Leadership for Lawyers

Catalog description

From the moment they enter practice, lawyers are asked to take on leadership roles. They must make difficult decisions that require the weighing of law and strategy, explain the difference between the two to their clients, and persuade those around them of their judgments -- all while working in complex and dynamic groups. Ultimately, they move into positions of power that test their ability to lead others. In this course, we hope to pursue conversations that will prepare students for that task. In the wake of recent financial, political, legal and other crises, the legal profession has come under significant scrutiny by those who wonder why the law -- and lawyers -- failed to stop risk- taking and unethical behavior that led to the crisis. Lawyers who are trained to provide wise strategic counsel, rather than merely narrow legal advice, are more likely to give the kind of balanced, ethical judgments to clients that will help prevent future crises of ethics, finance and faith in the law. Lawyers -- more often than most other professions -- are asked to take on leadership roles throughout our society. They are expected to become top executives, lawmakers, and the senior advisors who guide their decisions. There is extensive literature on how leaders are developed, and how leadership can be learned. Yet lawyers typically have little training in leadership. This class aims to prepare students to serve as effective leaders. The class will use a combination of readings, project work, problem sets, case studies, and group presentations to give students exposure to the core competencies necessary to be a successful leader. We will begin by considering various approaches to management, collaboration, persuasion, and judgment. Because we believe that, in the future, effective leaders will need to have quantitative techniques among their skill set, we will then turn to key…