Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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FEATURE to doing the blending of the legal role and making those judgments," he says. For Wasserman, taking the MBA was critical, as his business training was 20 years old at that point. Generally, companies are looking for an executive MBA or CA financial back- ground, says Berger, and the finance as- pect is crucial, which lawyers can't really get in the traditional practice of law. Conversely, Fitzwilliam notes, "lots and lots of smart lawyers have never been anywhere near an MBA classroom, and yet they've succeeded brilliantly at cross- ing into the broader mandate of the busi- ness operations." However, she notes that finance is a in-house to start out with just having a hunger to learn as much about their business as they possibly can." role that some lawyers "avoid like the plague," which can be to their detriment. "If you can understand the legal parameters and the financial — ROBERT WASSERMAN, SEARS CANADA parameters that the business is working within, you're well un- derway to understanding the business," she says. Fitzgerald adds that business qualifications are very impor- tant for lawyers seeking more of a business role, although she "I would encourage anybody who's notes that she did learn a lot of these skills on her own. "One of the critical things that lawyers should do is learn how to interpret finan- cial statements and read financial state- ments and profit-and-loss statements; I mean, really understand the finances that go behind business decisions," Fitzgerald says. Certain organizations may not see fur- ther education as a necessary component of moving into an executive role, as some people are better able to learn on the job, adds Bood. "It's probably not a bad idea, espe- cially if you take your career up to the next level, at least getting some kind of training, whether it's more of a formal route or maybe even just some leader- ship training." While there may be added value for in-house counsel who are looking for more of a business role in earning an executive MBA, Bood says that finding the time to do it could be a challenge. IH Untitled-3 1 C ANADIAN Lawyer INHOUSE A UGUST 2008 11 6/6/08 12:47:24 PM