Today’s large law firms face the challenge of being both high-quality professional service providers and large, complex businesses.  Yet those who are being asked to lead these institutions have had little training in managing these complex tensions.  Leadership in Law Firms is designed to help fill this gap.  From May 20-25, 2007, the Center pioneered an intensive five-day course designed to sharpen the leadership skills of the lawyers who run law firms.  Participants included high-level managing partners and practice group leaders from law firms worldwide.  More than a third of the participants came from outside the United States, including England, Ireland, Spain, Colombia, and Australia.

The program included a comprehensive series of lectures, case studies, and small group discussions across 12-hour days.  In an ongoing dialogue with the faculty, the 43 participants discussed the role of strategy in law firms, organizational culture, the changing needs of the marketplace, and recruitment and staff development.  Leadership in Law Firms provided a unique opportunity for managing lawyers to engage with each other and discuss cutting-edge best practices and to learn new and better strategies for promoting, building, and leading their law firms into the rapidly-changing legal services environment. 

The core program faculty included Professors Wilkins, Nanda, and Coates.  Additional faculty perspectives were provided by Benjamin Heineman, the Center’s Senior Distinguished Fellow and the former chief legal officer at General Electric, and Daniel DiPietro, a visiting faculty member who is the client head of the Law Firm Group at the Citigroup Private Bank.

The program, which was a resounding success, will be repeated May 18-23, 2008 and October 19-24, 2008. Detailed information about available programs and scheduling is available on the Executive Education website.