#85: Why BigLaw Partners Still Need Learning & Development—Leigh Riley on How Foley Built a Program That Delivers
Release Date: 08/13/2025
#111: Weekend Work in BigLaw: What’s Normal, What’s Dysfunctional, and What It Signals About Your Firm
Big Law Life
If you work in BigLaw, you already expect weekends to be part of the job. But you find that not all weekend work is created equal. In this episode, I walk through the difference between healthy, role-appropriate weekend demands and the kind of constant disruption that signals deeper management and culture problems inside a firm. I explain the three traits that define normal weekend work: a real reason tied to client reality, a clearly scoped task, and a true endpoint. We then unpack what dysfunctional weekend work looks like in practice, including poor planning disguised as urgency, perpetual...
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#110: How the Cravath Scale Actually Works in BigLaw for Mid- and Senior-Level Associates
Big Law Life
By the time you reach mid-level or senior associate status, the Cravath Scale often stops feeling like a promise and more like a moving target. In this episode, I break down what the scale actually governs, what it never covered, and how discretion quietly replaces transparency as you become more experienced. I explain why base salary uniformity masks wide variation in bonuses, timing, and opportunity, and how firms use the language of “market” and “culture” to justify outcomes that feel inconsistent year to year and group to group. We walk through concrete bonus scenarios, how hour...
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#109: When You Were Assured of BigLaw Partnership This Year But It Didn’t Happen
Big Law Life
Being told you ready for partnership creates expectations that are hard to unlearn. In this episode, I walk through what it really means when you are encouraged, guided, and perhaps even implicitly promised by firm leadership, only to be told at the end of the cycle that you did not make partner. This is not just a professional disappointment. It often feels like a betrayal of an assumed agreement, especially when you followed the roadmap you were given and told if you followed that this was your year. I explain why this situation is far more common in BigLaw than firms admit, including how...
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#108: Inside Goodwin’s Client Immersion Program for Junior Associates with Lynda Galligan and Josh Klatzkin
Big Law Life
Junior associates in BigLaw often ask for more client exposure early in their careers, but what they really need most is a clearer understanding of how clients actually operate and make decisions. In this episode, I speak with Lynda Galligan and Josh Klatzkin, both members of Goodwin’s management and executive committees, and co-chairs of the firm’s Business Law Department, about why the firm's early client immersion program for junior associates addresses this key development and training issue. Lynda and Josh explain how traditional BigLaw training can delay meaningful client exposure,...
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#107: Do You Have to Be a Big Rainmaker to Succeed in BigLaw?
Big Law Life
hear this question constantly: do you actually have to be a rainmaker to succeed in BigLaw? The short answer is no, but the longer, more important answer is that success depends on whether your firm truly rewards lawyers who help win, grow, and retain clients without personally originating them. In this episode, I break down what that looks like in practice. I explain why firms that rely on a handful of star originators are more vulnerable over time, and also why many firms say they value collaboration and the contrbutions of many to major firm clients but quietly reward something...
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#106: 10 Things BigLaw Attorneys and Business Professionals Should Do in January (But Usually Don’t)
Big Law Life
As the calendar turns, I see the same pattern repeat inside large law firms. We talk about fresh starts, priorities, and strategy, but most people carry the exact same work habits, assumptions, and risks into the new year. And yet the beginning of the calendar year when you can slow the system down just enough to make some key but deliberate decisions before urgency takes over. This episode is not a motivational reset or a list of aspirational goals, but rather some practical actions that can give BigLaw lawyers and business professionals more control over how the year unfolds. I walk through...
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#105: Cringe-Free BigLaw Goals for Associates in the New Year
Big Law Life
As the year closes, I'm focusing in this episode on BigLaw goals for associates without resorting to platitudes, firm retreat slogans, or vague resolutions that quietly collapse by February. After years as an equity partner in BigLaw, I’ve seen that the associates who actually move forward are not the ones making dramatic promises to work less, do everything better, or reinvent themselves overnight. Instead, the associates who most often make progress are the ones who focus on taking smaller, actionable steps in specific, visible ways that compound inside a system that is in many ways beyond...
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#104: BigLaw Partnership Timing: What Actually Controls When You Make Partner
Big Law Life
If you are a senior associate staring at year seven, eight, or nine and trying to decode whether you are “behind,” I want you to hear this clearly: your timeline is not controlled by your work ethic or your reviews. In this episode, I break down why partnership timing is driven by structural economics inside your firm, not individual merit. We walk through the forces that actually move or stop the process, including practice group capacity, leverage ratios, PEP pressure, capital constraints, succession bottlenecks, client portability, and internal power dynamics. I also give...
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#103: The Mid-Career BigLaw Partner Crossroad - Should You Stay or Make a Lateral Move?
Big Law Life
Mid-career partners can begin quietly wondering whether they should stay where they are or explore a move. This isn’t driven by crisis or failure. It’s driven by subtle shifts, such as declining energy for a platform that once fit well, strategy drift inside the firm, client relationships that feel different, or internal politics that have grown wearisome. Yet most partners stall making a decision because they don’t want to make the wrong call and the ambiguity keeps them stuck. In today’s episode, I walk through the five stages I see that partners typically move through when...
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#102: The Most Dangerous Time in BigLaw - What Mid-Senior Associates Should Be Thinking About
Big Law Life
After years as a partner inside global law firms, I’ve seen one stage of a BigLaw career quietly determine everything that comes after it. It isn’t the first year, when everyone expects some struggle and a lot of learning. And it isn’t partnership, when you've reached that tier and are now working to build your book of business and establish your role in that space. The most dangerous stage is the mid to senior associate years. Years four through seven are where many lawyers stall without realizing it. They’re billing hard, getting strong reviews, and hearing they’re “doing...
info_outlineThe legal industry has long assumed that once you make partner, you no longer need training. But as law firm operations have become more complex, and leadership expectations more demanding, that mindset no longer serves the firm or its partners. In this episode, I talk with Leigh Riley, a longtime partner at Foley & Lardner and architect of the firm’s PEAK (Partner Excellence Actionable Knowledge) program, which is redefining what professional development looks like for senior lawyers.
Leigh shares the real-world gaps she experienced after making partner and how she helped build a program to address the business, leadership, and people-management skills that partners are now expected to master. We get into everything from billing strategy and succession planning to managing laterals and navigating the emotional dynamics of career evolution. Whether you’re a new partner, a lateral, or approaching transition in your practice, this episode offers a clear look at how firms can better support lawyers at every stage of partnership.
At a Glance:
00:00 Why the idea that partners don’t need training is outdated
03:13 Leigh’s realization that partnership came with less guidance, not more
05:07 The moment she advocated for firm-wide partner development
06:15 Why people management is core to Foley’s culture
07:58 Common partner questions that shaped the program
10:18 How mentorship gaps persist well into partnership
12:02 Why internal leaders are the primary trainers—not outsiders
13:25 How training is delivered: live sessions, short videos, and an on-demand library
14:49 Helping lateral partners understand firm culture and support systems
15:13 Involving business professionals in training content
16:12 How PEAK differs from traditional leadership programs
17:10 Training on listening, feedback, and generational differences
18:12 Feedback from partners and why it drives program longevity
23:10 Planning for transitions as partners evolve into new career stages
25:14 The challenges and importance of client succession planning
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Reach Leigh Riley
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leigh-riley-747b515/
lriley@foley.com
https://www.foley.com/people/riley-leigh-c/
https://www.foley.com/
Information about Foley’s PEAK program
May 2025 Foley Career Perspectives blog post re overview of all tenure-based training academies at Foley, including PEAK: https://www.foley.com/insights/publications/2025/05/investing-attorneys-arc-careers/
October 2024 PEAK highlighted in The American Lawyer: https://www.foley.com/news/2024/10/foleys-peak-training-program-highlighted-in-the-american-lawyer/
September 2024 press release re PEAK launch: https://www.foley.com/news/2024/09/foley-launches-peak-partner-training-program/
Interested in doing 1-2-1 coaching with Laura Terrell? Or learning more about her work coaching and consulting?
Here are ways to reach out to her:
laura@lauraterrell.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauralterrell/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauraterrellcoaching/
Show notes: https://www.lauraterrell.com/podcast