Spectrum of methods for training clients (and lawyers)

The excellent book, Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business Wisdom, by Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, discusses methods of training along two poles: trainer centered to learner centered and passing on knowledge to passing on skills.

Here are the eight methods, from the most trainer and knowledge centered to the most learner and skills centered: (1) lecture, (2) lecture discussion, (3) film, (4) small group discussions, (5) case studies, (6) role playing, (7) practical exercises, and (8) unstructured exercises. Law departments unwittingly favor preventive law training at the extreme: lectures to distribute knowledge. Other methods make increasing demands on the law department in terms of time and preparation, so they eschew them. But they are more effective.