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How to become a great leader in law
Seeking help from others, as well as hiring truly capable employees, can assist leaders in overcoming challenges with ease, according to Shine Lawyers’ national practice leader.
Lauren Croft
Clare Eves is the national practice leader in medical law at Shine Lawyers. She spoke recently on the Lawyers Weekly Show about the challenges of being a leader, both in the medical law space and in the legal profession generally – and how she’s been able to overcome them.
“I really found my path then in service to others, as opposed to where I fit in this hierarchy in the legal profession,” she said.
“There’s been times in my career when I have really struggled in those early days, where I’ve had people at the top of the mountain pulling me up and helping me. And you really realise the importance of that and the importance of mentorship and helping people navigate their own challenges and their own pathways.
“I think one of the things that has really helped me in that transition as a leader was having a lot of those insecurities in the early days and learning to just allow them strip away and focus on the work and why I’m doing the work and where I want to get to personally and professionally, which was around all my own goals being set, as opposed to reaching the next title or the next promotion.”
Ms Eves fine-tuned her skills as a leader – and overcame some of the initial challenges that come with being thrust into a leadership position as a lawyer with no business training – by seeking support from her peers.
“That is one of the things that’s really spared me to do a little bit more in the profession, both internally and externally to Shine, to really help support other practitioners because as lawyers, we get taught a lot of the technical side and the skill set, but we don’t get taught how to run a business, how to be a leader. I think historically, the most senior person has got the leadership role. Doesn’t mean they’ve got any of the skills and qualities that you need to be an effective leader, and it’s the same with business,” she said.
“When I first was very fortunate enough to get the national practice lead role at Shine, obviously Shine is a listed company, so I run my department through a profit and loss sheet. I’d never, at that time, seen a profit and loss sheet.
“And in all honesty, I hadn’t really appreciated what it actually costs to run a practice and what some of the cost is around making poor business decisions within a practice as well. In answer to your question, I didn’t have the skill set that I needed, and I really had to learn that along the way. And I’ve really relied on other people to mentor me, to help me, and to really teach me about being a businesswoman, as well as a lawyer.”
Ms Eves added that mentors also helped her when she became the national practice leader for medical law, teaching her what it meant to be a good leader.
“I had a really exceptional manager who was a really great businessman, as well as a great lawyer. And he taught me a lot of things. He taught me to recruit people who are smarter than me and to always recruit for cultural fit and cultural contribution,” she said.
“And I think they were two really important lessons because starting out on that journey, you assume you’re going to be the one who has to hold all the responsibility, and good leaders definitely don’t hold all the responsibility. Good leaders actually delegate as much as they can and have really capable people working within the team.”
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Clare Eves, click below:
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
