Business Management for Lawyers

Whatever the area of legal practice, lawyers working in private practice are called upon to operate sophisticated business enterprises to facilitate client development, address competitive forces, create a healthy, professional working environment, and manage the constant change at the heart of modern legal practice. As the Best Practices of Legal Education explains, every lawyer is expected to “[d]emonstrate an appreciation of the commercial environment of legal practice, including the market for legal services.”

To achieve these ends, this course requires students to contextualize their understanding of corporate law, contract law and other legal topics related to business organizations primarily from the perspective of the organization’s leadership. Students will develop skills to bring the business leaders’ perspective to legal problem-solving and to integrate business ethics with legal ethics regarding the evaluation of potential solutions to organizational challenges.