Being a law firm managing partner, an old joke goes, “is like being in a cemetery. There are a lot of people under you, but none of them are listening.”

Mintz Levin managing partner Robert Bodian recalled hearing it in 2009 when he took the reins at his firm — and he offers it now to an incoming cohort of top leaders at five major firms: White & Case; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Holland & Knight; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and Baker Botts.

The firms in June all announced they had elected new heads, who in the coming months will assume their managerial duties.

Leading a law firm, Bodian assured me, “can be very rewarding.” But it’s a tough gig.

Big Law partners tend to be opinionated, autonomous and highly mobile – and they “generally don’t have a huge amount of time or respect for management,” said Laura Empson, a professor at Bayes Business School in London and research fellow at Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession.

The author of “Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas,” Empson noted that power within a law firm “belongs to the people who generate the most revenue.”

And that’s not usually the managing partners–not once they give up some or all of their practice to make time for their new duties. No longer bringing in sizeable fees, they can start to look more like a “cost” to their colleagues, she said.

The author of “Leading Professionals: Power, Politics, and Prima Donnas,” Empson noted that power within a law firm “belongs to the people who generate the most revenue.”

And that’s not usually the managing partners–not once they give up some or all of their practice to make time for their new duties. No longer bringing in sizeable fees, they can start to look more like a “cost” to their colleagues, she said.

The result? The role often entails “a huge amount of responsibility but very little power,” Empson said.

Why then does anyone want the job? Sure, “managing partner” (or executive partner or chair, depending on the firm) is an impressive title, but what else makes taking on the role appealing?

In part, because it’s a new challenge, WilmerHale’s managing partner-elect Anjan Sahni told me.

“As much as I enjoy the practice of law, and intend to continue to practice, I also enjoy thinking about questions of institutional effectiveness and institutional culture,” he said.

Sahni was elected on June 15 to succeed co-managing partners Susan Murley and Robert Novick, who also continued to practice while heading the 1,100-lawyer firm. They’ll remain partners at Wilmer after stepping down.

A white-collar litigator, Sahni, 46, will assume his new duties on Jan. 1.

Others are also persuaded because their colleagues urge them to step forward.

“I was interested in it because my partners asked me to run,” said Danny David, reached via email on vacation. He’ll take over as managing partner of 625-lawyer Baker Botts on Aug. 1, and will also keep an active practice, he said.

Currently co-chair of the firm’s litigation practice, David, who is 48, will succeed John Martin, who has been managing partner since 2019 and is subject to mandatory retirement at the end of 2023, according to the firm.

Saying yes to the job may also stem from a sense of obligation and gratitude.

“I took it on with a sense of duty,” said Holland & Knight’s newly-elected chair and CEO Robert Grammig. “The firm has been very good to me for 40 years. I want to see it succeed.”

Currently the co-leader of Holland & Knight’s corporate, M&A and securities practice, Grammig in the spring of 2024 will replace Steven Sonberg, who has headed the nearly 2,000-lawyer firm since 2008.

When he does, Grammig, who is 67, said he’ll give up his practice–though he’ll “still be available for high-level things,” he said. “It’s not as if I’m moving to Mars.”

When I asked if he was concerned about holding on to his clients just in case he wants to go back to practicing, he laughed. “I’m not stressed about that,” he said. “But it’d be a real issue if I was, say, 48. What happens if it doesn’t work out?”

Indeed, that’s a thorny question for younger leaders who may be years from retirement.

“If you give up practicing, that makes (managing partner) the last job you’ll have at the firm,” said R. Bruce McLean, who headed Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for almost two decades and is now a consultant at the Zeughauser Group. “Going back to practicing from a dead stop is very hard.”

While Sahni and David have both committed to continuing to practice, it’s not clear how the incoming leaders at Skadden and White & Case will proceed. Skadden’s newly-elected executive partner Jeremy London is 51, and White & Case’s chair-elect Heather McDevitt is 55. Both declined comment through firm spokespeople.

Balancing firm management and private practice is challenging but do-able, DLA Piper co-chair Frank Ryan told me. Since taking the helm of the 4,000-plus lawyer firm in 2019, he’s continued to maintain his sports, entertainment and IP-focused litigation practice. But he’s also scaled back, no longer trying cases, for example.

“You need to be realistic about the amount of time the job will take,” he said. (The answer: A lot.)

Still, he said, “I think it’s important to keep your hand” in practicing law – not just for personal reasons, but also as a way to “stay in touch” with on-the-ground trends.

For all the demands of running a firm, Ralph Baxter, who chaired Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe from 1990 to 2013 and now advises law firms and law departments, said it can also be deeply satisfying if properly approached.

“You need to understand the job is more about being a leader than a manager,” he said. “The difference is very important.”

Leading is about vision and inspiration, he said, while managing “connotes making people do things. These are professionals who are independent by design.”

People talk about managing a law firm as “herding cats, like that’s a bad thing,” Baxter added. “But that’s how it’s supposed to be.”