LEXPERT MAGAZINE
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JULY/AUGUST 2017 47
BONING UP
ON BUSINESS
Law firms are developing
custom programs to give
new lawyers the business
fundamentals they need
By Bev Cline
Last year Leah Dickie, a senior associate
in the Calgary office of Torys LLP, made a
series of trips to Toronto to attend sessions
at Toronto's Rotman School of Management. As part
of a cohort of 20 senior associates drawn from the firm's
offices, Dickie participated in the Torys-Rotman Busi-
ness Leadership Program. Composed of four, two-day
sessions, the program focuses on strategy, negotiation,
leadership and communication skills.
Dickie found the intensive business sessions im-
mensely rewarding "in terms of how legal skills, to-
gether with business knowledge, can assist our clients
in achieving their business strategies." In addition, the
sessions further focused her thoughts "about Torys as a
business and the ways we need to adapt and evolve to
meet our clients' needs."
e MBA-style sessions require significant associate
hours away from the office, along with a commitment
of financial and internal resources on the part of Torys.
Cornell Wright, an M&A partner who helps adminis-
ter the program and worked, along with Rotman pro-
fessionals, to custom-design the curriculum, says this is
time and money well spent. "Not only do associates gain
a greater sense of the business aspects of the practice of
law, they return to their practices newly energized."
Start Business Education Early
According to Lorne Sossin, Dean of Osgoode Hall Law
School, "ere is no more valuable experience for a law
student than seeing how strategic legal advice can help
a great business grow." For example, he says, "Osgoode
Hall Law School has teamed up with Toronto-based
Wildeboer Dellelce LLP to launch the Osgoode Ven-
ture Capital Clinical Project. is partnership enables
STUDENT
RECRUITMENT SPECIAL
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
