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Lunsford Academy: Providing students with essential business acumen

The Lunsford Academy recognizes that the modern lawyer needs a basic understanding of the tools and language of business. Entrepreneurs, business leaders, clients, and professional colleagues all use a common set of disciplines and tools to share information, evaluate risk, and make financial decisions.

The Lunsford Academy provides students with competence in finance, accounting, and statistics so they can better understand the needs of their clients, make strategic decisions for their own businesses, and play a role in their clients’ financial decisions.

Lunsford Academy: Fostering creative thinking

New lawyers are facing a changing legal marketplace. Traditional paths to practice are narrowing, competitive forces on the profession are increasing, and clients are demanding new types of services and service experiences.

The Lunsford Academy trains students in creative design and problem solving for their law practices. In addition, students also develop skills that allow them to fashion creative legal solutions for their clients’ businesses. In the Lunsford Academy, students develop the foundational skills for becoming business-competent lawyers and business leaders.

Lunsford Academy: Harnessing the power of intellectual property

Business clients need attorneys who can advise them on maximizing their ability to generate revenue from their intellectual property.

The Lunsford Academy provides students with the skills necessary to identify strategies for effective drafting and negotiation of intellectual property licenses.

Lunsford Academy: Introducing students to modern technology

The modern legal practice requires a high-level of proficiency with technology. Attorneys without these skills generate additional costs for law firms and clients.

The Lunsford Academy instructs students in the efficient use of standard office technology in the practice of law and introduces them to legal technology products designed specifically for attorneys as well as the products that compete with lawyers.

In the Lunsford Academy, students also develop a legal app. Through this project, they gain a deeper understanding of the legal and technological issues relevant to developing software products and they learn how to articulate their legal knowledge to non-experts.

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The Lunsford Academy is the first law school curriculum in the United States to create a new type of professional program by integrating legal education with technology and business expertise. Participants will take specialized courses that emphasize legal technology, business, finance, and leadership skills which will be crucial to survive in tomorrow’s legal practice and industry leadership.

By completing the honors curriculum, students will have a diverse knowledge of and advanced training in several professional fields that overlap with law. These multi-faceted law students will be prepared to succeed in the fast-changing; technology-driven legal profession and will be viewed as Renaissance Lawyers for the Information Age.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Renaissance Lawyer?

Renaissance Lawyers for the Information Age are thoroughly trained in law, business, philosophy, technology, and culture. These lawyers are trained to use the technology in practice for the benefit of their clients and society. They apply business methods in service of their profession and bring professionalism to business.

How will participation in the academy make me more competitive in the job market?

Employers in law practice and business want new lawyers to understand how to service their clients efficiently and completely. Well-trained lawyers know to look for the root cause of issues in order to provide the optimal solutions. Employers know students trained in this approach provide much better service to their clients and their colleagues.

How is the Lunsford Academy honors program different?

No other law school has integrated specific courses in business, quantitative methods, law, leadership, privacy, intellectual property, and technology. Few schools even offer the business courses and technology courses which comprise the heart of this new curriculum. These courses are taught as foundational material, so that students can use them for any type of practice or career rather than focusing on a particular industry or type of legal practice. Nowhere else are these courses integrated into a unified field of study or combined with a capstone simulation program. Lunsford Academy members are guaranteed enrollment in all specialty courses, as well as invitations to attend programs and events related to the Lunsford Academy.

Will I be engaged in a different manner than the traditional Socratic, case-reading method currently used in most courses?

The Lunsford Academy features simulation courses and capstone projects, enabling the students to simulate live-client environments while learning in a controlled environment. Students are also strongly encouraged to participate in Chase’s Field Placement Clinical Program (externship program) or a live-client clinic to gain additional, hands-on experience.

Does being a Renaissance Lawyer run counter to the need to specialize?

After years of practice, most lawyers develop an area of expertise, either through their department in a law firm or the types of clients with whom they work most often. The Lunsford Academy curriculum is not a separate area of expertise. Instead, the courses provide a critical foundation to all areas of practice. It will improve the ability for an attorney to specialize and understand the needs of the attorney’s clients.

How are students admitted to the Lunsford Academy?

To be considered for membership into the academy, complete the NKU Chase College of Law application for admission and have two letters of recommendation on file with LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service. Accepted students will be awarded a scholarship and be eligible to enroll in the immersive honors program.