2025 Leadership Academy

Join us on Thursday, February 20, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for the NYSBA Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Committee on Leadership Development and the Committee on Law Practice Management. Earn up to 3.5 credit hours in the areas of Professional Practice and Law Practice Management. Led by national experts in leadership development for lawyers, this program will cover the Five Pillars of Leadership: Leader Identity, Leadership Impact, Strategic Thinking, People Management, and Personal Productivity, Self-care, and Peak Performance. This CLE is an invaluable opportunity to gain inspiration and grow as a leader in the legal profession. We look forward to seeing you at the NYSBA Leadership Academy!
The 2025 Leadership Academy will include the following topics:
Pillar One: Leader Identity
To effectively lead, lawyers must first gain a deeper understanding of themselves as leaders: what defines, motivates and frustrates them; what they stand for, i.e., their values; how they think about the world and themselves and others in it; and their strengths and leadership gaps that need to be developed. Other critical leadership concepts and skills covered under the Leader Identity Pillar are: Leadership philosophy; Growth mindset; Emotional intelligence and agility; Resilience; Branding/Networking and Personal accountability.
Pillar Two: Leadership Impact
For any leader to be effective in “mobilizing people around common goals to achieve concrete outcomes, at scale” their actions must have a real impact on those they are leading. The key is realizing there is no way to do this. In fact, our ability to have an impact on others is not just one skill but a set of skills such as: Leadership (executive) presence; Influence and persuasion; Ability to have difficult conversations and manage conflict effectively; Negotiation; Gaining buy-in; Consensus building; Effective self-promotion; and building personal networks or relationship building.
Pillar Three: Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is a type of critical thinking that helps people achieve long-term objectives, solve complex problems and overcome obstacles. Thinking strategically involves seeing the big picture and connecting the dots, planning activities and resources, and putting ideas into action. Strategic thinking skills are among the most highly sought-after leadership competencies.
Pillar Four: People Management
Help lawyers understand their own natural management style, including their innate strengths and limitations as managers.
Pillar Five: Personal Productivity, Self-care and Peak Performance
Personal Productivity. That magical skillset that’s often portrayed as the secret to all professional and personal success — especially in the legal profession, where time is literally money. One mistake many lawyers make is thinking about productivity only in terms of time management. Time management is just one aspect of personal productivity. Time management is often about lawyers needing to prioritize more effectively, setting better boundaries, or better managing sleep and physical energy. The Fifth Pillar of Leadership Development is not only about time management; it’s about identifying a mix of strategies that can help individuals achieve their own version of optimal productivity and peak performance.
- February 20, 2025
- 11:00 AM
- 2:30 PM
- 2.5
- 1.0
- 3.5
- Virtual Participation
- Webinar
- 0PR71
- Committee on Continuing Legal Education
- Committee on Leadership Development
- Committee on Law Practice Management

