Leadership Academy for Women
PROGRAM DESIGN
Designed for high-achieving women law firm partners* who want to develop skills and strategies to enhance their leadership and business acumen in firms, organizations, and the legal profession, the Leadership Academy for Women is an intensive four-day executive education program that offers:
- A faculty that includes General Counsel and distinguished educators from law, business and academia to ensure a rich and engaging learning experience.
- Practical, hands-on classes that provide learning you will be able to put to immediate use.
- Interactive teaching methods that convey course material and ideas with greatest impact.
- One full day of programming that includes senior in-house counsel
- One day of parallel programming for Leadership Academy alumnae.
- Peer-group interaction, collaborative small group learning activities, and social hours to encourage networking with program participants, corporate counsel, faculty, and Leadership Academy alumnae.
- Peer coaches plus quarterly follow-up conference calls throughout the year to support ongoing leadership development.
PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Your experience in the Leadership Academy will prepare you to build strong client relationships, assume significant leadership roles, and make your contributions highly visible, valued, and rewarded. Attending the Leadership Academy will teach you how to:
- Build robust networks and strong client relationships
- Leverage your strengths and create leadership opportunities
- Use the economic and political dynamics of your firm to your advantage
- Recognize and manage the impact of gender dynamics on your career
- Obtain appropriate credit and compensation for your contributions to your firm
- Deal effectively with conflict
- Develop and project a leadership style that is authentic and effective
CURRICULUM
The curriculum is designed to help women find their own leadership voice, use their personal strengths and receive the recognition, compensation and leadership roles they want and deserve. All topics are presented within the context and culture of law firms and with an emphasis on pragmatic strategies and techniques. Some of the topics we will cover include:
- Setting and achieving leadership goals
- Compensation systems
- Building business value in social networks
- Effective business development
- Leading difficult conversations
- Negotiating for yourself
- How women in law firms can help their clients advance
- How to get in-house counsel to hire you
- Women in leadership: challenges and strategies
- Projecting confidence and credibility
- Leading with your best self
The Leadership Academy home page
Email card about the Leadership Academy
*The Leadership Academy is designed for women law firm partners but is open to all law firm partners regardless of gender.
FACULTY
A distinguished faculty of practitioners and professors from law firms, corporate legal departments, consulting firms, law schools, and business schools:
Ida Abbott, JD, President, Ida Abbott Consulting; Faculty Fellow, University of California, Hastings College of the Law
Cara Hale Alter, MFA, President, Speechskills
Mary Cranston, JD, Firm Senior Partner and former Chair and CEO, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Connie Collingsworth, JD, General Counsel, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Robin Ely, Ph. D., Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Emily Epstein, Principal, Oakbay Consulting
Carol Frohlinger, JD, Managing Partner, Negotiating Women
Sara Holtz, JD, Principal, ClientFocus
Nancy Laben, JD, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, AECOM
Mika Mayer, JD, Partner, Morrison & Foerster
Victoria W-Y Lee, JD, Partner, DLA Piper
Laura McMahon, JD, Partner, Fulbright & Jaworski
Jessica Natkin, JD, Director of Programs, Project for Attorney Retention, University of California, Hastings College of the Law
Pamela Phillips, JD, Partner, Arnold & Porter
Dawn Smith, JD, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, VM Ware
Laura Stein, JD, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, The Clorox Company
Catherine Valentine, JD, General Counsel, Secretary of the Board of Directors, and Vice President Logitech
Wilma B. Wallace, JD, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Gap, Inc.
Joan C. Williams, JD, 1066 Foundation Chair, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director, Project for Attorney Retention, University of California, Hastings College of the Law








