Retirement Succession Is Most Successful When It’s an Expression of a Firm’s Culture
The two years of hard work I did to transition my $6 million practice to my younger partners was an expression of gratitude to my AmLaw 100 firm, Barnes & Thornburg. Six months after I signed on, one of my children died suddenly – the worst thing that can ever happen to a parent. When...
How Firms Fund Their Investments In Retirement Succession
Everybody knows the “why” of retirement succession. If it doesn’t happen, a retiring partner’s clients will go to other firms. As most partners reach their peak earning years just before retirement, the revenue loss to their firms if no transition occurs can be steep. So the question whether to invest in a retirement succession program...Continue reading
An Effective Retirement Succession Program Makes a Firm Sustainable
Effective retirement transition planning is an investment in sustainability. The firm that has no retirement succession program risks losing younger partners to competitor firms that do. It’s also vulnerable to competitors looking to disrupt older partners’ relationships with their clients. Designing and executing a succession program takes effort and expense. It’s easy to put other...Continue reading
Retirement Succession is About One Thing: Client Service
From the client’s perspective, the imminent retirement of a relationship partner is problematic because it threatens an interruption in service. Clients know, sometimes from painful experience, that many law firms do not have programs in place for ensuring service continuity when lead partners retire. They also know that Baby Boomers are retiring in droves, and...Continue reading