Preparing the Next Generation of Lawyer Leaders

In firms around the world, a similar discussion is underway. A new crop of leaders is gearing up to take the helm. Like their brethren before them, they have little in the way of formal experience or training for the roles they are about to inherit. More pressing, the demands on today's lawyer leaders are more complex and nuanced than ever before. A 2018 Legal Executive Institute report, "The State of Law Firm Leadership," by Patrick McKenna and David Parnell reports a stark 80% of firms believe challenges are either "more complex" or "almost overwhelming at times" compared to five years prior. Initial feedback and findings from "The Survey of Law Firm Professional Development," co-produced by LawVision Group and The Tilt Institute, reveals few firms have formal, systematic programs in place to equip lawyers with the broad range of leadership and business skills required to manage and lead multi-hundred-million or multibillion-dollar organizations.

Taken in combination, the outcome of feeling overwhelmed is not surprising. How can an individual unprepared, untrained and poorly informed in sophisticated business operations be expected to feel mastery in a new, unfamiliar role — especially in the face of game-changing shifts such as the potential redefinition of ownership models by the California or Utah bar association (a move which would open up the market to a broader and, let's face it, more business-savvy competitor set)? What it will take to set these new leaders' minds at ease is twofold. First, law firms must arm themselves with sophisticated, well-trained business professionals to support and guide them through the evolution of the industry. Second, these same firms must create environments in which these professionals will succeed.