Joan MacLeod Heminway,
Rick Rose Distinguished Professor of Law
The University of Tennessee College of Law
Why is teaching leadership in law schools important?
Lawyers are leaders at work (with clients and colleagues), in the community, and in their personal lives. Teaching leadership to law students helps prepare them for navigating life in all of those contexts—helping them to face challenges and achieve meaningful change.
If you teach a leadership course, what’s the title and brief description of the course?
Currently, I teach a course called Small Group Communication for Lawyer Leaders. Last year, I taught the course with an adjunct colleague. The course is designed to engage students in the exploration and practice of communication skills and methods important to leadership in small group situations common to lawyering and to the lives of lawyer leaders outside their workplaces. The overall goal is effective communication in small groups. I also will be teaching undergraduate leadership courses starting in the fall of 2024.
If you use a textbook or book, what do you use?
The law leadership course I currently teach does not use a textbook, but some book excerpts are assigned.
If you or your law school have a leadership program, what’s the title and brief description of the program?
Our law leadership program is housed in The University of Tennessee College of Law Institute for Professional Leadership. The Institute for Professional Leadership focuses on helping students identify and develop their leadership skills, professional values, and career paths through interdisciplinary programming beyond a strictly legal context. The Institute also offers extracurricular programming in leadership and professional development.
What’s your favorite leadership book? Why?
Tough choice. But I have to say that I introduce folks most to John Kotter’s 1996 book, Leading Change—his original book on change leadership. In which he introduces an eight-stage change process and illustrates how it may be used. His subsequent books on change and change leadership also resonate with me. Second on my list is Kim Scott’s 2017 book Radical Candor, which teaches lessons about the power of being direct while also remaining compassionate.
What’s your favorite leadership quote?
Another tough one! Maybe, defining leadership, “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” –Peter Drucker
What, if anything, do you want the reader to know about your views about leadership that doesn’t fit any of the above questions?
Among many other things, leading as a lawyer takes true grit—passion + perseverance. If we model it, our students can learn it. So, I want to encourage law teachers to drive ahead and push through their challenges to achieve their goals (and allow their students to watch the process!).