Session on 27th March 2025

We were joined this week by leadership experts Katie da Gama and Moray McLaren, who shared insights into how the concept of leadership and how it’s evolving in legal environments. As we introduce a Law Firm Management Forum, their conversation highlighted a significant shift from seeing leadership as solely the responsibility of those with formal titles to recognising that leadership behaviors at all levels are crucial for firm or legal department success.

From “Capital L” to “Small L” Leadership

Da Gama, a self-described “recovering lawyer” with 22 years of practice experience who now runs her own leadership development business, made a powerful distinction between traditional notions of leadership and what she calls “small L leadership.”

“Everyone in any sphere, whether that’s a small firm, a larger firm, an international firm, a local firm, an in-house practitioner – we can all, and in my view, we all need to be stepping up into what I would call small L leadership roles,” da Gama explained. “Maybe we don’t have the title, maybe it isn’t something that we’ve been granted as an authority or a power, but it’s how we show up, it’s how we interact every day that really counts.”

This concept of everyday leadership suggests that regardless of formal position, all lawyers cast what da Gama calls a “leadership shadow” – the influence they have on others through their behaviors, attitudes, and practices. As the profession faces significant transitions, being deliberate about this influence has become increasingly important.

The Evolution of Leadership in Law

McLaren, who has worked with law firms for 30 years, noted a significant shift in how firms approach leadership development: “Leadership used to be the board or the management committee. And then somehow when I started doing leadership training, the partners would roll in… and curiously law firms are now looking at the pre-partner group, the senior associate group.”

Da Gama pushed this evolution further, arguing that leadership development should begin “the day you walk into the profession.” She encourages partners to discuss leadership expectations with team members regardless of their career stage, recognising that everyone contributes to the firm’s culture, strategy, and success.

This distributive approach to leadership recognises that in today’s complex legal environment, traditional hierarchical models are insufficient. The challenges facing firms – from intergenerational workforces to changing client expectations – require leadership capabilities at all levels.

The Billable Hour Contradiction

Despite growing recognition of leadership’s importance, both experts highlighted a fundamental tension in how law firms operate. McLaren pointed out the contradictory messages often sent to young lawyers: “They get this leadership with a small L, but then when we ask what are you evaluated against, what targets are you given? They talk about something called a billable hour.”

Da Gama agreed this creates a significant disconnect: “If we are only measuring as lawyers and as law firms and organisations what is the output of the time we spend in work… then that is what we’re going to get. We’re going to get some really excellent technical lawyers.”

While technical excellence remains essential, da Gama argued that as lawyers progress in their careers, other skills become “as important as being an excellent technical lawyer, if not at some stages in your career, even more important” – particularly skills related to motivating teams, building client relationships, and fostering networks.

Finding Meaning and Energy

A critical aspect of enabling everyday leadership involves helping people connect with what gives them meaning and energy in their work. Da Gama suggested replacing the sometimes ambiguous concept of “purpose” with questions about energy: “If you think about your day or your week or your month, what are those things that really give you energy?”

This approach recognises that different people find meaning in different aspects of legal work. Some thrive on deep analytical tasks, while others derive energy from mentoring colleagues or developing teams. A successful firm creates space for this diversity of strengths rather than forcing everyone into the same mold.

McLaren described how he helps partner groups explore these questions: “I ask a group of partners, think of a piece of work or a time at the firm where you felt you were doing the right thing and where you felt that it was rewarding, worthwhile.” After initial hesitation, partners typically articulate clear moments of pride and value.

Finding the overlap between individual motivations and organisational direction creates the foundation for meaningful firm strategy – what McLaren calls finding the “North Star” that can align partners around shared goals.

Evolving the Partnership Model

Both experts acknowledged that implementing these ideas presents significant challenges to traditional partnership structures. “We are asking a lot from a partnership model,” McLaren noted, questioning whether financial rewards alone can drive the behaviors firms need.

Da Gama agreed but emphasised the necessity of evolution: “The world is different and we need to move with it. And recognising that law firm structures, law firm values perhaps in the past may need to be tweaked.”

Rather than attempting wholesale transformation, da Gama advocated for starting small: “Safe-to-fail experiments, those catalyst social proof… get a pilot going, get some coalition of people who recognise that there are other ways or different ways or diverse ways of doing things and see what happens.”

This approach makes change “part of the language rather than a project” and allows firms to iterate based on their unique circumstances.

Values-Based Everyday Leadership

When asked about specific values that define everyday leadership, da Gama emphasised that while each firm may articulate slightly different values, core principles like integrity, honesty, caring, understanding, and listening are essential leadership skills.

The key distinction she highlighted is between “espoused values” and “lived values” – the difference between what firms say they stand for and how people actually behave. Everyday leadership requires alignment between these, with everyone embodying the values the firm has defined for itself.

As da Gama concluded, “Everyday leadership is the values that work in order to create the environment in which everyone can flourish or thrive.”

Looking Forward

The discussion highlighted that as legal services continue to evolve, success will increasingly depend on firms’ ability to develop leadership capabilities throughout their organisations. This means rethinking evaluation metrics, creating space for diverse contributions, and building cultures where leadership behaviors are recognised and rewarded.

For individual lawyers, it means recognising that regardless of title or experience level, how they show up and interact with colleagues and clients matters – they all cast leadership shadows that collectively shape their firms’ futures.

As McLaren noted, “What got us here will not get us there.” The firms that thrive in the changing legal landscape will be those that effectively nurture everyday leadership at all levels.