Written by Ana de Liz for Crafty Counsel
“We’ve got a small number of people in charge of a lot of people’s lives and you can have a big impact on those lives,” Dr Imogen Staveley says of the similarities between the aviation and the healthcare industries, which brought the medical industry to adopt one or two strategies from its high-skies counterpart (more on that later).
The legal industry, like the medical field, holds significant power. A select group of professionals- lawyers and barristers- can impact the fate of individuals through business decisions or critical projects.
So, what can lawyers learn from doctors? In a conversation with Dr Imogen Staveley, GP and Deputy Chair of the Warwickshire North Clinical Commissioning Group, Crafty Counsel sought to find some answers.
[Related Content: What lawyers can learn from doctors on culture and mistakes]
Treating one’s career as a career-long learning experience
After medical school, doctors undergo continuous training until they become consultants. They then specialize either as a hospital specialist or GP, with yearly appraisals and revalidation every five years to ensure their skills stay up to date. Dr. Staveley highlights that years of experience no longer automatically make a doctor safer or better.
Even experienced doctors can see their skills wear out over time. Dr. Staveley gives an example: a doctor could be in a consultation, take a call about a prescription, and answer a trainee’s question—all simultaneously. In a legal context, this mirrors managing multiple deals or balancing client work with supervising team members.
It’s possible that you could make a mistake during one of those simultaneous interactions. However experienced you are, this can happen because your brain is not able to process that much information,” she mentions. Therefore, it is very important (both in medicine and in law) to have systems in place as fail-safes.
Dr. Staveley explains that CPR training is mandatory every year. The training covers both the actual resuscitation process and the procedures surrounding it. Everyone, regardless of seniority, must attend the training each year.
The shift in attitude stemmed from recognising similarities with the aviation industry. In both fields, a few individuals are responsible for many lives. The aviation industry learned early that the “captain isn’t always right.” Mistakes can happen, and it’s crucial to learn from them, whether from the most junior pilot or the most experienced doctor. The medical industry followed suit.
[Related content: Continuous Learning & Business Innovation]
What can legal learn from this approach — in particular, regular simulation training of common situations (e.g. deal closings), and the involvement of all team members who would take part in that matter? Should partners, associates, trainees, paralegals and secretaries all train together?
The medical industry has introduced tools like care checklists to prevent mistakes. What began as a WHO experiment in 2007–08 to make surgeries safer quickly became standard practice globally, including at the NHS. While it didn’t reduce the vital experience required from the main surgeon (or partner in legal terms) to carry out the surgery (or deal), it helped the entire team (associates, trainees, paralegals) minimise the chances of errors.
Their introduction, however, was not without resistance. Dr Staveley explains that some surgeons will sometimes feel reluctant to go through checklists (even skipping chunks of some procedures all together) because of their many, many years of experience.
Nevertheless, she hopes that the culture is changing since junior doctors see the value in checklists, given that evidence shows that using them reduces harm significantly, and doctors lead by evidence. “It would be foolhardy for any junior doctor now to ignore it or not respect it. What’s really, really important is that it’s often a lead nurse in charge of calling it out and it’s so important that we support those people, do it, and take part in it ourselves,” she says.
What is it like, though, when the most senior person in the room undermines the clinical process in that way and what can a junior doctor or lawyer do about it?
Challenging the most senior doctor in any situation “take a lot,” Dr Staveley admits since they are often needed by the junior to sign off a placement form or fill in reports.
[Related content: You’re never too “junior” to shake up this legal industry]
The problem lies where juniors fall into line and just do as expected in order to have the easy life. “We need to not have the easy life, we need to say something. Dr. Staveley explains that it doesn’t need to be dramatic. Simply asking where someone was during the checklist or pointing out their absence can spark change. She believes this small step helps improve future outcomes for patients. In any industry, whether legal or healthcare, questioning seniors is essential for progress and change.
An organisation can only learn from its errors if it knows about them. ChatGPT said:
Dr. Staveley stresses the importance of fostering a culture that encourages open discussions of mistakes. This approach helps avoid blame and supports improvement. This encourages those in the system to share mistakes they have made so that everyone can learn. (And when serious mistakes occur, ensuring doctors receive adequate support during investigations and regulatory processes.)
What can legal learn from this approach? How many partners or General Counsel can point to a culture that encourages junior lawyers to openly discuss mistakes?
Law can be introspective, but Crafty Counsel highlights other professions to inspire innovation and improvement in law. If you have other suggestions of angles to take and people to interview — let them know!