By Scott A. Westfahl

One of the great privileges of leading Executive Education at Harvard Law School is circulating and listening to the law firm leaders and general counsel who come from all over the world to attend our leadership programs. We notice trends quickly and pay particular attention to the business terms that our participants use with increasing urgency. In the past two years, those key business terms have been: collaboration, data, cybersecurity and, most interestingly, innovation.

Collaboration is becoming more and more necessary and important for law firm growth, but why? What exactly is smart collaboration, how can your firm implement it and what role do legal marketing professionals play to support it? In the latest episode of the LMA Podcast, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn’s Cynthia Voth, 2019 LMA President, speaks with Dr. Heidi Gardner. Dr. Gardner is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and Faculty Chair of Harvard Law School’s Accelerated Leadership Program and other executive courses. Dr. Gardner dives deep into answering these questions with relevant examples, background and insight. Her perspective provides context on how smart collaboration can generate value and establish trust inside and outside your organization.