Climbing the Ranks of Lawyer to Leader Takes More Than Expertise

Every law firm and corporate legal department has a version of this story. A high-performing, profitable lawyer moves up the ranks. They’re brilliant with clients, meticulous with work, and trusted to deliver. But once they’re managing people, teams disengage. Associates leave. The culture turns tense.

The problem isn’t talent. It’s training. In the practice of law, we’ve blurred the line between managing work and leading people.

Lawyers get promoted for being exceptional practitioners rather than for their ability to guide or support others. Building trust, offering effective feedback, delegating strategically, and creating psychological safety are learned competencies, not automatic side effects of excellent lawyering.

A Leadership Crisis

Lawyers who never learn to manage well are promoted to lead entire firms or departments. They set the tone for culture, mentorship, and inclusion, often without ever being taught how. And when those at the very top refuse to confront a leader’s toxic behavior because that person is profitable, the damage multiplies.

I’ve recently witnessed one such situation: A rainmaker drove profits but also generated fear and exhaustion within the department they led. The organization hadn’t intervened because the numbers looked good. But morale, collaboration, and trust eroded.

That’s a structural failure. When leadership behaviors and skills aren’t intentionally cultivated and measured, we shouldn’t be surprised when performance, and eventually the entire culture, suffers.

The Pipeline Problem

Attrition compounds the issue. According to the NALP Foundation for Law Career Research and Education, attrition among law firm associates has increased to 20% overall and 24% among associates of color, with associates continuing to depart their firms earlier than the historic norm of five years.

Each departure costs firms between $200,000 and $500,000, and high turnover erodes mentorship, team stability, and the development of future leaders. With fewer lawyers staying long enough to gain management experience, the leadership pipeline narrows to a trickle.

Other Sector Lessons

Studies on organizational transformation in the business sector find that the attributes that enable leaders to climb the corporate ladder differ from the skills required to lead their teams through complex situations. When business leaders receive training and practice new and sometimes challenging behaviors, such as fostering a growth mindset and psychological safety, companies see improvements in agility, innovation, and productivity.

Other sectors have confronted this gap between expertise and leadership. Studies in medicine show a direct link between leadership behavior, burnout, and performance. Tech reached the same conclusion through Google’s Project Oxygen and Project Aristotle: Teams excel when leaders value and empower their teams, communicate clearly, and possess the necessary technical skills.

Likewise, legal employers can evaluate leaders not only on the revenue they generate but also on how they develop people, support inclusion, and sustain healthy teams. Otherwise, we end up rewarding only what we can readily count, such as billable hours, rather than tracking other measurable metrics of leadership.

Embedding Leadership Development

Most legal leadership training occurs as crisis intervention after a bad survey, a complaint, or a performance issue. Organizations can embed leadership development throughout the lifecycle of a legal career as promotion criteria, rather than soft “extras.”

These are teachable skills, not personality traits. I see it regularly in my work with emerging leaders inside firms and legal departments. Once people understand the difference between directing work and developing people, the entire dynamic shifts.

Solutions for Employers

Good leaders don’t just happen. They are cultivated through intentional strategies, such as:

Training before titles. Strategic organizations identify emerging leaders, assess what skills they need, and provide opportunities to practice leadership before they are asked to lead.

Leadership criteria. Firms and legal departments should consider factors such as collaboration, team engagement, and mentorship alongside business development. These factors make leadership a measurable competency, not an assumption tied to seniority.

Diverse leadership. According to research from McKinsey & Company, stronger performance is linked to inclusive leadership teams. Yet, the legal profession continues to struggle with representation. Preparing a broader pool of emerging leaders is a cultural and strategic necessity.

Accountability. Toxic workers cost more than they contribute. Organizations that refuse to tolerate fear-based management see lower attrition, more resilient teams, healthier reputations, and ultimately a stronger bottom line.

A Simple Assessment

A brief needs assessment can help firms and departments identify gaps in leadership readiness:

People: Do lawyers receive appropriate skills training to lead people?
Pipeline: Can we identify our emerging leaders and what they need to develop?
Culture & Risk: Do we address toxic behavior, even from high performers?

Choosing Who Leads

There’s also an equity question: Who actually gets prepared to lead? NALP data consistently show that women and lawyers of color remain underrepresented in partnership and leadership roles.

We’re navigating a rare moment when Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z all work side by side. Research on multigenerational workforces shows that generational diversity can expand leadership capacity when supported, but can lead to gaps in expectations and work efficiencies when unsupported.

Younger lawyers expect mentorship and flexible workplaces, and they’re unwilling to endure toxic leadership to earn their place. This multigenerational dynamic makes intentional leadership development even more essential, not only for equity, but also for continuity across generations.

If leadership development depends on who gets tapped, mentored, or protected, it’s not surprising that leadership ranks remain homogeneous. Systematizing leadership preparation allows businesses to harness diversity and a multigenerational workforce to bolster their competitiveness while creating a healthier work environment.

Relearning Leadership

As long as we reward rainmaking and technical excellence at the expense of a healthy work culture, the profession will suffer. The sustainability of legal organizations relies on developing leadership with the same level of dedication and investment they give to profit.

The question isn’t who steps into leadership next. The question is whether that person has been equipped to lead.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Tax, and Bloomberg Government, or its owners.

Author Information

Janet Thompson Jackson is founder at Well-Law and works with law students, lawyers, and legal professionals to strengthen leadership, workplace culture, and well-being across the legal profession.

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