Law Firm Leaders May Be Tiring of the Job, But That's Not Why They've Been Leaving
An analysis by former Big Law partner Paul Denis of leadership departures over the past few decades shows recent changes may be based less on satisfaction and more on growing tenure length.
November 10, 2023 at 09:10 AM
5 minute read
Recent American Lawyer coverage offers a bleak assessment of the state of law firm leadership (here) (here) and (here). The job is a lot harder. Turnover among law firm leaders is up. More firms are moving to dual-leader structures. Decreased job satisfaction and burnout are to blame.
While this assessment may prove to be predictive, it is not yet descriptive of what is currently happening. Data on Am Law 100 top leader turnover, including recent news of a changing of the guard at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, suggest that turnover, in fact, is up, but job dissatisfaction/burnout does not appear to be the cause. If anything, recent top leader departures may have been overdue as market factors caused top leaders to defer their departures.
To be certain, the job of law firm leaders has gotten harder as the legal profession continues to transform. But the same could have been said at any point since the turn of the 21st century. Have things gotten worse at a faster rate than before? Is change driving law firm leaders out of the business? Leadership turnover is a useful proxy in exploring these questions.
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