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The Management Wisdom of Midlevel Associates

By David Cruickshank
March 28, 2012

As midlevel associates make the transition to senior associate ranks, they gain wisdom in managing matters, both up to partners and down to juniors. Their wisdom reveals a key weakness in law firms ' the poor leadership and management skills of partners. But since no one talks openly about this, associates must constantly face crisis management and do-overs. The result is a hidden cost to the firm and its clients, not to mention crushing stress for associates.

The wisdom I refer to has been gathered in more than 20 years of training associates, counsel and partners on topics like matter management, team leadership, delegation and feedback. In many of those programs, I run a simple exercise that puts participants in pairs. I ask one person to brainstorm a list of the behaviors and traits of effective leaders. I ask the other to list the behaviors of ineffective leaders. We then discuss the two lists, and the habits that the associates should aspire to as future leaders and matter managers. I have collected many of these lists over the years, and they no longer surprise me. What does surprise me is the continuing tolerance that even top firms have for poor matter management and leadership.

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