Collection
An examination of the major categories of legal innovation, the real tensions technology creates with traditional law firm economics, the practical challenges firms face in adopting new tools, and the risks that come with operating in a technology-driven legal environment.
Covers how law firms generate and win new business, including through referrals, thought leadership, RFPs, and pitches. Also explains panel arrangements, how origination credit works, and ways associates can contribute to business development.
An introduction to the four main financial statements for companies: balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and statements of shareholder equity. This track also explains key accounting and financial concepts for understanding the statements.
A comparison of the business models underlying litigation and transactional practices. Covers how each practice generates revenue, structures fees, manages staffing and costs, handles client relationships, and responds to economic cycles.
Provides a practical foundation for understanding how large law firms operate. Covers the hierarchy of positions, practice group structures, key non-legal departments, and how firms are organized to serve clients.
Explains how large law firms make money and measure success as businesses. Covers the leverage pyramid and why firms hire associates, key profitability metrics like RPL and PPEP, and the overhead costs that drive firm economics. Helps associates understand the business model behind their workplace.
An examination of the complete revenue cycle at law firms, covering billable hours, alternative fee arrangements, the billing process, collections, write-offs, write-downs, and realization rates.
A practical, scenario-based guide to the most common timekeeping mistakes associates make—from shaving hours and late entries to vague descriptions and billing guideline violations—and the real economic and reputational consequences of getting them wrong.
An introduction to the four main financial statements, with examples of how the statements are affected by different business transactions.
An introduction to balance sheets, including an explanation of the balance sheet equation and descriptions of assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity.
If you’re new to Excel, start here. This course introduces the concepts of cells, rows and columns, shows how to navigate Excel 2016 for Windows, and describes the basics of entering data and doing calculations.
The income statement shows whether and how a company made or lost money over an accounting period. This course describes the income statement and the common classifications of revenue and expenses you’ll see on it. It also explains different measures of profitability such as net income, EBIT and EBITDA.
The key financial concepts in M&A practice, including valuations, the main financial provisions in M&A agreements and general tax and accounting issues.
Valuation is one of the most fundamental concepts in corporate finance. This course describes the different measures of a company’s value, and the various techniques used to value businesses and their assets.
What to look for in a company’s financials and annual report to give you a quick picture of a company’s financial health and current and future financial prospects.
Cash flow is fundamental to a company’s ability to stay in business. This course explains cash flow statements and how they’re used to track cash from a company’s operating, investing and financing activities.
The formatting tools available in Excel that can make worksheets clean and easy to follow. Includes text wrapping, cell alignment, and formatting numbers and dates.
The true power of Excel is its ability to perform calculations. This course explains how calculations work and introduces concepts such as formulas and relative and absolute cell references.
Lawyers often have to deal with large sets of data when working on a litigation or transaction. This course covers the Excel features that make it easier to work with large data sets, including filtering and sorting data, freezing panes and splitting the window.
A walkthrough of a statement of shareholders’ equity, including what events typically cause changes in the value of shareholders’ equity.
Lawyers often want to look for financial information about a company, whether it’s to better understand a client’s business, to learn about the other side in a transaction or litigation, or for business development purposes. This course provides some tips on where to look.
Excel functions are preset formulas that make it easy to perform specific calculations. Here's a summary of some useful functions for lawyers, and a description of how functions are structured.
The math behind calculations related to the time value of money, including calculations for interest rates, present and future value, annuities and perpetuities.
A PivotTable can be useful for summarizing and analyzing large sets of data. This course describes how to create and work with PivotTables.
How to run a redline of your Microsoft Word documents, as well as how to email the redlines, cleans, and modified pages.
An explanation of how to use IF functions to perform calculations based on specified criteria, with a practice example based on a cap table.
The key financial concepts in lending practice, including the main types of loans and their risk, financial reporting requirements for borrowers, financial covenants, and credit ratings.
An overview of the SUM and AVERAGE functions, with a practice example based on a 280G analysis in an M&A deal.
The key financial concepts in capital markets practice, including types of securities, pricing, securities offerings and periodic reporting.
Copying and moving data in Excel is similar to how it works in Word, but there are some differences. This course focuses on features that are particular to Excel, including inserting cells, rows and columns and moving and deleting worksheets.
How to use the MIN and MAX functions to easily find the smallest or largest number in a set of values, with a practice example based on a company’s cap table.
An introduction to the most commonly used functions for present and future value: PV, FV and NPV.
An overview of the various date and time functions that are most useful in legal practice.
The key financial concepts in litigation practice, including how financial statements are used by litigators, which bookkeeping records might be included in a document request, the roles of financial experts and fact witnesses, and the basis of calculations for damages or settlements.
Tips for Microsoft Word that will make drafting your contract smoother and more efficient.
Tips and tricks to help you work more efficiently in Excel.
How to do complex formatting in Microsoft Word using the Format Painter, Paste Options, and the clipboard. More than just the basics of copy-and-paste.
Sometimes it’s more efficient to use Excel and Word together than it is to use Word on its own. This course explains when and how, including when working with charts and tables.
A summary of how depreciation and amortization work and how they show up on the financial statements.
How to use Bullets and Numbering in Microsoft Word. Includes helpful tips, such as changing the formatting for sub-levels, defining your own multi-level lists, and adjusting the indentation just how you like it.
How to create and format tables in your Microsoft Word document, including auto-fitting contents, repeating column headings across pages, and more.
The key financial concepts in bankruptcy practice, broken out by the main phases of the bankruptcy process.
How to use track changes to its fullest potential in your Microsoft Word document. Covers how to show only a specific person’s changes, how to hide all the formatting changes, and more.
The key financial concepts in emerging companies practice, including initial startup issues and the financial and accounting issues involved in debt and equity financings.
An overview of charts and other data visualization techniques used in business and finance. Covers concepts such as line and bar charts, histograms, scatter plots and heat maps.
The key financial concepts in real estate practice, including when financial concepts come into play, financial soundness and guarantors, and covenants and ratios.
A discussion of how finance departments are structured, including descriptions of the typical responsibilities of common senior finance roles.
Tips for maximizing your efficiency with Microsoft Word when writing a legal brief. Covers various tools you can take advantage of as you move through the brief-writing process.
An audit is the primary mechanism for providing confidence in the reliability of a company’s financial statements. This course explains the audit process, audit opinions and how audited financial statements are put together.
An introduction to the regulatory framework and financial reporting for US and non-US companies, including GAAP, FASB, IFRS and IASB.
An overview of the accounting process, including how transactions appear in a company’s chart of accounts, general ledger, trial balance and financial statements.
An explanation of the tools available in Excel that make collaborating on an Excel file secure and efficient, including using comments, protecting files and hiding data.
How to change your Microsoft Word settings to maximize your efficiency and optimize your individual use of Word. Includes, for example, setting up your most-used functions to be just one click away.
How to use Microsoft Word’s Styles tool for consistent formatting in your document. Also includes different ways to alter the formatting of a Style.
The main difference between cash accounting and accrual accounting is how revenue and expenses are recognized. This course briefly explains these accounting methods and describes how revenue and expenses are recognized in accrual accounting.
How to use hyperlinks in your Microsoft Word document. Includes how to create the links, turn purple links back to blue, edit hyperlinks to emails, and more.
A high-level overview of private equity and venture capital firms, including the major types of firms, their investors, how they make money, competition and the largest firms in the industry.
How to get the most out of working with Comments in your Microsoft Word document. Covers when to use the different views, how to show just one person’s comments, how to declutter your screen when there are too many comments, and more.
This course provides an overview of key statistical concepts that are relevant to legal practice, including averages, sampling and distribution curves.
Keyboard shortcuts to help you move through your Microsoft Word document more efficiently.
A summary of common error messages in Excel and how to find and fix errors. Includes descriptions of #VALUE!, #######, #DIV/0!, #NULL!, #N/A, #NAME? and #REF!.
How to remove metadata from a Microsoft Word document, and why it matters. Includes other tips too, like how to skip the scrub when you want to.
An overview of common private equity fund investment strategies such as growth equity and leveraged buyouts (LBOs). The course also covers alternative strategies including private debt, real assets, and funds of funds.
An explanation of how to use text functions to clean and normalize text in Excel.
An overview of how the Microsoft Word screen is organized, giving users the lay of the land. Includes how to find the tool you need, how the tools are grouped within the ribbon, and how to take advantage of the Navigation Pane.
How to update the section numbers of your Microsoft Word document using the cross-references tool, rather than updating every number manually.
This course covers the main things to know about printing in Excel. Includes selecting the print area, repeating rows and columns, adding headers and footers and fitting data onto a single page.
This course outlines the four stages of a typical private equity or venture capital fund's life cycle, from marketing the fund to potential investors to dissolution.
How to format pages numbers, have different page numbering for different parts of your documents (like exhibits), and other features involving page numbering in Microsoft Word.
An explanation of how to use the VLOOKUP function, which can be useful when working with large sets of data in a litigation or transaction.
How to adjust the spacing between lines in a Microsoft Word list. Includes tips like making the spaces apply only between bullets, rather than between every line.
How to do what you want with your headers and footers in a Microsoft Word document. Includes, for example, how to use a different header or footer for different parts of your document—like tables of contents, exhibits, or signature pages.
How to get the most out of the two tools Microsoft Word offers to help you avoid spelling mistakes.
This course introduces the fundamentals of financial modeling and discusses how it’s relevant to lawyers.
An outline of the main services investment banks offer, including financial advisory services, underwriting, corporate finance and more. This course also details the different fee structures and other ways investment banks earn revenue.
How to refine your searches within Microsoft Word documents, using advanced functionality of Find and Replace. Helps you find and replace exactly what you’re looking for—and nothing more.
An overview of the major participants in the investment banking industry, including the banks and the types of clients that use investment banks.
An explanation of how to use the ROUND, ROUNDUP and ROUNDDOWN functions, with a practice example based on a financing round.
An overview of the hedge fund industry, including the largest hedge funds, common types of hedge fund investors, and how hedge funds make money.
A round-up of the most common investment strategies used by the managers of hedge funds to generate excess returns, such as “equity focus” and “global macro”. The course also includes a discussion of short selling and the impact of high-frequency trading and quants.
The different ways you can view your page on the Microsoft Word screen, and when they’re helpful. Includes snapping two documents side by side, the “focus” view that cuts distractions from your screen, and more.
An overview of the wealth management industry. This includes a review of different types of wealth management firms, the clients they serve, the financial planning, investment management and other services they offer, and how they earn money.
Helpful bells and whistles to know about when you’re printing your document in Microsoft Word, such as how to print certain ranges of pages, and how to hide your track changes and comments.
How to use the Word Count tool in Microsoft Word, including counting the words in only a portion of your document, and making the Word Count stay on your screen at all times.
An overview of the commercial banking industry, including the services usually offered through banks' retail, business, and corporate divisions. The course also discusses how commercial banks earn revenue and competition in the industry.
An overview of the custodian banking industry, including a description of custodian banks’ core trust, fiduciary, and financial and commodity market services, the types of customers that use custodian banks, the major custodian banks, and how they earn revenue.
This track explores how private equity deals are financed, how management incentives are structured, and the strategies funds use to create value.
Explains key concepts in financial reporting and accounting, such as accrual accounting, revenue recognition, and depreciation and amortization. This track also covers the roles in a finance department; the processes of accounting, financial reporting, and audits; and how to analyze a company’s annual report and financials.
An introduction to finance and accounting basics including valuation, statistics, data visualization, and where to find financial information about a company. This track also provides an introduction to Excel and explains how to perform present and future value calculations.
Covers key financial and accounting concepts and how they apply in specific legal practice areas, including M&A, litigation, finance, securities, emerging companies, bankruptcy, and real estate.