The Goal of the Dickstein Shapiro University is to:

Provide comprehensive, coordinated professional training and other “life skills” programs to every individual in the firm, to ensure the highest quality client service while fostering professional and personal satisfaction.

From the beginning, the University held as a core concept the intent to offer various developmental opportunities to all members of the community and to treat the firm as a campus. Dickstein Shapiro created a series of courses using the University model, for all members of the Dickstein Shapiro family.

The colleges and their goals are listed below:

College of Professional Training

This college encompasses technical and professional skills training. The current roster of courses includes Deposition Skills, Effective Legal Negotiation and Settlement, Legal Writing Skills, and a series kicked off this year for managers with a course on Budgeting and Management 101. All computer skills courses offered by the Information Technology Department also come under this College.

College of Personal Skills Development

This college focuses on quality-of-life issues. Formed to address the whole person - not only the professional life -- of a Dickstein Shapiro community member, sessions in this college are called “Lunch and Learns.” They are offered to everyone at the firm, once or twice a month. Some of the types of programs that have been offered are:

• “Achieving Financial Success”
  
• “Advanced Nutrition”
  
• “Gender Communication”
  
• “Identity Theft”
  
• “Managing Emotions: Anger”
  
• “Practical Relaxation Techniques for the Working Professional”
  
• “Wills 101: Everything You Need to Know Before Making a Will”

College of Extracurricular Activities

The goal of this college is to enhance social interaction within the Dickstein Shapiro community and to foster connections between attorneys and staff. This is one of the tools the firm has used to address retention and improve quality of life throughout the community. The College offers activities before and after work hours, including Spanish, yoga classes, a wine lovers club, sports teams, Weight Watchers, book clubs, and anything else community members would like to organize. Some of these activities are provided entirely by the firm, some are subsidized and require some contribution by participants, and some are facilitated by the firm but are run entirely by the participants.