"Versatile and technological. These are the lawyers of the future" (with Maria de Lancastre Valente)

«For Maria de Lancastre Valente, Director of People and Culture at SRS Legal, in addition to the "obvious" technical skills, a lawyer has to know how to "converse in other languages", which is why "elasticity and dexterity are fundamental".
"This means putting yourself alongside the client in the analysis of their problems, understanding the sector in which they operate, their internal organizational culture, how it works operationally and in terms of internal governance, namely in decision making, what their 'pain points' are and, above all, offering pragmatic solutions, which result from managing the balance between time, cost and risk for that particular client, in a specific context," he added.
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Maria de Lancastre Valente also believes that recruitment processes have become more professional, requiring "careful" preparation on the part of organizations and the ability to answer questions that were not asked in the past.
"There has to be a clear value proposition on the part of the organization, clearly communicated and, of course, understood and respected by the lawyer, in a logic of reciprocity. This alignment of values and expectations is fundamental for a good matching1 and development of the relationship," she noted.
For the Director of People and Culture at SRS, companies have also become more demanding when selecting candidates.
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Maria de Lancastre Valente admitted to Advocatus that the first step to retaining talent is to assume that the needs of the younger generations are different and that we need to "address them with an open mind". The second step is to clearly outline and communicate what they value and want from the organization.
"Thirdly, since the new generations are digital natives, firms must be able to position themselves with an offer of innovation and technology that supports and catalyzes the legal services they provide, empowering lawyers for truly value-added tasks. This does not mean, however, that these generations, all of them, neglect, on the one hand, the necessary investment in learning simple and routine, but equally important, tasks, and on the other, in their 'polyvalence' of skills and languages, even if they specialize in one area of law; it is from the combination of these various factors that virtue is born," said the SRS partner.
The lawyer also pointed to the "very empowerment and commitment of leadership and the recognition of the centrality of good internal governance" as crucial steps to retention.»