Want to Make Partner? Start Acting Like One.

Elise R. Holtzman, JD, ACC, The Lawyer’s Success Coach,
www.lawyersuccesscoach.com

Most of you have heard the saying “If it looks like a duck, walks like a
duck, and quacks like a duck . . . it must be a duck!” Well, if you’re
looking for career advancement, say, to be elected partner at your law firm,
start quacking. If you don’t seem like partner material well before
election time, you’ll have a much harder time convincing the powers-that-be
to admit you to their ranks.

Are you deluding yourself into thinking that you’ll receive an offer of
partnership as a reward for a job well done? If so, it’s time to change
your thinking. Quickly. The days of becoming a partner simply because
you’ve survived longer than anyone else are over. It’s simply not enough
to be a great lawyer, a great thinker or a great technician. You’ve got to
have something else to offer.

I recently had lunch with an old law school friend who is a partner at a
mid-size law firm. He was understandably frustrated by a situation presented
by one of his associates: she’s smart, hard-working and a good person, he
told me. She wants to make partner, but she just hasn’t made the jump from
thinking and acting like an associate to thinking and acting like a partner.

What does that mean? How can you avoid falling into the trap of not getting
the job because you don’t “seem” like a partner? It’s not just a
matter of appearances, although that’s definitely part of it. The job
description you want is fundamentally different from the job you have now,
and you need to make it clear that you have evolved into the new position,
that you’re prepared to step into “partner shoes.”

Are You Partner Material? In addition to the obvious basics - being smart,
hardworking and an excellent attorney - there are 5 key competencies an
associate must exhibit to be considered partner material.

One. Be a Decision Maker. Start making decisions appropriate to your
position. If you’re too insecure to make choices and determinations
without constantly running to someone else for approval, you may not be ready
to be in charge. If you don’t have confidence in your abilities, no one
else will either. You might be a superstar junior or mid-level associate,
but if you want to move up the ranks, you need to demonstrate leadership
ability. It’s pretty simple. Would you give a seat at the owners’ table
to someone who appears nervous or equivocal about getting the job done right?
Neither will anyone else.

Two. Be a Delegator. If you’re lucky enough to have someone to whom you
can delegate work, by all means, do it. Partners and managers oversee
complex projects and delegate work to junior people. When you keep saying
“if I want it to be done right, I have to do it myself,” you are setting
yourself up for disappointment. Senior attorneys who are climbing the ladder

of success are not sitting up late at night proofreading, correcting typos,
or doing document production, basic research or simple drafting. If you are
a senior associate and you’re still doing that, you’re not making the
jump. Delegating doesn’t mean abdicating; you’ve got to delegate to the
right person, follow up, demand accountability, and make sure the job is done
right. That’s what the boss does.

Three. Think Like an Owner, Not an Employee. Although we’ve been trained
to think a law firm is more like an genteel country club than a bricks and
mortar business that needs clients and positive cash flow to survive, the
latter is the hard truth. Partners need to understand the business of the
law firm and do what it takes to ensure its financial success. Demonstrating
an understanding of the economics of each case and transaction and how it
impacts the firm’s finances is critical to being seen as a future member of
the firm.

Four. Be an Ambassador. The lawyers who sit at their desks churning out the
work, eating take-out and turning out the lights every night are not always
the ones who wind up owning the place. Hard work and dedication are a given,
but you’ve got to get out of the office too. Be visible in the community,
both in legal circles and the larger community in which you live. Give
lectures, attend fundraisers, do volunteer work, establish yourself as a
leading authority in your field, and let everyone know who you work for.
Good publicity for the firm is good publicity for you, and vice versa.

Five. Create a Network of Business Relationships. This is the tough one,
isn’t it? When we graduate from law school, no one reminds us to maintain
the network of friends and colleagues we’ve already developed, and they
certainly don’t encourage us to develop our own networks. Many attorneys
complain that they spend the early years putting those proverbial noses to
the grindstone, only to emerge from a fog several years later to discover
that they are expected to have magically developed a book of business. So,
let me be the one to say it: you need to develop your own network of friends
and colleagues. Any marketing professional will tell you that people do
business with those they know, like and trust. Those with whom you have
developed relationships will come to you, not a stranger, when they need
legal expertise.

The skills that are serving you so well now are different from those you will
require as you become more senior, whether you become a partner of your firm
or move into another leadership position. Corporate managers have often said
that ambitious employees are wise to dress for the job they want, not the job
they have. Similarly, you can prepare now for partnership by developing and
exhibiting the high-level skills required for that position. By the time
it’s your turn to be considered for partnership, all the ducks will be
quacking in your favor.