Finnish first

Finnish first
Here are ten lessons Canadian law firms can learn from
their successful counterparts in Finland.
What’s New In...
Law Firm Management?
By Chad Eggerman
ROBERT JOHANNSEN
O
ver the years, there have been
some great hockey matches
between Canada and Finland
— including the 2007 World
Hockey Championships, which
I was lucky enough to watch with fellow
Canadians and Finnish friends while living
in Helsinki.
But with the exception of hockey,
Finland tops Canada in many international
rankings, including competitiveness (the
World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index places Finland 6th and
Canada 10th), innovation (the Capacity for
Innovation Index ranks Finland 5th and
Canada 18th), business environment (Finland is 2nd and Canada 4th on The
Economist Intelligence Unit’s Business
Environment List) and transparency (2008
Corruptions Perceptions Index: Finland
5th, Canada 9th).
The two countries’ legal professions are
no exception. How is it that a nation of just
over five million tucked neatly away in
northeastern Europe has managed to produce some of
the most innovative, prosperous and successful law
firms? After seven years living in Finland and working at
one of northern Europe’s leading law firms in Helsinki, I
can say that by comparison, Canadian law firms appear
outdated and inefficient.
The status quo in Canada cannot continue if we
hope to prosper in the coming years. Unless we adopt
changes already implemented by many Finnish law
firms, every Canadian law practice — from the largest
top-tier national firms right down to sole practitioners
— is at risk. This is ever more pertinent as the global
economy falls into what looks to be a sustained and
deep recession.
The gap with Europe’s elite firms is quite substantial
— but it’s not insurmountable, and Canadian firms that
invest in themselves will come out on top. Here are ten
ways in which Canadian law firms could and should
emulate their Finnish counterparts.
2. Technology
Some large Finnish law firms even provide their clients
with secure electronic extranet access, via an Internet
connection, directly to all relevant documents, correspondence and billing activity. This technology, combined
with a commitment to break down internal “information
silos,” has enabled Finnish firms to move successfully
into growing and established markets like China, Russia,
Sweden and the Baltic States. Canadian firms, on the
other hand, often run into difficulties managing the move
into another province in the same country.
1. Innovation
While European law firms innovate and move into new
markets, Canadian firms tend to resist the large-scale adoption of new technology and fail to adequately share knowledge within the firm. Large and mid-sized firms in Canada
are only now rolling out fully integrated document
3. Communication
Oral and written communication is brief and concise in
Finland, thanks to the Finnish language, which may use
a single word to describe something that would take one
or two sentences in English. The forthright culture of
Finland as well as the codified civil law system has also
Janvier · Février 2009
management systems, whereas
even small Finnish firms and sole
practitioners use this technology
to increase productivity. In
Finland, clients routinely demand
to receive documents instantly
and in electronic format.
w w w. c b a . o r g
Unless we adopt changes
already implemented by
many Finnish law firms,
every Canadian law
practice is at risk.
45
Quoi de neuf...
en gestion de cabinets juridique?
Les Finlandais à la tête du peloton
Voici 10 leçons essentielles pour les firmes canadiennes tirées de l’expérience
de leurs confrères finlandais.
E
n dehors du hockey, la Finlande
surpasse le Canada sur le plan de
la productivité, de l’innovation,
de la transparence… Et c’est vrai dans le
milieu de la profession juridique.
Comment une nation de cinq millions
d’habitants a-t-elle réussi à produire des
cabinets aussi prospères? En comparaison, les cabinets canadiens paraissent
désuets, inefficaces, et dispendieux.
Il est grand temps que les Canadiens
comblent le fossé qui les sépare de leurs
pairs européens. Il en va de la survie de
la pratique du droit, surtout dans un
contexte de récession globale.
Voici 10 solutions gagnantes en ce
sens :
les extranets et les sites de réseautage
pour échanger des informations avec
leurs clients, faisant ainsi tomber les
barrières de communication.
4. Mobilité
La différence la plus éloquente entre les
cabinets canadiens et finlandais s’illustre par leur capacité à travailler à partir de n’importe quel endroit. L’utilisation des téléphones cellulaires et des
ordinateurs portables avec accès direct
aux serveurs professionnels est généralisée. Le télétravail est également possible pour les avocats.
5. Frais
8. Rémunération
Les honoraires facturés par les grands
cabinets en Finlande sont aussi substantiels qu’au Canada. Mais les finlandais prennent davantage le soin de
mettre de l’argent en réserve afin de
couvrir des dépenses futurs en ressources humaines.
Contrairement aux cabinets européens innovateurs, les cabinets canadiens rechignent à adopter à grande échelle les nouvelles technologies de communication et
à partager les connaissances à l’interne.
Au lieu d'inscrire les frais de bureau
dans la facture adressée au client, les
avocats finlandais y ajoutent simplement un pourcentage de 3 à 4 %. Le fait
que les services de gestion et de comptabilité s’occupent des frais facilite la
relation avocat-client.
2. Technologie
6. Formation
10. Vacances
Certains cabinets finlandais offrent
même à leurs clients des réseaux extranet leur permettant d’accéder directement à tous les documents pertinents
incluant la facturation.
Afin d’accroître la compréhension des
différents domaines du droit, les cabinets finlandais misent beaucoup sur
les formations internes ou des séminaires, donnés par leurs propres avocats
à leurs collègues.
Les associés finlandais apprécient leurs
vacances annuelles de six semaines,
ce qui ne les empêche pas de surpasser les avocats canadiens au plan de la
productivité. Il faut dire qu’ils prennent aussi plaisir à rester en communication avec leurs clients durant leurs
vacances. N
1. Innovation
3. Communication
Les avocats finlandais de tous âges
utilisent le courriel, les messages textes,
7. Gestion du travail
Les assistants juridiques de cabinets en
assisted in keeping communication short but sweet. In most
transactions, it’s rare to see an agreement longer than 20 pages
and more than 50 documents.
In Canada, by contrast, lawyers try to cover all details and
use as many words as possible, increasing billable hours as a
result. Finnish lawyers who choose their words carefully while
producing less documentation actually increase overall firm
productivity, by closing larger transactions more efficiently
and producing documentation clients can more easily understand, leading to further work.
4. Mobility
The most telling difference in communication methods between Canadian and Finnish law firms may be the desk phone
— or the lack thereof. Leading Finnish law firms transact most
work in person or through mobile phones (a prerequisite in
the country that Nokia calls home). Using compulsory laptops
with direct access to work servers, lawyers can, and do, work
from anywhere.
Many Finnish lawyers often take this opportunity to work
from different offices, or from home or their cottage. Clients
are happier, because their lawyer is always available; lawyers
46
Finlande ont un rôle très différent de
leurs homologues canadiens. Au lieu
d’assister un seul avocat, ils travaillent
sur des projets spécifiques. Plutôt que
de se consacrer à la dactylographie, ils
travaillent sur des campagnes d’information, la préparation de présentations, ou d’autres activités visant le
partage d’informations.
9. Gestion des connaissances
Le dévouement des gestionnaires finlandais exerce un effet rassembleur sur
les membres d’un même cabinet, ce qui
augmente leur performance.
— Yasmina El Jamaï
are happier, because they can spend time doing other things
rather than being restricted to their office.
5. Disbursements
Disbursements are handled somewhat differently by some
firms in Finland. Instead of entering a lengthy client file number every time you make a photocopy or a telephone call, as
many Canadian lawyers do, most Finnish firms simply add a
percentage (between 3% and 4%) to their clients’ invoice in
order to cover disbursements. Management and accounting
still record disbursements, but lawyers are spared the extra
time recording these disbursements, and clients feel they can
more openly and readily communicate with their lawyer when
they are not (at least directly) billed for each disbursement.
6. Training
In Finland, virtually all lawyers speak English in addition to
Finnish and Swedish, the country’s two official languages.
Although investments in language training may not be directly relevant to Canada, investment in other types of training
can bring huge benefits. Finnish law firms often feature regular in-house seminars provided by their lawyers for their
N AT I O N A L
January · February 2009
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