HLS Professor Ashish Nanda—who founded the Case Development Initiative, a leading contributor to the Case Studies portal—was recently appointed Director of his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Management–Ahmedabad.
Nanda held three appointments at Harvard Law School—Robert Braucher Professor of Practice, Faculty Director of Executive Education, and Research Director at the Program on the Legal Profession—after teaching at Harvard Business School from 1993 to 2006. Nanda will take a leave of absence from his HLS faculty position, but will continue his involvement with the HLS Executive Education Program.
In remarks published by the Harvard Law School Office of Communications, HLS Dean Martha Minow recognized “the vital leadership of Ashish Nanda in the study and teaching of management and business dimensions of professional services sectors in a global economy.” Nanda has been a prolific case studies writer through the Case Development Initiative, and one of his Executive Education courses, Leadership in Law Firms, relies heavily on the case study method. Nanda authored four of the top five bestselling materials on the Case Studies portal. Nanda’s most popular case study, Ernest Shackleton’s Journey to the Endurance, assess Ernest Shackleton’s courageous leadership during a dangerous and disastrous voyage to Antarctica. Nanda says that the case study questions the meaning of success and leadership. It has been downloaded over 800 times since the Case Studies portal launched in July 2012.
HLS has announced that Lisa Rohrer and Scott Westfahl HLS ’88 will provide new leadership following Nanda’s leave. Rohrer will serve as Executive Director of Executive Education and the Case Development Initiative, and Westfahl has been selected to fill the position of Director of Executive Education.
Rohrer joins us from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was both the Director of Executive Education and the Research Director for the Study of the Legal Profession. She previously served as a research fellow at HLS and coauthored many case studies, including Axiom: Getting Down to Business and Berwin Leighton Paisner: Crafting a Law Firm Merger.
Westfahl told the Office of Communications: “We are so fortunate that Lisa has decided to join us. Her unique blend of academic and consulting experience will help ensure that HLS Executive Education continues to provide cutting edge and practical insights and tools to leaders across the legal profession. Lisa has extensive experience in executive education leadership, case development and research, and is a wonderful colleague and collaborator. Her intellectual curiosity and rigor, as well as her positive spirit and personal warmth, will no doubt deeply resonate to the benefit of our team and our mission.”
Westfahl has worked at the Washington, D.C. office of Goodwin Proctor LLP, directing professional development since 2004. He chaired the Professional Development Consortium from 2009 to 2011, and has co-taught with Professor David Wilkins in the 1L Problem Solving Workshop at Harvard Law School since 2010.
Dean Minow said of Westfahl: “I’m delighted that Scott will be taking the helm of our executive education program at this very important moment for the legal profession. His imaginative and deep experiences helping lawyers build teams and networks draw on his own experiences in practicing law; his knowledge of the changing dynamics in the delivery of professional legal services brings global understanding of the challenges that today’s lawyer’s must navigate. Scott has been a popular presence whenever he has returned to campus, and his devotion to the entire span of legal education helps students and lawyers not only succeed but also thrive. We are wonderfully fortunate to have the benefit of his terrific teaching and leadership.”
We extend congratulations to our three colleagues, and look forward to a partnership with Rohrer and Westfahl in educating legal professionals.
