Increasingly law firms are experiencing greater demands from their clients, be that in the form of value-added services or more flexible know-how advice and support. Now that the Legal Services Act 2007 has worked its way through Parliament, taking a more commercially-orientated approach which is very much client-driven is unarguably the smartest way to proceed.

Where Professional Support Lawyers (PSLs) have traditionally considered the fee earners in their practice groups as their clients, they now increasingly find themselves making the transition to serving the firm's clients, directly. This Report is researched and written specifically to help you:

• Make a comprehensive assessment of the current role of your PSLs;
• Evaluate if and how you can develop the position to deliver increased value to your firm and your clients;
• Dev elop an effective strategy to successfully implement these changes.

The Changing Role of the Professional Support Lawyer looks in-depth at:

• The business reasons for instigating such change;
• Identifying and assessing what the ‘best value' role is for your particular firm;
• Making the PSL role both more business-focussed and client-centric – tools and tactics that work;
• Fostering career development/career progression for your PSLs. What are the issues concerning training, remuneration and motivation?
• Encouraging the necessary culture shift to allow room for the PSL role to grow;
• Measuring the success and return on investment that the changing PSL role brings to your firm;