How training is delivered in consulting firms, and ideas for law departments

The latest issue of Consulting, Vol. 8, Nov./Dec. 2006 at 17, states that at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, the average consultant receives 81, 79, and 66 hours of training per year, respectively. I’ve not seen data from law departments that states time spent on training.

The consultants’ survey included many of the largest consulting firms in the US and summarized seven methods by which training is delivered (with the average percentages of the firms shown in parenthesis).

Formal in-house training programs (43.1%), professional workshops (17.0%), e-learning/online courses (15.7%), “informal learning (e.g., action learning, job & global rotation)” (12%), software/computer training (5.5%), university courses/academic training (4.3%), and other (2.4%). Law departments rely mostly on external CLE – not done in-house – and the informal, laissez-faire, OJT that is the intellectual equivalent of eat what you kill.