by Brett Yore
When you ask someone to define leadership, the answer will likely be something along the lines of “leading others toward a goal.” To some, the inquiry may end there, but what about the other questions surrounding leadership—how and when should it be demonstrated? Those questions and more were explored at the first session of New Jersey State Bar Association’s 2017-18 Leadership Academy.
The academy was created to raise the level of awareness and engagement regarding concerns facing the legal profession. Its purpose is to provide skills to lawyers, many with diverse backgrounds, in hopes that they become future leaders within the legal community. At the first session, several representatives of the NJSBA, including former NJSBA President Miles Winder and current NJSBA President Robert Hille, greeted the incoming class and spoke about the importance and benefits of involvement with the bar, both personally and professionally. Additional speakers provided a glimpse into the opportunities and services offered by the NJSBA, including how to handle the media in big cases and how to handle the stress, depression, and/or substance abuse that unfortunately plague too many in our profession. It’s nice to know the NJSBA offers more than continuing legal education and, as a member for many years, I was surprised by the amount of services they offered that I simply did not know about.
After the NJSBA representatives gave their presentations, the academy welcomed attorney/author Herb Rubenstein, who wrote Leadership for Lawyers, a book that dissects many theories of leadership and how lawyers are able to utilize them not only for their own improvement but for the improvement of the legal community. He asked the class “When did you first become leaders?” Each one of us had different answers, but Rubenstein opined that the first time we led anyone in our lives was when we cried as babies. Why? Because when we cried, someone came to us—we led them there. Nowadays, crying isn’t going to win you any leadership points from the legal community, but the example does offer an important lesson—leadership isn’t always about strength.
Rubenstein continued to challenge our ideas of leadership while providing thought-provoking examples of how leadership affected his own interactions with clients, judges, business leaders, and others.
At the close of the day, the leadership fellows were given a lot to ponder. The question, “How do you lead?” seems so simple; however, the first session of the academy took that seemingly simple question and made us all turn it upside down and inside out, break it apart and put it back together. Afterward, we walked away with different answers to that question, the importance of which will help each of us realize our own leadership potential, hopefully to the benefit of the legal community.
Brett Yore is an Assistant Prosecutor for the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office. He is also a trustee for the Cape May County Bar Association and the Atlantic County Bar Association. For several years, he has coordinated the Vincent J. Appruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition for Cape May County.