© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By General Datatech General Counsel John Ansbach
Special Contributing Writer for The Texas Lawbook
“A lawyer shall not be deterred by any real or imagined fear of judicial disfavor or public unpopularity, nor be influenced by mere self-interest…
“I am committed to this Creed for no other reason than it is right.”
– Selections from the Texas Lawyer’s Creed
When is the last time you read the Texas Lawyer’s Creed? If you’re anything like me it’s been, oh, let’s see, one, two…carry the six…let’s just call it “a long time.” Dare I say most of you reading this haven’t read the Creed since you had to, sometime when we all graduated from law school, or maybe as you prepared for a hearing and were feeling particularly creative in the face of some less-than-professional lawyering on the other side. Yes, this will look great in my motion and attendant PowerPoint slide…
I decided to take a look at the Creed as I started to write this piece (and maybe a few others) on a topic I’m passionate about, something called lawyer-leadership, or as I define it, “the practice of leadership by lawyers in their profession and in their communities.” To be honest, I’ve been interested in leadership as a discipline for many years, but more recently, in talking with my peers and colleagues, I began to wonder what it meant to be both a lawyer and a leader – not just one or the other singularly or by themselves, but both, in contemporaneous combination with one another, as a practice or discipline.
I started to experience this question personally in my profession as a General Counsel over the past several years, but I’ve come to see others – practicing in law firms big and small as well as within in-house legal departments – experience it as well. My hope is that writing on the topic, from different angles and different viewpoints, might prompt a discussion – an examination, if you will – of what it means to be a lawyer-leader to you, in your every day, in the decisions you make that impact your clients, your colleagues, your coworkers and even your community and those closest to you.
I mentioned that I experienced the lawyer-leadership dynamic myself as a GC. This happens routinely, as it turns out, but one episode I recall specifically comes to mind: I had just joined an organization as the General Counsel when a very sensitive matter arose concerning my Board of Directors and one of its more revered, senior members. I found myself confronted with what I felt strongly was an issue that needed to be addressed, but which would most definitely “ruffle some feathers,” to say the least. Like many business lawyers, I know my “programming” makes me a bit risk-averse and somewhat conservative, especially when it comes to matters of my job; however, I recall very specifically viewing the situation from multiple angles, soliciting the input and advice of those close to me and my outside counsel, and concluding that my professional duty and obligation to my company – my client – compelled me to act.
It was pretty clear to me at the time that inaction would have been the much safer course – safer for me, for my career, my job and, consequently, for my family. Surely there was some backchannel discussion that could be had, some other way of dealing with the matter that wouldn’t put me “out on a limb.” But as I worked through the issue, mindful of my duties, it became painfully obvious that I had to act and act formally, in the best interests of my company, and not myself.
So this is where I come back to the Creed, which again, I confess, I hadn’t read in some time…
“A lawyer shall not be deterred by any real or imagined fear of [ ] public unpopularity, nor be influenced by mere self-interest…”
You and I both know it’s fine to say it in a creed. It’s fine to write it in a code, or talk about it at a lecture or CLE. There’s nothing uncomfortable about discussing fiduciary obligations and lawyer professionalism in the abstract, but it is, of course, quite another thing to live it, to act on it, to lead through it, when your job and perhaps even your reputation are on the line. To me this is the very definition of lawyer-leadership: to acknowledge risk, but stay the course; to act as you must, and do what must be done, “for no other reason than it is right…”
“It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong.”
– Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, lawyer-leader
In my circumstance, I ultimately did address the matter with my leadership as I felt was proper and required and, as I expected, it got “ugly.” Who is this new guy making waves? Why is he inserting himself in something that he clearly knows nothing about? Because I was twenty years the junior of the director at issue I even enjoyed the occasional remark questioning my experience and lack of real world ‘seasoning.’ The “heat” was plentiful (as was my level of discomfort) over the couple of months as the drama played out. Through it all and in the face of self-doubt, uncertainly and more than a few times when I questioned my own judgment (and sanity), with the support of family and friends I stayed the course and stayed focused on what I knew was right, for my client and my own acceptance of my role as lawyer-leader.
We did finally get to the other side, and I didn’t lose my job (which was nice). What I did find from some – but not everyone – was a respect for the leadership I showed and the role I played in ensuring the integrity of our organization and its mission. I know some lawyers don’t think we’re the conscience of our organizations, and in my case there might have been other, more comfortable routes that didn’t put me front and center of that debate, but looking back I know that as a team we found our way to the right place in the right way, and that acting not simply as “the lawyer,” but as my client’s lawyer-leader, was key.
Many of you reading this have experienced similar challenges in what you do, again whether you are a GC, AGC, CLO or even as a partner or associate in a firm. You’ve had a day where you were going about your business, doing what you’re paid to do, drafting contracts, reviewing potential acquisitions, etc., when you ran smack into a lawyer-leadership moment that you hadn’t solicited, but which made you choose. And in that uncomfortable moment, I wonder, what was it that motivated you to act as you did? What drove you or inspired you to embrace the course you chose? Was it courage that compelled you to embrace your obligations? Fear for the consequences of missing the mark in a very public fashion?
Take just a minute to consider what these challenges really involve. Real life choices with real life consequences that often feel several levels above our pay grade, and which, not inconsequently, can and are often amplified by the power of social media. If I put myself out there and bring this up, and make waves, and cause issues, and slow down our business, and hold up my client…what will happen to me? And if something bad happens to me, what will happen to my ability to earn a living, to support my family, to be respected in my community? Leadership, and indeed lawyer-leadership, isn’t an academic endeavor to be discussed in the abstract with envisioned hypothetical results – lawyer-leadership is a contact sport for those who demonstrated talent and made the team.
I mentioned courage and fear a moment ago because it’s my impression that lawyer-leaders often face these two sides of the same coin. And although I recognize that many – if not most – of my contemporaries don’t like to use the word “fear” for fear (irony intended) that it might illustrate weakness, my experience is that quite the opposite is true. In reality, lawyer-leaders who muster up the courage to act as they must in the face of acknowledged (not denied) fear – fear of losing one’s job, one’s client, one’s standing in their law firm or in-house legal department – are demonstrating the type of leadership that is so often missing today, but which is sorely needed.
Lawyer-leaders operate every day – day in and day out – supporting their clients and fulfilling their obligations in the best interest of those clients, often to their own detriment. It’s what sets us apart from others, because this risk is often innate in what we do. It’s what’s required of us. And it’s what you signed on for when you took the oath and committed to practice. (You do remember the oath, don’t you? “I do solemnly swear that I will [ ] honestly demean myself in the practice of the law, and will discharge my duties to my clients to the best of my ability. So help me God.”)
We all have heard of the stories where lawyer-leaders failed to embrace their obligations, such as those practitioners involved in the Enron events and others. But when is the last time you heard tell of the volumes of decisions made every day by lawyer-leaders who did what they must, because it was the right thing to do? We don’t celebrate that enough. In truth, we actually don’t celebrate it at all, do we?
If you have a story – one regarding yourself or a lawyer you know – of lawyer-leadership done right, I’d love to hear it. It’s time that we acknowledged the pursuit of lawyer-leadership in our firms, our companies and our communities and showcased those efforts for what they are: sorely needed examples of courage by folks in the face of risk to themselves. We should do it not because we want to heap praise on friends, although there are worse motivations. No, we should do it to shine a light on something good in a time when true leadership at many levels is blatantly absent; when shouting at your opponents and rejecting compromise at all costs is mislabeled as leadership.
Lawyer-leaders have an opportunity at this moment in this time to show the way by doing nothing more than what we all signed on to do: be the leaders we are capable of being in full and fair satisfaction of our Creed. This is the challenge of the day. Are you in?
John Ansbach is the General Counsel of General Datatech, l.p. and the 2013 Chair of the General Counsel Forum Texas state chapter. He is a father, husband, speaker and thought leader in his community. For more information or to connect with John, contact him at @jansbach25 on Twitter or at www.linkedin.com/in/johnansbach/ on LinkedIn.
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