In house legal training vs external legal training

Fancy a couple of days away from the office doing some legal training? Or does the thought of not being able to do a quick ‘email check’ in between sessions drive you to distraction? While legal training has huge benefits for any company who wants to keep their business on track, the old battle between in-house and external training still continues. So which is better?

External Legal Training - The Pros And Cons

External training does give you the opportunity to meet new people and swap ideas, information and skills. As well as being a great learning opportunity, external training sessions are also excellent for networking and developing new contacts within both your own industry and also other business arenas too.

Being in a completely new environment for a few days can help to focus your mind completely on the task at hand – namely improving your legal skills. Being away from the everyday distractions of your normal environment can help you to ‘zone in’ on the training being delivered, prolonging your concentration times and enabling you to absorb more than you thought possible. External training courses tend to be intensive, as the tutor will be trying to stick rigidly to a predetermined schedule.

And herein lies the first problem with external training. While being in a purpose-built training environment is great for ‘decluttering’ your brain and allowing you to focus on the training itself, it can be somewhat inflexible, especially if the group you’re working with are all learning at different rates. Most external training programmes follow a set course, regardless of the make up of the group. This means that if you’re picking up the information quickly, slower learners in the group could hold you back. Conversely, if you’re struggling with certain concepts you may find that the rest of the class gallops ahead, leaving you stranded in the rear!

Inhouse Legal Training

In-house training has a number of advantages over external training. While external training may take you outside your normal environment and allow you to focus on the training, in today’s business environment being away from your desk for prolonged periods of time can seriously impact on the efficiency of the company. So having the option of being able to ‘keep an eye’ on your normal business while still participating in some in-house training reduces the impact a training course can have on the day to day running of a business.

There are also some considerable cost advantages to in-house training, particularly for the business. External training often means that the company has to pay travel and accommodation expenses on top of the cost of the course itself. If your business is sending several people on external training course that can mean a considerable amount of expenditure. Keeping your legal training in-house negates those costs, making in-house training more cost-effective.

Finally, by keeping your legal training in-house you can be certain that the course is specifically designed to suit your business environment. The information will have more relevance to your company, again ensuring that you get maximum return on your investment. In-house training can also be a great motivator, encouraging your staff to push themselves further than they thought they could and building up a strong team bond in the process.