Leading in the Law with Emotional Intelligence

If asked to reflect back over the course of your life about who had the greatest influence as a leader and helped you get to where you are today, who comes to mind? What qualities allowed them to have such a profound influence on your life? Research suggests that leadership success, well-being, happiness, and performance have as much if not more to do with social and emotional intelligence than legal knowledge and cognitive intelligence. Indeed, leadership is about how you make others feel and what you bring out in them, and research shows that only about 15% of success is determined by intellectual abilities, technical skills, and knowledge. This book is about the key factors that make up the other 85% of success: factors that fall under the umbrella of emotional intelligence.

Leading in the Law with Emotional Intelligence offers extraordinary stories that reveal how the four domains of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness or empathy, and relationship management) form the basis of exceptional leadership in the law. It also includes dozens of self-discovery exercises; reflective writing prompts; vignettes; and legal application of material from diverse fields, including business, psychology, and neuroscience, to equip students with the skills necessary to lead in the law in the 21st century, sustain personal happiness, and develop and maintain the rich relationships necessary to both.

This is the book I wish existed as I embarked on my legal career and leadership path. In this groundbreaking work, Durr and Zimmerman provide a roadmap for success and fulfillment as a lawyer, leader, and human being. This is a must read for anyone on a journey of self discovery, who seeks to better understand themselves and others, and who aspires to effectively lead in a rapidly evolving world.
— Christina L. Martini, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Leading in the Law with Emotional Intelligence is the cutting-edge collaboration of a law professor (and former associate dean) and a psychologist who has established numerous emotional-intelligence based leadership programs (across health systems, government agencies, engineer programs, and law schools). This is a superb book for lawyers, law students, and other professionals on how to build trust, manage conflict, and lead with humility, courage, and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is tied to academic and career success, and EI skills can be taught and learned. The book is interactive, with self-discovery and reflection exercises to cultivate self-awareness, empathy, techniques to manage emotions, and abilities to connect with others. Leading in the Law with Emotional Intelligence is a remarkable manual of leadership skills that emphasize collaboration, listening to various perspectives, and developing healthy emotional habits to lead, as Durr and Zimmerman say, "from the inside out."

— Nancy Levit, Associate Dean for Faculty and Curators’ Distinguished Professor and Edward D. Ellison Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law; co-author of The Happy Lawyer: How to Build a Meaningful Life in the Law

In the decade since I took Cliff and Rob's inaugural course, I've consistently reflected on the many ways their teaching has shaped me as a law student, practicing lawyer, husband (to a psychologist, by sheer coincidence), father, and person. I'm very pleased that their crucial lessons and message will be reaching a wider audience. This book should be mandatory reading for law students, lawyers, and for anyone else who wishes to gain a greater understanding of leadership, the many ways that success can be defined, and, most importantly, themselves.

— Peter Mayer, General Counsel, Mustang Litigation Funding

A practical guide that forces lawyers to look inward and practice self-awareness and empathy. Leading in the Law with Emotional Intelligence address an important topic missing from most legal educations: emotional intelligence. A must read for any lawyer who wants to develop the emotional intelligence necessary to effectively interact with clients, colleagues, witnesses, and judges.
— Katherine E. Rhoades, Partner at Bartlit Beck LLP

Far from being just another lawyer "self-help" book, this work presents the case for lawyer emotional intelligence based upon rigorous review of academic literature and empirical studies. Written in a straightforward style, the authors draw upon their years of experience teaching and counseling both law students and practitioners to show why emotional intelligence is a critical component of leadership in the law.

— Dan Bowling, Distinguished Fellow at Duke Law School; former Senior Vice-President of Human Resources, Coca-Cola Enterprises

Lawyers are leaders, and Leading in the Law with Emotional Intelligence: The Path to Becoming a Twenty-First-Century Leader is the definitive leadership guide for law students and lawyers alike. The authors clearly and engagingly explain what emotional intelligence is and why it matters more than ever in providing legal services as well as in a lawyer's role as a leader in any capacity—be it in their law firm, on a school board, or in a corporate boardroom. Equally important, the authors provide innumerable insightful examples and potent exercises that guide the reader to build the essential skills of empathic leadership.

— Michael T. Colatrella Jr., Inaugural Tracy A. Eglet Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Professor of Law; Co-Director, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law