Musings On Law Firm Leadership

“Being a law firm leader is an incredible honor. You lead wonderful people and together all of you will work toward the betterment of the firm.” In this episode, Jean Lawler–commercial + insurance mediator and arbitrator–draws from her past experience as a managing partner at her former law firm to share her words of wisdom on law firm leadership. From the importance of creating opportunities, to thinking big, to taking time for yourself, and more, Jean provides practical takeaways and helpful reminders for law firm leaders looking to make the most of that unique role. 

To connect with Jean Lawler, follow her on LinkedIn or find her at LawlerADR.com.

To read the full episode transcript please see the Podcast Website.

Transcript

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JEAN LAWLER:

Well, hello. It's so nice to be here with you today. I’m Jean Lawler. I’m the host of this podcast,  ROADS TO Resolution ~Closure and ~Certainty. As a mediator, I am honored to be invited into other people’s lives. Lives shaped by the many roads that have led them to their “todays”, roads that will lead to the promises of “tomorrow”, and to the unexpected. 

So, it's just wonderful to be here with you today. I thought today that I would talk about law firm leadership. Over the weekend I was cleaning out some filing cabinets, and I had articles that I had written over the years in the cabinet, and I stopped and re-read this one that I had written a number of years ago called “Musings on Law Firm Leadership”. And it still strikes me as I think about that topic. So let’s get into it.

Here were the summations, actually, that I made in that article: 

#1: Carpe diem. Seize every day, each and every day, and whatever it brings. Never tell yourself “no” to trying something merely because you think it might fail. Your idea might actually work. 

#2: Take action as appropriate. While we’re going to seize the day, you don’t want to let inaction or someone else control your decision-making, control your destiny, or that of the firm. So make conscious decisions, and even if that decision means taking no action because as long as it's a conscious decision to take no action, then great, that’s the decision.

As a law firm leader, I think it's your responsibility to create opportunities, don’t just seize them. It's easy to say carpe diem–and that’s wonderful–but create opportunities. You are in this position, at this point in time, because of your ability to make decisions, create opportunities, do things for the firm, and for the people in the firm. And this is whether you’re a practice group leader, a managing partner, in charge of a department, or a committee, that type of thing. 

Think for that, and think big is #4 here. Think big. Stretch yourself, don’t get comfortable. Mediocrity is not okay. When I was managing partner of my former law firm, I remember once at a senior partner meeting, quoting a Van Morrison song about mediocrity, and one of the other partners of mine started laughing and was like, “Well, where’s that one from?” Well, it's from a Van Morrison song. So I’ll leave it to you to find the Van Morrison song where he talks about mediocrity, but you can’t have mediocrity. 

#5: Be Humble. Think of yourself as a servant of the firm, because that’s exactly what you are. Serving the firm not just for today, but for generations to come. And know that while you’re not indispensable–nobody is–you are where you are at this place in time, this point in your life, this point in the firm’s history, for a reason. And embrace that. 

#6 is: Respect Others. And somebody commented, “This sounds like a kindergarten list in some ways.” Well you know, ultimately respecting others takes many forms. It can respect others for their thoughts, their comments, the things they do. We’re all different, but we all bring something of value to the table for the benefit of the firm, or we wouldn’t be there, and that’s true for everyone from the cleaning crew to the older retired senior partner who comes in once a week to collect his or her mail and check on how things are going. Respect others.

#7 is: Have Faith. Believe in yourself, and your ability to carry through. And that is true even in the darkest of times, or in the dark night, the days that are tough, or when you wake up in the middle of the night and you just think, “Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?” about this, that, or the other thing. Whatever it might be that’s going on, look for positive support in others and assistance from those around you. And understand that–and this one took me a while to really accept–but understand that some people are just negative people by their nature. It is what it is, so to speak. Don’t get bogged down by their negativity, but yet listen to them and see what it is because maybe their negativity is like a warning sign or something. But ultimately, be positive.

Trust yourself, and if you are a spiritual or religious person, then pray for strength and wisdom in your daily interactions, for help to recognize and do the right thing no matter how hard it might be.

#8: Remember that it's not all about you. And that might be a little hard to remember sometimes, but that your success is because of those who came before you, in addition to what you did to get there and what you do do to stay there, whatever your role is. It's never just because of your efforts. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “We stand on the shoulders of others.” Well, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and it is our responsibility as law firm leaders in whatever capacity we might be leading, to be the shoulders then for others to stand on as they move forward into leadership in the future. But the people whose shoulders we stand on are not just our business associates, but they are our families and all people that have been in our lives. So remember where you came from ultimately.

Take time for yourself is the next one. You need to take care of yourself because as you probably know–and if not, I can certainly tell you–no one else will. Manage the stress and keep yourself happy. Keep yourself healthy. Remember what is important in your life, and don’t let time with those you love get lost in the shuffle. You know this is the most important thing: Why are you working? You have people who love you. They’re generally not going to be the people at the office. They will be the people at home. Let those who love you and those you love help keep you focused on what's important in life, which in turn helps keep things in perspective at your office as a law firm leader.

And ultimately, whatever your role, enjoy the role. Whether you're the managing partner, whether you're the practice group leader like I’ve talked about before. Your impact–especially as the managing partner, but in any role–your impact can be much greater than that of actions taken in any other role. And if you are the managing partner, at some point you will be the former managing partner, the past managing partner, and at that point, you may be the sage or the senior person that somebody goes to to ask for advice. But ultimately, you're not the ultimate decision maker and it is your time now, as the leader, to make an impact, to make whatever progress, whatever changes it is, that you might want to make. 

Being a law firm leader is an incredible honor. You lead wonderful people and together all of you will work toward the betterment of the firm, certainly, and at the end of the day, if you do take on that responsibility, know that you’re not alone. Embrace that unique opportunity that you have to make a difference for the future of the firm, its partners, and employees, and all of those who come long after you. 

Thank you so much for being here with me today. Carpe diem, as we say. Please do follow me on LinkedIn. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. Listen to my podcast. It's a pleasure. See you next time. Thanks. Bye.

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