Lawyer as Problem Solver

What does it mean to "think like a lawyer" in the 21st Century?
Modern lawyers facilitate problem solving for clients in settings outside the courtroom or boardroom. Attorneys find themselves leading meetings, managing teams, and developing and exploring solutions beyond fitting facts into a legal framework.

To serve clients effectively, lawyers need skills in oral and written communication, interviewing, integrative negotiation, dispute resolution, ethics, creativity, coalition-building, decision-making, teamwork, and leadership.

Lawyer as Problem Solver, a program for first-year and LLM students, highlights these skills with an emphasis on group learning. Students step outside the classroom and into the role of attorney. The curriculum uses hands-on exercises to bring key principles to life.

The 2010 Lawyer as Problem Solver Program will take place in January 2010:

Thursday, January 14, 2010
- 4:00-6:00 pm - Class
Thursday, January 21, 2010
- 4:00-6:00 pm – Class
- 6:00-7:30 pm - Reception

On these dates, students will elect to participate in two of the following five LPS sessions:

Client Counseling and Interviewing
This session introduces students to the skills involved in working with and communicating with clients. Students will learn how to gather relevant facts and important information during an interview with a client as well as how to use the information from the client and from legal and other research to counsel the client on both legal and practical issues.
Communication in the Legal Office
This track introduces students to communication issues encountered in law practice and provides advice on how to succeed in those encounters. Students will engage in role playing and debriefing of interactions including taking an assignment, short persuasive verbal communication, and lengthier presentations, including the use of audio-visual aids, such as PowerPoint.
Negotiation and Conflict Management
This session addresses the role of lawyer as negotiators in both deal-making and dispute situations and focuses on the creative, as well as the competitive aspects of negotiation. Students will assess their conflict style and learn how to manage high conflict situations.
Understanding Financial Data
Using Microsoft Corporation as a case study, students in this session will learn about the kinds of incentives that motivate managers to select various methods of reporting income, the extent to which these decisions reflect the reality of the corporation's financial well-being, and the interplay between managers, analysts, and the capital markets. This module will cover the basics for students new to financial data.
Improvisation Skills for Lawyers
Lawyers are always thinking on their feet! This session provides a safe space for students to learn helpful skills to make them better at public-speaking, presentations, interviews, small-talk, networking and much more. The presenters have a fast-paced interactive agenda that will have you learning, speaking and improvising.

There will be a sponsor reception immediately following the January 21, 2010 session from 6:00-7:30 pm. Students are encouraged to attend this reception.

Special thanks to our 2010 Lawyer as Problem Solver Sponsors:

PARTNERS
Jenner & Block LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
Neal Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
McGuire Woods LLP