Andrew Gratz on the Need for Lawyers to Become Leaders

The law shapes lives, drives policy, and impacts how individuals and companies operate and interact. New precedents can alter the course of whole industries, and a big lawsuit can make or break a company. Such a responsibility demands individuals who know how to truly lead projects, transactions, initiatives and teams – and excellent leadership is something that Andrew Gratz will tell you is lacking in the legal profession.

Gratz has been practicing for nearly a quarter of a century, and currently serves as Associate General Counsel at LyondellBasell, a publicly traded petrochemical company, where he has led global teams through a multitude of legal and operational challenges, from bankruptcy to complex commercial negotiations to multibillion dollar acquisitions. He started his career in private practice while simultaneously earning his MBA – a move that greatly shaped the way Gratz approaches his career and understanding of how to lead.

“When I earned my MBA, I valued how many classes were focused on leadership, team building and collaboration. I had none of that in law school – none,” says Gratz. “I believe the complete lack of leadership training at the law school level affects the ability of lawyers to successfully lead and interact well with others. Until this deficiency is addressed, it will continue to have a harmful impact on the legal profession and on our clients.”

Prior to practicing law, Gratz worked in government and political affairs, with stints at the U.S. House of Representatives and at numerous trade associations. During this time, Gratz also managed and consulted on congressional and county commission campaigns. From his political experience to his MBA training to leading in-house transaction teams, Gratz understands a thing or two about leadership.

A little over two years ago, Gratz started sharing his concerns about the leadership gap within the legal profession with peers and colleagues. No matter where they fell within a given firm or industry, all echoed his concerns. To address this problem, Gratz decided to take action and shared many of the lessons he learned throughout his career in a series of articles for Corporate Counsel. The positive feedback he received from these articles spurred him to continue.

“I wanted to contribute more to the overall legal profession than just simply writing a few articles,” says Gratz. “So I developed ‘Lawyers as Leaders,’ a course dedicated to providing critical leadership skills & training to lawyers.”

Gratz currently teaches ‘Lawyers as Leaders’ at the University of Houston Law Center, his alma mater. In developing the course, he spoke with dozens of law firm leaders and corporate counsel about what leadership skills are needed in the legal profession, the gaps they see in their ranks, and how to teach this skillset to legal minds.

“I don't think you can improve as a leader until you truly assess your strengths, weaknesses, and how you relate to others,” says Gratz, who believes strongly in teaching his students to understand themselves first. From that foundation he brings in team building, collaboration and how to become a trusted advisor.

Between the rise of working from home post-Covid, and the advent of artificial intelligence tools in the legal industry, developing lawyers into effective leaders has never been more important.

“At the end of the day, what AI will never be able to replace is the trusted relationship between a lawyer and his or her client,” says Gratz. “Building that trust, making sure your client looks to you, not simply as a lawyer, but as a valued advisor and counselor, is the key to a successful relationship and career.”

Many are quick to point out problems and leave it at that, but Gratz is making an impact by sharing his teachings and working towards a solution.

The complete lack of leadership training at the law school level affects the ability of lawyers to successfully lead and interact well with others.

Lawdragon: Tell us a bit about your career path.

Andrew Gratz: I began my legal career as a litigator and did that for a couple of years while I earned my MBA. While earning my MBA, I started developing a corporate practice – securities, corporate governance and a lot of M&A. From there, I moved on to Baker Botts where I was a full-time corporate attorney. Then, in 2008, I moved on to LyondellBasell, where I’ve been for the last 15 years.

Interestingly, a few weeks after I started at LyondellBasell, the company started preparing for bankruptcy and filed at the beginning of 2009. To this day, it is one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Since coming out of bankruptcy, I've assumed a number of different responsibilities and have moved up within the organization.

In 2015, I took on a rotation assignment in our compliance group where I managed our anti-corruption, antitrust and data privacy programs. In 2017, among other responsibilities, I was asked to lead the company’s M&A legal team. During that time, we completed a $2.25B acquisition of A. Schulman, a publicly traded company out of Ohio, and a $2B joint venture with Sasol, a chemical company in South Africa. Both deals were incredibly challenging in different ways, but each allowed me the opportunity to lead and manage various stakeholders and workstreams. In my current role, I lead the legal team responsible for supporting one of our global business segments.

LD: What can you tell us about the genesis of the course you developed, ‘Lawyers as Leaders?’

AG: A little over two years ago, I started thinking about my career and the leadership opportunities I've had. I thought about the different leaders I've worked with, not only in-house but in private practice as well. What I concluded was, while I’ve been very fortunate to work with incredible leaders and mentors, especially in-house, the legal profession, in and of itself, has a systemic and self-perpetuating leadership deficiency. There are numerous causes for this, some of which start on the first day of law school. The minute you step into a law school, it's you against the professor, and it's you against your fellow students to get the best grade or the most lucrative job. This highly competitive culture drives young lawyers to only look out for themselves. Teamwork and collaboration are not encouraged or incentivized. Then around year five or so, this same lawyer, who has been trained, encouraged, and, most importantly, rewarded to be individualistic and not think about others, is suddenly asked to lead and inspire a team– without any training, guidance, or mentoring. Some rise to the occasion and some do not, but this culture sets many up for failure.

In light of this leadership gap within the legal profession, I decided to write a few articles that outline specific suggestions on how lawyers can build and lead effective teams. They were published by Corporate Counsel and that really compelled me to do more. I wanted to contribute more to the overall legal profession than just simply writing a few articles. I called my alma mater, the University of Houston Law Center, and offered to develop and teach a semester-long class on critical leadership skills. I developed the class pretty much out of whole cloth – syllabus, reading assignments, etc. I taught the class for the first time in the spring of 2023 and was asked to return to teach in 2024. In addition, the Law Center recently decided to form an Initiative on Lawyers as Leaders, partly based on my thought leadership, to foster a community that understands that leadership has an appointed role in the practice of law.

LD: When did you first realize that leadership has been a weak spot in the law?

AG: It was very early on in my career. When I was in private practice, it was clear that certain partners just looked at me and other junior attorneys as hour-generating cogs. Needless to say, this did not feel good. These partners did not teach me how to lead, manage or mentor because they were horrible at it themselves. They too hadn’t been trained or incentivized to think of others and how to build effective teams. It’s been fascinating that almost every lawyer I’ve spoken with has a similar experience. It’s the "I'm going to squeeze every dime out of you for my own benefit regardless of the cost" mindset. Unfortunately, many within the legal profession, not all, see associates and junior lawyers as a means to an end. This attitude does not build loyalty or trust. In fact, it’s corrosive to the overall long-term success of the enterprise.

Many business leaders feel lawyers are too preoccupied with risk and many are unable to get over this hurdle. They want an attorney who sees not only the risk, but the reward as well.

Mentoring is not billable. Career development and helping your peers and associates develop professionally is not billable. At least it wasn't 20 years ago when I was in private practice. For this reason, there’s a real gap when you’re thinking about a greater purpose of bringing up the next generation.

LD: Are you finding that leadership skills training is more valued now?

AG: Yes, thankfully so. We have seen the attrition rate at law firms skyrocket, especially during Covid. If I'm paying someone the same to look at a screen in this office or across the street, what keeps that lawyer there? It's not going to be compensation, because that is pretty much equal at any big law firm. It's mentorship. It’s professional development. It’s guidance. It's the investment the lawyer feels in their long-term abilities and their long-term development. The firms and companies that are very deliberate and thoughtful in how they nurture and encourage their talent, will be more successful long term. And frankly, that's going to help with retention and achieving a successful outcome.

LD: Can you give us a rundown of how you structure your ‘Lawyers as Leaders’ course?

AG: The class is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on, “Who am I?” Both as a leader and as an individual. Really, it’s a candid, and sometimes tough, self-assessment. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? What are my blind spots? I don't think you can improve as a leader until you know how you are wired as an individual. So we go through numerous self-assessment exercises and have discussions to try to get each person to figure out who they are on an individual scale.

From there we start expanding it step-by-step to learn how we step up as a leader when that occasion arises. The second part asks, “What is leadership?” It really looks at how one defines leadership. Are there different types of leaders for different occasions?

The third section of the class really focuses on how we deal with others. There'll be people you click with and there'll be people you just have that inherent friction with, but how do you get over those bumps to achieve the greater goal?

Additionally, I ask my students to study numerous thought leaders, many that go beyond the practice of law. Books, articles and commentary that focus on how you develop relationships with your peers and clients, and how you develop trust. Because at the end of the day, what AI will never be able to replace, is the trusted relationship. Building that trust, making sure your client looks to you, not simply as a lawyer, but as a trusted advisor and counselor. That’s the end goal. We talk about that a lot in my class.

LD: Tell us about the research that informed your course outline.

AG: I met with business leaders across different industries, big and small, and asked, "What are you looking for in a lawyer and where do lawyers maybe fail to live up to that expectation?" I was given a lot of helpful feedback, regardless of whether these business leaders were talking about lawyers in private practice or in-house. The overall consensus was that many lawyers are not pragmatic and business-minded. At the end of the day, many business leaders feel lawyers are too preoccupied with risk and many are unable to get over this hurdle. Business leaders want an attorney who sees not only the risk, but the reward as well – and they want someone to give their opinion and not simply an overview of the options. We're getting to a point where AI can give a generic list of options. Business leaders want and deserve more. They want lawyers who can take a 20,000-foot approach and weigh in from the enterprise-wide perspective.

Business leaders also want lawyers that can lead and inspire teams. Many transactions, litigation matters, investigations, and complex commercial negotiations require large teams with different personalities and agendas. Lawyers need to understand how to build and inspire these teams to advance the strategy and goals of the client. Unfortunately, many lawyers have never acquired these essential skills.

Business leaders also want lawyers that can lead and inspire teams. Lawyers need to understand how to build and inspire their teams to advance the strategy and goals of the client.

I was also incredibly fortunate to have many law firm leaders contribute to the development of my class. I talked to managing partners at some of the most prestigious and admired law firms in the world. All were incredibly generous with their time, and all were in full agreement that there is a fundamental gap in leadership development within the legal profession that needs to be closed.

When I earned my MBA, I valued how many classes were focused on leadership, team building and collaboration. I had none of that in law school – none. I believe the complete lack of leadership training at the law school level affects the ability of lawyers to successfully lead and interact well with others. Until this deficiency is addressed, it will continue to have a harmful impact on the legal profession and on our clients.

In law school, and in your early years of your legal career, you’re told it's you against the world, dog-eat-dog, but then around year five or so, you’re suddenly tasked with leading a team of people, but without any formative training. There’s the gap. Every law firm partner and in-house legal leader that I chatted with agreed on that. A lot of these partners and leaders have also come in and spoken to my class. They see the gap I’m trying to close and want to contribute as well.

LD: What is some top-level advice that you’ve heard again and again about how to be a good leader in the legal world?

AG: One size doesn't fit all. Utilizing the same approach in every situation is never going to lead to a successful outcome. The same ethos applies with your team. I've had members of my team who have been practicing law for 30-plus years. Their needs will be much different than the person on my team who's been practicing for only seven years. They have a different runway and different mentoring requirements.

Each of us has different needs at different points of our professional and personal life. Are you as a leader taking the pulse of your team members? Are you checking in with them? Are you making sure they remain engaged and active? Are you making sure they're waking up in the morning excited to go? And if none of those boxes are checked – why not? What can you as a leader do to change it up and make sure they don't become stagnant? The worst thing you can do for a highly intelligent, highly motivated, highly inquisitive person, which most lawyers are, is to put them on a shelf where they feel stunted and that their career is not going anywhere. Once someone feels that way, their performance and their engagement is going to plummet. Leaders, especially legal leaders, need to understand how to build and inspire their teams to prevent this from happening.