It makes perfect sense for business people to lead practice groups, law firms and even corporate legal departments. But lawyers are held back by hubris and an antiquated business structure. Kate Tompkins is the Practice Group Leader of Latrobe GPM’s Intellectual Property Group. And she is not a practicing lawyer; she doesn’t even have a JD. Marlene Gebauer and Greg Lambert recently interviewed Tompkins on their Geek In Review Podcast. If you don’t subscribe to this podcast, I strongly recommend it. It’s always interesting and enlightening. At the beginning of the podcast, Gebauer laid out the responsibilities of most practice group leaders in large law firms:
Develop a strategy for the practice group.
Advance the business development of the practice group.
Ensure equitable distribution of work among practice group attorneys.
Identify attorneys within the group who are struggling and find mentoring and coaching opportunities for them.
Practice law. I was a practice group leader in a large law firm and think Gebauer is spot on. I would only add that the leader is typically also responsible for monitoring financial performance of the groups and its lawyers. Practice groups leaders are typically required to prepare budgets for the future and ensure those budgets are met.
So which of these responsibilities