SAN FRANCISCO, California – February 25, 2020 – Today, Berkeley Law and Minerva Project announced the launch of Leadership in the Legal Profession, an online executive education course for legal professionals that will begin on May 5, 2020. The ten-week, business school-style, program is designed to provide attorneys with the tools and skills they need to become relationship lawyers rather than transactional lawyers, which is increasingly the key to success, as the legal industry evolves and embraces disruption.
Leadership in the Legal Profession will help participants develop new ways of thinking by reframing what leadership means in an increasingly competitive and complex business environment. Each fully active learning session is designed to provide an engaging experience and the opportunity to network with like-minded legal professionals.
“Participants will explore practical tools to manage uncertainty and transitions, develop and build effective and adaptable teams, and tackle business challenges using divergent thinking via a systems approach,” said Professor Gloria Tam, Associate Dean at Minerva and one of the program designers.
The public launch of Leadership in the Legal Profession comes on the heels of a successful pilot program with participating attorneys from major law firms, multinational corporations, and leading Silicon Valley startups. “[The course] exceeded my expectations,” said Wei Chen, Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Salesforce. “Even during a time when my workload was extremely heavy, I looked forward to reading the course materials in preparation for the weekly two-hour class.”
Leadership in the Legal Profession is based on Minerva’s pedagogy and teaches a curriculum jointly developed by Berkeley Law and Minerva. Classes will be conducted via Forum™, Minerva’s groundbreaking virtual learning platform. The result is fully active learning, where instructors guide participants from across industries and geographies through in-class discussion, debate, collaborative breakout groups, and real-time polling, all enabled by the Forum technology.
“Our innovative pedagogy is rooted in the science of learning, with foundational methodologies to ensure learning outcomes. This method of learning enables transfer of ideas and deep processing of the concepts being taught,” said Ben Nelson, Founder and CEO of Minerva Project.
Because it’s delivered online, Leadership in the Legal Profession will be much more affordable than comparable in-person programs. By significantly lowering the cost barrier, Berkeley Law and Minerva aim to bring leadership training to a broad swath of the legal profession, both within the United States and around the world.
“I am excited by the opportunity for Berkeley Law to be a pioneer in the instruction of leadership in the legal profession. Effective people and project management skills are critical for success in the legal industry. With this new program, we will continue to equip lawyers with the cognitive tools and decision-making frameworks that are necessary for the increasing complexity that our field now faces,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law. “We are fully committed to providing not only our own students, but Berkeley Law alumni and other legal professionals with a legal education that is future-ready.”
In addition to gaining new leadership skills, participants in Leadership in the Legal Profession will:
- Expand their professional networks
- Earn CLE credit (where applicable)
- Stretch their professional development dollars
- Become a part of the Berkeley Law Executive Education community (with eligibility for our alumni discounts)
The program is open for enrollment to legal professionals across all geographies and levels of experience. To get a sense of what this course will offer, register for a free, one-hour information session taking place on February 25 at 10:00 am PST / 1:00 pm EST.
About Berkeley Law
Berkeley Law’s executive education platform connects legal practitioners, investors, executives, and nonprofit leaders to world-class programs on a range of topics, in-person and online. In addition to its open enrollment programs, Berkeley Law Executive Education works with corporate in-house legal teams, law firms and governmental organizations to offer custom programs that meet their professional development objectives. To learn more about Berkeley Law Executive Education, visit https://executive.law.berkeley.edu.
About Minerva Project
Minerva Project is a leading educational innovator, providing top-tier higher education offerings to the Minerva Schools at KGI, as well as other educational and corporate partners. Founded by Ben Nelson in 2012, Minerva’s mission is to nurture critical wisdom for the sake of the world. Building upon the best traditions of liberal arts and sciences education, Minerva is committed to preparing global leaders and innovators for the complexities of the twenty-first century. Its groundbreaking creation of a new university program is detailed in the book Building the Intentional University: Minerva and the Future of Higher Education (MIT Press). To learn more about and view images of the Minerva educational approach, visit www.minervaproject.com.
Media Contacts
Minerva: Robin Goldberg, robin@minervaproject.com
UC Berkeley Law: Kelly Devers Franklin, kfranklin@law.berkeley.edu