Running a law firm is no easy task. Law firm leaders must stay on top of cases while juggling the challenges of operating a business. Strong leadership is essential to managing your law firm successfully.
A successful firm goes hand-in-hand with effective leadership. After evaluating all of the best management resources, CASEpeer has identified the top ten leadership skills for leading your law firm with excellence. Whether your team is 5 people or 500, adopting these leadership tips for lawyers will serve you well.
Tip #10: Self Awareness
No one is perfect, and acknowledging this opens you up to continuous growth. A strong sense of self-awareness correlates with being an effective leader. Assess your strengths and weaknesses regularly. Take time to learn from them, and challenge yourself to overcome them.
Tip #9: Communication
Effective leaders excel at open communication. They know when they need to talk and when they need to listen. Open communication builds trust on a team and empowers employees to share ideas and collaborate. Transparency is key when it comes to making connections with your attorneys and staff. Let your team know they can come to you with any questions or concerns and face no scrutiny.
Make communication easier with a cloud legal software like CASEpeer.
Tip #8: Coaching
Be directly involved with the development of your team. Look for new ways to advance their personal and professional growth. Invest in your employees so they will be able to properly take care of your clients.
Through coaching, you can help your employees build strengths, recognize weaknesses, and cultivate new skills. Leading through effective coaching will help your employees better understand the overall vision and strategy of your firm.
Tip #7: Set Goals
Goal setting encourages teamwork and innovation. Outlining clear expectations and goals for your employees empowers them to work towards something. From managing attorneys to receptionists, everyone at your law firm needs to see their roles clearly defined to understand what contributions are expected of them.
Ask them to write down concrete steps for achieving these goals and decide on a deadline. Establish expectations, create a plan of action, and track progress.
“If you’re not giving feedback, your team – and your law firm – is not growing.”
Tip #6: Give Feedback
Give your employees feedback relevant to their goals, their current position, and their future growth. Does your employee want more independence and responsibility in their role? Or are they looking to learn a new skill set? Make sure the feedback is in line with their objectives – and yours.
Remember, feedback must be direct. It’s also going to be most effective when delivered by itself, without any fluff. Your attorneys and staff will benefit from honest feedback regarding their performance on client calls, task management, settlement negotiations, and more. If you’re not giving feedback, your team – and your law firm – is not growing.
Tip #5: Stay Open to Change
The ability to evolve is a crucial leadership skill. Pivot for the benefit of your business and be open to new ideas. Embrace innovative thought processes directed toward improving practices, rather than sticking to the status quo.
Fostering innovation makes change easier. For many personal injury law firms in specific, client care is a must. Is your law firm challenging itself to be more innovative with how it reaches out to new clients and cares for current clients? Always take time to evaluate your business from the outside. It will help you see the bigger picture, and identify areas for growth.
Tip #4: Share Knowledge
Create a culture of knowledge sharing that feels safe for employees. Employees should feel comfortable sharing their knowledge and ideas with each other. Let them know it’s okay to think outside of the box and take risks. Utilizing your team’s diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences is an effective leadership skill.
Make sure you are providing constant opportunities for knowledge sharing. Employees should have multiple channels to share what they know; weekly zoom meetings aren’t enough. Invest in real-time chat platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams to maintain connections with your team.
Tip #3: Ability to Delegate
Task delegation can be daunting and hard to keep track of. From due dates to priority levels, delegation can get tricky. Cloud based software like CASEpeer makes it easy to run a tight ship. CASEpeer’s task management tools are designed around accountability. They give firms the ability to assign and complete tasks, attach priorities and deadlines, and receive instant notifications.
Tip #2: Lead With Empathy
How well are you able to understand the needs and feelings of your employees? Leaders who support their employees give them the foundation to succeed.
Build trust and loyalty by taking time to get to know your attorneys and staff. Stronger relationships lead to better collaboration and greater productivity.
Tip #1: Know Your Client
Your clients are your number one priority. If you put them first, your law firm is on the path to success. Knowing your clients’ needs and being able to identify their expectations are essential to your personal injury practice.
Take your law firm to the next level by implementing CASEpeer’s top ten leadership tips for lawyers. CASEpeer works with thousands of attorneys nationwide to work effectively and efficiently. Our personal injury legal software is the blueprint for managing a successful law firm.