The Lawyer as a Business Executive

Lawyers serve as advisors and advocates to many types of organizations, including government, private sector businesses, and non-profit organizations. A relatively large proportion of these professionals eventually leave the practice of law to become leaders of the client organizations they serve. Although this career path is very common, the reasons for it are not well understood. Are there aspects of legal education and legal practice that translate into good leadership training? Likewise, what are the professional challenges of leadership that are attractive to lawyers? How do good candidates prepare to make this transition? This course will explore these and other related questions through a series of readings and problem sets that track the careers of law school graduates who went on to successful careers as business executives.