Law firms have always been led by lawyers. The senior partner was often both rainmaker and chief administrator, managing everything from finances to facilities. That model worked when the business of law was simpler and the competition was local. It no longer fits the complexity of today’s legal market.
It is time to rethink what this role should entail and who is best suited for it.
The Role of the COO
The main role of a COO in a law firm is to run the firm’s business operations. Partners’ time is best spent practicing law and building client relationships. Someone must ensure that the business runs efficiently behind the scenes.
The COO position includes creating the systems and discipline that enable partners to focus on client work. A strong COO connects the dots between finance, operations, people, and strategy. This relieves partners of this task and helps execute the firm’s goals.
The New Skills Required
The skill set for today’s COO has changed. Now legal COOs must be fluent in both management skills and technology. They must understand automation and AI applications that can streamline workflows and improve decision-making.
Strong COOs now act as translators between business strategy and operational execution. They can analyze profitability at the matter and client level. They can interpret financial and operational data to guide strategic investments. And they can communicate these insights to lawyers in ways that lead to action.
The most effective COOs combine four abilities:
- Operational discipline to ensure the firm’s core systems run smoothly.
- Financial literacy to create budgets and new pricing models.
- Technology fluency to identify where automation and AI create leverage.
- Leadership credibility to influence senior lawyers without authority based on title.
These abilities rarely come from the traditional legal path. That is why many of the most successful COOs in professional services come from finance, consulting, or technology backgrounds.
Why Some Firms Struggle to Empower the COO
Even when firms hire a capable COO, many fail to use the role effectively. In some partnerships, operations managers are limited to managing facilities, HR, or IT. This limits the COO’s ability to execute. Without clear authority, the role becomes reactive rather than strategic.
Empowering a COO requires the managing partner and the executive committee to treat the role as part of firm leadership, not support staff. The COO should sit at the table where strategic and financial decisions are made, with access to the same data and accountability.
The COO and Change Management
Law firms face rising cost pressures and technology-driven disruption. These challenges cannot be solved through individual effort or incremental change. They require systemic thinking, the kind that a professional COO brings.
A forward-looking COO can lead firmwide initiatives in areas such as:
- Redesigning work allocation models that improve leverage and profitability.
- Introducing firm-level KPIs and dashboards to measure performance in real time.
- Managing AI adoption projects across practice groups.
- Building training programs that develop “business of law” concepts among lawyers.
The goal is to help the Managing Partner execute on the firm’s strategic plan. The COO becomes the connection that links strategy with day-to-day execution. COOs can also take on many of the regular duties of the Managing Partner so that they can focus on higher-level firm strategy and leadership objectives.
What Law Firms Should Do Next
Every firm should begin by asking a simple question: What is our COO actually accountable for? If the answer sounds administrative rather than strategic, the firm may be missing an opportunity.
The next step is to align the COO’s role with measurable outcomes. Examples include improvement in profit per partner or percentage of work automated. These are results that move the firm forward and justify the investment in senior operational leadership.
Closing Thoughts
The modern law firm operates more like a business than a traditional partnership. Rethinking the COO role involves giving COOs more authority and accountability to give the firm a strategic advantage. This can also lead to non-lawyer COOs becoming CEOs or recruiting non-lawyer CEOs from other industries. Given the immense changes happening in the legal industry today, high-end professional management in law firms is becoming a must-have in order to succeed.
