The Master's Degree in Law Firm Management is designed to provide professionals with the knowledge and experience needed to thrive in this increasingly complex field. Taught by faculty from The George Washington University and The Hildebrandt Institute Academic and hands-on learning experience Convenient format for busy working professionals Combine the 12 credits in Law Firm Management with 12 credits in Law Firm Leadership and 6 credits of Independent Research to earn this GW master's degree. Download a program brochure (help) "It's Law Firm 101" The Legal Times profiles Law Firm Administration (PDF) Program Contacts Program Representative Helen M. Forner (703) 299-9147 hforner@gwu.edu Program Director Stephen R. Chitwood, Ph.D., J.D. (202) 994-6064 chitwood@gwu.edu Adjunct Professor Carl A. Leonard, J.D. The Hildebrandt Institute (415) 956-9191 caleonard@hildebrandt.com

The George Washington University (GW) has created a graduate program that responds to the need for highly skilled and adaptable leadership in law firms. Jointly sponsored by the GW College of Professional Studies and The Hildebrandt Institute, this unique, flexible program provides law firm professionals with the business and leadership knowledge they need to succeed in the fast-growing law firm industry.

Program faculty consists of professors from the GW School of Business, the School of Public Policy and Public Administration, and adjunct professors from The Hildebrandt Institute, the Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group, and executive directors of law firms.

Students have attended the program from law firms of varying sizes located throughout the United States and Canada. Professional administrators from Bingham McCutchen; DLA Piper; Jones Day; Vinson and Elkins; Kirkland & Ellis; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Patterson Belknap, and Skadden Arps; as well as 25-lawyer to 400-lawyer firms, have attended the program over the past two years.

All students have professional administrative experience in law firms or related settings. Positions held by students include: Administrator, Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, Director of Human Resources, Director of Professional Development, Marketing Manager, Operations Manager, Finance Director, IT Manager, Managing Partner, and Counsel.

The Master of Professional Studies in Law Firm Management is a 30-credit program that can be completed in less than two years and is specially designed for people working full-time. The program is divided into two twelve-credit segments, Law Firm Management and Law Firm Leadership, and concludes with a six-credit Research Project.

Each of the two twelve-credit segments involves a nine-day residency, a four month distance learning segment and a final four-day residency. The two twelve-credit segments of the program are spaced approximately two months apart. All residencies are conducted at the GW Alexandria Graduate Education Center. The six-credit research project is developed by the student in conjunction with a member of the faculty and is usually completed within a year following completion of the course work.

Benefits to Firms from the Programs: The Business Rationale

• Sustaining the Firm's Competitive Position. Today's law firms cannot remain competitive without the enhanced growth and sophistication of the professional administrative services supporting their attorneys and other legal staff. This enhanced growth and sophistication requires the continued professional development of the firm's administrative staff.
• Retaining Top Professional Administrative Talent. Research has shown that teams become more productive the longer team members remain together. Reduced turnover of administrative professionals lowers firm costs. By sponsoring participants to attend the Law Firm Management programs, firms reflect a concern for the professional development of their administrative staff and a belief in their future contributions. In so doing, firm managers contribute significantly both to the retention of top professional administrative staff and to the longer term development of increasingly effective firm teams.
• Increasing the Value Added of Administrative Services. By possessing a knowledge and understanding of law firm strategic thinking, planning, implementation, and leadership practices, administrative professionals can more creatively and effectively ensure that administrative services provide added value to the legal work of the firm's lawyers and other legal staff.
• Enhancing the Motivation and Morale of the Firm's Administrative Professionals. Positive motivation and morale among a firm's administrative professionals improve firm productivity, lowers costs, and reduces staff and client dissatisfaction. Firm managers contribute significantly to the positive motivation and morale of the administrative staff when they express an understanding of and appreciation for the important contributions professional administrators make to the ongoing success of the firm. By sponsoring their professional administrators, firm managers provide a specific and concrete expression of this understanding and appreciation.
• Immediate and Practical Returns to the Firm. As participants in the programs acquire additional management and leadership skills, they can immediately bring these to bear in their work with their staffs and with the lawyers and other legal staff within their firms. In many instances they will be able to pass these skills along to others in the firm, thereby expanding the returns on the firm's investment.
• Research Valuable to the Firm. As part of the Master's Program, students are required to complete a major Individual Research Project. In the past many students have undertaken research projects directly related to addressing important and critical problems, issues or opportunities within their firms. These projects have then become the basis for decisions made by the firm's management.