Lawyers in B-School

Milwaukee-based Quarles & Brady (LLP) is a 120-year-old law firm with clients across the globe, including nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions and multinational corporations in a broad array of industries. It employs more than 400 lawyers, but its leadership saw a clear challenge ahead in recruiting and developing its talent, in succession planning and in competitive strategy. In business, in other words.

Senior partner Michael Ostermeyer (ND EMBA ’11) enlisted the help of the Stayer Center for Executive Education to design a custom program that provides foundational knowledge of critical business areas, including finance, accounting, marketing, strategy and economics. The program takes a “mini-MBA” approach, incorporating coursework with the online gaming tool called the Business Strategy Game that helps participants understand global business through a simulated case study.

Twenty-five senior partners attended the nine-month program, which involved four three-day sessions as well as multiple online exercises.