The last thing a lawyer building a practice wants is to be invisible. Heightened visibility, after all, is the objective of all marketing. To build a law business, one must be very visible. The goal is to be a recognized thought leader in one’s chosen practice area, prolific in the industry press and on media channels, and sought-after among clients and potential clients. Becoming as visible as possible is what every lawyer in private practice is going for.
This all changes when a partner gets ready to retire, and sets about transitioning clients to the next generation. To guarantee clients uninterrupted service, and retain the revenue these clients historically generated for the firm, a partner retiring from the profession must do three things:
First, the retiring partner must train and mentor successor partners, preferably over a several-year period, to ensure that they are qualified to serve the senior partner’s clients.
Second, the retiring partner must position these successor partners at the summit level of client relationships, where they can develop as leaders and earn clients’ trust and confidence.
Finally, the retiring partner must, over time, gradually step back from these relationships. This is to train clients to request services from the successor partners alone. In the early and middle stages of the transition period, the retiring partner’s job is to help the clients and successors bond with each other. In the final phase of transition, the retiring partner must disappear from the clients’ view, rendering no services and billing no time. The partner will continue to coach the successor team from the sidelines, but cannot appear on calls or attend meetings. Any attention drawn to the retiring partner risks confusing the clients about who is in charge.
In short, for a retirement succession to be successful, the retiring partner must – as the culmination of the transition process – become invisible.
This isn’t easy. By the time I retired from my AmLaw 100 firm, I had built a $6 million practice. I trained and mentored younger lawyers. I helped lead my practice group, and liked and respected my partners. Though I hardly deserved it, I was treated like a rock star. As much as I like to think I kept my ego in check, I loved the attention, the affirmation, and the success.
So when I decided to retire, and made a plan for my partners to replace me, I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be going out with a bang. I needed my clients and partners to form close alliances, then put me out of mind. For these transitions to stick, I’d have to disappear.
No one – me included – is irreplaceable. I know this because, through execution of a specific and detailed transition plan, I have choreographed my own replacement. That’s the best thing for my clients and my partners. Once they clicked with each other, my responsibility was to tiptoe out the back door when no one was looking.
My partners have done, and are continuing to do, a great job for my former clients – now their clients. Everyone has forgotten about me, exactly as they should. My retirement transition has been an unqualified success.
I’ve become the invisible man.
