Senior Partners are the Golden Ticket for Law Firms
Approximately 30% to 40% of law firm attorneys are composed of senior partners. Law firm bottom lines could significantly benefit if firms created a solid plan to maximize the revenue they bring into their firms. It is obvious that they have the experience, connections, and ability to mentor more junior lawyers. Senior partners are also...
Upping Your Business Development Game is a Powerful Succession Strategy
Those of us who came up the ranks a generation or more ago were taught that all problems, large and small, are solved by developing new business. A court just ruled against you? A new matter eases the pain. A big client just went under? Bringing in a new one takes the sting right off....Continue reading
“Stay the Course” is Not an Effective Succession Retirement Strategy
At many law firms, the succession strategy is to “Stay the Course.” But this isn’t a productive strategy. For a succession plan to be effective, it must be forward-looking and allow for adjustments as new challenges develop. “Stay the Course” is inherently backward-looking and unresponsive to changing client needs and events. So when a law...Continue reading
Succession Is Inevitable—Good Succession Planning Is Not
Law firms owe much of their success to the hard work of baby boom generation senior partners. I know these folks well—I was one of them before I retired. They have big investments in their firms, reflected by big capital account balances. They consider these investments risk-free and expect returns of funds on demand when...Continue reading
Senior Partners: Begin Talking About Retirement Now
Often, maturing partners at law firms are sensitive about discussing retirement. The very utterance of the word “retire” can feel like a concession to old age and weakness, an admission that a partner is, like Miss Jean Brodie, past her prime. Clients understand that this is why older partners avoid the topic. (Most in-house lawyers...Continue reading
Succession Planning: Getting retirement succession right
In this newly published article in Business of Law Digest (BOLD), I take up some of the more sensitive and frustrating aspects of partner succession planning. “Baby Boom generation law partners are not doing a particularly good job of retiring from practice. They know they will have to leave the profession someday, but cannot imagine...Continue reading