Unprepared to Lead: Why legal expertise isn't the same as leadership

 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...

Read the entire article at Bloomberg Law.