Richmond Law's Legal Business Design Hub Wins Fast Company Innovation Award
September 15, 2022
Richmond Law’s Legal Business Design Hub named winner in the “Learning” category of Fast Company’s 2022 Innovation by Design Awards
The Legal Business Design Hub at the University of Richmond School of Law has been named winner in the “Learning” category of the Fast Company 2022 Innovation by Design Awards.
Fast Company announced the recipients of the awards today, which recognize designers and businesses solving crucial problems of today and anticipating pressing issues of tomorrow.
“The Legal Business Design Hub is a combination of design school meets business school meets startup accelerator – all within a law school,” said Josh Kubicki, assistant professor of legal practice and director of legal innovation and entrepreneurship at the Richmond Law. “It is engaging law students in fundamentally new ways, so they view themselves as future legal service entrepreneurs, not just as future traditional lawyers.”
Launched in 2020, the program includes a set of courses and co-curricular opportunities that introduce law students to the elements of business design, project management, entrepreneurship, and digital technology. The goal is to provide students with not only the knowledge and skills they need innovate in the delivery of legal services, but also to instill a mindset of a legal services entrepreneur.
The signature component of the program is the Legal Business Design Challenge — a unique course in which students, working side-by-side with attorneys, learn principles of business design and then apply those principles to create an innovative solution to a real business challenge.
“Entrepreneurial lawyers will enter a market of growing and diverging demands with the mindset and skillset necessary to address them in more ways than just practicing law,” Kubicki continued.
“We want our students to be leaders not only in the practice of law, but in shaping the future of the legal profession,” said Dean Wendy Perdue. “We are equipping them with the skills they will need to build legal practices and programs that can respond to the ever-changing needs of our society. This is a win not only for our school and our students, but for the legal profession.”
Innovation by Design Awards are given in 46 categories, and entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact.
The full 2022 list is available here. This year’s winners and finalists will be included in the October print issue, on newsstands September 27.
Fast Company announced the recipients of the awards today, which recognize designers and businesses solving crucial problems of today and anticipating pressing issues of tomorrow.
“The Legal Business Design Hub is a combination of design school meets business school meets startup accelerator – all within a law school,” said Josh Kubicki, assistant professor of legal practice and director of legal innovation and entrepreneurship at the Richmond Law. “It is engaging law students in fundamentally new ways, so they view themselves as future legal service entrepreneurs, not just as future traditional lawyers.”
Launched in 2020, the program includes a set of courses and co-curricular opportunities that introduce law students to the elements of business design, project management, entrepreneurship, and digital technology. The goal is to provide students with not only the knowledge and skills they need innovate in the delivery of legal services, but also to instill a mindset of a legal services entrepreneur.
The signature component of the program is the Legal Business Design Challenge — a unique course in which students, working side-by-side with attorneys, learn principles of business design and then apply those principles to create an innovative solution to a real business challenge.
“Entrepreneurial lawyers will enter a market of growing and diverging demands with the mindset and skillset necessary to address them in more ways than just practicing law,” Kubicki continued.
“We want our students to be leaders not only in the practice of law, but in shaping the future of the legal profession,” said Dean Wendy Perdue. “We are equipping them with the skills they will need to build legal practices and programs that can respond to the ever-changing needs of our society. This is a win not only for our school and our students, but for the legal profession.”
Innovation by Design Awards are given in 46 categories, and entries are judged on the key ingredients of innovation: functionality, originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural impact, and business impact.
The full 2022 list is available here. This year’s winners and finalists will be included in the October print issue, on newsstands September 27.