LFCE Sharpens Lawyers' Business Savvy
To retain existing clients and win new business, forward-looking law firms and enterprising lawyers know that simply being a highly-skilled legal expert is not enough in today's business environment.
Business organizations have become highly sophisticated consumers of legal services and expect business savvy from their general counsels as well as the law firms they hire. As the competition mounts, attorneys must be prepared to take their client relationships, and their businesses, to the next level.
Recognizing this growing expectation of broader, more sophisticated business competency among lawyers, The Chicago Bar Association (CBA) has taken action. Recently, the CBA engaged LFCE to deliver a one-day business course to help lawyers sharpen their essential business skills.
"To offer the meaningful business insights and real solutions clients demand, lawyers must have fundamental business competency, including financial analysis, business strategy and communication skills. To succeed, they also must have the customer relationship and business development skills necessary to manage and grow their practices," explains CBA President, Joy V. Cunningham, who is also Senior V.P. & General Counsel, Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "The LFCE program is designed to help lawyers meet these objectives."
Michael Harper, President of Talent Genesis, an organization that helps law firms revamp their talent development processes, would agree with The Chicago Bar Association's assessment. "The stakes are high and the challenges are real," says Harper. "The success of firms today depends on the capabilities of their partners and associates, as well as the speed at which they learn and grow relevant new competencies."
LFCE knows that the learning must be both highly practical and delivered by faculty who know what it takes to run a business in the face of similar external challenges. "Business acumen has become a primary source of competitive advantage among lawyers and law firms, yet broad based business analysis and management competencies are not necessarily part of the legal education or experience of many attorneys," notes John N. Popoli, President and CEO, Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. "That is why LFCE designs and provides business courses specifically tailored for attorneys."
Business education learning programs specifically tailored to the legal practice environment will play a key role in helping partners and associates better satisfy client expectations – and elevate their own careers. As a result, the LFCE courses may offer the added effect of improving recruitment, retention and promotion within law practices as well as serving the primary objective of helping lawyers serve the needs of their clients.
