Course · Interpersonal Skills
Supervising and Giving Feedback
Brief clearly, supervise in proportion, review so that people learn, give feedback they can use and help the people you supervise to grow.
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Most lawyers are promoted into supervision without being taught it. A good associate becomes a senior associate and then a partner, and is suddenly responsible for other people’s work and for their development, with no training beyond what was done to them, some of it good and much of it not: vague briefs, work returned in a sea of red, feedback once a year. Yet supervision is a professional duty, because the supervisor is responsible for what leaves the firm; it is how the next generation of lawyers is made; and it is much of why people stay or go. This course teaches it. It begins with what a supervisor is for and why lawyers so often do it badly; teaches how to delegate with a ten-part brief; shows how to decide how closely to supervise, matching style to the person, the task and the stakes; covers how to review work, including the output of AI tools, so that errors are caught and people learn; gives a simple, usable method for feedback; deals with what to do when it is not working, including appraisals, bias and difficult behaviour; and ends with receiving feedback, coaching, development conversations and mentoring. A capstone puts you in charge of three very different juniors on a busy deal. It builds on Leading a Legal Team and complements Delivering Bad News and Difficult Conversations, and every person and matter is invented.
The Curriculum
The supervisor’s job: responsibility, quality, learning and care→
The duty to supervise, the four jobs of a supervisor, why lawyers supervise badly, too little and too much, and your style. Practice: Whose Job Is It?, Too Little, Too Much and Spot the Habit.
Delegating well: what to hand over, and how to brief it→
Why we avoid delegating, what to hand over, matching task to person and a ten-part brief. Practice: Delegation Brief Builder, Fix the Brief and Spot the Gap.
How closely to supervise: matching support to the person, the task and the stakes→
Direct, coach, support and delegate; matching style to person, task and stakes; check-ins; remote supervision; stepping in. Practice: Supervision Level Planner, Pick the Style and Spot the Mismatch.
Reviewing work: reading, marking up and returning it so that people learn→
Review as the last safeguard, big points before small, checking, mark-up versus rewrite, explaining changes, returning work and reviewing AI output. Practice: Review in Order, Mark-up or Rewrite and Spot the Review Habit.
Giving feedback: specific, timely, kind and useful→
Why feedback matters, what makes it useful, a simple structure, praise, correction, timing, writing and culture. Practice: Feedback Check, Better Words and Spot the Fault.
When it is not working: persistent problems, appraisals, bias and difficult people→
Finding the cause, the harder conversation, a plan, documenting, fair appraisals and bias, difficult behaviour, wellbeing and disability, and when to involve HR. Practice: Find the Cause, Fair or Unfair and Spot the Bias.
Receiving feedback, coaching and growing people→
Receiving feedback, coaching questions, development conversations, mentoring and sponsorship, stretch work and your own plan. Practice: Receive It Well, Ask or Tell and Spot the Growth Habit.
Capstone: Capstone: supervising the Fairholme team→
A busy deal and three different juniors. Brief a task, choose supervision styles, review a flawed memo, write and check feedback and plan growth.
What It Covers
“You will be able to brief clearly, supervise in proportion, review so that errors are caught and people learn, and give feedback that makes someone better.”
- Seven modules and a capstone that follow a piece of work from the brief to the review to the feedback and the growth of the person who did it, with the duty to supervise as the thread.
- Three working tools with invented data: a Delegation Brief Builder that checks a brief against ten ingredients, a Supervision Level Planner that matches style to person, task and stakes, and a Feedback Check that finds vague words, labels, absolutes and missing examples, effects and next steps in a draft.
- Reviewing AI output as a supervision duty: a clear, practical approach to verifying authorities and quotations, checking what is missing and setting rules for tools.
- Jurisdiction-neutral: it applies no country’s rules on supervision, employment, bias or disability, and says what to check where you work.
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Cooling the Room$15 →How conflict escalates, mapping a dispute, de-escalation, hard conversations, choosing a process, mediation, power, culture and ethics, with practice mediations.
The Client Conversation$15 →Trust, the first meeting, fees and scope, updates in plain words, advice and decisions, bad news, boundaries and ethics, with practice meetings.Module 1 is free to try. Sign in, pass each module quiz and the course average, and your Certificate of Completion is emailed to you automatically. This course teaches method and technique with invented people and figures; it is general education, not legal advice, and professional rules differ from country to country.
Common questions
- Is it only for partners?
- No. It suits anyone who directs the work of others: senior associates, team leaders, in-house counsel who manage paralegals, trainers and practice-support staff, and juniors who are about to supervise someone for the first time.
- Does it teach me to manage people in general?
- It focuses on what lawyers need: delegating legal work, reviewing it, giving feedback and developing people. For leadership more broadly, see Leading a Legal Team, and for hiring and keeping people, see Hiring and Keeping People.
- How does it deal with AI tools?
- It treats the output of AI tools as the work of a fast but sometimes wrong junior that must be verified. It covers checking authorities and quotations, checking for what is missing, confidentiality and setting rules for the team.
- Does it say what the law requires of supervisors or employers?
- No. Professional rules on supervision and employment law on performance, discrimination and disability differ widely. The course explains good practice and tells you to check the rules that apply to you and to involve HR or take advice where it matters.
- Are the tools real data?
- No. All people, firms, briefs and messages are invented. The tools give a starting point and not a rule, and run in your browser without sending anything anywhere.
- How do I get the Certificate of Completion?
- Sign in, pass each module quiz and keep a course average of at least 75. The certificate is then issued and emailed to you automatically.
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