Law Firms Embrace Leadership Training, Even if Leadership Isn’t the Goal
Law firms nationwide are paying millions of dollars to send partners to leadership training programs, but experts say the goal may be to get lawyers to agree on firm strategy, the National Law Journal reports.
Leadership programs may range from free bar association presentations to personalized coaching sessions, the legal newspaper says. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania offers a leadership program; Reed Smith was the first firm to sign up, the ABA Journal reported in 2005.
Two-to-four-day programs at Wharton for about 30 partners can cost $150,000 to $300,000, the NLJ article says. DLA Piper spends more than $400,000 annually for a leadership program at Harvard Business School.
Judy McHugh, senior director of the Wharton education program, said many merged law firms sign up for the program to integrate cultures. “We see terrific lawyers with terrific egos,” she said.
Paul Zwier, an Emory University law school professor, told the NLJ such programs may in reality be “an opium of the masses” designed to get lawyers on board with a firm’s strategy. But he thinks getting lawyers out of the office for a common purpose can be a good thing.
“Any time people get together to talk about something other than billable hours, I think it’s valuable, whether or not you can say that is has really changed their behavior,” he told the NLJ.
