Three P. Kelly Tompkins Leadership and Law Center Leaders-in-Residence (LIR) joined CSU Law students on September 23, 2026 to discuss what leadership looks like before you have a formal title. Judge Ronald B. Adrine, retired Cleveland Municipal Court Judge; Kim Bixenstine, retired Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of University Hospitals; and Carter Strang, retired founding partner of Tucker Ellis LLP shared advice drawn from decades of experience across law, business and public service.

Their message converged around four ideas. Find work that genuinely matters to you and do it well; responsibility follows. Develop a leadership style that is authentically yours, not a copy of someone else’s. Know not just when to take initiative, but how: “Nine times out of 10, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,” Judge Adrine told students. And invest in relationships over titles. “Leadership, at the end of the day, is really all about relationships,” he said.

Each closed with a single piece of advice for students: act with integrity, become indispensable, and stay humble. As Judge Adrine put it: “There is no substitute for sound research.”