HELP NEW PARTNERS SUCCEED
New Partner Programs
Turn newly promoted partners into confident leaders, managers, and rainmakers. Build the capabilities, mindset, and habits the partner role requires.
A NEW ROLE. A DIFFERENT WAY OF WORKING.
Promotion changes the expectations.
Development supports the transition.
LeadWise Group designs new partner development programs for law firms, combining leadership, people and practice management, and business development. We help firms clarify what partner success looks like and give newly promoted partners practical support to grow into the role.
Technical excellence and responsiveness may have made a lawyer a successful associate. Partnership brings broader responsibilities: developing others, managing a practice, building client relationships, and contributing to the firm’s direction and growth.
Without clear expectations and reinforcement, new partners can fall back on familiar execution habits—doing the work themselves, postponing difficult conversations, or leaving business development until later. An integrated program helps them develop a different approach.
THREE SHIFTS IN THE PARTNER TRANSITION
Help new partners see
what the role now requires.
Employee to owner
Develop an ownership mindset and an understanding of the business of law. Connect individual choices with firm economics, client growth, collaboration, and the firm’s long-term health.
Lawyer to leader
Move from personal execution toward leading and developing others. Set direction, manage a team, build internal influence, and align practice development with firm priorities.
Professional to advisor
Look beyond the immediate legal question to the client’s business priorities. Deepen industry understanding and build relationships around practical, business-oriented solutions.
THE NEW PARTNER SUCCESS FRAMEWORK
Define success.
Build the system. Reinforce it.
We help firms move from broad expectations to an integrated development approach, aligned with the partner behaviors they want to see.
01
Define partner success
Clarify what partners need to demonstrate and how expectations evolve.
- Identify the leadership, management, and business development capabilities that matter.
- Reflect partnership tracks, growth priorities, culture, and firm economics.
- Create a firm-specific definition of success and a competency baseline.
02
Build the development system
Connect learning, support, and application over time.
- Combine onboarding, a relevant training curriculum, and individual or group coaching.
- Build on the firm’s sponsorship, mentoring, and existing development resources.
- Create space to apply skills, receive feedback, and work through real challenges.
03
Reinforce the behaviors
Align the development experience with the way the firm operates.
- Clarify milestones and performance expectations.
- Review business development activity, collaboration, and firm citizenship.
- Consider how evaluations, recognition, compensation, and accountability reinforce what the firm expects.
AN INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM
Three capability areas.
One partner development pathway.
We select and sequence topics around the cohort, the firm’s expectations, and what participants need to put into practice.
Leadership
Build a deliberate leadership identity and greater impact.
- Natural leadership style, strengths, and self-awareness
- Leadership values and personal accountability
- Influence, internal relationships, and difficult conversations
- Strategic thinking, decisions, and leading change
People & practice management
Build leverage through clear direction and effective execution.
- Expectations, delegation, and actionable feedback
- Coaching, development, and team accountability
- Priorities, productivity, and competing responsibilities
- Effective meetings and sustainable performance
Business development
Develop an intentional approach to relationships and practice growth.
- RainMasters: Style, Mindset, Strategy, and Systems
- Ideal clients, network development, and relationship nurture
- Positioning, visibility, and thought leadership
- Client conversations, pitches, and cross-practice collaboration
PROGRAM OPTIONS
Build on what your firm has.
Add the support partners need.
Programs can be delivered virtually or in person, with scope and format shaped around the cohort, existing resources, and desired outcomes.
01
Focused workshops or a series
Add an individual program to your firm’s curriculum, or create a sequence of workshops around priority topics. Training builds shared language, frameworks, and practical skills.
02
Cohort training & coaching
A typical 12-month cohort program combines a leadership or business development style assessment, live master classes, group and/or individual coaching, and LeadWise Portal access with video curriculum, tools, and resources.
03
Multi-year development & competency design
Create a longer partner development pathway, with training and coaching over multiple years. Consulting can also support a firm-specific partner competency model and its implementation.
SUPPORT BEHAVIOR CHANGE OVER TIME
Give partners time
to apply the learning.
Plan a development pathway.
We recommend at least a year of connected development, with a two- or three-year pathway where feasible. The emphasis can evolve from foundation and emergence in years 1–3, to expansion and impact in years 4–6, and mastery and multiplication as partners become more established.
Connect insight with everyday work.
Training clarifies what to do and how it works. Coaching helps partners apply the learning, address real-world obstacles, and strengthen habits and accountability. Peer learning, sponsorship, and mentoring can reinforce the work within the firm.
Agree what progress looks like.
Define development milestones and review practical evidence: clearer delegation, more useful feedback, stronger collaboration, more deliberate client development, and follow-through on priorities. We shape the review approach around the firm’s goals and the agreed program scope.
PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES
Practical changes
in how lawyers lead and work.
More confident in how I lead.
“This program helped me become much more intentional about how I lead. I have a clearer sense of my strengths, the impact I have on others, and where I need to adjust.”
Practical tools I could use immediately.
“The program was highly practical and directly relevant to the realities of working in a law firm. I left each session with concrete tools I could apply right away, like the COIN Feedback Formula.”
Clearer expectations and stronger working relationships.
“As a new partner, I didn’t realize how many expectations I had that I had never actually made clear! The How to Work with Me Guide helped me get specific about what I need from others. It made delegating to my team much more effective.”
COMMON QUESTIONS
Planning your firm’s
new partner program.
What is a new partner development program?
It is a coordinated development experience that helps newly promoted partners build the mindset, leadership, people and practice management, and business development capabilities their role requires. It combines clear expectations with learning, application, and reinforcement.
How is a new partner program different from onboarding?
Onboarding introduces the role, firm processes, resources, and expectations. A development program continues beyond that introduction, giving partners time to practice new skills, receive feedback, and work through challenges as they take on broader responsibilities.
Can the program reflect our firm’s partnership tracks and expectations?
Yes. The New Partner Success Framework starts with a firm-specific definition of success, taking account of partnership tracks, culture, economics, and growth priorities. We use that context to shape the curriculum, sequence, and development milestones.
How long should a program run?
We recommend at least one year, with a two- or three-year development pathway where feasible. A typical cohort program runs for 12 months. Focused workshops or a series can also address specific needs within an existing firm curriculum.
Does the program include business development as well as leadership?
Yes. Our approach integrates leadership, people and practice management, and business development. The balance is tailored to the cohort. The business development component can use the RainMasters framework: Style, Mindset, Strategy, and Systems.
Can we build on the training and mentoring we already offer?
Yes. We review existing resources and the capabilities the firm wants partners to develop. The program can complement current onboarding, training, sponsorship, mentoring, and internal business development support, rather than duplicating them.
EXPLORE NEW PARTNER DEVELOPMENT
Build a clearer case
for supporting the transition.
Read A Framework for Law Firms to Set Up New Partners for Success and The Cost of Leaving New Partners to “Figure It Out”.
Explore the broader Partner Development approach or meet the LeadWise team.
LET’S PLAN THE TRANSITION
What should your new partners
be ready to do?
Tell us about your next cohort, the firm’s expectations, and the support already in place. We’ll explore a practical development pathway.