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Legal Business Management

Legal Business Management

ABOUT LEGAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Real-world skills you’ll actually use, making you a more holistic and impactful leader.

Our Legal Business Management elective subjects enable you to obtain a greater depth of practical skills, guided by industry experts.

Your learning will involve applied practical, real-world learning experiences and activities. To ensure that you apply learning directly to your legal workplace.

 

WHO ARE OUR COURSES FOR?

  • Innovation Leaders & Managers
  • Lawyers & In-house consel
  • General & Practice Managers
  • All Legal Business advisory roles

LBM Pathway

Post graduate programs that enable you to obtain a greater depth of practical skills guided by industry experts.

 

2 Subjects Graduate Certificate in Legal Operations
1. Legal Operations
2. One elective subject in Legal Business Management
Graduate Certificate in Legal Business Management
Two elective subjects in Legal Business Management

 

4 Subjects Graduate Diploma of Legal Business Management
Four elective subjects in Legal Business Management

 

8 Subjects Master of Legal Business Management
1. Business strategy
2. Six elective subjects in Legal Business Management
3. Legal Business Management Capstone

Choose one of these Legal Business Management subjects as an elective for
your LLM, please contact our Customer Engagement Team to complete your
enrolment.


P : 02 9965 7111 or E : postgrad@collaw.edu.au

Receive the knowledge in the form of non-award short courses, scroll down below to find the subjects on offer.

4 INTAKES PER YEAR

February, May, August and November

SUBJECT DETAILS

LB5 Fundamental Technologies - INTAKE 2

The impact of new legal technologies is sweeping the profession. And as firms race towards a seamless service and the perfect process – you can’t afford to be left behind.

In this course, you’ll explore the fundamental legal technologies shaping the industry. So you can determine the best fit for your business and harness true innovation

This is a core subject for the Graduate Certificate in Legal Operations

LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you complete this course, you will be able to:

Explain how emerging legal technology is impacting legal business

Demonstrate capacity to use and critique emerging legal technology.

Recommend appropriate technology solutions to improve legal business processes.

Advise on cyber security risk management and governance measures.

Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate a technology solution for a defined legal operations problem.

FACILITATOR

Fiona McLay 

Fiona McLay
Teaching Fellow

Fiona is a legal tech consultant who helps lawyers and firm owners rediscover their passion for law. Having worked as a dispute resolution and commercial litigation
lawyer, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her work. Fiona has practised at small, mid and big-tier law firms, as well as inhouse.
Her mission is to empower legal professionals to overcome their day-to-day challenges – and to help teams improve their services by harnessing new technology.

Fiona specialises in:

  • Assessing and implementing new technologies
  • Reviewing use of technology to optimise performance
  • Designing, testing and managing innovation projects
  • Training teams to work smarter

LB12 Pricing and Selling Legal Services - INTAKE 2

Learn how to cut through the noise

The game has changed. Today, clients can approach any number of firms, connect with lawyers online, and –thanks to a range of new tools and tech – do it instantly. So, why should they choose you?

In this course, you’ll gain the skills to penetrate your target audience and establish a truly sought-after brand. How? You will explore a framework that covers everything from gap analysis to the psychology of pricing. You’ll walk away knowing exactly how to attract your dream clients – and keep them coming back for more.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Develop individual business development techniques to grow a targeted customer base.

Develop a marketing and sales strategy for a legal practice.

Explain the economic and psychological factors influencing the pricing of legal services.

Critique different pricing strategies and tactics in the legal services marketing.

Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate a marketing, sales, and CRM strategy for a legal practice.

 

FACILITATORS


Nigel Haddon
Teaching Fellow

Nigel is a practicing solicitor with over 30 years of experience. He was previously the Managing Partner of a UK-based law firm and has chaired the Law Society's Law Management Section. Since starting his consultancy, HaddonConsult, in 2014, Nigel has trained around 100 law firms in pricing, working in over 10 jurisdictions. He is a Teaching Fellow at the College of Law, Australia, and a renowned keynote speaker on pricing at conferences throughout the UK and Europe.

Tim Corcoran
Teaching Fellow

Tim Corcoran is a legal management consultant with offices in New York, Charlottesville, and Sydney. He guides law firm and law department leaders through the profitable disruption of outdated business models. Tim served as President of the Legal Marketing Association and is a sought-after speaker and writer on topics related to the changing business of law.

LB00 Capstone project - INTAKES 2 & 4

The Capstone Project is taken as your final subject, as a culmination of the knowledge and skills attained throughout your Master of Legal Business. It will allow you to demonstrate your skills in legal business using real-life scenarios and case studies.

LB11 Legal Operations - INTAKE 3

The role of legal operations professional is crucial. You’ll act as a trusted, integrated business guardian for your organisation. And implement sweeping change to drive your team forward.

During this course, you’ll cover everything from strategic planning to information governance to financial management.

And you’ll walk away with the expertise and confidence to meet today’s legal challenges – head on.

This is a core subject for the Graduate Certificate in Legal Operations


LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Explain how delivery models for the legal profession have evolved.

Understand key considerations when designing, building, implementing and running world class legal operations

Recommend efficiency improvements to optimise legal operations.

Apply data analytic tools to inform decision-making in legal decision making process.

Prepare a business case to support an investment recommendation.

Develop key performance indicators to drive sustainable legal business operations.

Apply effective written communication skills to communicate improvements to legal business operations.

 

FACILITATOR

Steven Walker 

Steven Walker
Teaching Fellow

Steven is passionate about enhancing legal service delivery. He sees the integration of blended services and emerging technology as the key to this future.

Now Managing Director of Deloitte Legal Business Services, Steven was previously Managing Director of Elevate’s law department and consulting business.

With 20 years’ experience practising law and leading teams across multiple countries, he brings a wealth of insights to the table.

 

LB14 Leadership - INTAKE 3

A transformative approach to leadership has arrived – and it’s here to stay

Drawing on cutting-edge leadership theory and organisational psychology principles, this course will give you the self-awareness and critical thinking you need to become a transformational leader in legal business.

During the course, you’ll discuss the current challenges your workplace is facing with guidance from our Teaching Fellows Daljit Singh and Kristen Kramer. In the process, you’ll acquire the critical thinking and cognitive skills to solve similar challenges in the future.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

Capital, cash flow, and making smart money moves

After you complete this subject, you will be able to:

  • Critique the behaviours of effective business leaders

  • Build self-awareness of your leadership style by examining your values, behaviours and actions

  • Assess your strengths, resilience and values to develop as an adaptable and ethical leader

  • Formulate an actionable personal leadership development plan

  • Evaluate the alignment between your personal leadership philosophy and your organisational values, behaviours, principles and actions.

FACILITATOR

Kristen Kramer 

Kristen Kramer
Teaching Fellow

Kristen Kramer is a highly sought-after thought leader, speaker, trainer, and consultant.  Trained in Industrial Organizational Psychology, she owns a leadership development consulting practice, Kramer & Company. Before launching her own practice, Kristen spent the majority of her career working in two of the top leadership development and management consulting firms, Booz Allen Hamilton and The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). 

 

Daljit Singh 

Daljit Singh
Teaching Fellow

Daljit runs Transforming Talent – a consultancy that helps professional services firms optimise performance and team goals. Before this, he spent 35 years in professional services firms, including KPMG and Baker McKenzie. At KPMG Daljit was Director of Professional Development and General Manager of Human Resources. At Baker McKenzie he was Director of Talent Management and Director of Leadership Development.

LB9 Innovation - INTAKE 4

Gain a solid understanding and tangible skills for innovative solutions

Significant changes in legal delivery are occurring around the globe. Traditional ways of doing business have given way to innovation at lightning speed.

Shift your way of thinking, solve problems efficiently and identify new opportunities for growth.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

Designed to transform legal professionals into innovative individuals.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Assess the concepts and influences on innovative behaviour in the legal sector.

Evaluate legal operations for business improvement opportunities.

Apply problem solving frameworks to recommend creative value-add solutions for defined legal business problems.

Recommend performance metrics to promote an innovative culture.

Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate innovative solutions.

 

FACILITATOR

Alison Laird 

Alison Laird
Teaching Fellow


Alison Laird is an MBA-qualified leader in innovation strategy and change management. She has a strong background in legal and business operations and extensive experience working in law firms and corporate organisations. Alison has a proven track record in delivering sustainable change, data-driven transformation, and increasing growth and profit through the combination of people, process, and technology. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the Centre for Legal Innovation and was the inaugural Chair of the Chief Innovation Officers Forum.

 

LB1 Leading And Managing People​

What’s the difference between management and leadership?

This subject is a road map to understanding the complexities and motivations of individuals and teams, and how to lead them to success.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

This is more than coaching, it’s cultivating meaningful teamwork

Evaluate contemporary management theories and models that explain the complexities of individual, group and intragroup behaviour within a workplace context

Analyse performance management philosophy & systems adopted by successful organisations that promotes a high-performance workforce

Develop coaching skills to facilitate optimal individual and team performance

Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate performance management plan

FACILITATOR

 

Dr Bob Murray
Teaching Fellow

Bob is an internationally recognised expert in strategy, leadership, influencing, human motivation and behavioural change. Using the latest research in human science, Bob helps organisations to better market their services, lead their people, improve their productivity and increase their firm-wide resilience.

With his colleague Dr Alicia Fortinberry, Bob won the American Science Achievement Award and was appointed to head the Obama Administration’s comprehensive national workstress initiative.

Bob is a NY Times best-selling author and he also writes for a professional audience. Bob’s weekly newsletter, “Today’s Research,” on the latest findings that apply to leadership, wellness, psychology and social trends, has a global readership of leaders in industry and academia.

 

LB3 Business Strategy

The legal profession has changed. How does your business strategy stack up?

Should strategy always be centred on growth? Are there other barometers for success? Could collaboration – rather than competition – be a more effective strategy for your firm?

Now's the time to look through a critical lens at the age-old approach to legal business strategy.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

After you complete this subject, you will be able to:

  • Explain foundational business strategy concepts
  • Analyse the current state of a legal business
  • Analyse disruptive strategy, growth strategy and competitive-collaborative strategy
  • Develop a strategic plan for a legal practice applying key business models
  • Develop a sustainable implementation plan to execute your strategy
  • Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate strategic advice

FACILITATOR

Kristen Podagiel

Kristen Podagiel
Teaching Fellow

Kristen Podagiel has been involved with leading and growing dynamic companies and professional service firms for over 20 years. Kristen has been both the CEO/Managing Partner of McCullough Robertson, one of Australia’s largest independent law firms, and the CEO of the largest community legal centre in Queensland. She has also worked as a non-executive director and advisor partnering with a wide range of organisations (from professional service firms and listed companies through to charities and private companies) on strategy and on helping organisations implement ways to be more efficient, effective and enjoyable to be involved with.

Kristen has been named in the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Lawyers and has been the winner of the ILO Australian Client Choice Award for Energy and Natural Resources. She is also a founding director of charity UNIQ You, an innovative new career advisory service.

Kristen loves working with diverse stakeholders to identify strategic opportunities to ‘do things better’ and add value to the business. She is also accredited as one of Australia’s first practitioners in the area of Smart Collaboration – how to harness the unique skills and experience of a group of specialists to solve strategic problems that are volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

Enrol Now

This subject is also available as a non-award, standalone short course.

Learn More

LB7 Workplace Of The Future

We can’t know what the future will look like. We can use the best of workforce planning to be poised for success.

Learn how to align workforce planning and strategy in an ever-evolving workplace.

Using a wide range of case studies and resources, you’ll consider the practical challenges of a multi-generational workforce, the paradox of being both profitable today and ready for tomorrow and the different ways to communicate your insights to stakeholders.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

How to align workforce planning and strategy in an ever-evolving workplace.

Explain the purpose and challenges of workforce planning in contemporary legal settings.

Explain the technological and cultural components of digitalisation influencing workforce planning.

Create a workforce plan to support the execution of a business strategy for a legal business.

Develop a change management plan to implement the workforce plan.

Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate your workforce plan.

FACILITATOR

Daljit Singh 

Daljit Singh
Teaching Fellow

Daljit runs Transforming Talent – a consultancy that helps professional services firms optimise performance and team goals. Before this, he spent 35 years in professional services firms, including KPMG and Baker McKenzie. At KPMG Daljit was Director of Professional Development and General Manager of Human Resources. At Baker McKenzie he was Director of Talent Management and Director of Leadership Development.

 

Enrol Now

This subject is also available as a non-award, standalone short course.

Learn More

LB13 Financial Management For Profitability And Growth

In today’s competitive legal landscape, there is more at financial play than ever before. Valuable, golden opportunities are there for the taking.

Develop a deep, broad understanding of financial performance and the opportunities surrounding your organisations finances.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

Capital, cash flow, and making smart money moves

Explain foundational accounting concepts and common accounting reports used to report financial performance of a legal business

Interpret financial statements for the purpose of financial decision making for a legal business

Analyse management accounting data (including budgets, forecasts) for the purpose of informing managerial financial decision making

Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills to interpret financial data

 

FACILITATOR

Khai Phan 

Khai Phan
Teaching Fellow

Khai has over 20 years of experience in running professional services businesses – within large multinational organisations including Citi, HSBC and Aon, as well as boutique firms.

With a focus on practical solutions, operational efficiencies and financial discipline, Khai has been successful in helping professional services firms achieve significant growth in profitability. Another important aspect of Khai’s work is to help individuals improve their financial acumen in the business and personal context. 

Khai is the Managing Director of Financial Training Australia and General Manager of Tribel Advisory. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours in Finance and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of NSW. 

LB16 Why And How Clients Buy Legal Services

In this subject, you’ll uncover insights into the client buying process and experience, for the purpose of growing your targeted customer base and accelerating your business growth.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

Use contemporary thinking in legal services pricing to your advantage.

Categorise the client base of a legal business.

Analyse a client’s buying decision process.

Evaluate how your clients assess their services experience.

Assess contemporary marketing approaches to optimise market reach.

Apply effective written and oral communication skills to communicate a practice development plan.

 

FACILITATOR

Vivienne Corcoran 

Vivienne Corcoran
Teaching Fellow

Vivienne Corcoran started her working life with actuaries and has since held marketing and strategy director roles for local, national and international law, accounting, engineering, IP and IT firms. She has worked and presented in Australasia, and throughout UK and Asia. Along the way, she spent 15 years in brand strategy, developing and rolling out brands for B2B and B2C brands such as Telstra, ANZ and NEC.

In the last 10 plus years, Vivienne has developed a real passion for the voice of the client. She has interviewed thousands of clients and developed and delivered client feedback programs. She is the author of the popular book “Growing Your Professional Practice” (2009). Vivienne is currently working on a PhD in client feedback with Edinburgh Business School.

The 4 most common business strategy mistakes law firms make – and how to fix them

Kristen Podagiel, Business Strategy Teaching Fellow

Read More
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