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At the Carvalho Consultancy our mission is to support lawyers who want to enjoy and thrive in their careers and lives. In the last 12 months we have seen a high number of junior partners who are increasingly questioning how they can bring their own personality and values into their leadership role. Essentially how to bring partnership into the 2020s.

In today’s article I take a look at the issues here and then lead into some questions that junior partners in this situation can start to think about.

What are the issues we encounter?

1. Being a partner is in some ways a completely different job to being an associate. We have trained as academic lawyers and we have learned how to do fee earning work to a good standard. Then suddenly there are people management responsibilities, BD obligations, politics to navigate. All of which require different skills and mindsets.

    

   While it may previously have been assumed that lawyers could simply move from one job spec to another without much training or support, it is increasingly recognised that it’s a complicated transition that does require reflection and new behaviours. Many lawyers we speak to find elements of this challenging. If this is the case for you, you’re not alone.
   

2. The current generation of junior partners are often interested inthe distinction between ‘management’ and ‘leadership’. Many would like to actively lead – to create teams which are cohesive and happy, adopting certain values and going in a definite direction – rather than simply managing daily administrative and personnel issues and reacting to events.

    

   We are working harder, and we want work to be more than simply earning a wage, and that is reflected in how we wish teams to function.
   

3. The pressure of chargeable work and additional responsibilities – together with, often, a young family or ageing parents and all of the other joys of ‘adulting’ – mean that junior partners often lack the time and space to clarify issues and think about what, really, they are trying to achieve in their new leadership role.

    

   Without the space and support to reflect and make realistic decisions, the tendency will be to tread the well-worn tracks of previous generations of partners.
   

4. The additional elements of the partnership role can be less clear cut than fee earning work which means it’s sometimes easier to stick to what we already know. Professor Laura Empson, a senior researcher at Harvard Law School, has highlighted the phenomenon of ‘reluctant leaders’ in professional service firms. Her argument is that if partners do not have the wherewithal to make their own models of leadership then many would rather do client work than dealing with the management and people-related aspects of partnership.

    

5. Finally, partnership can be a time when once useful attributes start to feel harmful. Another academic, Sara Louise Muhr, has coined the term ‘cyborg leaders’ – partners who increasingly put aside their needs, work in a ‘mechanistic’ way and become ‘work warriors’. They earn kudos internally, but at a cost to their lives and health. Does this ring a bell?

So, what are some of the potential solutions?

There is a recognition in the profession that more needs to be done to help new partners make the transition to their new role. The recent LawCare report on mental health in law, for example, highlighted the need for more training and support for junior partners.

If you are a junior partner dealing with these issues, here are some initial questions that have been helpful for some on this path – and which might provide food for thought for you:

1. The path from being made up onwards is your own path – previous generations made the journey, but how you proceed is up to you. Most of us have seen things we appreciate from the senior partners. However, we also know that the old models need to be updated to meet current expectations and to suit the new normal where we can potentially be plugged in 24/7, we work flexibly and we’re often juggling family and/or caring responsibilities too.

    

2. What do you believe are the elements of partnership? It’s interesting to explore this question with people; the results can sometimes be surprising. You might start with the initial elements of generating work, supervising advice, dealing with clients, but other aspects then emerge.

    

   Junior partners do often have the ability to have an impact on, for example, the cohesion of the team, the way that it operates, the direction in which it’s heading and the way juniors, support staff and other partners are included and supported (to name just a few aspects). These are often important areas of development for junior partners, and aspects which people can really start to enjoy as they work out what partnership means for them.
   

3. Values. How would you answer the big questions: what is most important to you, in life and in work? Ultimately, who do you want to be? This plays out in the way you manage your time and your team, and how you conduct your case work and train associates.

    

   Junior partners in family and litigation teams often say, for example, that they want to bring a more human approach to their cases – to encourage clients to be reasonable and to be seen as tough but fair – and to bring juniors up in this way.

4. Gaps. In what respects does your life as junior partner currently reflect these values and this vision. Where are the gaps? Which areas do you need to evolve as junior partner, and how could you start the process of moving in the right direction?

    

5. How we change. Herminia Ibarra, a professor of organisational behaviour at INSEAD, has produced a fascinating study of the process of career change. She talks about the way that change rarely happens in a blinding flash; we need to find ways incrementally to move in the right direction by experimenting, shifting connections and evolving our sense of identity.

    

   How can you experiment with new thoughts, feelings and behaviours to build momentum and start making incremental change in the right direction?

6. Structural. Having established a direction of travel and incremental steps to take, it is important to look at the wider structure, and the realities and expectations in play.

    

   You might decide, for example, that you are consciously going to spend some time that you previously would have spent on client work instead developing juniors and getting involved in wider strategic thinking. Ideally, this would enable you to embrace the opportunities of partnership while also having quality time with family and friends and maintaining your health.
   

   If you focus on other aspects, there will be a cost – lower hours – but if you have a clear plan of attack, it’s much easier to be at peace with that cost and to be clear with everyone about what you are doing at this stage of your career and why.
   

7. Support. We all need support from people who will listen to our concerns and anxieties, help us think over issues, and potentially to hold us accountable for meeting objectives. Ultimately, we are not cyborgs – and the overwhelming feeling out there is that we want more connection and more human values, not more mechanistic work.
   

          What are your options for finding support and human connection?

Further reading

Working Identity by Herminia Ibarra

Leading Professionals by Professor Laura Empson

Lexis Webinars are also partnering with The Carvalho Consultancy to provide webinars on therapy, coaching and training, click for the webinars.

About us

The Carvalho Consultancy is an award-winning therapy, coaching and training agency. We support lawyers with the ups and downs of life and the job, providing practical, insightful support. And we should know – we’re lawyers ourselves!  Website:

Connect with us on LinkedIn: search for Adam Carvalho / Annmarie Carvalho