Business Skills for Lawyers: Teach this!

This blog/website is aimed at law students and young lawyers. But occasionally partners, clients and professors stumble onto it too. If you are among them, please read on.

I love teaching.

I think more people should teach.

I think more people who are involved in business should teach business concepts.

I think more people who are involved in business should teach business concepts to lawyers.

That's why this blog is free and open to the public. There are several courses out there to help young lawyers get to grips with business, but (as far as I can tell) enrolment tends to be restricted to students at a particular programme, or members of a particular bar. Those that are "open" are still often stuck behind a digital paywall.

It's my hope that this blog, by being freely available, remains a useful and accessible resource for young and aspiring corporate and commercial lawyers, especially for those who don't have the means or the opportunity to attend a class. I genuinely believe that the more young lawyers there are who have a solid grasp of business, the better off we all will be.

I'd like your help.

If you are a teacher - great! Please go ahead and make use of any of the materials you find on this blog. You can incorporate them into your lessons, but I would be even more delighted if you are able to adapt and improve them. All I ask is that you cite this blog and let me know. And I'd especially like to know what your students think of the materials, what works, and what doesn't and why.

If you are a professional - whether in business, law, policy, or indeed anything else where you use business thinking - and you are thinking of teaching, then please do. And if you are thinking of teaching the topics that I cover, so much the better. To help you get started, I've arranged the material from this blog into a suggested syllabus. Select, use, adapt and improve all of it or parts of it to your heart's content. Just do me the courtesy of letting me know, and providing some feedback once you try it out.

Business Skills for Lawyers: A Suggested Syllabus

I've organised the material from this blog into a suggested order, and grouped them into rough lesson plans. This is a work in progress and I will add detail and material to these over time. Feedback is welcome!