Best Leadership Books for Lawyers: Driving Your Law Firm Forward
In addition to speaking to clients, writing legal briefs, and arguing cases in front of a jury, lawyers must also lead their law firm and staff. In fact, attorneys are often asked to wear two types of leadership hats. They must lead clients and colleagues in their firm, and they are also often tapped for leadership positions in the community, within business, non-profit organizations, and on boards of directors.
Additionally, an article in the Tulane Law Review titled “Leadership Evolution: The Rise of Lawyers in the C-Suite” cites an empirical study of Fortune 50 companies, which shows that over the past 30 years the number of senior executives holding JD degrees increased by 89%. Lawyers and leadership are becoming intricately intertwined. Leadership is a skill – sometimes innate, but also something that can be learned and developed over time. Smart attorneys are increasing their leadership abilities with each passing year and using these skills to drive their law firms forward.
One of the best ways to learn new leadership techniques is to read leadership books for lawyers. Another is to have a senior-level mentor in the legal field who can teach you the important lessons they’ve learned along the way. Also, taking professional education courses and attending legal conferences can be a good way to hone your law firm leadership abilities. Most management experts agree that the ability to teach is an attribute of leadership. A Harvard Business Review article written by Sydney Finkelstein says it all: “The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers.” Whatever you learn, you can pass on to younger attorneys in your firm and to law school interns. Even though most attorneys have very busy schedules, make sure you take time to become a great leader as well as a great lawyer.
Law Firm Leadership Books
Whether you’re a newly minted lawyer straight out of law school or a seasoned partner at a law firm, following are some books that you might find useful as you strengthen your leadership abilities.
Leaders Eat Last
This book is about great leaders who inspire environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. If you’re interested in creating a law firm culture that generates outstanding results, this book is an ideal choice. The book explains how to inspire trust among work colleagues and avoid infighting, fragmentation, and failure. Based on a Marine Corps general’s explanation that “officers eat last,” the book articulates ways in which great leaders sacrifice their own comfort for the good of those in their care.
Good to Great
Using tough benchmarks and ample research, the author of this book identifies a set of elite companies that made the leap from mediocrity to great results and sustained these results for at least 15 years. This book would be especially effective for lawyers whose law firms are struggling or whose revenues have been flat for a significant period of time. The book identifies the type of leadership needed to achieve greatness.
She Thinks Like a Boss: Leadership
Written specifically for female leaders, this book offers tips on how to get chosen for the best assignments, secure pay raises, and stand out in a crowd of male colleagues. Even for women who are shy, avoid conflict, or lack confidence, this book compels female leaders to own their place at the boardroom table.
The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out
This book offers a step-by-step approach to transforming leaders both professionally and personally and includes revealing lessons from America’s top CEOs. It’s a journey that helps professionals hone their intellectual, emotional, psychological, and human attributes that result in success as a leader.
Begin With WE: 10 Principles for Building and Sustaining a Culture of Excellence
This book rejects the plague of “me-oriented” paradigms in business and, instead, provides a vision of a “WE-oriented” approach to success based on “The 10 WEs.” These guiding principles of leadership philosophy recognize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The New Lawyer’s Handbook: 101 Things They Don’t Teach You in Law School
This book is for young lawyers wanting to learn insider tips and tricks in the legal profession that can jump-start their careers. Based on real-world wisdom, this book offers practical insights from seasoned legal professionals, including ways to avoid common pitfalls and to take advantage of unexpected opportunities when building a legal career. It discusses powerful techniques for building effective communication, negotiation, and advocacy skills.
Leading in Law: Leadership Development for Law Students
This book is for law students and young lawyers who want to develop their leadership in law firms and legal organizations, as well as in other roles they will play within their communities. Offering a research-based approach, this book gives advice on how to develop leadership abilities at a behavioral, rather than conceptual, level. It focuses on team building, ethics, innovation, decision making, and emotional intelligence.
Personal Injury Lawyer Marketing: From Good to GOAT
While not precisely a leadership book, this quick read offers a master class on marketing for personal injury law firms and is worth the few hours it takes to read. It explains the main channels that drive legal marketing and can help lawyers create a strategy for effectively marketing their services.
Whether you’re wanting to inspire legal leadership development among junior lawyers in your firm or are simply seeking lawyer leadership advice, the books listed above can help any attorney strengthen their leadership skills and drive better results for their law firm.
