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With new technology-driven, borderless businesses, corporations expect of their advising lawyers more than legal advice – they need to provide vital assistance in almost every aspect of the business. Lawyers are expected to play a crucial role in important strategic projects and business transactions.
As academics worldwide are beginning to recognize the importance of merging legal know-how with business acumen, alliances between business and law schools are now commonplace.
Consequently, law schools around the world are launching LL.M. programs that marry once separate academic disciplines – business and law.
For instance, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University near Boston runs courses with various business schools including CEIBS in China, HEC Paris and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business in the US.
“For a firm to succeed, it can’t have one without the other,” explains Ana Pumar Silveira, executive director of LL.M. programs at IE Law School. “Upon its creation, IE Law School was always allied to IE Business School.”
At the University of Amsterdam, the business and law schools are also united: they offer an LL.M. course in finance. “The curriculum combines legal knowledge with finance, which lawyers, in-house councils and regulatory advisors working in the corporate area should have,” says Marc Salomon, dean of the Amsterdam Business School. “Some lawyers need to understand complex financial products and valuations,” Salomon says, adding that fintech subjects like blockchain are offered as electives in the LL.M.
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At IE, the LL.M. in International Business Law focuses on delivering traditional legal know-how but also teaches softer skills like creative thinking, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and communication.
“These skills will define the present and future lawyers who face a changing legal environment,” Silveira says.
Aside from the joint degree programs, law schools are also running business plan competitions where students from across academic fields work together to solve problems.
For example, in the U.S, Miami Law School runs a competition supported by law firm Eversheds, with Ivy League schools like Stanford and Harvard.
Business plan competitions and other activities can lead to fruitful connections that may help LL.M. students land jobs.
