self-awareness at a 9 and 10, and 8 vs. 3 respondents rated empathy as an 8 on a 1-to-10 scale, which is critical for the Relationship Management component because of the requirement of Self-Awareness and Empathy to step into the shoes of another. 

Figure 7 – Importance of emotional intelligence areas 

Relationship Management was the No. 1 attribute of those interviewed but not a top 3 in the survey findings, and this is supported by 45% (15 of 33 respondents rating it as an 8-10 on a 1-to-10 scale) of respondents rating Relationship Management as an extremely important competency.  

Figure 8 – Relationship management 

Active Listening in the Communication category and Honoring Commitments in the Character category were equally classified as extremely important as a top skill at 54.5% (18 of 33 of all individuals classifying it as 8 or above on a 1-to-10 scale) of the Personal Effectiveness part of the Delta. Surprisingly, the graphs are identical. 

Figure 9 – Active Listening and honoring commitments equally important 

Within the Business & Operations category (the right side of the Delta), Project Management & Workflow was selected as the top skill. Next, Business Fundamentals was the second most prioritized competency and finally, Technology was ranked as the third. Less than one-third ranked Data Analytics as important.

Figure 10 – Business & Operations top-ranked attributes 

Within The Law category, there was more consensus in what is considered the top 3 attributes. There is a differential of 2 respondents between the No. 1 and the No. 3 spot. Legal Judgment was rated at the top spot by 67% (22 out of 33 selecting 8 or above on a 1-to-10 scale) of the individuals; followed by 63% (21 out of 33 selecting 8 or above on a 1-to-10 scale) selecting Legal Analysis as the second most important; and 60% (20 out of 33 selecting 8 or above on a 1-to-10 scale) choosing Legal Subject-Matter Expertise as the No. 3 attribute.

Figure 11 – The Law top-ranked attributes  

Overall, the first phase of research from the Delta Model working group proves two of the three primary parts of our hypothesis. The first part stated: “We believe that a new delta-shaped model of lawyer competence, combining currently available research literature and anecdata, will more comprehensively reflect the diverse skills, attitudes, and knowledge that lawyers need to reach the highest level of client satisfaction.” While The Law remained the most important category, cited by 95% of the respondents, 4 out of 5 respondents indicated that Personal Effectiveness was important and two-thirds of respondents indicated Business & Operations was important. 

Adaptability of the Delta Model 

We believe the Delta Model has the adaptability to reflect multiple career paths across the legal industry. As an individual reaches different stages in his or her career, the emphasis on certain skills will change and the weighting of the different components will evolve. 

The model also can be adapted to reflect a team within an organization. For example, a team at a law firm will consist of people who excel in the basics of law, such as brief writing. Because a firm has team members to handle customer relations or client billing, an attorney may not need great skills in business operations. Other team members may carry the weight of certain skills; overall, this could impact the multiple decision points in an individual’s career.

The model reflects requirements for well-roundedness of the successful 21st century lawyer – from the law firm context, it is the rainmaker; and from the in-house perspective, it is the general counsel who makes key buying decisions for legal services.  

We are in the process of developing a new dynamic version of the Delta Model that can shift and change to reflect differing degrees of depth within each competency area. As individuals move through their career, the position they hold or stage of professional development they obtain will be reflected by a changing model. Although the component pieces remain consistent throughout, a person’s skill level or need for those components will shift. With the legal industry at a crossroads between traditional practice and the future of the profession, the Delta Model has the agility to bridge the gap. 

As technology innovates the delivery of legal services, new jobs and positions are being created to harness that innovation. For instance, large law firms are now hiring for positions such as a legal solutions architect. Someone in this position must have sufficient depth of skill in the Business & Operations side to truly be valuable in this position, and a depth of skill that will be deeper than that of a traditional attorney (See Figure 12 below). 

Figure 12 – Delta Model adapted for legal solutions architect 

But during Phase Two of our research, one respondent pointed out that law firms still need individuals who are masterful brief writers and in fact, will look for individuals with that singular expertise. The Delta Model can reflect this position as well. By shifting the midpoint higher, we can recognize the greater depth in skill the individual needs to have in traditional lawyering skills, but must recognize there is still a need for that individual to know how to effectively use technology to be efficient in the writing and editing of that brief, and the emotional intelligence to know how to frame issues to be most effective. In this way, the Delta Model has the agility to reflect a legal brief writer’s skills (See Figure 13)

Figure 13 – Delta Model adapted for lawyers with legal brief writing expertise 

Likewise, because of how data and technology are driving opportunities to gain new insights from disparate, unstructured data sets, and how information is being used, stored, accessed, and analyzed, professional roles within the law library are changing dramatically. The 2018 State of the Professional research completed by the American Association of Law Libraries revealed several skills gaps across all three sides of the Delta Model. They included teaching and instruction, emotional intelligence, verbal communication and presentation skills, legal research, and data management and analytics.

Someone in this position must have sufficient depth of skill in the Business & Operations side and the Personal Effectiveness side to truly be valuable, and the Delta Model offers a visual representation that flexes with the changing needs and skills for such information professionals (See Figure 14).

Figure 14 – Delta Model adapted for information professionals 

Feedback varies on the Delta Model between the buyside and the sell-side

Personal Effectiveness – When comparing the responses of in-house lawyers versus law firm respondents, priority of most competencies varied along all three sides of the Delta Model. The only exception was Entrepreneurial Mindset, in that 89% of in-house counsel chose Entrepreneurial Mindset as the No. 1 most important attribute within the category, and 92% of law firm respondents said it was the No. 1 most important attribute.

Business & Operations – A full 100% of in-house counsel surveyed chose Business Fundamentals as the key skill in this category. There was a bit more of a disparity for the law firm respondents, with 75% selecting Business Fundamentals and 25% choosing Project Management as the most critical attributes within this category

The Law – Legal Subject-Matter Expertise was chosen by 89% of in-house counsel as the most important attribute in this category. Again, there was variation among the law firm respondents with 58% choosing Legal Analysis as the most important skill, while 42% chose Legal Subject-Matter Expertise as the most important. 

Utility of the Delta Model

Overall, 57% (17 of 30) of respondents indicated that the Delta Model would be extremely useful for their organization. Indeed, one law firm professional development leader indicated that “it took [us] three years to development our lawyer competency model. Having something to either adopt or start from and deviate from is very valuable.” 

In addition, qualitative feedback indicated that the Delta Model’s visual simplicity was appealing. One respondent said what they liked most was that it “reflects current reality of law practice.” Another respondent appreciated the “simple but comprehensive” approach to lawyers’ professional development; and another agreed that the model was “comprehensive and fills in the gaps of what is needed in the industry.” Finally, one respondent expounded on the model’s versatility, saying that the model “captures the three most significant areas that determine success.” 

The constructive feedback we received focused mostly on the implementation of the model. Respondents also wondered about the evaluation methods available to measure the competencies. We will be focusing on these aspects as we move into the next phase of our research. 

Currently, one in-house legal department and one law firm have expressed interest in implementing the Delta Model, which would allow us to provide case studies of ways to implement the Delta Model.

As we shift our focus to the next phase of our research, we hope to partner with others in the community who are developing measurement rubrics and curricula to teach these skills. We have identified some efforts that align with the Delta Model and might be useful to strengthen the skill sets of those wishing to become a Delta Model lawyer.

Resources for acquiring individual Delta Model skills  

Our next round of research will encompass measurement of the effectiveness of the Delta Model competencies. Ahead of this, we wanted to provide a sample of resources for those to consider and who want to acquire Delta Model competencies.

This list is not a comprehensive list of resources but is suggested for illustrative purpose only! 

Business & Operations – Several certificate programs exist are offered by law schools for individuals to gain expertise in the skills comprising of Business & Operations:

• Suffolk University Law School offers a Legal Tech certificate. The program includes six online courses on 21st century lawyering: Legal Operations; Design Thinking for Legal Professionals; Process Improvement & Legal Project Management; Legal Technology Toolkit; 21st Century Legal Services; and the Business of Delivering Legal Services. Most of these topics address the Business & Operations side of the Delta Model. Individuals may enroll in one course or complete all six to earn the certificate. 
• Vanderbilt Law School’s Program on Law & Innovation launched the PoLI Institute in 2019, offering in-person immersion workshops to practicing lawyers in many areas covered by the Personal Effectiveness and Business & Operations sides of the Delta model. Current immersion programs include Legal Project Management, Legal Operations, Leading Innovation, Human-Centered Design for Law, Building #NewLaw (new legal business models), Data, Data, Everywhere (data analytics for law), and Building Healthy Lawyers. Open to all legal professionals, participants who complete any six of the courses earn a Certificate in Law & Innovation issued by Vanderbilt Law.

Personal Effectiveness – There are a number of free or low-cost options for many competencies found within the left side of the Delta Model:

• For public speaking, Toastmasters International offers community-learning opportunities in many cities and towns across the U.S. Peer coaching and group learning are used to teach communication ideas and tools for high-impact presentations. 
• LinkedIn Learning offers thousands of just-in-time training videos on many topics across the right and left sides of the Delta Model from emotional intelligence to mastering data analytics and visualization for minimal investment. 
•  In addition, platforms, such as Coursera and edX, offer free and low-investment online courses on a number of similar topics from universities across the globe. 
•  Dale Carnegie Training offers many virtual and in-person courses in leadership and communications across most of the U.S. and countries around the world. 
•  Finally, most major universities and colleges offer distance learning and classroom courses on communication, public speaking, and emotional intelligence. 

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