REGISTER ASAP!
ISBA members: $575 per session or $525 per session if you take all five sessions; ISBA Young Lawyers Section members: $475 per session; and non-ISBA members: $675 per session
Contact Maryann Williams at the ISBA for more information: 800.266.2581 or mwilliams@inbar.org
REGISTER ONLINE: Log in at www.inbar.org & click on "Register for Events."
REGISTRATION BROCHURE
The ISBA has partnered with Butler University’s College of Business, Executive Education Office, to offer the Business School for Lawyers. All sessions will be held on the Butler campus in Indianapolis. Take all five sessions to earn a Certificate of Business Administration.
Who should attend the Business School for Lawyers?
• Attorneys considering starting a new firm and in need of a broader understanding of law firm management
• Lawyers who want to develop a better appreciation of the planning and decision-making required for business clients to succeed
• Attorneys with functional management responsibilities who want to understand the interplay between different management disciplines
• Current or future managers at law firms or other organizations who need to develop a broader strategic vision and strategic thinking skills
• Attorneys with management experience who want a refresher and update of key business and financial management and development techniques
Session 1, Aug. 24 – Strategic Thinking for Lawyers: Having a strategy and employing strategic thinking have a significant impact on law firm success and are crucial to setting the long-term direction of any organization. It is hard to look at the big picture or conduct long-range planning when our time is filled with the daily tasks of running a law practice. The goal of this session is to introduce strategic thinking and analysis to attorneys, demonstrate its value, and create structures that keep strategic thinking from being pushed to the proverbial back burner.
There will be a reception hosted by the ISBA Business Law Section after Session 1.
Session 2, Aug. 25 – Ethics & Business Development I: This session provides a comprehensive overview of the components of an ethical business development plan, along with action strategies to help you develop and implement your plan. You won’t just learn about business development, you will begin work on your own plan. This outcome-oriented session focuses on business-development activities targeted specifically at law firms.
Session 3, Sept. 14 – Financial Accounting & Tax Reporting: The goal of this session is to introduce important financial, managerial and tax reporting concepts that are relevant to law firms. It will cover the primary objectives of a law firm’s financial and tax-reporting system, including: (1) measuring and helping safeguard assets, (2) determining the amount of income (loss) to be allocated and distributed to partners, (3) providing information to assist management in evaluating performance, controlling costs and planning for the future, (4) providing information to management, partners and creditors that will be useful in making business decisions, and (5) complying with federal and state tax reporting requirements.
Session 4, Oct. 5 – Ethics & Business Development II: After a brief recap of Session 2’s overview of ethics and business development, Session 4 narrows the focus to emphasize four high-impact approaches. These include: (1) the role of trust in business development, (2) developing one’s selling skills in a professional services setting, (3) the importance of actively managing client loyalty, and (4) building a firm’s brand as an integral part of its business development strategy. By the end of the session, not only will you have learned about trust, personal selling, client loyalty and branding, but you will have also compiled action-oriented templates to guide you in putting what you have learned into place after you return to your firm.
Session 5, Nov. 9 – Developing a Law Firm’s Human Capital: The goal of this session is to introduce leadership and human-capital development techniques and demonstrate how an attorney can use these techniques to help manage the daily activities of a firm and provide longer-term opportunities for employee development. Butler University College of Business has identified a number of core leadership capabilities and will zero in on the most crucial ones. Developing these capabilities will help you have more productive workdays, motivate coworkers, evaluate your staff, avoid personnel problems before they emerge, and understand how to set personal and organizational goals.