Becoming a managing partner

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Apisith John Sutham
Apisith & Alliance, Bangkok
john@apisithalliance.com

Recently, I came across Becoming a Lawyer: Discovering and Defining Your Professional Persona, a new book by Toni Jaeger-Fine, an Assistant Dean at Fordham University School of Law (my alma mater). Even though I am yet to finish the book, in essence its central message is that success in legal practice and in building one’s legal career is not about your degrees or technical skills. In fact, this has nothing to do with law at all. Instead, a successful professional must create and project a ‘professional persona’, by mastering concepts and behaviours not taught in law school or even in practice. Even though the book is aimed more at young or aspiring lawyers, the author points out that the professional persona we embody at age 20 will not be the same at age 40, and certainly will be quite different at age 60. The interesting question, at least to me, is: what sort of professional persona should a 60-year-old managing partner of a mid-sized law firm have? What is idealistic and what is realistic? If one has to reduce this to a few, absolutely essential traits, what should form the critical core of that professional persona?

By the time many of us turn 60, we have gone through the four stages of competence which, according to the author, are:

• unconscious incompetence;
• conscious incompetence;
• conscious competence; and,
• finally, unconscious competence. 

By the age of 60, our hypothetical managing partner has become unconsciously competent: that is, she is able to perform complex mental and emotional tasks at such a high level of competence that she can do so almost unconsciously, without much focus or attention. What, then, are the remaining aspects of the professional persona that would keep our 60-year old managing partner on their toes, lest they draw on automatic pilot mode too often, to the discomfort of everyone in the firm? Over the years, I have often pondered this question and have made notes which I would like to share with IBA Members. I humbly submit that a mildly successful managing partner of a full-service, mid-sized law firm should possess the following essential core traits which define their professional persona.

Perspicacity (closely related to astuteness)

Merriam-Webster defines perspicacious as ‘implying unusual power to see through and understand what is puzzling or hidden.’ However, to me being perspicacious is neither unusual, nor a power. A perspicacious person is someone who has keen insight, with a broad and deep perspective on issues, based on years of professional and life experiences. Perspicacity is a very useful practical tool, given its broad range of applications. It can act as a screening device to eliminate nuclear thinking or an overly narrowed mental framework at the initial stage, thereby saving valuable time which might have been used on other, more sensible ideas or plans (instead of dwelling on ill-conceived ideas or plans). It can also act as a last line of defence, for example, to make sure that there are, in fact, no better alternatives (eg, alternatives which would be sounder, more practical and less time-consuming) to the solution or advice, before it is delivered to the client.

Curiosity

More than any other traits outlined here, curiosity is character-driven: some are born with curiosity and some are not. Being naturally curious means, among other things, that you willingly expose yourself to different and/or unfamiliar ideas or approaches. As a result, you are open to diverse points of view and ideas, some of which you may reflexively reject, due to all sorts of bias. This makes you a better listener. In my opinion, ability and willingness to listen attentively is one of the most critical traits for a managing partner to possess. 

Sense of humour/levity

Well-timed and well-advised humour from the managing partner delivered at meetings, can have a huge psychological impact on teams of lawyers. Whether the jokes are genuinely funny or not, and as long as they are in good taste and not ill-advised, demonstrates that the leader is relaxed enough to inject some levity into their interactions. This also presents the managing partner or senior partner as someone who is calm and relaxed, even in tense or stressful moments. As any weekend hacker knows, a relaxed swing drives the ball a long way.

Resourcefulness

One of the most important jobs for a managing partner is knowing how to effectively utilise the resources available to them and to the firm at any given moment, in order to deliver responsive and high-quality services to clients. When we think of resources in the context of legal practice, this is invariably about humans, relationships and data, usually in that order. A leader must be able to marshal the right people to accomplish tasks. To do this, he must be well acquainted with his lawyers’ strengths and weaknesses, and areas of competency. Like an orchestra conductor, the managing partner needs to have pitch-perfect understanding of their clients’ demands and expectations, as well as of his lawyers’ expertise and experiences. In other words, he must be a match-maker of the highest order.

Range

This last attribute is the most difficult to grasp, as it does not involve inherent traits or soft skills, usually associated with leaders. To paraphrase the author David Epstein, from his new book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, to develop range is to sample widely, gain a breadth of experiences, take detours, experiment relentlessly and juggle many interests. There is no single path to excellence and no perfect method. In our line of work, we are often taught to start early, specialise as soon as is practicable, narrow one’s focus and aim for efficiency above all. Speaking from experience, it is very difficult for a specialist to lead and manage a full service law firm without morphing along the way (and as soon as possible) to a generalist with range. The greater your range, the greater your understanding and appreciation of (and empathy for) others and their work.

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