A Team Coaching Case Study on Associate Retention

This article was first published in the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Today on February 7, 2026.
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A law firm was concerned about the rapid rate at which it was losing associates to competitors. Firm leaders believed they offered a strong and supportive workplace but were concerned about the disconnect between that belief and the firm’s retention outcomes. In order to understand better the situation, I started by interviewing each lawyer on the team. I learned the following:

• The team possessed excellent legal skills.
  There was consensus that the firm’s lawyers, associates, and staff possessed a high caliber of legal skills. Most lawyers really enjoyed the substance of their work. They found it interesting and satisfying.

• There was significant variation in the way partners treated associates. Some partners went out of their way to be supportive and flexible. Other partners frequently expected associates to cancel important personal events at the last minute and work at all hours; they were generally perceived as disregarding associates’ basic needs.

• Distribution of work continued to be an issue.
  The previous year, the firm had implemented a new system to help distribute work more equitably among associates. Partners thought the new system had fixed the problem. The associates felt that the distribution of work continued to be highly inequitable.

• Expectations were unclear regarding associate availability.
  Some associates believed that they always needed to make themselves available late at night and early in the morning, and this caused them significant stress and resentment. Meanwhile, most of the partners had less rigid expectations and had no idea that some associates felt obligated to monitor their email late into the night.

• Associates and counsel wanted a stronger sense of community and more communication from partners.
  The firm had three locations, and the associates wanted more opportunities to get to know one another.

• Senior associates and counsel wanted more intentional communication regarding lawyer departures and lateral hires.
  Often, the first notice of a departure came through an automated email stating that a colleague was no longer with the firm. After years of shared work and commitment, this abrupt approach left many feeling that contributions were quickly forgotten, which undermined the sense of mutual respect and community within the firm.

What Is Team Coaching?

Team coaching focuses on how people actually work together, communicate, make decisions, handle tension, and share responsibility for results. Although throughout a team coaching engagement individuals are likely to gain personal insights and develop skills, the focus of the coaching is on making the team as a whole work more effectively.

“Team coaching” and “group coaching” are often confused with one another. In group coaching, each person is working on their own individual goals. In team coaching, however, the focus is on shared goals, like firm profitability, strategic planning, enhancing client service, or, in this case, associate retention.

Setting the Stage for a Successful Team Coaching Engagement

Team coaching works best when there are few enough participants to allow for substantive discussion. This firm had 19 lawyers. Therefore, I recommended limiting participation to the partners, counsel, and senior associates, for a total of 11 participants.

Any issue facing a team is inherently complex, shaped by broader organizational pressures, individual priorities, and a web of working relationships. For this reason, it is especially important to clearly define both an overall goal for the team coaching engagement and specific objectives for each session. In advance of the first session, I met with the managing partner, and we agreed on “making the firm the best possible place to work” as the overall goal. We further agreed on “distribution of work” as the topic for the first coaching session.

I sent out a questionnaire to each lawyer in the firm asking about their experience and preferences regarding the distribution of work. Responses were anonymized and distributed to the team in advance of the first team coaching session. Since the junior and midlevel associates would not be represented in the room, it was particularly important that their views were included.

The First Team Coaching Session

One of the greatest challenges for many law firms and practice groups is creating alignment around shared goals. Based on responses to the preparatory questionnaire, it became clear that two partners believed the team should prioritize profitability over creating what they described as a “nice” work environment. As a result, the first coaching session began with a discussion about the costs and benefits of creating the “best possible work environment.”

This conversation surfaced a long-standing tension within the team and provided an opportunity to practice having an authentic discussion about a sensitive issue. Once the partners holding the minority view felt that their perspective had been fully heard and understood, they became more open to evidence that retention and profitability are closely linked. The team revised its goal to “create a work environment where great lawyers thrive,” and thereafter the partners all appeared to be fully engaged.

Next, the team examined in detail how the current system for distributing work actually operated—both where it was effective and where gaps existed between intention and reality. Because the team already had the questionnaire results, the full range of perspectives was visible from the outset. Therefore, the team was able to move quickly into a substantive discussion without putting anyone on the spot.

The team reviewed concrete examples of who was staffed on which matters, how decisions were made under time pressure, and where informal workarounds were overriding formal processes. As the discussion unfolded, related issues surfaced around trust and associate reliability, perceptions of fairness, best practices for associate development, management of client demands, and coordination of work across offices.

The team identified three specific adjustments to the work distribution system that they agreed to test going forward, along with three related topics for which they would gather additional information prior to the next session. The session concluded with a clear plan for the next meeting, which would include revisiting work distribution and beginning to explore best practices for associate availability and training.

Outcomes from the Team Coaching

Over the course of five two-hour coaching sessions, the team addressed a range of long-standing concerns. The most significant outcome was a strengthened sense of community and collaboration. By engaging with the full range of viewpoints, the team was able to gain a deeper understanding of one another. This increased awareness led to more effective solutions and more intentional communication practices across the firm. By openly discussing topics that had previously been implied or avoided, participants gained confidence in their ability to solve problems collectively. Notably, two partners who formerly had a contentious relationship expressed a renewed appreciation for each other’s contributions, and several lawyers who had not previously collaborated launched a new business development initiative together.

Senior associates reported meaningful improvements in the distribution of work and workflow. While some challenges were not fully resolvable, they felt that partners had made genuine efforts to improve day-to-day working conditions for both senior and junior associates. The senior associates expressed appreciation for the firm’s seriousness in addressing their concerns and felt validated by being invited to participate in team coaching alongside the partners. Many noted that they gained insight into communication and the realities of running a law firm, and several expressed increased enthusiasm about pursuing partnership in the coming years.

Significantly, no senior associates or counsel left the firm during that year or the following year. One associate did depart, and everyone agreed that person was not a good fit. In that case, partners communicated concerns with one another and with the associate more clearly and earlier than in the past, which helped expedite the process and allowed for a respectful transition with minimal stress.

Team coaching can be highly effective, even in situations that are complex or deeply entrenched. When teams actively seek out stakeholder perspectives and commit to respectful dialogue, they can make progress on even the most intractable challenges.