Is not having the title ‘partner’ holding you back?

It is an argument often made by aspiring partners: if only they had the title of partner, then they would be able to do the things partners do. Not having the title of partner is the thing that is really holding them back.

There is truth to this. Law firms are hierarchical no matter how flat structured they attempt to be; you tend to get influence, credibility, and status with the title. And there will always be clients that really want the safety and security of having a partner on their matter, regardless of how competent the senior lawyer is.

If you are heading towards partnership, the challenge with this argument is that every aspirant can make this claim, and every current partner can say you have to do it without the title to get the title. So, at the very least, as an argument, it doesn’t have much currency, and at best, it’s not exactly the most compelling argument as to why you should be made a partner.

How do you be a partner without the title? Here are a few things to consider:

Act like a partner

It is often said about leadership, particularly in pithy LinkedIn posts, that you don’t need a title to be a leader. And this is true to an extent — try making CEO-like decisions as an intern. Quibbles aside, the point here is that leadership is largely about leading yourself and the influence you have on others, and that is irrespective of what your title might be or how much authority you have.

Similar sentiments can be applied to the title of partner. If you look past the title of partner and look at the key things expected of a partner, there is no doubt you can have these in place without the title.

You could ask yourself: when is it, exactly, that you feel not having the title is holding you back?

Is it with clients? Is it getting buy-in from partners for a BD activity? Getting prospective clients to engage with you? Is it simply not being listened to in meetings, or having trouble getting juniors to delegate to?

Once you have identified this, then put in a strategy to overcome the hurdle. Take one aspect, identify a key action item that you could do, and start working on it.

It can be useful to go back to basics, back to the fundamentals. To act like a partner without the title is to act on the fundamentals of a good practice. And, arguably, you also need to look and sound like a partner.

No, that does not mean throwing diversity out the window; it’s just recognition that being a business owner means you need to concern yourself with the issues of a business owner and be able to talk about this in what is considered a credible manner.

Make other partners’ lives easier

In his book 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene argues that rule number one is: Never outshine the master.

You can use this rule to gain influence without the title. Rather than thinking you need to outshine the existing partners, you could work to make their lives easier.

So where not having the title is inhibitive, look for ways to engage not only your supervising partner but also other partners. Business development is a good opportunity for this. Where you need “partner-pull” to get the engagement of a prospective client, do the groundwork and make it easy for other partners. Take responsibility.

This is particularly the case with new client work, or with clients who are happy to work with you but really want a partner in the room, or at least partner oversight. See this as a challenge or a problem to solve.

Show the client you have the competency and commerciality to make the big decisions but that you involve a partner for reassurance. How you do this is important. This is about your language and approach. You are being collaborative, not hiding behind the decisions of a partner.

One of the concerns I’ve heard expressed by partner aspirants is that if they engage and involve other partners in BD etc., be collaborative, the partners will take the clients for themselves, and they’ll never get the credit.

This is always the risk with collaboration, and your approach will depend on the culture in your firm and the policy around client relationships. To a large extent, this is about being wise and adopting the right mindset.

Obviously, if a partner is just using you with no level of appreciation or reciprocity, then you need to focus your attention elsewhere. But equally, what mindset do you want to adopt? One of fear and insecurity around people taking your clients, or an abundance mindset, having the confidence that even if a few clients don’t become yours in the short term, when you are a partner, you will be able to build and maintain strong long-term client relationships?

Cutting to the chase of partnership

It is easy to get caught up in the machinations of trying to become a partner and the challenges that this presents. And it can be a sort of purgatory when you are doing many of the things a partner would do but do not have the title, or the remuneration.

The general sentiment I hear, however, from newly appointed partners is, not that it is more of the same, but rather it’s like starting all over again.

The key, then, is to go back to basics, build a practice that is profitable, and do this in a way that is sustainable. Nothing is more compelling than a strong business case that has all the key elements that would make partnership successful.

Not sure about becoming a partner? Test your assumptions

When it comes to partnership, and indeed life, it all seems so much simpler if you know what you want. With a clear sense that partnership is for you, you can go about taking the necessary steps towards achieving it.

Of course, it’s rarely that simple, but it’s probably simpler than not knowing if you want partnership. Because then you find yourself in a sort of law firm purgatory and, while you might be ticking off some of the things you need to do to get to partner, your career can become a bit directionless.

Not only can you find yourself drifting, but the message you are sending your firm and its decision-makers can be less than ideal. Uncertainty or indecisiveness can come across as a lack of confidence, or a simply lack of interest and drive.

And partnership isn’t generally something you can drift into. You have to want it. And the firm needs to know you want it, in addition to having the metrics in place.

If you are unsure about whether you want partnership, and you are bumping up against partnership as the next career step, here are a few things to consider to help find some clarity.

Aligning what you want with partnership

Your goals, desires, and values will not always fully align with your firm’s. Even a full equity partner may find there isn’t complete alignment — arguably, they may even want more money for less work!

The key here is to work out what you value, what you want from your work and what your goals are, and then take a hard look at what the firm expects from partners.

To do this, you need to ask yourself (or have someone else, like a coach or mentor, ask you) some probing questions about what you like about your work, about what parts of the job you enjoy, about what makes you feel like you are adding value etc.

You can then compare this to what the firm expects of partners on a day-by-day basis. Looking at the substance of partnership and seeing if that aligns. If there isn’t full alignment, then you can see what you might have to do to make it align and whether that is something you are comfortable doing.

If you can’t make it align, then this can be a good indicator that a partnership isn’t for you.

You probably need to get out of your head

The classic situation if you are unsure when thinking through an option like partnership is to find yourself going around in circles. That is, you can highlight all the pros and then equally match them with the cons and find yourself right back where you started.

The solution is to simply test your assumptions. I like to refer to this as discovery. You need more information to make a better decision.

The best way to do this is to explore them a little further by talking to other people. In talking to someone else, you get to hear yourself out loud, and this in itself can be enlightening.

The art is to try not to become too focused on reaching a decision; instead, aim to be curious about the possibilities. Curiosity enables you to explore and consider, providing the opportunity for new perspectives.

Becoming too focused on the decision can be like editing a piece of work before it is written. You need to go through the process before you can reach the outcome of a decision.

Movement here is vital. In fact, movement is probably the number one thing I’m looking to help a client with, regardless of the situation. Any move forward, no matter how small, is progress. This is the groundwork for a shift in perspective.

Talk to people you admire or who model what you like

One of the issues that come up regularly for my clients is work/life balance as a con of partnership. What this means for you is very particular to your individual circumstances, but it can be useful to identify partners, either at your firm or elsewhere, who seem to be managing partnership in a way that you’d like to and see if you can line them up for a chat.

You can also take this approach with other concerns you may have, including staying in your current position. Who else in your firm hasn’t taken the partnership route, and what does that position look like? Is it something that is appealing to you?

Think about what influence you could have as a partner

Law firms are still largely hierarchical, and this means the further up the chain you go, the more influence you can have. That’s not an absolute rule, but being a partner does mean you can have more influence.

Sure, as a junior partner, you might not be able to enact massive change, but you will have a say and can have a bigger impact on the things you value, whether that’s work culture, which clients the firm should target, and the focus of business development etc.

You get to be part of the solution. It may be that some law firms are conservative and slow to change, but to change even a little requires people to want that change and do something about it. As a partner, you get to have more of an impact on the culture.

Think about what partnership might mean for your team

It may also be useful to think about what the impact partnership might have on the people you work with. Many of the partners I work with talk about what they value highly: supporting the career of their team members and ultimately helping some of them to partnership.

Being a partner will offer you more opportunity, but it also places you in a position to have a bigger impact on the careers of your team. This can be a very rewarding aspect of your career.

Remember: you can’t squeeze out all risk

In the end, the decision is yours. Well, at least the decision to try and become a partner — the partnership process itself has its own machinations.

All decisions have pros and cons, but in the end, you can’t completely squeeze out all risk and uncertainty. That’s just a part of life.

The key is to make the best decisions you can by testing your assumptions and remaining curious about the possibilities.