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Course Details

Leadership in Law (Sandman)

Spring 2024   LAW 558-001  

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Faculty
James Sandman

Distinguished Lecturer and Senior Consultant to the Future of the Profession Initiative

james.j.sandman@gmail.com
Additional Information
Experiential Course

Yes

Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Expository Writing
Other Professional Skills: Each student will do a five-minute presentation on a subject of his or her choosing, with or without PowerPoint, to develop presentation skills. I will work with each student to identify a topic and to prepare.

Grading
30% Participation,
70% Other (Students will maintain journals recording their answers to assigned problems and reflections (2-3 pages per week) on the subject assigned for each week's class. I will review your journal and give you feedback twice during the semester and will review your complete journal at the end of the semester for this portion of the grade. Your five-minute oral presentation will be considered as a component of class participation.)

Satisfies Senior Writing Requirement

No

Location

Class meets in person.

Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.

I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:

- Class sessions are regularly recorded. I will make these recordings routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.

- I have asked for volunteers in the class who are willing to take and share their notes on a regular basis with others who are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance.

- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.

Meeting Times/Location
W 4:30PM - 6:20PM
Silverman Hall 280

Category
Upper-Level

Credits
2.0

This course will help you become an effective leader and to make a difference in your professional life, no matter what you do with your law degree. The course is for people of all backgrounds, experiences, personalities , and ambitions -- for introverts as well as extroverts, for people who have had some leadership experience and people who have had none, for people who plan to go into big law firms and people who want to lead social justice movements.

Lawyers occupy leadership positions across many segments of society -- not only in law firms, corporate legal departments, and public interest organizations, but in public service, business, academia, and a variety of non-profit organizations. But lawyers often come to leadership positions with less preparation and training than leaders in other disciplines. This course addresses that preparation gap.

Topics include characteristics of strong leaders, leadership styles, decision-making, achieving and exercising influence, managing change, strategic thinking, diversity in leadership, organizational dynamics, moral leadership, effective communication, leading for social change, and conflict and crisis management. Classes will feature guest speakers who are lawyer-leaders in law firms, the judiciary, the corporate world, public interest organizations, non-profits, and academia. The format will be highly interactive and enjoyable, requires class participation, and includes many opportunities for consultation with and advice from me. Students in this course learn a lot from each other.

Course Concentrations

Skills Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of the individual course skill; Demonstrate the ability to receive and implement feedback; Demonstrate an understanding of how and when the individual course skill is employed in practice.

Perspectives on the Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.

Professional Responsibility and Ethics Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.

Public Interest Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of public interest law; Perform legal analysis in the context of public interest law; Communicate effectively on topics related to public interest law; Demonstrate an understanding of how public interest law is connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.

Equity and Inclusion Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Perform legal analysis in the context of topics related to equity and inclusion; Communicate effectively on the legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Demonstrate an understanding of how equity and inclusion are connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.


Textbooks

"Leadership for Lawyers" by Deborah L. Rhode
Edition: Third (2020)
Publisher: Wolters Kluwer
ISBN: 9781543820010
Required