For many lawyers, roles have changed over time. In-house counsel must operate strategically; outside counsel must be true business partners, not just legal advisors, to clients; for law firm leaders, leadership and talent development dynamics have changed amid shifting work models; and so on.

We regard this phenomenon as a somewhat newer one, but the fact is that law practice, even what today might be considered “traditional” law practice, has long been a multifaceted endeavor. The nature of a given lawyer’s job is oftentimes easy enough to articulate, but in reality it is never so simple.