CPD does not have to be hard anymore

Press Release  Press Release

London UK, Thursday 3^rd April 2014 – A national organisation specialising in the delivery of vocational and professional training has been approved to deliver recognised ‘soft skills’ courses to the legal profession, following formal assessment and accreditation by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

The Academy of Vocational and Professional Training (AVPT) now offer ‘soft skill’ courses within the legal sector after successfully becoming the latest organisation in the UK to reach the expecting standards required by the national regulatory body. Not only are the courses approved and recognised industry wide, but also count towards CPD certification of course candidates.

Within professional development arenas, it is now widely accepted the development of ‘soft skills’ within a workforce plays a significant part in the performance and continued success of companies and organisations across every niche. This has lead to an upsurge in organisations looking to complement the traditional ‘hard skill’ base with ‘soft skill’ development programmes.

Law firms begin to up skill their staff with soft skills

In contrast to the occupational ‘hard-skills’ – those needed to physically undertake a role, ‘soft skills’ focus on the personal characteristic traits which allow individuals to excel in the work place, such as communication, empathy, emotional intelligence and social interaction.

As the legal industry settles after a fundamental reshaping which has resulted in a considerable increase in competition from smaller firms and individuals, law firms across the country are adapting their approach by improving the soft skill abilities of their employees and partners. Modernisation has helped them recognise the importance of technology in the learning environment to overcome geographical, language barriers and time constraint when up-skilling their entire business, so as to become more customer and user friendly.

The current range of ‘soft skill’ development packages for the legal profession have been specifically tailored to meet the needs and requirements of clients working in legal niches. Skills such as HR, Marketing with Social Media, Information management, Leadership & Management skills, Business development, Negotiations and customer services to name but a few from the list of 300 which can now count towards their annual CPD requirements.

Diane Shawe, CEO of AVPT commented “in 2013 the Legal Services Policy Institute estimate as many as 3,000 high street law firms (or 35% of the total) will have to disappear in the subsequent upheaval, law firms with good local reputations will be able to withstand competition if they can successfully reach the demands of clients for greater convenience and ease of access to services by generating greater efficiencies within their practices.”

AVPT is the only UK globally accredited online and workshop based provider of over 300 Soft Skills courses, which uses a cutting edge proprietary online learning management system. Workshop courses are professionally executed in 1-3 days which are delivered as foundation to expert levels.

As a provider of Soft Skill training courses which are accredited by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority and globally by the IAO, AVPT are now offering CPD applicable courses to the legal profession. For further information please visit the official website at www.academy-of-vocational-and-professional-training.comor get in touch using the details shown with this release.