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Originally Posted by Unregistered
This is a good question. A lot of ambitious and intelligent people drop out of law because they just don't have the personality that it requires.
You need a very specific personality to thrive in law - basically people who think clinically and logically, are detail and process-oriented, and enjoy work that involves extensive document review, drafting, analysing fine details and nuances, and anticipating all the things that could go wrong and pro-actively working to reduce the risk of them occurring. In terms of MBTI, I find that a lot of lawyers tend to be INTJs (which is a personality type that is quite rare in the general population).
To become a partner, you need all of the above plus the ability to sell yourself, impress clients and generate business.
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I also think you would need to be very thick-skinned as well. Millennials and zoomers like us have the rules beaten into us and we are conditioned to never argue. But in practice, especially litigation, you need to be very gung-ho and thick-skinned because those are the traits that make a good lawyer.
As a client, you would not want your lawyer to be book-smart and nice but yet lack the necessary aggression to further your interests.