Leadership in Law Firms

Leadership in Law Firms is a six-day program that will help you be a more effective law firm leader. The program aims to prepare you to:

• Identify and apply personal leadership strategies to better balance your complex responsibilities as a leader within your firm.
• Understand the drivers of innovation and learn how to foster innovative thinking within your firm.
• Build your team leadership skills by learning to develop and lead your team more effectively.
• Understand the importance of developing an organizational strategy as a driver of strategic decision making and gain the tools to analyze and/or create a more clear strategy for your own organization.
• Navigate within the changing legal profession.

The Learning Model

Case studies on law firms and other professional service firms give participants exposure to real-world issues and help them work through possible approaches and solutions to the problems that professional service firm leaders confront. Participants practice making decisions about challenging real-life management problems in professional service settings.

Topics

The program is designed to sharpen the leadership skills of professionals who have executive responsibilities in law firms by exploring topics including:

• The need for balancing their professional responsibilities as lawyers and leadership responsibilities in their firms
• The importance of having a clear strategy for long term success
• The power of alignment among firm strategy, organization, and professionals
• Promoting collaboration to drive business performance and improve client relationships
• Drivers of economic performance in different segments of legal services
• Personal and professional motivation
• Recruiting the right professionals and developing them effectively
• Incentive systems in law firms, including compensation and promotion
• Industry disruption and drivers of innovation
• Governance of professional service firms
• Adaptive Leadership and leading change in law firms

Participants include leaders of law firms world wide and the average LLF participant has 20+ years of professional experience. Participants in this program should be currently active as senior law firm leaders (e.g. Managing Partner, Chair of Firm, Senior Partner, Practice Group Head, C-suite level executive [Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Financial Officer, etc.]) at the time of attendance. Participants should manage or oversee other lawyers and/or professionals in their current role. Those planning to transition into a senior firm leadership role should apply for the program once they are active in that role.

Visit the Admissions page for information on the process.

Our core faculty are members of the Harvard Law School faculty – distinguished academicians, educators, researchers, authors, and practitioners in their respective fields. Representing various disciplines, they are close to practice through relationships with law firm leaders and through personal involvement as consultants for top firms around the world.

Teaching Team

Scott Westfahl, Harvard Law School – Faculty Co-chair

David B. Wilkins, Harvard Law School – Faculty Co-chair

Farayi Chipungu, Harvard Kennedy School

John C. Coates IV, Harvard Law School

Michele DeStefano, University of Miami School of Law

Heidi K. Gardner, Harvard Law School

Chris Robichaud, Harvard Kennedy School

Hillary Sale, Georgetown Law