PROGRAM INFORMATION

Segment 1: Understanding a business from its numbers
January 26, 2011
Integrating accounting information with legal issues
Oregon: (CLE 6.75: 1.0 Ethics, 2.0 PS, 3.75 General)

• Be able to understand accounting information in a business situation (the financial viability of a business or a business proposal expressed in its basic financial reports and pro formas)
• Be able to identify and ask questions from the numbers about the factors driving the financial health of the company (liquidity, solvency, profitability), the warning flags apparent in the financials (and what may not be in the financials), and the types of business information available.
• Be able to assess the impact of legal advice on the financial condition of the company, given that legal matters typically appear as a cost in financial statements.
• Be able to evaluate financial viability of potential and existing clients

8:00-9:10 AM Understanding income statements

Understand the purpose of an income statement
Be able to describe the categories in an income statement
Be able to describe the impact on the Income Statement of basic business transactions

9:20 – 10:40 Understanding balance sheets

Understand the purpose of a balance sheet
Be able to describe the categories tracked on a Balance Sheet
Be able to describe the impact on the balance sheet of basic business transactions.

10:50-Noon Understanding the cash flow statement

Understand the purpose of a cash flow statement
Be able to describe the major categories tracked on a cash flow statement
Be able to describe the impact on the cash flow statement of basic business transactions.

12:45-1:55 PM Analyzing financial statements

Understand how the financial statements interconnect
Be able to use ratios to analyze financial statements

2:05-3:15 PM Understanding financial statements across companies

Be able to compare company financial ratios and explain the differences
Understand insights of financial ratios into the health of the organization

3:25-4:30 PM Applying principles of financial statements

Given a case study/situation, be able to identify financial trends
Be able to ask questions about the financial health of an organization
Using financial trends identified in a case study, identify the impact of legal advice on a company’s financial position.

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Segment 2: Understanding Where Financial and Legal Issues Meet
February 16, 2011
Time value of money, diversification, and valuation of assets in business decisions
Oregon: (CLE 7.0: 1.0 Ethics, 4.0 PS, 2.0 General)

• Be able to distinguish a legal assessment from a financial assessment (the value of the company and its assets)
• Be able to identify and ask appropriate questions about the alternative sources of a company’s revenues and funding for its operations
• Be able to assess and ask questions about the impact of legal advice on the risk-profit balance pursued by the company

8:00-9:10 AM Introduction and the role of revenues and costs on client decisions

Be able to identify Differences between Financial & Managerial Income Statements
Understand Fixed versus Variable Costs

9:20-10:40 Break-even analysis in investment decisions

Be able to define and calculate contribution margin and break-even as the basis for client decisions
Be able to explain operating leverage and its impact on client decisions
Determine how changing costs impacts break-even and earnings

10:50-Noon Net Present Value analysis in investment decisions

Be able to state the difference between a Break-Even analysis and a Net Present Value analysis
Understand the concept of Net Present Value

12:45-1:55 PM Understand the value of assets

Be able to calculate the Present Value of a series of cash flows
Given the description of a capital investment, calculate the incremental Net Income Free Cash Flow that the investment will generate

2:05-3:15 PM Understand internal rate of return

Given the incremental Free Cash Flow that a capital investment will generate, calculate the Net Present Value of the project
Understand the concept of internal rate of return

3:25-4:30 PM Applying investment decision rules with legal advice

Given the Benefits, Cost and Net Present Value of several capital investment opportunities, choose the projects that maximize shareholder/owner value for a specific limited budget
Describe the advantages of performing an analysis using NPV
Understand the impact of legal advice on risk-profit balance of an organization

Segment 3: Comparing and Contrasting Legal Strategy with Business Strategy
March 9, 2011
How and why businesses define their markets and act to secure competitive advantage
Oregon: (CLE 7: 6.0 PS, 1.0 General)

• Learn tools that frame a business strategy
• Understand how legal advice can add value to the client’s strategy
• Be able to identify and ask appropriate questions about the factors, relationships and changes driving decisions in the company and its industry
• Understand the legal and ethical issues involved in reviewing & advising clients on strategic issues.

8:00-9:30 AM Introduction to the field of strategy

How to distinguish strategic legal from strategic business issues
Ethical and professional responsibility issues arising from the distinction

9:45-12:00: Application and practice (w/15 minute break)

Identifying key issues, strategic and legal in a specific case
Highlighting financial/organizational/marketing factors
Using the S.A.V.E.D. tool

• Staging
• Arenas
• Vehicles
• Economic logic
• Differentiators

1:00-2:30 PM The legal elements in business strategy

Understanding legal issues from the business perspective.
Managing ethical and legal responsibilities in these types of engagements
Crafting legal advice to add value

2:45-4:15 Prioritizing legal issues from the perspective of S.A.V.E.D.

Positioning the legal issues from the perspective of S.A.V.E.D.
Reinforcing and refining the strategic efforts of the firm.  
Prioritizing the issues for impact and effectiveness
Making it matter: Next steps on putting these ideas to work.

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Segment 4: Understanding Legal versus Business Risk
March 30, 2011
Bringing value to the client by understanding and managing business risks
Oregon: (CLE 6.5: 1.0 Ethics, 2.0 PS, 3.5 General)

• Be able to distinguish the difference between legal risks and business risks (financial, environmental, reputational, occupational and environmental).
• Be able to explain and ask appropriate questions about the risk tolerance and risk profile of the company.
• Avoid unintended omissions during due diligence by understanding business issus
• Be able to frame legal advice that relates legal risks to business risks, given the client’s motivations and the attorney’s professional responsibility: treating a contract, for example, not only as a basis for legal issues but as the basis for a deal.

8:00-9:30 AM Balancing opportunity and risk

Identifying the natural tension between protecting the client’s interests and facilitating the client’s business initiative: the trade-off between risk and reward
Understanding the ethical standards of law while serving the client.
Understanding the risk tolerance of the business person and the legal advisor
Comprehending the client’s risk management framework

9:45-Noon Understanding business risks (with 15 minute break)

Be able to categorize business risks (financial, environmental, reputation, operational and environmental) and how they relate to the firm’s risk tolerance
Asking the right questions for purposes of disclosure, due diligence, and general business oversight of risks
Be able to advise on the process of assessing enterprise risks
Understanding the trade-off between quantification of risks and disclosure issues, including professional responsibilities

1 PM-2:15 PM- Strategies for mitigating risk

Understanding forms of risk mitigation, such as avoidance, acceptance, insurance, and sharing of risk
Crafting legal strategies for mitigating risk, given the attorney’s professional responsibilities
Learning to help clients identify when to ask for legal advice
Crafting contractual solutions (limitations of liability, indemnification, warranties, trade-marking, and copy rights, etc.)

2:30–4:30 Framing legal advice to address business risks: an application (with 15 minute break)

Be able to identify business risks associated with a business development opportunity
Develop legal risk mitigation strategies to address business risks

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Segment 5: Marketing and the Creation of Value in Legal Services
April 20, 2011
How companies provide value to customers and clients by designing, delivering, and pricing products and services
Oregon: (CLE 6.75 :1.0 Ethics, 4.0 PS, 1.75 General)

• Be able to frame legal advice better by distinguishing the client’s legal interests from the client’s business interests
• Be able to identify and ask questions about the way the company chooses its mix of products and services and generates value through its supply chain and marketing to attract customers and clients
• Be able to frame legal advice so that it enhances the company’s ability to create value by mitigating risks in its supply chain, pricing, and distribution practices.

8:00-9:15 AM Key marketing concepts and vocabulary

Understanding a value proposition; market segmentation and targeting; the product lifecycle; pricing strategies; supply chain and distribution channels; and integrated marketing communication

9:30-Noon Identifying legal issues in marketing decisions (with 15 minute break)

Understanding how clients create business value through product and service offerings
Understanding how clients manage business risks associated with marketing
Identifying legal issues associated with managing marketing risks

1:00-1:45 PM Finding and organizing the relevant law

Using a market and policy checklist to identify law relevant to marketing decisions
Identifying specific legal situations (requirement, default-gap-filler, option or void, prohibitions, risk, opportunities)

1:55-2:55 Creating legal value

Advancing rather than impeding the business project
Permitting joint problem solving versus vetting by focusing on client goals and issues
Articulating legal issues as business concerns
Fostering informed client decisions with explanations in appropriate detail and language
Professional responsibility considerations
           
3:10-4:30 Implementing Business Decisions

Using “private” (contract) law to implement decisions
Producing appropriate deal documentation

• Appropriate structure and flow
• Accurate, complete, unambiguous drafting

Professional responsibility considerations

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Segment 6: Integrating Organizational Dynamics with Legal Issues
May 11, 2011
How and why companies organize and change responding to the business environment
Oregon: (CLE 6.5: 1.0 Ethics, 2.75 PS, 2.75 General)

• Be able to distinguish the legal from the business reasons for choosing an organizational form (the structure of the relationships among employees)
• Be able to identify your client by asking questions about the culture of the company, its decision-making processes, and the decision-makers’ motivations
• Be able to frame legal advice appropriate for the culture of the company, its reaction to changes required by the advice, and the attorney’s professional responsibility.

8:00-10:30 AM   Organization Design (OD) as shaped by the environment (with 15 minute break)

Be able to understand concepts such as:

• Organization environment
• Organizational culture
• Organizational structure
• Organizational change

Apply concepts to an interactive business case study analysis to:

• understand the external and internal drivers that shape an organization’s structure and its ability to adapt and change
• understand the intended and unintended OD effects on the individual and organization’s motivation and performance.

10:45-Noon The business decision-making process

Understanding power, authority and leadership: Formal and informal foundations
Understanding decision-making processes: Individuals, groups, and organizations
Identifying multiple sources of power and authority in organizations
Understanding the nature and sources of influence in business decision-making 

1:00-2:30 PM Using OD-related insights to identify legal issues and risks
             
Identifying the nature of legal issues induced by the organization’s design
Understanding the relationship between OD and the legal duties of directors, senior managers, and employees
Managing the ethical responsibilities of lawyers with respect to OD-related risks

2:45-4:30 Adding value through legal advice on OD-related risks (with 15 minute break)
           
Advising a the board of directors
Crafting legally appropriate corporate information and reporting systems
Advising on management certification of the adequacy of internal control

Segment 7: Communicating Legal Advice on Business Issues
June 1, 2011
The format, content and processes for making a persuasive business case
Oregon: (CLE 7: 1.0 Ethics, 1.0 PS, 5.0 General)

• Be able to distinguish the required forms of legal communications from effective business communications (action memoranda and Powerpoint presentations)
• Be able to translate legal expertise into business value
• Be able to offer advice not only about the legality of a business decision but also about accomplishing a business objective legally—given the professional responsibility of the attorney, giving the client input into the decision by describing the risks associated with alternative solutions

8:00-9:30 AM Communication from a business perspective

Understand the principles of effective business communications
Identifying the good, the bad, and the ugly of legal communications
Move toward business-friendly legal communications

9:45-Noon Applying principles of effective communications (with 15 minute break)

Legal issues associated with business communications

• Action memoranda
• Due diligence lists
• Presentations
• Press releases

Recasting legal communications to create business value for the client
Professional responsibility in crafting legal communications

1:00-2:30 PM Planning communications

Communicating the legal risks in business objectives
Developing and using a communication plan
Professional responsibility in communication planning and execution

2:45-4:30 Practicing the communication plan

Using Powerpoint
Making presentations

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Segment 8: Managing a Law Firm Like A Business
June 22, 2011
Law firm strategy, financing, organization (including compensation and recruitment), marketing, risk and case management
Oregon: (CLE 7.5: 1.0 Ethics, 6.0 PS, .5 General)

Be able to apply the lessons of the first seven segments to understand and participate in managing the law firm as a business. The purpose of the eighth segment is not only to reinforce the lessons of the previous segments but also to prepare associates to become business, as well as legal, partners, given their professional responsibilities.

8:00–9:45 Thinking strategically about the law firm’s distinctive value

Understanding the importance of the history of a firm
Bases for comparing and differentiating law firms
Identifying critical issues for the success of a law firm

10:00–Noon Thinking organizationally about the culture of the law firm

Identifying the pitfalls and possibilities of different culture choices
Understanding the dimensions and influences of different approaches

• “data-driven”
• grow-by-tiny steps vs. recruit-a-large-new-complement-of-lawyers
• consensus-decision making
• two-tiered partnerships
• local idiosyncratic actions

1:00-2:45 PM Thinking financially and about managing risks

Understanding ownership expectations
Understanding the meaning of financial numbers for young lawyers
Making sense of client intake expectations
Considering mergers and their effects

3:00-4:30 The lawyer as business owner

Understanding how a firm can grow
Moving from a one-firm model
Avoiding over-reliance on data
Developing new talent
Contrasting professional responsibility to clients with professional responsibility to the firm