I genuinely believe most law firms are great at turning people into technical experts but terrible at developing real leaders. Just because someone can crush a deal or write a perfect motion doesn’t mean they know how to manage people or build a healthy culture. I’ve seen brilliant lawyers promoted who have zero interest n mentoring, delegating, or giving feedback. What do you think, should we stop pretending that being a good lawyer automatically makes you a good boss?

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Yes. Law firms are full of emotionally stunted geniuses who shouldn’t manage a lemonade stand, let alone a team. It’s embarrassing how little we value actual leadership skills.

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This. Spot on. There. are some senior associates and senior counsels at my BigLaw firm who will inevitably make partner and you’re just like… wow, really?

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It's not just law firms. I saw this in corporate America before becoming an attorney too.

I wonder if law schools could fix this by adding a capstone year where you learn the basics of running a business, leadership, office politics, etc.

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Don't add more years to law school! Just replace the last year which ends up being wishy washy electives anyways with that suggestion

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I don't know if some training in law school or on the job is going to cut it. Because being a good manager also requires emotional maturity, which so many senior attorneys seem to completely lack. You gotta make them do 5 years of therapy first, idk.

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💯, firms should hire professional staff to manage everyone.

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When you supervise someone, you're monitoring productivity and work quality. If an employee isn't doing their job, a manager has to step in and correct them. That's training. It also assigning work according to the employee's capacity and skillset while answering questions when weird situations pop up. That's mentorship.

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FWIW, PE is going to take over the legal industry soon enough and the ones who still have jobs will only manage AI and contract attorneys.

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Lawyers lacked leaders who listened and become leaders who don’t listen, a vicious cycle.

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You must be new here.

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This is sooo timely for me. Just raised an actually formal grievance in relation to poor management and terrible feedback culture. I was shocked to hear HR agreed on a without prejudice basis. I honestly don’t know what it would take for the culture to change.

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Unfortunately, being a good business producer will be more important than being a good leader for the foreseeable future.

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amen

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