Courses

The Mark Initiative has developed a curriculum focused on organizational leadership, in-house legal practice, and direct business client counseling. These courses teach the underlying principles and values that lead to high organizational character, as well as providing practical training that will enable students to implement concrete solutions once they are working at organizations, including as an in-house lawyer. In each of these courses, students will be challenged to address the following:

  • Engage in realistic simulations that exercise concrete skills
  • Submit written deliverables
  • Address the entire business problem, not just the legal aspects
  • Interact and work collaboratively with experienced business people
  • Grapple with ethical dilemmas and strategic challenges that require the consideration and exercise of organizational character.

The following courses are offered at the Law School to teach the underlying principles and values of high organizational character as well as leadership integral to the role of the in-house counsel:

  • Becoming a Trusted Advisor: the Role of the GC in the Modern Multi-National Corporation
  • Professional Responsibility Issues in the Representation of Business Organizations
  • Advising Complex Corporations
  • Organizational Misconduct
  • Leadership and Organizational Character: Role of the In-House Counsel
  • Ethics on the Edge: Business, Non-Profit and Government
  • In-House Counsel Externship

As one of the pillars of the Mark Initiative’s In-House Counsel Program, experiential learning opportunities are available in the form of externships within legal departments of companies and organizations. Such externships would qualify as part of the Law School’s required experiential credits for graduation. Students have externed with organizations such as Barclays, CBS, Colgate Palmolive, Estee Lauder, Lincoln Center, New York Public Library, and Tom Ford, among many others. For more information on how an externship can satisfy the experiential learning requirement, students should contact the Externships Office.

The Mark Initiative’s Leader-in-Residence Program also offers a seminar taught by the Leader-in-Residence, typically a sitting or retired General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer, or C-Suite Executive of a multinational business organization or public sector organization.

Columbia Affiliations