Financial Analysis and Valuation for Lawyers gives legal professionals the financial fluency that deals and disputes demand. Lawyers negotiate transactions and manage litigation worth billions each year, and that takes more than legal expertise — it takes the confidence to read financial statements, value a business, patent or estate, and discuss the numbers in the language of accounting rather than relying wholly on CFOs, accountants or outside experts.
This is an official Harvard Online course, featuring faculty from Harvard Law School and delivered on Harvard Online's learning platform. IPMC International handles your registration, payment and local support, then enrols you on the course. The format is self-guided within a scheduled cohort, and the Certificate of Course Completion is issued by Harvard Online.
The course develops three connected sets of skills:
The programme is taught through real business valuations, disputes and presentations from practitioners across six modules. There are no prerequisites, and a finance or accounting background is not required. To earn the Certificate of Course Completion from Harvard Online, participants complete all six modules and the associated quizzes by the stated deadlines.
Using the Flowers Foods case, see why accounting is not the same as economics, learn the standard structure and elements of financial statements, and understand how earnings and cash flows can diverge.
Calculate valuation and profitability ratios, and use ratio analysis to match company financials to their industries.
Study the Albertsons case to calculate enterprise value and the enterprise value to EBITDA ratio.
Practise simple discounting, use present value to analyse a legal doctrine, choose among settlement payment options, value a law degree, and build a DCF valuation of Flowers Foods including debt.
Calculate EBIT, find and calculate the inputs to a set of DCF forecasts, estimate growth, and complete a DCF forecast for Flowers Foods.
Work through the BP Oil Spill, Adams v. Adams, Matrix v. Rawlings, Disney v. Children's Television and Golden Telecom cases to estimate compensation, value a partnership interest in a divorce, calculate harm from a breach of contract and derive fair value using a DCF model.
Bala G. Dharan — The Robert B. and Candice J. Haas Visiting Professor and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Law School, and a Managing Director at Berkeley Research Group, with extensive consulting experience in financial accounting, valuation, corporate governance and forensic analysis. John Coates — The John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, where he also serves as Vice Dean for Finance and Strategic Initiatives, and a former Acting Director of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance.
Learners also hear from leading practitioners, including Ken Feinberg (attorney and one of the nation's leading experts in mediation, known for administering the BP Gulf oil spill and September 11th victim funds), Leo Strine (Of Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court) and Matt Schaefer (founder of SchaeferLaw, LLC). Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.
The course is particularly well suited to lawyers and other legal professionals, as well as anyone who works with legal and financial information and wants to read financial statements and valuations more deeply. No finance, accounting or legal training is required — some examples simply use legal settings to frame financial concepts. It suits professionals and organisations who want a globally recognised Harvard Online credential to advance their careers.
On successful completion you receive a digital Certificate of Course Completion from Harvard Online. No letter grades are assigned; participation is evaluated on a complete/incomplete basis. Once earned, you can add it to your CV and LinkedIn — for example, under LinkedIn "Licenses & Certifications" list Harvard Online as the issuing organisation and the certificate for Financial Analysis and Valuation for Lawyers as the credential.
The course fee is confirmed on enquiry and put in writing before payment.
Pay IPMC securely by debit/credit card in UAE Dirhams (UAE) or by UPI, card or net banking in Indian Rupees (India).
Yes. The course is delivered by Harvard Online and the Certificate of Course Completion is issued by Harvard Online.
No. There are no prerequisites, and most of the material does not require legal training. The course suits lawyers and non-lawyers alike who want to understand financial statements and valuation.
You complete all six modules and their quizzes thoughtfully by the stated deadlines and contribute to discussions on the platform. You can set your own daily or weekly pace within the cohort. No letter grades are given — your work is assessed on a complete or incomplete basis.
This course runs as a scheduled Harvard Online cohort. The next cohort starts 12 Aug 2026. Contact us to reserve your place.