Remember The Game of Life? It’s a board game in which you move your little car along a path from early adulthood to retirement, hoping for cash and glory.
Barbara Koenen-Geerdink, who wrote the book Beyond Billable Hours and founded the law firm development firm with the same name, said playing Life with her kids inspired her to develop a simulation business game for lawyers. Developed over 12 months of research with general counsel, business development leaders and law firm executives, The Law Firm Growth Game places associates, partners and business services professionals into the role of running a law firm over the course of one financial year. Working in competing teams, participants are faced with real-world scenarios that law firms encounter every day, Koenen-Geerdink said in an interview.
The imaginary law firm includes a client base with revenue records and profit and loss statements. The in-person simulation has five rounds, each with its own scenario. Each decision has consequences, with progress measured not just by cash flow but in four other dimensions—people and culture, client trust, market position and risk and governance.
Players on each team select their roles—such as managing partner and chief financial officer—giving both associates and partners a chance to experience the view from the C-suite. Koenen-Geerdink says the game, which has a purpose-built technology platform, is “very realistic”—players will see WhatsApp messages pop up on their phones and get informational memos.
The Law Firm Growth Game, which simulates running a law firm over the course of one financial year, places associates, partners and business services professionals in teams to solve real-world scenarios at work. (Image provided by Beyond Billable Hours).
“Law firms have evolved into highly complex businesses, but the way we develop lawyers has not kept pace,” says Koenen-Geerdink, whose firm is headquartered in Dubai and has additional offices in Amsterdam and Toronto. “You can’t learn the business of law from a slide deck. People learn when they are placed in situations that feel real, where they have to make decisions and live with the consequences.”
Each game takes about four hours to play. There’s a more extensive version that takes six hours and has more demands. A client may want a response to a request for proposal, or there may be a public relations crisis that requires a press release, Koenen-Geerdink says. The game, which comes with a detailed playbook, is already being used at retreats and leadership programs and will be played this June at the LegalTechTalk conference in London.
Law firms that want to use the game are trained by a member of Beyond Billable Hours and then can operate under a license. The cost for a four-hour session is about $11,734 for 30 people. The longer game costs about $17,600.
Koenen-Geerdink says the feedback so far has been “very positive,” and she’s currently in talks with U.S. law firms.
“There has never been anything like this,” she adds.
Anything, including games, that helps lawyers have more in-depth conversations about law firm management and business development is helpful, says Marci Taylor.
Law firm consultants interviewed about the game weren’t familiar with it but agreed it seemed like an interesting concept.
“Anything that promotes lawyers having more in-depth conversations on this I think is really helpful,” says Marci Taylor, the founder of Mantra Legal Consulting, which advises lawyers on strategic growth.
Considering the business development piece, the game seems like an intriguing idea to Marcie Borgal Shunk, president and founder of the law firm consulting firm The Tilt Institute.
“There’s certainly a need for law firm leaders to have more exposure to leadership skills and thinking,” Shunk says. Knowing how to lead has become more important than ever because there has been a decline in worker engagement—and not just in the legal business, she adds.
“We see lower engagement levels and high levels of attrition, which speaks to the need for more leadership,” Shunk says.
Knowing how to lead has become more important than ever because there has been a decline in worker engagement—and not just in the legal business, Marcie Borgal Shunk says.
Forage, a division of the EAB education consulting firm, makes a different kind of law firm simulation program in which students and law candidates use an interactive online program to see what it’s like to work at a law firm, director Jack Skinner says. It also helps law firms know which candidates are most interested in the job.
Forage, a division of the EAB education consulting firm, offers law firm simulation programs in which people can see what it’s like to work at various law firms. (Screenshot provided by EAB)
“It’s different strokes for different folks, and some games do work well for people, and they’re entertaining, and that helps,” says Peter Zeughauser.
Peter Zeughauser, a law firm consultant with the Zeughauser Group, says there have been other games used at retreats. He notes that if you could develop a business development game that worked for everybody, you could have a private island in the Caribbean.
“It’s different strokes for different folks, and some games do work well for people, and they’re entertaining, and that helps,” Zeughauser says. He adds that even if they work for just a few people at a firm, “it’s an exercise worth doing.”
Koenen-Geerdink says that for years, she has heard the same question from lawyers and law firm managers: How do we get more business? She also had heard law firm rainmakers complain that they are the only ones bringing in work. She hopes that playing The Law Firm Growth Game will help various members of law firms understand what it takes to grow business.
“You have to grow momentum—you can’t do it overnight,” Koenen-Geerkink says. “You have to have clarity, you have to plan the steps to get to where you need to be. You have to picture your North Star and what you need to do.”
