Originally published in The Legal Intelligencer/law.com
On January 1, 2026, thousands of BigLaw partners added a new role to their resume: law firm leader. This year, perhaps more than ever, the stakes feel especially daunting and the outcome less certain. With a confluence of factors converging to reshape the industry, from artificial intelligence to private equity to a shifting talent model, today’s leaders have an opportunity to leave lasting imprint. Yet most are largely unprepared for what lies ahead.
According to forthcoming research from The Tilt Institute and Surepoint Legal Insights (formerly Leopard Solutions), just 37% of law firm leaders felt well prepared when they stepped into their roles. Despite this sentiment, just over half received any kind of leadership training. This disconnect speaks to a population entering significant strategic positions with little roadmap for how to be most effective – at a time when top-level decisions are becoming increasingly critical to ensuring the future of the firm.
What new leaders do in this decisive moment to get up to speed, build credibility and steer their firms through unprecedented change has the potential to make – or break – the law firm of tomorrow. And, for those who now find the title intimidating (if it didn’t already), an uplifting finding from the same study offers reassurance: fully 86% of law firm leaders would take on a leadership role again.
“Frankly, being asked to lead…the trust that your colleagues
show in you when they ask you to take on a significant leadership position
… that in and of itself is an accomplishment.”
- Managing Partner, AmLaw 200 firm
Getting Started in the Best Way Possible
Resist the Urge to Change Everything
The temptation for many taking on a new leadership role is to act – quickly and, often, in a way that eschews the status quo. While the desire to put a personal stamp on the role is understandable, introducing too much change too quickly can backfire. More importantly, it is often not the right move.
Slowing down and methodically approaching the first two to three months as a period for listening, learning and incremental change can fundamentally shift receptivity to eventual wholesale changes. This learning period is not passive. It is deliberate and disciplined.Listen Before You Lead
Listening tours remain one of the most effective on-ramping tools available to new leaders, but only when approached thoughtfully. Law firm partnerships are full of opinions, and some voices are simply more practiced at being heard. The goal of listening is not consensus-building. It is pattern recognition.
In many firms, the most consequential insights come from a small number of individuals attuned to emerging risks or opportunities. Innovation rarely begins with the majority. By the time consensus forms, competitive advantage is often already shifting elsewhere. Listening also serves another purpose: it resets the relationship between leadership and the partnership. Particularly in firms that have experienced imposed change, early listening signals curiosity rather than certainty – and that posture matters.
One especially powerful example comes from a recently merged global firm. Prior to integration, leadership intentionally gathered input from the partnership not only on the prospect of the merger, but also on key relationships, clients, and opportunities. The result was not just enthusiasm for the merger, but early cross-selling, trust-building, and engagement before the combination was even official. A strong start toward the elusive one-plus-one-equals-three ideal.Define Metrics That Matter
As new leaders begin to assess firm performance, data inevitably takes center stage. Here, many firms struggle. While many recognize too little transparency can lead to poor decisions, fewer realize too much can do the same. The early months of leadership provide an opportunity to clarify which metrics truly matter – and which are there to create an illusion of openness.
Financial indicators such as revenue, utilization, realization, and profitability remain essential, but which are most critical to propel firm strategy – and how are those using the metrics empowered to act on them? In theory, only those with direct control over the metric truly need access to it.
Relatedly, numbers alone rarely explain why performance looks the way it does. Qualitative signals often provide earlier insight: where client relationships are deepening quietly, which teams collaborate effectively across practices, where AI is being used to change workflows rather than simply accelerate them, and who consistently shows up when work needs to get done.
One particularly effective prompt, popularized by Simon Sinek, is deceptively simple: Who helped you?The answers often reveal informal networks of leadership and trust that shape outcomes far more than organizational charts.Distill Priorities with Discipline
Once leaders begin to see the firm clearly, attention naturally turns to goals. Discipline becomes critical. The most effective leaders resist the urge to pursue too much at once. Limiting firm-wide priorities to two or three core objectives is not a lack of ambition; it is a recognition of organizational capacity.
For firms juggling multiple initiatives – technology adoption, talent development, pricing strategy, client experience – a phased approach often proves more effective. Time-bound efforts with clear endpoints allow momentum to build sequentially rather than competing for attention all at once.
Perhaps most importantly, effective leaders weave seemingly disparate changes under a clear “change umbrella” – an overarching vision that speaks to personal motivators and shifts perception. Change fatigue is real. The more each shift can be tied to a singular goal, the more willing people will be to allow for greater disruption.Communication Is Not Secondary
A firm leader recently expressed disbelief when a member of the strategic planning committee announced, during a team call, that she did not understand the strategy. “How could someone who participated in every meeting for the past six months not have clarity about the direction?” she questioned. Unfortunately, this situation is not uncommon.
Despite best efforts, many firms struggle to craft messages that resonate and deliver them in ways that break through the daily grind. Effective leaders thoughtfully structure internal communications plans, ideally with the help of professionals in the area, to evoke emotional responses, build in repetition across multiple channels and ensure the most respected and influential voices across the firm are aligned, clear and consistent.Leadership Starts With the Leader
The best leaders are the most curious ones. Many successful leaders point to personal growth as their greatest strength. A growth mindset, openness to feedback, and intellectual humility are hallmarks supported by research from Gallup, Harvard Business Review, and others.
In law firms, however, a common reflex among new leaders is the assumption that leadership will improve on its own through exposure and experience. Legal expertise is honed deliberately and continuously; leadership, by contrast, is often treated as episodic or naturally evolving, something exercised when needed rather than practiced consistently.
The most effective leaders recognize this distinction early. They understand leadership is not an extension of practice excellence. It is a discipline in its own right, requiring the same intentionality, repetition, and reflection that lawyers apply to mastering their craft.
2026 Trends Cheat Sheet: The Environment New Leaders Are Inheriting
Stepping into leadership in 2026 means stepping into a legal market that looks stable on the surface, but is shifting in meaningful ways underneath. Revenue remains strong across much of the Am Law 200. Hiring has not collapsed. Clients continue to rely heavily on outside counsel.
At the same time, several structural forces are converging in ways that heighten complexity and demand greater leadership judgment.
Artificial Intelligence and the Changing Nature of Legal Work
AI is not reducing headcount, but it is accelerating expectations around human skills – judgment, responsiveness, and client service – and reshaping how lawyers must be trained, supervised and evaluated.Talent Models Under Pressure
The traditional equation between time and value is increasingly misaligned with efficiency, generational expectations, and AI-enabled delivery, forcing firms to rethink who to bring on board and what skills they need to flourish.Private Equity and Alternative Legal Platforms
Private equity is no longer a peripheral influence. As firms confront capital constraints and rising competitive pressure, restructuring and the adoption of management services organization (MSO) models are increasingly likely…potentially beginning as early as 2026.Data, Cybersecurity, and Client Expectations
Data governance has moved from an operational concern to a strategic leadership imperative, with direct implications for trust, risk, and differentiation.Consolidation and Strategic Combination
Scale and combination are increasingly strategic responses to constrained growth and lateral hiring failure, but integration remains the true test of leadership.Growth, Pricing, and the Illusion of Momentum
Strong pricing has sustained performance, but reliance on rates rather than demand narrows the margin for strategic missteps.
Bringing It Together
This is a unique and defining moment to be stepping into a new leadership role, or continuing a term at the helm. While none of these trends independently is destabilizing, holistically they enhance the complexity and breadth of expertise required to navigate a successful outcome.
In this environment, effective leadership is less about having the right answers at the outset and more about creating the conditions for sound judgment to emerge. This means learning not only how to advance strategic thinking and demonstrate foresight, but also how to encourage collaboration, invite engagement and lead change.
Reprinted with permission from the January 16th edition of the Legal Intelligencer © 2026 ALM Global Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-256-2472 or asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com.