Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Australia has introduced an innovative graduate student programme designed for non-lawyers to enhance the skills of professional lawyers and encourage more students to engage with and understand the work behind the delivery of client services. 

As a result of this programme, HSF will invite five graduates from London, Asia and Australia to participate in this 18-month course, which is designed exclusively for non-lawyers. Successful candidates will rotate through different areas of specialisation, with a focus on client service delivery and new technologies. 

The firm's director of legal operations, Ian Gilbert, said the sector is fast becoming an established methodology and skill set across the legal industry, bringing together both private practice and in-house teams through common challenges and opportunities for efficiency and service improvement in an overly competitive space. 

“By offering candidates the chance to train for a career in this rapidly evolving area of client delivery, we are not only demonstrating the importance of firm places in this area but also ultimately creating a workforce that organically understands how to work with our clients in a more streamlined and innovative way, ultimately providing them with even better service,” Mr Gilbert commented.

For several years, HSF has been using new technologies to improve its service delivery to customers. In turn, it has introduced innovative tools such as identifying alternative resource options, applying innovative problem-solving methods and leveraging the use and analysis of data. 

In this way, the HSF team also works with the firm's alternative legal services department to find and develop holistic solutions to deliver greater value and operational efficiencies to clients, which are hallmarks of top-tier law firms. Successful candidates for this programme will have the opportunity to complete a three-month service project before moving into full-time legal operations functions. 

“This is a really exciting development for both the firm and the industry as we encourage more graduates to pursue a career in this area,” says Libby Jarvis , deputy head of legal operations at HSF.