Explains Prof Mohana Raje, Faculty – WeSchool
Despite the diversity of geography and culture, lawyers the world over are facing the same issues irrespective of whether they are in small cities or metros , in solo practice, in corporate jobs with multinationals or in major law firms. All commercial enterprises, whether professional or trade, have the same basic characteristics; they have to procure business, execute the deals and make a profit. A law firm cannot profit and grow unless it has a team of skilled visionaries; who take on the leadership and are rainmakers. At the same time it must be understood that each lawyer has a potential to excel in certain area and needs guidance and support of others who may be working at different levels within the same organization or may be out of it working in a related or allied field of law, judiciary, industry or beauraucracy for that matter .You cannot grow and continue to increase profits unless you work as a team, share client information, legal expertise, and legal knowledge with all the other lawyers in the firm. Great Lawyers are not born; they evolve with experience and training.

The rapid speed of Globalization has brought about a revolution in international trade making India the fastest growing economy and in its wake has changed not only the profile but the work culture of legal professionals across the board. The greatest impact is seen in the corporate legal areas like project financing, intellectual property protection, environmental protection, competition law, corporate taxation, infrastructure contract, corporate governance, international contracts and business and investment law.. India has the world’s second largest number of legal professionals with more than 600,000 lawyers and more graduates joining in each year. India also has a large number of English speaking legal professionals who have been traditionally working in small or family owned firms. But in today’s demanding environment, legal professionals will have to develop themselves by first of all changing their own mindset to break the silos to meet the challenging complexities of the business world. Thus, with the growing numbers and sizes of legal firms, and the role of Corporate Counsel becoming more important and diverse, it is imperative to have management skills to fulfill the responsibilities for marketing, negotiations, serving clients, and managing the team. Today’s lawyer will therefore have to wear many hats – that of a Mentor, Teacher, Leader, Counselor, Negotiator/Arbitrator, Trustee, Environmentalist, investigator, Social Activist ,Entrepreneur; and many others combined with a sharp understanding of changing business and a shrewd commercial sense. Clearly this is an era in the global corporate history when legal professionals must constantly reinvent themselves. To address this very need, Welingkar Institute of management Development and Research has taken the initiative to offer a 11 month, weekend course in Business Management for Legal Professionals ;where the lawyers will be exposed to the entire gamut of management functions. Here the classroom lectures by the in-house faculty and experts will be combined with case studies, workshops and exposure to legal and financial practices. The legal professionals are expected to get a well rounded view of the Legal Business with this program.

As some of our country’s most eminent Lawyers and Solicitors, Tax Professionals, Management Consultants and Corporate Counsel have come together as members of its Advisory and Academic Boards, The amalgamation of subjects brought together in the syllabus of this course is therefore unique in itself as principles of Management and Legal aspects are combined to give a realistic picture of the contemporary Legal business. Besides core Management and legal some of other subjects included are E-Commerce and the Legal trends in E- Commerce ,Corporate Governance, Risk Management, Tax Management, Private Equity, Entertainment and Media Laws ,Securities Laws, M&A, corporate Finance etc Soft skills like Negotiation skills, Time Management, Stress management, Conflict Management, Emotional intelligence, and the much needed Communication skills are also included .

This program will enable students to address many business related issues that they might be grappling with in corporate jobs, public sector, consulting firms, investment banking, auditiong, corporate finance, entrepreneurial ventures and many others. Freshers and seasoned players from the legal fraternity, CA/CS/ICWA as well as Tax practioners can take advantage of this opportunity to create the perfect balance in their careers. Indian legal professionals are considered to be on par with their International counterparts but the legal professionals who move their career towards a management role will have a definite competitive edge over the peers as well as over those from the global fraternity. Designed to address lawyers’ unique organizational and time challenges, this solution-oriented program offers practical strategies for managing time, projects, documentation, and people without having to take the trouble of spending time, money and energy for studying at a foreign university.
Authored by:

Prof Mohana Raje, BSc, LLB, LLM Prof. Mohana Raje has more than 15 years of varied experience in the legal field which includes High Court litigation, chamber practice and teaching law. She has taught law in ILS and Symbiosis Law Colleges, Pune and Maharshi Stree Shikshan Samstha Managment Institute, Pune. She has been acting as a legal advisor to many business establishments. She has also been an Assistant District Govt. Pleader to the Govt. of Maharashtra.