What Does It Take to Be a Partner? (Part 2)

By Lori Berman, Heather Bock, and Juliet Aiken –

Today, we’re going to finish answering a question we raised in our first blog post: what does it take to be partner? The partners in our study were masters of their fate and calibrators. That is, they felt in control, strategically invested in their career, and recognized the importance of planning. Partners who got that brass ring faster than their peers also sought out feedback. One last characteristic that distinguished partners (lawyers who made partner in nine year or less) from non-partners (lawyers who after 11 years in practice had not made partner) in our research study was being highly networked. And, being highly networked isn’t just related to making partner – it is also related to flourishing in your firm. In other words, lawyers who are highly networked actually feel more personally fulfilled, are satisfied with their job and career progression, and are getting opportunities to develop their skills.

Being highly networked involves, in part, forging and maintaining informal mentoring relationships. Fifty-seven percent of the partners in our study had three or more informal mentors, compared to only 26% of the non-partners. On the other side of the equation, 15% of the non-partners in our study had no mentors, compared to only 1% of the partners. We see a similar pattern with flourishing lawyers. Flourishing lawyers often have a number of informal mentors, with 50% of flourishing lawyers having three or more mentors and only 25% of lawyers who are not flourishing having three or more mentors. While flourishing lawyers have many mentors, lawyers who are not flourishing lack mentors: only 6% of flourishing lawyers had no informal mentors while about 50% of lawyers who said they were not flourishing had no informal mentors.. In short, making mentors (yes, more than one!) is essential for growth, success, and even promotion.

Second, partners in our study used others’ expertise more than non-partners. When partners are faced with challenging tasks they don’t have the skills or knowledge to complete, they know who does. Likewise, flourishing lawyers were more likely to use others’ expertise than non-flourishing lawyers. It’s not only what you know, it’s also who you know—and what they know—that matters most for success. Promotion to partnership and flourishing both hinge on building a network not just for the joy of other peoples’ company, but also to expand the resources every lawyer has at her fingertips.

Networking doesn’t have to be a bad word. You can start by . . .

1. Getting in the know
   1. Know what you need. Having a rich network of people with a dazzling variety of knowledge and skills means nothing if you don’t know what assistance you might need. First, shine that bright light inward. What don’t you know, or what skill don’t you have, that you might need an assist on?
   2. Map out your network. This doesn’t have to be comprehensive – just map out on paper or on a computer who you know, who they know, and who knows what. Visualizing your network is your first step to knowing who to go to, and when. Linkedin and other professional networks might help you get an idea of your reach.
2. Making mentors work
   1. Mentors are people too. Mentoring relationships are just that: relationships. Care for and invest in these relationships, just as you would with friends and family, and they – and you! – will flourish. That means figuring out how to make sure your mentor is also getting something out of the relationship!
   2. Think broadly. While we often think of supervisors as natural candidates for mentors, the best help can often come from unexpected places. Think about mentoring relationships you can cultivate, both at work (Subordinates? Colleagues? More senior people outside of your reporting line?) and outside of work (Family? Friends? Other professionals?).

We’ve reached the end of our story on who attained partnership in our research. The partners we studied were masters of their fate, calibrators, and highly networked. Of course, we’ve all met some miserable partners, so we won’t be stopping here. In our next post, we’ll start to dive into some of the characteristics that predict flourishing and health in law firms. We can tell you now that being master of their fate predicted both flourishing and health, and being highly network predicted flourishing. But the story is so much more complicated that that!

Blog Authors

Lori Berman is the Director of Professional Development at Hogan Lovells US LLP and an Adjunct Professor and Research Affiliate at the Georgetown Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession.

Heather Bock is the Chief Professional Development Officer at Hogan Lovells US LLP and the Executive Director and a Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession.

Juliet Aiken is the Deputy Director and Research Director at the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law and the founder of Statistics in Practice LLC.