Temple University’s Beasley School of Law is including a course on law firm management in its curriculum for third–year law students starting this past month.
Called "Legal, Professional and Business Aspects of Law Practice," the class is divided into four sections: law firm economics, time management, client development, and ethics related to the business of firms. Some of the topics included are fee structures, accounting, partnership and tax law as related to firms, firm organization, and referrals.
The textbook for the course was written by a professor who teaches a similar course at Pace University. Stephen J. Friedman, dean of Pace University School of Law, and formerly commissioner of the SEC, general counsel of The Equitable and E.F. Hutton, and co-chairman of the corporate department at Debevoise & Plimpton, finds law graduates to be "ill-equipped to be effective beginning lawyers" and wants curriculum at law schools to be "more purposeful, more focused and more integrated."
And evidently particularly more attuned to the challenges of effective legal practice and good law firm management.