Dive Brief:
- Vanderbilt Law School has created an online program designed to help executives and managers gain fluency in the legal principles, language and processes that business leaders need to understand, it announced Sept. 13.
- V-Legal is a series of three courses that teaches participants to "think like a lawyer" when making decisions, the school said. The program was created in cooperation with iLaw, a BARBRI company that works with law schools to create online programming for lawyers and non-lawyers. Completion of the series will earn the learner a certificate.
- The program was designed to respond to growing demand by non-lawyer professionals for legal knowledge. "As legal regulation increases in all areas of business, executives and managers at all levels face a growing need to understand legal principles and how the law works," according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Even as the federal government rolls back employer mandates, some say those quick shifts have created problems. And with state and local governments enacting laws to counteract that deregulation, managers and executives may well be increasingly in need of fluency in legal issues.
Even a basic understanding of the law — which would allow managers to know when to escalate an issue to HR, for example — can be the difference between an engaged employee and a lawsuit, experts have said.
And managers might just welcome the opportunity. Supervisors have been reported to want more training, and a basic understanding of the regulations with which they must comply can be one of the tools they need to lead, giving them the confidence necessary for sound decision making.
