The Global Lawyer
Many law firms claim to be “global” but few have articulated the values and invested in the development of cross-cultural competencies that are necessary to deliver consistent quality wherever and whenever the client needs it.
The leaders of these firms may think globally, but most of their lawyers cannot deliver locally beyond their own home jurisdictions.
The ability to move comfortably across cultural frontiers has emerged as a set of core business skills that are widespread in the most successful international law firms. Everyone in those firms, to some extent, is a global lawyer, not just a few internationally famous rainmakers.
Thinking globally and delivering locally
The Global Lawyer is not an off-the shelf workshop on international business etiquette. Instead, it is a six-hour program that is customized in three dimensions:
- for the national culture or cultures represented in the firm,
- for the size and practice specialties of the firm,
- and for the clients whom the firm serves.
The Global Lawyer presents hard-edged skills and strategies -- not philosophies -- that produce business results in the international practice of law. Using real-world data and case studies, participants investigate issues such as:
- How are lawyers from my culture perceived by colleagues and clients in other countries?
- How can my partners and I better understand personality differences and their importance in day-to-day cross-cultural business interactions?
- How can I better avoid cross-cultural blunders that can wreck business opportunities and relationships?
- What are the universal skills to learning about and succeeding in any foreign business culture?
- What are the specific practical issues that my partners and I must address in working with our foreign clients and colleagues?
- What are the business results that my partners and I should expect from improved cross-cultural business skills?
Walker Clark Global Practice Roundtable
This Core Business Skill program includes, at no additional cost, a two-hour Walker Clark Global Practice Roundtable approximately three months after The Global Lawyer. Participants have the opportunity to discuss the challenges and successes they have experienced, share best practices, and plan next steps to improve their collective and individual international business skills.
Who should participate?
We tailor The Global Lawyer to the audience -- partners, associates, or mixed -- and the law firm. The program is designed for lawyers with significant responsibilities for marketing, client relations, or service delivery to or for clients outside their home country.
next steps
To discuss how this Core Business Skills program can give you and your colleagues the tools that you need to move to new levels of performance, contact us by e-mail or by telephone at +1.941.322.7077.
business advisors and counselors to the legal profession