Q&A with Larry Richard

Larry Richard

YourABA recently spoke with Larry R. Richard, J.D., Ph.D., who heads the Leadership & Organization Development Practice Group of Hildebrandt International, a professional services firm. Richard pioneered the application of psychology and other behavioral sciences to the improvement of leadership and management practices in the legal profession.

How did you become interested in the personalities and characteristics of those who enter the legal profession.

I went back to graduate school to earn my Ph.D. in psychology after having practiced law for 10 years. To make a living while I was in graduate school, I did career counseling for unhappy lawyers. It was during this time that I became a fan of personality testing, especially the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It was a very helpful tool in guiding my career clients. When it came time to do doctoral research, I was interested in contributing to our understanding of lawyer job dissatisfaction, which was a very big problem in the 1980s. I came up with a research design that proposed to measure lawyers' job dissatisfaction and their MBTI Types to see if personality and the "fit" had anything to do with job satisfaction. When I gathered and then analyzed the data, I found that personality did play a small role in lawyer job dissatisfaction (the pressure of the billable hour played a much larger role), but the unexpected finding was this: when I looked just at the personality data, and analyzed the kinds of personalities that went into law compared with the variety of personalities in the general population, I was surprised to learn that lawyers' personalities are very different from those of the general public. My sample included more than 3,000 lawyers from every state in the United States, and since I used a scientific sampling method, I was able to generalize to the entire population of lawyers in the United States. In short, the inexorable conclusion was that people who enter the legal profession in this country have very different personality styles from people in other occupations.

Since you began your career, have you seen a change in the type of personalities of those entering the legal profession? Why do you believe that is the case?

What has been remarkable is how very stable the personality data have been over the past 25 years. I am still seeing basically the same profile that I saw back then. The only change appears to be that more people with a "Feeler" (as opposed to a "Thinker") preference on the MBTI seem to be entering the law and staying in the law. This change may be a reflection of what has often been written about Gen Y – that they are more interpersonal, more interested in collegiality, relationships, climate, etc.

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Why did you choose to combine the disciplines of law and psychology?

Initially, I was thinking of just doing clinical work as a therapist, and leaving the legal profession behind. However, it seemed a shame to waste all that I knew about lawyers. As I was considering graduate schools, I became aware of organizational psychology and group dynamics, and decided that this would be a more interesting area to focus on as a psychologist. This decision naturally led me to consider combining principles of organizational behavior with the management of law firms.

You have developed innovations to help leaders at law firms attract, retain, develop and motivate legal talent. What are the best practices for supporting talented lawyers?

The answer would take a book. I suppose I can summarize this by saying that there are a few evergreen principles that will help here:

• Capitalize on strengths, rather than trying to fix deficiencies (unless you have a "fatal flaw" that must be addressed)
• Seek out feedback. Self-awareness is key for anyone in a leadership position and for anyone who makes a living interacting with other people
• Work on improving your emotional intelligence skills. Lawyers are weak in this area – which may represent a "fatal flaw" for many. Poor EI skills can hurt you, and good EI skills can make a huge positive difference in terms of talent retention, getting the right people to work for you, coping with change, and the other intangibles of the legal profession. 

In your opinion, what are the characteristics that make a lawyer successful?

In addition to the obvious – high integrity and consummate mastery of the legal skills in your practice area – I return to emotional intelligence. Research increasingly demonstrates the importance of emotional intelligence skills in many industries. Research shows that the best lawyers generally have higher emotional intelligence scores when tested than their average counterparts. ”Emotional Intelligence” includes skills in self-awareness, empathy, regulating your own emotional reactions, and building and maintaining healthy relationships.

What are the traits that can place lawyers at risk for potential liability?

Their skepticism and cynicism, their high urgency, their tendency to place less importance on rapport and interpersonal connection all come to mind. There are others, but these are pretty salient.

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Have client expectations changed over the years? If so, how would you characterize the changes?

Absolutely. Because of changes in technology, clients have better and quicker access to information. This access allows them more effectively to shop around for legal services. It also allows them to become more educated about the law, and it removes some of the mystery and cachet from which lawyers used to benefit. It places a greater demand on lawyers to be competent and to demonstrate mastery of their craft.  

How would you advise lawyers to adapt to evolving expectations?

Lawyers are a conservative bunch. We learn in law school to think in terms of stare decisis or precedent. We don't like to be the first to do something. We always like to ask, "What other firms are doing this?" In a fast-moving marketplace, practicing law and, more importantly, leading other lawyers, is like trying to paint a landscape while looking through a moving train window. Lawyers, especially those in leadership positions, need to overcome their instinctive conservatism and risk-averse nature to be willing to experiment, try new approaches and take risks.

Richard will present “The Role of Personality in Determining Predisposition for Liability Exposure” at the opening plenary at Focus on Critical Communications, the fall 2007 National Legal Malpractice Conference. For more information on the September 19 to 21 conference sponsored by the Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability, the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility and the Law Practice Management Section, click here.

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