Preparing emotionally for retirement is not easy. Partners face unique challenges in defining their value once they are no longer practicing law. They must find new interests. They must cope with anxiety at the prospect of living on a fixed income. They must separate their identities as lawyers from their identities as people. Retiring means forging new selves detached from the practice of law.
When a firm supports its partners in making this evolution, it is making an important intangible investment in its organizational goodwill. There are some excellent retirement coaches who counsel law partners on how to enter the next phase of their lives in a healthy way. Some retired partners volunteer as mentors to retiring partners, to help them with this rite of passage. The expense associated with funding and administering these services is often modest.
It is good for firm culture to find ways to say thank you to retiring partners. They are repositories of a firm’s oral history and institutional knowledge. Every firm has gone through crises and weathered storms. Retiring partners were the cool hands on the tiller when the going got rough. If a firm has grown and is successful, the senior partners who are now retiring are entitled to a victory lap on their way out.
Fostering a culture of gratitude for these partners’ service can be an important, positive expression of the firm’s values. In a profession not known for generosity of spirit, honoring retiring partners can help a firm build on the narrative that it is different – and better – than its competitors.
