September 9, 2024 - McGeorge School of Law

Combining Law and Leadership: How McGeorge Prepares You for Policy Roles

In today’s legal landscape, law and leadership should go hand-in-hand, especially where policymaking is concerned. However, it’s important to remember that while some individuals may have the innate qualities of a leader, other aspects can be also learned. For instance, you might have been drawn to the legal profession because you have strong problem-solving skills and want to help others, but are you prepared to encourage a discussion with your team that centers around conflict in order to resolve an issue? This is one example of the many challenges that a strong leader can learn to navigate with ease.

If you’re considering career paths that require extensive legal knowledge and the ability to lead a team but don’t require a traditional law degree, McGeorge School of Law offers several programs that can help achieve your goals, including an online Master of Science in Law, Government Law & Policy. Here, you can learn about how to be a strong public speaker, how to effectively negotiate contracts, and the importance of leadership roles in organizations.

What Is Leadership?

Leadership requires a combination of several traits and skills to be effective, especially where the law is concerned. It’s crucial to recognize that true leadership isn’t about one person; instead, it should focus on the group, be it the team you’re working with or the sector of the community that will benefit from your input. Being an effective leader means:

Learning how to communicate clearly
Understanding how to initiate a difficult conversation to create engagement and find a resolution
Practicing self-awareness to make giving and receiving feedback easier
Knowing how to speak to others in a way that makes them feel heard
Being adaptable to the needs of others
Building a vision by creating achievable, measurable goals
Keeping ethics in mind when making decisions

The average law firm relies on an apprenticeship model to bring in new talent, but it can be difficult for these professionals to devote time strictly to mentorship amidst the myriad daily challenges that cases bring. This means that many individuals in the legal profession don’t get the benefit of learning how to manage their behaviors according to the needs of the client or team they are working with. One of the many benefits of taking the Law, Government Law & Policy program at McGeorge School of Law is that you’ll be able to learn a variety of both hard and soft skills from experienced professors and faculty in a supportive learning environment.

Leadership and the Laws and Regulations Process

The Law, Government Law & Policy program will provide insight into lawmaking processes on both a state and federal level, allowing you to build skills in preparing and assessing bills as you dive into the legislative process. It will also prepare students who are considering careers in public-facing agencies, emphasizing the importance of how to effectively work within a team, how to communicate, and how to practice professional ethics.

You’ll also learn about policymaking at various levels and how to advocate and influence these processes. The course will allow you to focus on a real public policy issue as you complete a project related to the problem. This will provide the opportunity for hands-on research about legislation, court orders, regulations and how lawyers influence their development.

How To Merge Leadership With Your Career Goals

What do all of the above skills have in common? They are crucial in building leadership qualities. Strong leaders are necessary in the world of policymaking, in part because their ability to speak on topics they’re passionate about can affect change. Leaders are also able to garner support from followers while holding others accountable for their actions–an invaluable trait for individuals who are working with both the public and government agencies.

Effective leaders also understand how to initiate difficult conversations in order to solve a problem, which can boost team morale and generate a healthy workplace culture. In situations involving your work with organizations, having strong leadership qualities will help you create a healthy rapport with clients and coworkers alike.

Affect Real Change For The Environment

If environmental causes align with your career goals, you’ll also have the option to enroll in elective courses such as Water Resources Law and Environmental Law, where you’ll learn about legal policies and public rights where water resources and wildlife are concerned. In Lobbying & Politics, you’ll learn about state legislatures and how the voting process is influenced by grassroots campaigns and political parties. You’ll also learn the types of advocacy skills required to work with different groups.

Because environmental activism is so multifaceted, acquiring leadership skills within these programs can help you prepare for a variety of careers or projects. Whether you want to work with animal advocacy groups, bring clean water to communities without, combat the pollution of the oceans, or address climate change, many options will require you to lead the way. You might organize community cleanups, or start a discussion at a local government forum. The possibilities are only as limited as your vision for the future.

No matter what your goals are, McGeorge’s flexible online programs can help you meet them. With asynchronous courses and professors who have real experience in their fields, these programs provide everything you need to complete your degree with confidence. Take a look at the information for the Master of Science in Law, Government Law & Policy today and get started on the path to your leadership journey.

McGeorge’s Online MSL is the Future of Legal Education

Blog, Government Law & Policy, Water & Environmental Law / By McGeorge School of Law

The legal profession has a reputation for being slow-moving; litigation or other proceedings across different areas of law may take months or even years. The enactment of change within regulations can take as long as decades when people need to lobby and fight to dismantle ineffective precedents. Law is also a profession known for resisting operational change. Even when it comes to getting your legal education – a chapter culminating in needing bar passage to enter the practice of law – the process has not changed in many years.

The question begs, how can you modernize legal practice? In a world where technology continues to advance, theoretical conversations about artificial intelligence have immediate concerns. With real-world, experiential learning being the primary concern even in an evolving landscape, how do you prepare students to become legal professionals?

Partner with Technology

Technology advances at a rapid pace. As younger generations continue to enter the workforce, they come sans knowledge of a world without it. Resistance to technology can lead to inefficiency or undesirableness in a law firm or organization where candidates want to work or in a partner a client might want to hire.

While some software, such as legal research databases, is standard, new legal technology always emerges. Updates and innovations help legal operations run better, facilitate client communications, and simplify students’ lives.

Utilize Practical Skills

Law school was built on a foundation of curriculums culminating in the American bar exam. While internships occurred in the summer, the focus on practical skills was not as heavy.

There is added value to having experience in legal practice or legal services. For those using their education to gain specialized knowledge while working in the field to expand their skill set, the degree acts as a door opener to further their career. Some things cannot be taught, such as how to interact with others, advocacy, and professional etiquette. Skills like these are learned through experiences like shadowing colleagues and becoming accustomed to the working environment.

Start from the Beginning

Openness to change starts at the beginning, with the education of law students. Law schools need to emphasize the benefits of technology and how it can help legal proficiency. The early introduction of artificial intelligence, case management systems, discovery tools, legal research software, and other programs get the newest generation of practitioners acclimated early to change.

There is already a stark difference between the classes of students starting now and those who have been practicing for twenty or even ten years. The older generations saw the internet emerge and integrate into their lives, even though it was already well-established by the time they started working. Many still used paper files as technology advanced, and they attended school and began their careers in a pre-pandemic world.

The pandemic changed the way people utilize technology and jumpstarted the workforce’s capacity to perform remotely. Before, while remote learning was possible as well as remote work, it was not as common of an option. Even a hybrid model was unheard of. Now, remote work and remote learning are everywhere, which helps students and employees alike. The commute time saved can be used for other personal or familial obligations. For students, remote learning and the flexibility it offers open up access to education.

Even post-pandemic, there are still many people – especially those in the legal field – resistant to this kind of change. Instilling the values of flexibility, trust, and correct management in students will allow them to carry them over to the workspace. Those students become CEOs, managers, and bosses. If they know that environments that accept technology help productivity, efficiency, and morale, they will carry it over into the field when they begin to manage others.

McGeorge is Part of the Future

The future of legal lies in the ability to adapt and move forward as times change. The legal profession, while not known for its adaptability, is forced to do so as well. As older generations retire and make way for newer ones, places of business – including law firms, university law schools, and other legal organizations – must be willing to embrace the changing legal landscape.

University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law is at the forefront of our options for legal education. We offer not only a Juris Doctor degree for those who want to become practicing attorneys but also a Master of Science in Law (MSL) and LLM degree for those who want to work within the legal field without being lawyers.

Our MSL degrees in both water and environmental law and government and policy give our students specialized knowledge that they can use to advance their careers. Our faculty are experts in their fields as well as a constant network and resource for our students and alumni. Better yet, our program is completely online. We give our students the ability to do both: complete their degree without having to choose between sacrificing their jobs or other personal obligations.

The flexibility in asynchronous lectures and assignments lets our students choose how their education will fit into their schedule, not the other way around. This structure helps them strive and achieve success. And they still have access to every resource any McGeorge student or graduate does – being online does not hinder any aspect of their educational journey.

Change can be hard, but it is usually necessary and always unavoidable. In this case, giving students and later on employees a better quality of life by utilizing flexibility and technology is a good and much-needed change. For us, it starts right at the source, in our remote classrooms within our school. We instill this motivation in our graduates so they can carry that change with them.

If you are waiting to get an advanced degree because of these common obstacles, look no further. McGeorge School of Law and our online MSL program may just be the perfect fit for you. Check out our admissions process to learn more and start your journey.

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