As a lawyer, what’s your superpower? What perspectives can you bring to a boardroom table that other professionals may overlook? How can you help a board of directors lean into risk, while maintaining boundaries?
In September 2026, the American Bar Association held its Business Law Section Fall Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. I had the opportunity to attend a panel entitled “From Legal Advisor to Boardroom Decision-Maker: The Lawyer as a Value-Creating Director,” which focused on three leaders in industry, who have had the opportunity to add “board member” to their resumes. The discussion was moderated by Katayun Jaffari of Cozen O’Connor, chair of the firm’s Corporate Governance Group, co-chair of its Capital Markets & Securities Group, and chair of its ESG Practice. The program featured insights from panelists Tanuja Dehne, managing director at DSG Global and independent board director; Sherrin Ross Ingram, founder and CEO of the International Center for Strategic Planning and independent board director; and Michelle Hong, counsel at Stradley Ronon and independent board director.
What’s Your Superpower?
To kick off the panel discussion, Jaffari asked each panelist to discuss the superpower that they bring to the boardroom. Dehne described her superpower as “leaning towards the edge.” As a corporate M&A and securities attorney, she is able to “push the edges” and lean into risk while knowing the boundaries. She also highlighted time management and communications as transferable skills from the legal profession that have served her well in the boardroom. Ingram’s superpower as a litigator is her “ability to challenge, to ask the probing questions.” She described lawyers as particularly well suited to ask those probing questions, because that is how we are trained. Hong comes from a trusts and estates legal background, and she highlighted her ability to think both inside and outside of the box in making risk-weighted judgments.
Understanding the Blind Spots
The panelists were asked to consider how lawyers can understand their own blind spots as they pertain to boardroom decision-making. As a lawyer turned strategic advisor, Ingram enjoys unpacking biases and the underlying assumptions that form those biases. She thinks that questioning biases and helping others understand their own biases is a huge part of the value that lawyers can bring to an organization and a board. Dehne emphasized that you cannot get comfortable and must keep consistently learning and building. Hong highlighted the value of reviewing the board materials and then going for a walk or taking a shower to let your mind wander and find the strategic questions to ask.
Dehne also noted that a person does not get invited to be a board member because of their title as “lawyer”; rather, they earn that invitation as a well-rounded executive, and it takes time to grow into that role. Ingram added on that “there is a preconceived notion on how you are going to show up [as a lawyer]. You want to challenge that notion from day one.” In that context, the panel discussed that lawyers must shift from problem solver to challenge tester in a board role. A board member is expected to work with management but also to challenge assumptions. Ultimately, the board has to step back and let management solve the problems and do the work—a potentially difficult role shift for lawyers who are used to being the problem solvers in their organization.
The Importance of Guardrails
When the panel explored the boundaries that help separate the role of a lawyer from that of a board member, the main takeaway from the discussion was that lawyers need to stop focusing primarily on risk, which is “lawyer speak,” Ingram said. One way to make this leap is to reframe risk as assumptions. Ingram thinks that all assumptions are risk because they are unproven, and every strategic decision is built on assumptions. Dehne pointed out that “we live in crisis,” and, in this volatile world, boards must make swift decisions in gray space. She went on to point out the importance of shifting from defense (risk identification) to offense.
A Lawyer’s Path to the Boardroom
The panelists provided the following tips for anyone who might be looking to make the jump from lawyer to director:
- Make it obvious on your LinkedIn profile that you are interested in board work, as many boards use search firms to identify potential directors.
- Branding matters. Know your “why,” your brand, and your positioning. It is important to be able to articulate the value you can bring from day one. If you have not really thought your future role as director through, you are doing yourself a disservice.
- When forming your value proposition, pay attention to why people are coming to you. Listen to what people are already saying about you. Massage this into a narrative that you can repeat.
- Governance and strategic experience are an asset.
- Understand a potential board’s governance and processes for adding new directors, evaluating directors, and term limits. Ensure those align with what you are looking for in a board role.
Key Takeaways
For those looking to parlay their legal skills into opportunities in the boardroom, it is clear that a legal career helps build key competencies that lend themselves well to a director role. The panel made clear that, while lawyers generally bring value, a prospective director should be thoughtful and able to articulate their unique value and skills. As a director, a lawyer should be able to take off the lawyer hat, ask the probing questions, lean into risk (instead of just identifying it), and ultimately let others (i.e., the management team) work to solve the problem.
