Legal Innovation &
Technology Certificate
Earn a Certificate in Legal Innovationfrom Suffolk University CCPE. Register Now
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LEGAL INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
Build new skills. Develop new competencies. Innovate more effectively to create value.
Through primarily discussion-based assignments, the legal technology certificate helps learners develop key proficiencies in technology-driven project management, finance, and HR solutions to help their practices run more efficiently. The technological proficiency will be paired with an emphasis on environmental, social, and governance initiatives to empower legal professionals to usher their work into a new, socially conscious age of legal practice.
The 6 courses included in the certificate program are listed below. There are 2 courses offered per session and we offer 3 sessions per year. Sessions are offered in the Spring Term (January-March), Summer Term (June-August), and Fall (September to November).
- Process Improvement & Legal Project Management
- Design Thinking for Legal Professionals
- Legal Operations
- 21st Century Legal Services
- The Business of Delivering Legal Services
- Legal Technology Toolkit
SUMMER
JUNE 5, 2023 - AUGUST 13, 2023- Legal Operations
- 21st Century Legal Services
FALL
SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 - NOVEMBER 19, 2023- Process Improvement & Legal Project Management
- Design Thinking for Legal Professionals
SPRING
JANUARY 8, 2024 - MARCH 17, 2024- The Business of Delivering Legal Services
- Legal Tech Toolkit
Why Earn a Legal Innovation & Technology Certificate?
Since 1906, the Suffolk University Law School has been a national leader in preparing ethical and innovative legal professionals. Grounded in our long history of excellence, the Suffolk CCPE offers a modern, learner-first experience for continuing education.
We’ve designed a bite-size legal technology certificate so that you can get what you value most: specific, relevant industry knowledge that can be directly applied to your job both now and in the future. No matter if you’re a lawyer, paralegal, legal secretary, or consultant, you can get the critical skills to drive your firm forward.
You can learn to:
- Deliver legal services more efficiently
- Utilize legal technology tools for increased productivity
- Employ strategic and tactical methods for operating legal firms
Benefits of Suffolk CCPE’s LIT Certificate
Accessible Learning
The legal technology certificate is noncredit and open enrollment, meaning no application or lengthy admission process. You can start learning right away.
Streamlined Education
Courses are explicitly created for legal professionals to get the precise skills they need, cutting out nonessential content to streamline professional development.
Leadership Forward
Learners in the legal technology certificate program will gain acumen in creative thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication to manage the challenges of the evolving legal workforce.
High-Value Investment
The certificate program provides superb value for professionals, providing in-demand upskilling opportunities that fuel legal innovation.
Networking Opportunities
The certificate’s discussion-based format allows learners to connect and network with peers from around the country who have varied and insightful experiences.
Learning Outcomes
Project management
Course Descriptions
Legal Operations
NEXT SESSION: JUNE 5, 2023 -AUGUST 13, 2023
Instructor: Lucy Bassli
You’ll learn the functions that make up the evolving roles in legal operations, specifically across corporate legal departments:
- Managing external resources more effectively and engaging law firms in new ways.
- Assessing and selecting legal technology.
- Process optimization and re-engineering.
- Alternative legal services that can deliver new types of ancillary services.
- Work stratification and creating efficiencies in the delivery of legal services.
- Modern approach to handling repeatable commercial transactions and contract management functions.
21st Century Legal Services
NEXT SESSION: JUNE 5, 2023 -AUGUST 13, 2023
Moderator: Kelli Proia
Lecturer: TBD
You’ll learn critical market insights and strategic and tactical recommendations for operating a law firm or legal services business. The coursework will focus on the current upheaval in the market and how to compete successfully in the new legal services landscape to come.
- The nature of the market forces changing the legal services environment and how those forces will shape the radically different evolution of the market in the coming years and decades
- Pressing demands clients will make of their legal services providers in the new legal market
- Practical know-how to meet emerging and growing demands better than your competitors
- Important elements of successful legal services businesses in the new market and how to integrate these elements into the internal design and operations of your business
Process Improvement and Legal Project Management
NEXT SESSION: SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 – NOVEMBER 19, 2023
Moderator: Kelli Proia
Lecturer: Catherine Alman MacDonagh
You will learn how to deliver legal services with greater efficiency and effectiveness. Improving and managing processes well enables better client and project outcomes, predictability, improved speed, reduced errors and rework, lower costs, better pricing, and higher profitability. It produces increased client and employee satisfaction and higher performing, high functioning, diverse teams.
- The key process improvement toolkits (including Lean, Six Sigma, Legal WorkOut®, Pure Technology, BPR, RPA, Theory of Constraints, PDCA, Gemba, 5S) and the main concepts behind each
- The key principles of Lean Sigma
- The framework and 5 key phases of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) in executing a process improvement project
- The connection between process improvement and Design Thinking and an introduction to DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify)
- Introduction to commonly used tools and required process improvement project deliverables, including Project Charters, Voice of the Client, Process Mapping, Baseline Assessments, 5 Whys, Fishbone Diagrams, Structured Brainstorming Techniques, and Control Design
- Stages of Project Management (Define objective, Scope, Project Plan, Execute, Monitor, Review and Improve)
- Different Approaches to Project Management and Select Tools (Agile, Scrum, Kanban)
- Process Improvement Projects: Roles, Teams, and Gate Reviews
- Project Planning, Scoping and Budgeting
- Change Management, Prioritization, Organizational Development
- PI, Innovation, and Competitive Advantages
Design Thinking
NEXT SESSION: SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 – NOVEMBER 19, 2023
Moderator: Kelli Proia
Lecturer: Margaret Hagan
In order to best design applications, services, and systems, it’s critical to understand the needs of users, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for users’ success. This course will focus on the application of these skills for legal professionals from the full spectrum of work within the field.
- Human-centered approaches to solving problems by identifying the needs of end-users and building solutions that provide them maximum value
- Developing prototypes, testing them, and iteratively improving these tools for better results
- Understanding the operations of organizations and how to improve those organizations
The Business of Delivering Legal Services
NEXT SESSION: JANUARY 8, 2024 – MARCH 17, 2024
Instructor: TBD
As new methods and tools impact society, there will be increasing change within legal organizations as lawyers must practice within our business world. This course will focus on the impacts of technology on the delivery of legal services to clients by law firms and law departments, and includes basic financial and key performance indicator (KPI) learning.
- Working with new technology within existing and new legal organizations, including performance measurement.
- Interacting with clients and colleagues based on technological changes and infrastructure issues posed by these technologies.
Legal Technology Toolkit
NEXT SESSION: JANUARY 8, 2024 – MARCH 17, 2024
Instructor: Kelli Proia
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive look at legal technology that is essential to 21st century legal services providers.
The following are course outcomes:
- Discuss the major technologies used in the practice of law.
- Describe the role and importance of technology in law.
- Assess what impact technology is likely to have on the practice in the future.
- Explain what technology competence is, and what lawyers need to know in order to meet their ethical obligations.
- Evaluate the expectations clients have for lawyers about technology.
Legal Innovation & Technology Certificate Curriculum
The legal tech certificate is made up of six unique courses, which can be completed in succession or at your own pace. These teach modern legal competencies that can help optimize legal services delivery and increase productivity. Each course lasts roughly 10 weeks, with approximately two to five hours per week of work.
- Course 1: Legal Operations
- Course 2: 21st Century Legal Services
- Course 3: Process Improvement & Legal Project Management
- Course 4: The Business of Delivering Legal Services
- Course 5: Legal Technology Toolkit
- Course 6: Design Thinking for Legal Professionals
Earn a Certificate in: Legal Innovation & Technology
Fill out this morning to get more information on cost, schedule, course content, and registration.
Meet the Faculty
Lucy Bassli
Lucy joined the legal department of Microsoft in 2004, providing legal support to the central procurement organization globally and across all lines of business at Microsoft. She focused extensively on complex and global outsourcing contracts and gained firsthand experience in outsourcing by engaging an outsourced legal services provider (LPO) to assist her with high-volume contract transactions. She has launched a new “managed services” engagement with law firms and recently took a role leading legal operations. She continues to expand Microsoft’s centralized contracting office, specializing in process efficiencies and automation.
Erika Rickard
Erika Rickard is the Senior Officer of the new Civil Justice Innovation Project at Pew Charitable Trusts. Before joining Pew, she was a researcher at the Access to Justice Lab, which conducts rigorous research on access to justice and court administration at Harvard Law School. Rickard has worked in the Massachusetts courts as the state’s first Access to Justice Coordinator, developing policies, programs, and technology to improve access to justice for underserved communities. She previously represented MA state agencies in trial and appellate practice as an Assistant Attorney General, and served as a judicial clerk on the Massachusetts Appeals Court. She has taught courses on Restorative Justice at Tufts University and 21st Century Legal Profession at Suffolk Law School. Rickard received her B.A. with honors from Mills College, and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Catherine Alman MacDonagh
Catherine is a former corporate counsel and law firm executive who now teaches and provides training and consulting services in process improvement and project management, strategic planning, marketing, and business development. A Legal Lean Sigma® Black Belt and a certified Six Sigma Green Belt, Catherine is the CEO and a Founder of the Legal Lean Sigma Institute, which offers consulting and the first and only process improvement and project management certifications, courses, and workshops designed for the legal profession. In addition to creating Legal Lean Sigma®, Catherine invented the Legal WorkOut®, a collaborative method for engaging in process improvement.
Mary E. Juetten, CA, CPA, JD
Mary E. Juetten, CA, CPA, JD is founder and CEO of Traklight, and has dedicated her more than 30 year career to helping businesses achieve and protect their success. Mary serves on the Group Legal Services Association Board and is an Access Advocate for LegalShield. In 2015, Mary co-founded Evolve Law, an organization for change and technology adoption in the law. She was named to the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center 2016 Women in Legal Tech list and the Fastcase 50 Class of 2016. Follow her on Twitter @maryjuetten and find her book on Small Law Firm KPIs here.
Kelli Proia
Kelli Proia is the founder of Lawducate, a consulting firm helping lawyers find marketing, sales, and customer service solutions to their business development problems. Kelli currently teaches “21st Century Lawyering” at Suffolk University Law School. Prior to starting Lawducate, she spent 16 years working in corporate legal departments and in private practice as an intellectual property attorney representing large multinational companies. Kelli frequently speaks to law firms, state bar associations, and other legal associations on modern business solutions to common problems plaguing the legal profession.
Margaret Hagan
Margaret Hagan directs the Legal Design Lab at Stanford Law’s Center on the Legal Profession, an R&D lab for more accessible, intuitive, and engaging legal services at Stanford. She is a lecturer and fellow at Stanford Institute of Design (the d.school), where she began experimenting with combining law, agile technology development, and user-centered design. Margaret teaches project-based classes with interdisciplinary student groups tackling legal challenges through user-focused research and design of new legal products and services. Margaret also leads workshops to train legal professionals in the design process and to produce client-focused innovation. She also shares her insight at her blog, Open Law Lab.
Frequently Asked Questions
How will a certificate benefit my career?
The certificate in Legal Innovation & Technology can help you upskill, so you can stay at the forefront of your industry. By gaining relevant knowledge and skills, you can grow in your current role, advance into more senior positions, or change your career.
How long will it take to complete the LIT certificate?
You can complete a full certificate in 10 weeks.
How can I enroll for the LIT certificate?
The certificate is open enrollment. You can sign up with our online registration system to submit payment and reserve your spot.
How much does the LIT certificate cost?
You can earn the LIT certificate online for $8,995.
What is a professional certificate equivalent to?
Certificates are professional credentials that show you have completed a certain level of education or training for a subject or career discipline.
Deliver Legal Services More Effectively and Efficiently in a Rapidly Changing Marketplace.
Registering for this certificate is easy. There are no prerequisites to earning this certificate, we do not require an application, and there is no admissions process. Simply use our online registration system to submit payment and reserve your spot.
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