Management & Law Week, a deep look at the legal services industry

At IE Law School we are launching the first global Management & Law Week, a global initiative where participants have the opportunity to participate in a series of master classes that will be delivered from different capitals of the world.

A qualified faculty will deliver four master classes that will address the challenges the legal service sector is facing from a managerial perspective. During this week, participants will gain a complete vision of the sector that will allow them to anticipate and gain a new perspective of how todays professionals are managing and leading change in law firms and in the legal industry. In this context, it is of the utmost importance for partners and associates of any law firm to participate, regardless of the size and location of the firm.

During the last week of November, we will be discussing four main pillars to understand the changes in the sector, from client and talent management to technology, innovation and the challenges the Latin-American market is experiencing.

1. How to attract and retain clients?

We kick-start the Management & Law Week on November 28^th with an online class delivered from New York City on how to attract and retain clients, and build a relationship with them. In this seminar, Dr. Silvia Hodges Silverstein, executive director of the international legal procurement association Buying Legal Council, will explain what clients, in particular procurement professionals, are looking for and how they measure your and other firms.

2. How to use technology and innovation in your law firm?

Do law firms use all the experience and data accumulated for years to understand their weaknesses and strengths, and to introduce the necessary changes in order to innovate and become more competitive? Very unlikely. In this seminar delivered in Madrid, Spain, Dr. Fabrizio Salvador, Professor of Operations and Technology Management and Academic Director of Applied Research at IE Business School, will talk about “Dark data analytics: the upcoming revolution for professional services”. In this session, Professor Salvador will talk about how we can leverage using dark data to improve customer service and back-office efficiency. Find out what Dark Data is, what you can learn from it and how top companies worldwide are beginning to develop smart algorithms that leverage this data to support better decisions in serving customers and organizing their operations.

There is no question that significant changes in the legal industry worldwide are challenging traditional paradigms of how law firms should be structured and managed.

3. Where is the legal profession going in Latin America?

Topics like client service, fees, the impact of new generations, technology, and globalization of local markets are generating a substantial anxiety within law firms. These changes pose relevant doubts as to how viable the “traditional family model” will continue to be, at least within corporate law firms. On the second day, we will focus on Latin America, making special emphasis on the impact of the challenges affecting the rendering of legal services in the region.

In this seminar, offered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Jaime Fernandez Madero, Founder of Fernández Madero Consulting, will reflect on “Where is the Legal Profession going in Latin America?” and will talk about what law firms in the region can do to face and adapt to these changes.

4. How to leverage law firm talents and manage generational changes.

Law firms are implementing different formulas to keep key partners in different capacities after their retirement age. This situation produces a scenario where representatives of four different generations work together, imposing the need for the firms' leadership to understand each one of them in order to make the best use of their values and strengths.

To close the week, Dr. Kevin Doolan, Managing Partner of the Møller Professional Service Firms Group, and Visiting Faculty at Harvard Law School, will speak about techniques for leveraging top firm talents and the generational challenges within modern organizations.

Most professional service firms report issues in managing, integrating and retaining the more recent generations into the workplace. Drawing upon specific research at Kellogg University and Harvard Law School, in this talk, Dr. Kevin Doolan will explore: what early influences impacted the different generations, core beliefs and values, friction points and suggested solutions.

The changes affecting the legal industry and their impact on the future of legal services in Latin America and Europe will be addressed in our two Lawyers Management Programs taking place on April and June 2018, in Miami and Madrid, respectively. Fernando Peláez-Pier is the Academic Director of our Lawyers Management Programs. Find out more here.

We invite you to join the conversation and engage with the community using the hashtag #IElegalmanagement.