Morais Leitão and Nova SBE Executive Education create innovative programme to train lawyers of the future: Business Academy for Lawyers

The first edition of Morais Leitão’s intensive training programme, co-created with the executive training of Nova School of Business & Economics and highlighted by the Financial Times for its innovative dimension, has already started.

The Business Academy for Lawyers is a project designed to change the way of thinking about what it is like to be a lawyer in today’s world, which focuses on the development of new skills and on the domain of realities beyond the law.
The programme was entirely co-created by Morais Leitão and Nova SBE Executive Education, integrating with the firm’s career plan.

For Nuno Galvão Teles, managing partner at Morais Leitão, «we thought of the programme as a teasing, moving our teams from their comfort zone and confronting them with totally different realities in project management, financial management, conflict management, client management, innovation and leadership, to give some examples. Either one of them has a direct impact on motivation and productivity rates, helping to build a culture of innovation and cooperation with the client.»

For Pedro Brito, Associate Dean for Executive Education & Business Transformation, «the role of lawyers is rapidly changing. There are new expectations from their clients, new challenges arising from different angles and new skills to develop in this new and different context. Those who do not evolve and lead the way in learning will become irrelevant in the future. It was with this premise that New SBE Executive Education designed a continuous learning journey for Morais Leitão, with the mission of preparing its talent not only to survive, but to continue innovating.»

The 1st edition, that is about to finish, had as its theme the project manager lawyer, and took place in a classroom context with case studies, debates, role-play, discussion and sharing of ideas in the premises of Nova SBE, in Carcavelos Campus. The success and interest were great, so new editions will follow, always adjusting the themes to the audience and to the specific needs and new challenges of the sector.

The programme was highlighted in the annual report of the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards 2020, as an example of a commitment to improving the training of lawyers.

To better understand the initiative, we suggest viewing this video.