Lawyers spend years mastering black-letter law, drafting precision, negotiation strategy, and risk analysis.
When you transition into partnership you are not just a technical expert you are now responsible for:
- Leading teams
- Developing talent
- Managing performance
- Setting culture
- Influencing peers
- Growing revenue
Leadership is a skill and you can learn it. I have listed some practical tips to get you on the right path to becoming a great leader.
Shift from “Best Lawyer in the Room” to “Multiplier”
High-performing lawyers often default to fixing problems themselves. It feels efficient. It feels safe. High-performing leaders scale impact through others.
Instead of asking:
“How can I do this better?”
Ask:
“Who can I develop to do this well?”
Delegation is not about offloading work. It is about:
- Building capability;
- Creating stretch opportunities; and
- Investing in future leaders.
Developing your team is an investment but a strong team is a partner’s greatest commercial asset.
Prioritise Coaching Over Control
Micromanagement is often disguised as high standards. Young partners can fall into this trap as they seek to control everything as they grow into their role as a partner. Sometimes it is easier to re-do the work yourself, however, instead of silently redoing the work yourself start explaining your reasoning:
- Ask the lawyer how they approached the issue.
- Encourage alternative solutions.
Coaching creates independent thinkers. Control creates dependency.
Constructive Feedback & Difficult Conversations
Legal training emphasises critique — but not constructive feedback.
Poor feedback sounds like:
- “This isn’t quite right.”
- “You need to be more commercial.”
- “What the hell do you call this?”
Even worse you give no feedback, fix mistakes and errors silently and the unload at review time!
Strong leaders:
- Give feedback early. Difficult conversations are uncomfortable, but they always land better than you might expect and the more your practice the better you become and the more trust and ‘buy in’ you will get from the team. The key is to prepare for the meeting, be specific, set future expectations and provide an opportunity for feedback.
- Set clear expectations early. Many leadership problems are expectation problems. Be explicit about turnaround times, what is expected, communication requirements and what a good outcome looks like.
Clarity builds trust.
Invest in Emotional Intelligence & Coaching
Emotional intelligence (will determine how effective you are as a leader.
Key components:
- Self-awareness (How do I show up under pressure?)
- Self-regulation (Do I react or respond?)
- Empathy (What might this person be experiencing?)
- Social awareness (What’s happening beneath the surface in this team?)
Investing in a business coach or leadership training can be a game changer. Leadership is a skill and to master it you must be open to continuous learning and development.
Shadow of a leader
Culture is always top down.
If you send emails at 2am and expect immediate responses; undermine colleagues in meetings; or speak dismissively to junior staff, that becomes the standard.
Your team pay close attention to you and your energy, demeanour and attitude. Pay close attention to how you show up, breath before responding and treat people with respect.
All very simple ideas but in pressure situations they can go out the window very quickly. You may forget the words your said in the heat of the moment, but trust me your team will not!
Your title and position doesn’t command authority and loyalty. You will have greater success building relationships around trust, fairness, consistency, integrity and expertise. Trust is earned.
The future of legal leadership belongs to those who understand that technical brilliance is the foundation — but people leadership is the multiplier.
