After we posted a story about a fictitious School for General Counsel, “An Online General Counsel Imagines a School for GCs,” armchair in-house professors chimed in online with their curriculum suggestions. Members of the LinkedIn group for In The House, a web-based professional networking community for in-house counsel, rattled off about a dozen courses that should be required for anyone earning a GC diploma. We followed up with the ITH faculty to find out more about what general counsel need to learn.
Jeff Myers, associate general counsel of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), jokingly nominated himself as dean of the School for GCs. Myers already teaches a course on lean management, which he would recommend for any aspiring GCs. “In today’s world, professionals need to be more client-oriented,” says Myers. Although incorporating lean manufacturing concepts of eliminating waste and maximizing profit into law department management may seem like common sense, Myers says not enough chief legal officers do so.
