Sherwood Workshop - Learning to Improve Financial Performance

For Finance Directors, Training Directors and Heads of Department

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Following the success of our previous workshops and picking up on issues you've said you'd like covered, here are more details of our early Summer Workshop to be held in London on Tuesday 5 June 2007 from 0900 to 1230. The workshop will entitle those attending to 3.25 CPD hours.

Nearly everything that a firm can do to improve its financial performance at an operational level requires action by people - usually lawyers – whose primary role is nothing to do with finance. Lawyers often find that, however much they know about them in theory, figures and financial concepts do not connect up to their everyday way of thinking and working. One way of helping to make that connection is to use computer simulation. In a simulation, the lawyer can learn by doing – trying out and experimenting to find what real-world actions lead to what financial consequences.

This workshop is for you if you

• are in a training or HR role and want to explore the possibility of using interactive computer simulation in financial training in your firm
• have financial responsibility – perhaps as a Finance Director or Head of Department - and want to see how computer simulation can help you actually improve financial performance.

We will explore the challenge of improving lawyers' competence and confidence in managing their teams and departments for financial success. We will look at the use of computer financial simulations in both training and in performance improvement initiatives. You will have the chance to use one of the Sherwood simulators and to see how these can be used in practice. The workshop will be led by Julian Boardman-Weston, Simon McCall, Sally Woodward and Des O'Connell.

Specific issues to be addressed will depend on the interests of those attending and are likely to include the different ways that firms tackle financial training and development for partners and other staff

• The knowing-doing gap and how to bridge it
• Learning by doing and the use of simulations
• Financial simulation as an aid to changing lawyer perceptions and behaviour
• The practicalities of using simulation, including the use of simple, cost-effective technology
• Training for fixed and capped fee work as well as the more familiar hourly charging environment.

We invite you to indicate your area/topic of particular interest on the booking form.

Objective, format and venue

You will get new ideas and be able to share best practice. The workshops will be run in an informal and interactive way with plenty of time for questions and discussion. Numbers are restricted overall and to two places per firm per event. To attend, simply fill in the booking form and send it back to us.

The workshop will run from 9.00am to 12.30pm at The Little Ship Club, Bell Wharf Lane, Upper Thames Street, London, EC4R 3TB (underneath offices of S J Berwin - entrance from Thames Path at North end of Southwark Bridge). Coffee will be available from 8.30am and a sandwich lunch will be provided afterwards for those who wish to stay on to discuss any of the issues raised.

For further information please contact Julian Boardman-Weston