Elevating Law Firm Leadership: New Research from The Tilt Institute and SurePoint Technologies
Law firms have professionalized nearly every aspect of the business: Finance. Technology. Marketing. Talent. Operations. Pricing. Leadership remains the exception.
Elevating Law Firm Leadership, co-produced by The Tilt Institute and SurePoint Technologies, surveyed more than 150 leaders from Am Law 200 firms, international practices and boutiques. The data reveals a growing gap between what firms expect from leaders and what they invest in helping them succeed.
Leaders aren't selected for the role – they're pulled into it. Over 80% of lawyer leaders were pulled into leadership rather than actively pursuing it. Just over 1 in 3 felt prepared when they assumed the role.
Leadership has become a second job, with no formal accounting for the cost. 40% of lawyer leaders spend the equivalent of an extra full workweek every month on leadership responsibilities – on top of managing their own practice and client work. At standard equity partner billing rates, that's more than $2.1 million in redirected billing time annually for every 10 lawyer leaders.
Almost no one is measuring leadership or rewarding it. Roughly 1 in 2 lawyer leaders report having no formal measurement of their leadership performance at all. And 1 in 8 say leadership has no effect on their compensation whatsoever.
And yet, 86% say they'd choose leadership again.
The issue isn't commitment. It's infrastructure. Firms have built rigorous systems to select, support, compensate, measure and sustain talent in every other function. Leadership – the one responsible for aligning all the others – still runs without one.
Read the full report for the complete data and recommendations.