伴随女性更加活跃地以管理者角色在社会和企业中发挥作用，女性独特的领导风格也更加广泛地受到认可，这一点在充满挑战的2020年尤为凸显。以天达共和律师事务所为例，新冠疫情爆发后，该所管理团队第一时间实施了与律所战略、收入、员工政策等相关的应对策略，而团队中的女性领导者并没有止步于此：她们补充了一系列细致且有效的防疫措施，不仅满足了办公场所的防疫需求，还积极储备口罩等物资，以防员工家庭储备不足。
回顾女性领导力在那段特殊时期的彰显，天达共和律师事务所管理合伙人邢冬梅律师说：“与男性领导者不同的是，女性领导者更善于从感性的角度去看待问题，从不同的角度和维度进行观察与思考，并且提出解决方案。我一直认为，女性领导者能够将温暖、善良、周到的气质带到决策制定之中，彰显人文关怀。
这样的感性特质并非只有在疫情时期才能发挥作用。通商律师事务所上海分所管理合伙人朱海燕律师——她也是2020 ALB China十五佳女律师的上榜者之一——曾在采访中指出，“柔性管理”的风格体现着女性领导者的细致以及善于倾听、沟通和协调等充满智慧的领导力，她们往往尊重每一个个体，善于调动员工的主观能动性、发挥个体潜能，从而促进律所的管理更人性化和精细化。
朱律师的风格显然获得了极大回报：在她的领导下，通商上海分所取得了军工涉密业务资格单位资格证书，拓展了业务范围，同时还在管理制度、风险控制、人员招聘和培训等方面建立起统一的要求，并明确了新录用律师和律师助理的标准，以保证新进业务人员的素质。
从被传统观念所诟病的“太柔弱”“太情绪化”，到如今被广泛认可的柔韧力量，观念的转变不仅源自女性管理者所取得的切实成就，更来自法律服务机构的转型需要。
邢冬梅律师指出，法律服务行业在社会中所扮演的角色已经从相对单一的法律服务者，转变为社会综合治理中不可或缺的参与者。律师事务所也相应地从专门的法律服务提供者，转变为综合性的社会服务机构。这意味着律所管理层的构成也会顺应趋势，拥抱多元化，走向复合型发展。未来，也应当会有更多的女性律师加入管理团队，与男性领导者们共同为律所注入源源不断的活力。
“一个好的律所领导团队应当是刚柔并济的。”邢律师总结道。
更多的女性客户
更多的女性领导者不但能为律所加添更多元、健康的管理环境，一个更为现实的好处可能是：女性律所领导也能更好地和日益增多的女性客户对接。
根据thelawyer网站的一篇文章，“客户要求律所具备更为多元化团队的需求正与日俱增”。根据该网站统计，英国富时100指数（FTSE 100）公司中，只有7%的现任领导者是女性，但与此同时，这些公司中有33%任命了女性总法律顾问。
类似的趋势显然也发生在中国：以2020 ALB China十五佳总法律顾问榜单为例，其中有六位上榜总法是女性。当然，女性总法不一定总会选择女性律师，但对她们来说，一支具有更多女性领导者的律所管理团队显然会具备更好的观感。
“下一个十年必将为法律从业者多元性的彻底变化提供机会，以更好服务他们身处的社会。”thelawyer评论道。
What female leaders bring to law firms
As women take up more management roles in social and business organizations, their unique leadership skills are gaining more attention and acknowledgment. This was especially the case in 2020. Take, for example, the experience of East & Concord Law Firm. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm’s management team worked out a series of strategies to mitigation the impact on the business, but female managers went even beyond that: They led the planning and implementation of the pandemic prevention initiative, which not only protected the workplace, but also ensured employees and their families had an adequate supply of masks.
“What makes female managers distinguish from male peers is that we are better at analyzing and solving problems from a ‘gut’ perspective,” says Xing Dongmei, partner at East & Concord. “This is how we bring kindness and care to the setting of law firm’s strategies.”
This instinctive quality has a place even outside of a pandemic. Zhu Haiyan, managing partner of the Shanghai Office of Commerce & Finance Law Offices and one of the 2020 ALB China Top 15 Female Lawyers, pointed out in an interview that “soft” management reflects female leaders’ ability to listen, communicate and coordinate. With this kind of management, every individual in the team is respected, and their initiative and potential are motivated and unleashed. Zhu’s strategy has paid off: The Shanghai office standardized requirements for management, risk control, staff recruitment and training, and also expanded its business by obtaining authorization to provide services involving military secrets.
In less enlightened times, the kind of behaviour that used to be criticized by as “too weak” and “too emotional” is now being more objectively appreciated for its strength and resilience projected in a gentle way. This change has come not just as a result of female lawyers’ achievements, but also from the demand for law firms to evolve. Xing believes that law firms are not just legal service providers anymore—they are transitioning into more holistic institutions that provide certain social services as well, and this means management must embrace diversity if they are to keep up with the times. As a result, we can expect to see more women lawyers in leadership roles in the future.
“A strong leadership of a law firm should comprise the strengths of both men and women,” says Xing.
MORE FEMALE CLIENTS
Another advantage of having more female leaders, in addition to creating a more diversified and healthy management environment, is that female leaders are better at serving female clients.
According to an article published on thelawyer.com: “client demand for firms to field more diverse teams has accelerated.” Based on the statistics of the website, just seven of the current FTSE100 leaders are women, but on the other hand, around 33 percent of these companies have appointed female general counsels.
China is witnessing a similar trend: if we look at the ranking of 2020 ALB China Top 15 General Counsel (GC), we can see six female GCs. Of course, female GCs may not always choose female lawyers, but a team led by more women lawyers will win more preference from female GCs.
“The next decade provides an opportunity to overhaul the make-up of the legal profession so it better represents the population it serves.” commented by thelawyer.com.
