The use of coaching by law firms is undoubtedly increasing. Specifically, the use of executive (and performance-focused) coaching by law firms continues to grow, having significantly lagged behind the uptake of such coaching in the corporate sector.

While people may be confident that they can tell you who has or doesn’t have executive presence, many struggle to define it clearly.

It is a universal truth that by listening to those leaving your firm, you can more actively focus your retention initiatives to hold on to people you want to keep.

Lateral hiring is a peculiarly difficult business. And there’s no shortage of legal industry commentary to make you think twice about its efficacy as a growth strategy.

Although a number of law firms have been proactive in efforts to address transition or succession issues, surprisingly, those firms represent a distinct minority.

Imagine that you are responsible for training the attorneys in your law firm. The lawyers in your firm have told you that they want training on critical management skills such as delegation and team management. You've heard them.

The Business Development team has a vital role to play in the recruitment, onboarding and integration phases of a healthy and effective lateral partner hiring model.

In practice, if you want to be better at your job, you owe it to yourself to be accountable to yourself for the skills and experience you develop. And to get better, you need feedback. Everyone does.

For years now, the legal sector has been focused on the perceived flaws in lateral partner hiring as a growth strategy. Anecdotally at least, it seems that as many of the problems result from poor integration.

Groysberg questions what actually makes stars “stars” and whether, if they move jobs, they can simply provide a plug-and-play solution for their new firms.

Now that associate retention has firmly established itself again as a management issue at many law firms, upward review programs are not surprisingly back on the agenda.

Despite recent headlines suggesting that the days of conventional performance evaluations are numbered, it seems that performance reviews are alive and well, at least in the legal industry. And, it’s that time of year.

Succession planning is a term we hear regularly in law firms. And yet, when I speak to partners, it seems to be an area that is often ignored in practice. But it is crucial. It goes to the root of client service and client retention.

If you want to manage time, start by taking responsibility for your communications and being clear whenever you assign or take on a new task or project.