Name: Ellen Moran Dwyer

Category: Law Firm: Innovative Leadership

Firm/Company: Crowell & Moring

Title: Partner, Executive Committee Chair

Time in Position: Since 2017

What was your route to the top? 

I am a home-grown lawyer at Crowell & Moring. I was the 100th lawyer to join the firm, when I started as a first year associate in 1985. I became a partner in the firm's labor and employment group after seven years of practice. The firm's leadership asked me to serve in a number of leadership roles over the past three decades, including chair of the firm's associates committee, chair of the promotions committee, chair of the firm's diversity committee and general counsel. In 2008, the management board asked me to serve as managing partner of the firm, and the partners elected me to our management board in 2013. I now chair the board's executive committee. I also serve in leadership positions outside of the firm, including as a member of the board of directors of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and The Potomac School.

What keeps you up at night? 

We have the privilege of representing many of the most sophisticated global organizations in the world. They expect us to deliver not only excellent, efficient and timely legal service, but also that we invest in knowing their businesses, anticipate and help them to mitigate risk, and ultimately to have the empathy and emotional intelligence necessary to serve as their trusted advisers. Our ability to consistently meet those high expectations depends entirely on our ability to recruit, develop and retain the best possible talent in an extraordinarily competitive and mobile environment. Retention of top talent requires that we continue to enhance our profitability and invest in and deepen our team of regulatory, transactional and litigation practitioners—all the while maintaining and fostering a culture of collaboration and inclusion with a deep sense of belonging. That is our challenge and commitment, and one that we collectively work incredibly hard to deliver on every day.

What is the best leadership advice you've given or received, and why do you think it was effective?

Work very hard to understand how others experience you. It matters little what words we use to communicate or what our intentions are—what matters most is how others experience us. We can only lead effectively with that insight.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession?

I was a first-generation college student in my family. There is so much that I did not know when I went to college and later started out in the legal profession. I wish that I had understood earlier that it was important to feel comfortable to be your authentic self—whether with clients or within the firm. I realize now that I have moved into leadership in part because I now have the confidence to be authentic and vulnerable. Those are qualities that are essential for leaders, but perhaps we don't appreciate their significance until we learn from others that they are unique and valued. When younger lawyers see that you are showing them who you really are, it gives them the freedom to do the same. That is the place where we can build trust and create teams that are at their strongest.

What is the most valuable career advice anyone has ever given you?

The best career advice I have received is to not be reluctant to ask for what you think you have earned.