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Today's Law Firm Leadership Crisis: Where Is Your Next Generation of Leaders?

By Kristin Stark and John Childers

Do you know who your firm's next leader will be? Do you have a short list of viable partner candidates? If your answer to these questions is no, you are not alone.

In the course of our recent work at Hildebrandt International with law firms across geographic markets, we have observed a disturbing trend: A growing number of law firms today face an alarming void in their next generation of leaders. In management meetings across the country, partners in law firms are looking around at one another and frighteningly acknowledging that no one person is prepared to step forward and take up the leadership helm. Despite the fact that a number of these firms have provided the right opportunities for young practitioners to transform into respected and admired mid-level partners, they are now confronting the reality that these individuals are either unprepared or unwilling to lead the firm. The reasons for the void in firm leadership are numerous and varied, and most are tied to the large number of disincentives to partners considering the leadership path. And unfortunately for firms, the consequences of a leadership vacuum are severe: With no clear successor in sight, firms experience increased instability and often enter into a state of strategic drift, putting the firm's clients and its practice at risk.

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