Montana Lawyer April/May 2025

emotional intelligence. 9 In this evolving landscape, leadership is no longer about fitting into a traditional mold. It is about bringing one’s whole self to the role, with authenticity and conviction. That is the kind of leadership I aspire to embody, and it is the kind of lead ership Montana—and the legal profession—needs. Endnotes 1 Knight, Rebecca, 8 Essential Qualities of Successful Leaders , Harvard Business Review (Dec. 13, 2023), accessed at https://hbr. org/2023/12/8-essential-qualities-of-successful-leaders. 2 Id. 3 Id. 4 Profile of the Legal Profession 2024 : Women in the Legal Profession , American Bar Association, accessed at https:// www.americanbar.org/news/profile-legal-profession/women/. 5 Id. 6 Id. 7 Women as Lawyers and Leaders, Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession (May/June 2015), accessed at https://clp.law.harvard.edu/knowledge hub/magazine/issues/women-as-lawyers-and-leaders/ women-as-lawyers-and-leaders/. 8 Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas, As Long as We Associate Leadership With Masculinity, Women Will Be Overlooked , Harvard Business Review (March 8, 2019), accessed at https:// hbr.org/2019/03/as-long-as-we-associate-leadership-with-mas culinity-women-will-be-overlooked. 9 Id. The views expressed in this President’s Message are those of the State Bar President. They do not necessarily reflect the views of all State Bar members and are not an official position of the State Bar itself.

dominance, and decisiveness. But today, the conversation is evolving. Qualities such as emotional intelligence, collabora tion, and resilience are recognized as equally—if not more— critical to success. As President of the State Bar, I have aimed to lead with a thoughtful and mindful approach, maintaining a steady hand in times of chaos. According to an ABA Profile of Women in the Legal Profession (2024), “When the history of the legal profession is written, 2016 to 2026 may become known as the Decade of the Female Lawyer—a time when the profession started to noticeably shift from a male majority to a female majority.” 4 Women now make up the majority of law school students, fed eral government lawyers, and law firm associates, and they are nearing parity among full-time law school faculty members. 5 In Montana, 40% of all lawyers are women. As of May 2024, 43% of all justices on the states’ highest courts were women. 6 These numbers reflect a broader shift in leadership demo graphics. Women were first admitted to the American Bar Association in 1918—two years before they were granted the right to vote. 7 Since then, they have made extraordinary prog ress. As more women enter the legal profession, the opportuni ties for them to assume leadership roles expand. Returning to my original question—does a woman have to become a man to become president? Research suggests otherwise. Scholars have concluded that overall gender dif ferences in leadership effectiveness do not exist. 8 Leadership today is increasingly defined not by gendered traits but by skills that foster connection, problem-solving, and adaptabil ity. With artificial intelligence taking over many task-based functions, leadership is shifting even further toward people management—requiring greater empathy, collaboration, and

WWW.MONTANABAR.ORG This CLE program has not been approved by the Montana Commission of Continuing Legal Education. Attorneys are responsible for submitting ap plications for credit and determining whether the content meets the requirements for CLE credit in Montana. APRIL-MAY 2025

5