Course overview
Legal expertise alone is no longer sufficient for career progression in the legal world. Whether in private practice or an in-house environment, lawyers are increasingly expected to lead teams, influence stakeholders, manage performance, shape strategy and build trust across complex organisations.
Yet most lawyers are promoted into leadership roles with little formal training in how to lead or manage people.
This three-day intensive training course is specifically designed for lawyers and senior legal professionals who want to strengthen their leadership capability in a way that reflects the realities of legal practice: high intellectual standards, demanding clients, regulatory risk, cultural complexity and commercial pressure.
Drawing on leadership research, executive education frameworks and practical experience delivering programmes to global organisations and leading universities, this course bridges the gap between technical legal excellence and leadership effectiveness.
Key topics include:
- The difference between leadership and management in a legal context
- The transition from technical expert to trusted leader
- Building credibility and influence without formal authority
- Motivating and developing high-performing legal teams
- Managing upwards, across partnerships and within matrix organisations
- Aligning legal strategy with organisational priorities.
The training course integrates proven leadership models - including organisational diagnostic tools, stakeholder analysis and strategic frameworks - and applies them directly to the professional services and corporate legal environment.
Participants will leave with a structured leadership development plan and practical tools they can implement immediately.
The expert trainer combines structured theory with practical application through:
- Legal-specific case studies
- Interactive group exercises
- Individual and group reflection
- Organisational diagnostic tools
- Role-play of difficult conversations
- Leadership objective setting
The focus throughout this course is on practical implementation in legal environments, rather than abstract leadership theory.
CPD Hours: 18
Course Content
- Day 1
- Learning to lead
- The leadership transition
- Module 1: Managing yourself as a legal professional
- Strategic awareness
- Developing personal leadership confidence
- Communicating with authority and influence
- Journaling exercise
- Day 2
- Getting things done
- Module 2: Leading high-performing legal teams
- Understanding legal team dynamics
- Leading performance in legal teams
- Addressing and resolving conflict
- Leading virtual and cross-cultural teams
- Journaling exercise
- Day 3
- Module 3: Influencing and leading within the organisation
- Influence and stakeholder management for lawyers
- Leading difficult conversations and managing competing priorities
- Establishing your brand
- Leading within the organisation
- Final journaling exercise
- Your personal action plan to achieve your full potential
Speakers
Arun Singh OBE
Arun Singh (Prof) OBE, FRSA is an international lawyer and consultant to an international law firm. He was formerly a partner and head of commercial law at KPMG Legal and partner at Masons (now Pinsent Masons).
Arun has advised on disputes and collaborations in a wide range of jurisdictions including Europe, countries in West and East Africa, India, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, Libya, Jordan, Syria, the US, Caribbean, Russia, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Thailand and Singapore. Arun is cited and ranked in the Chambers Guide to the world’s leading lawyers. He concentrates on international investment, joint ventures, licensing of technology, research and development, M&A, energy, outsourcing and corporate governance in developed and emerging markets; he also handles international legal risk management matters. Arun advises a range of international organisations and is a visiting professor in International Business, Leadership and Negotiations at Salford University Business School, senior associate at Oxford University’s Institute of Legal Practice and teaches international leadership and negotiations at the University of Cambridge. He has facilitated programmes in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the US.
He is a recognised corporate educator and a non-executive director of two international investment companies - one of which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, chairing the Audit Committee and Investment Committee.
He was appointed an OBE by HM the Queen in January 1999 for services to international trade, investment and intercultural management. Arun is an editor and contributor to a number of publications including Business and Contract Law (a Thorogood Special Report) and How to Lead Smart People - Leadership for Professionals (Profile Books) (recommended reading in the big four corporate advisory firms and basis for the popular international Coursera MOOC, University of London course 'Stepping Up: Leading Others').He is also a facilitator for company programmes and an experienced speaker at international corporate conferences.
Who Should Attend
Who should attend?
This training course has been designed specifically for lawyers and legal professionals, including:
- In-house lawyers
- General counsel
- Deputy / Associate general counsel
- Heads of legal
- Senior legal counsel
- Legal operations managers
- Compliance leaders with legal oversight
- Private practice lawyers
- Law firm partners
- Senior associates preparing for partnership
- Practice group leaders
- Managing associates
- Professional support lawyers with team responsibility
It is particularly valuable for:
- Lawyers newly promoted into management roles
- Senior lawyers seeking to strengthen their leadership impact
- Technical experts transitioning into broader strategic positions
- Legal professionals managing teams across jurisdictions
