What prevents good lawyers from becoming great leaders?
01
Lack of Self Awareness
There is often a disconnect between how gifted lawyers see themselves as leaders, versus how everyone else sees them. Bench Strength Advisors helps close this gap.
02
Psychological Barriers
Talented lawyers face a litany of psychological barriers to reaching their full leadership potential – like fear of failure, risk avoidance, stress, anxiety, and many more.
03
An Undeveloped Leadership Mindset
Becoming a leader means embracing uncertainty, taking risks, and inspiring others towards a common vision. To develop, lawyers must get out of their comfort zone.
Bench Strength Advisors helps good lawyers become great leaders
1
Coaching
Our team of leadership advisors offers one-on-one and group coaching to high potential lawyers. We facilitate stakeholder conversations (360 feedback), surface new insights, and support lawyer/leaders as they practice new behaviors.
2
Leadership Development
We create action learning programs during which small teams of lawyers solve real problems facing their firm. We also offer a unique leadership program to help lawyers embrace a leadership mindset. Each program is led by our team of former executive educators from Columbia and Harvard Business School.
3
Succession Planning
Your bench strength of future leaders is just as important as your current leadership team. Our team helps you identify, assess, and develop future leaders – across practice areas and geographies – including those rare individuals with CEO potential.
Meet the Team Leaders
Jeffrey Cohn
Jeffrey was a former fellow at the CEO Leadership Institute, and case facilitator at the Harvard Business School, where he helped write the very first case study on Apple. He is a seasoned executive coach and former succession advisor at Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles. Recent articles: "How Yale Law School is becoming the next Harvard Business School," and "Why CEOs Should Model Vulnerability."
Dr. Carrie Muchow
Dr. Carrie Muchow is a sought after executive coach, cognitive behavioral therapist, and professional assessor. Dr. Muchow received her Ph.D. with Honors in psychology, with an emphasis in neuroscience, from Columbia University. She specializes in helping high-potential lawyer/leaders manage stress, anxiety, and uncertainty in their careers. She has also helped global talent consultancies create proprietary assessment tools.
Bench Strength Advisors featured in the Harvard Business Review
Professor Amy Edmondson
Featured Podcast Guests
Professor, Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson has been recognized as the #1 thought leader in the world. She pioneered work in pscyhological safety and 'intelligent failure.' Here is our recent conversation with Amy.
Blair Berk
Founder, Berk Brettler
"Hollywood's A-list elite trusts Berk to litigate high-profile cases with discretion and finesse. Her celebrity clients include Gerard Butler, Kanye West, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Seacrest, Heather Locklear, Kiefer Sutherland, Queen Latifah and Lindsay Lohan." Forbes, 2025. Here is our recent conversation with Blair.
Alex Spiro
Partner, Quinn Emanuel
Alex is one of the nation's most sought after defense attorneys. Over his career he has represented multiple celebrity clients including Elon Musk, Jay-Z, Eric Adams, and Alec Baldwin. Here is our recent conversation with Alex.
Anastasia Boyko
Former Vice Dean, Yale Law School
Anastasia developed a popular class on leadership development at the Yale Law School. It soon became the most popular class in the entire school. Here is our conversation with Anastasia.
Ira Coleman
CEO, McDermott, Will & Schulte
Ira is the chairman of McDermott Will & Schulte. Since assuming this role, Ira has guided the firm through a bold strategic transformation and centered on the principles of being indispensable to clients, driving exceptional performance, and fostering a vibrant, happy culture. Listen to our conversation with Ira, here.
Stan Van Gundy
ESPN Analyst former NBA Coach
Legendary Coach Van Gundy encourages his players to get out of their comfort zone, rethink their mindset, and become better leaders. Listen to our conversation with Stan, here.
A Few Client Testimonials
Am Law 20
“Bench Strength Advisors helped our firm develop a new leadership model that had a profound impact on our firm's culture and ability to recruit lateral hires."
Fortune 50 CEO
“Jeff helped our general counsel become more of a strategic thinker and a key member of our executive team.”
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