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 disaster strikes, you find out who your friends are. The outpouring of support from my coworkers at Barnes & Thornburg was overwhelming. I didn’t know my 200+ partners and they didn’t know me.
Yet I received dozens of heartfelt cards and emails from partners and employees I had never met. The charity my wife and I designated in lieu of flowers at our son’s memorial service received several thousand dollars from B&T people. The firm hired a therapist for me. Despite the contraction of my practice that first year, my compensation wasn’t cut. One day I found that a strip of opaque film had been placed over the vertical pane of glass abutting my office door. Someone had passed in the hallway and seen me crying at my desk.
I can never repay these and many other acts of kindness, from people in all corners of the firm around the country, none of whom knew me from Adam. I would run through small arms fire for them. I very much wanted to leave Barnes & Thornburg a little bit better than it was when I joined. Doing the work necessary to transition a big practice to the next generation was my thank-you to the firm, and to my younger partners who are serving my clients – now their clients – so well.
In some firms, my story would sound cliché. Not at B&T. The generosity and good heartedness of my former colleagues are part of the firm’s culture. In my time there, I witnessed most people act decently toward each other most of the time. When folks treat each other this way, going the extra mile becomes the norm.
More retiring partners will do what I did (i.e., work hard to transition clients to the next generation) at firms that model this behavior. The cost of this cultural investment in retirement succession? Zero. The benefit to the firm of retaining retiring partners’ clients, year after year? Incalculable.
