As part of the strategic planning side of my consultancy, I find that many of my clients identify a gap between the need for succession planning, and the willingness of their more senior lawyers to embrace and plan for succession.  I can easily convince law firms of the value of these plans.  The hard part is to convince the more senior lawyers, unless I’m coaching them. And too often, those lawyers avoid coaching as they feel it might force them into retirement sooner than they are ready for it.   My hope is that this post will help to convince those lawyers of the benefits of embracing proper, formal succession planning.

I was recently reminded of the saying that once you climb Everest, you’re only halfway done.  If you deep sea dive, you won’t live to remember the journey unless you carefully decompress on the way up.  And if you are ever lucky enough to go into space, it wouldn’t be considered a successful journey until you had safely landed back on Earth.

My point is that success is tied to how the journey is completed.  The problem is that when our  life purpose and self-identity have been focused on a particular career (which is often the case for lawyers), we might not want that journey to end.  But all of life is cyclical…there’s no fighting that.  I would simply ask that you consider the following:

  1. Too often, senior lawyers admit to me that when they think about retirement, they feel it is only a step away from death. Or they feel that they are nothing without the title of “lawyer”.  Well, I can’t stop you from aging. But I can assure you that for those who see retirement as entering the next phase of their life tend to build wonderful next chapters.  The secret is to work on the vision (and preparations for that vision) before you retire.  I do a lot of succession/retirement planning with senior lawyers where we imagine what that next chapter might look like.  It might involve writing, travelling, gardening, spending more time with family, doing volunteer work, taking up a completely new hobby like singing in a choir or learning how to fish or golf or hike.  Once we’ve determined what that next chapter will look like, we start to prepare. That might involve financial preparations while you’re still working – such as doing any major renovations to your home, or buying that new car – before you have to rely on savings. It likely involves preparing for some of those new activities, such as learning a new language, taking a writing course, taking some golf lessons, etc.  It certainly involves rebuilding your social network, particularly but not exclusively with others who are at the same stage of life.  The point is, you take the time and energy to create a vision, and then prepare for it to become a reality.  When this is done effectively, you aren’t walking away from something so much as walking toward some somethings that you can get excited about.
  2. Focus on retiring well. Think of it as the last crucial lesson or event in your career…how to bow out gracefully, and effectively.  And that usually involves the creation of a succession plan at work, and an adequate amount of time to implement it.  You can’t expect a more junior lawyer than you to take over your practice, and build the trust of your clients, in six months.  You need time to train them properly, and introduce them to your clients.  They’ll need to first get active on some client files, then lead some client files with your oversight, then do files with the client completely on their own.  These lawyers will also need time to build up their reputation in their given area of law.  And in some instances, they’ll need to build up the internal reputation they’ll need in order to credibly take over as a leader in that practice area.  I estimate that it can take two years or more for a proper succession plan.
  3. Understand that your actions can either help or hurt the firm. If you insist that you only need to give the firm a few months’ notice before you leave, that probably isn’t serving the best needs of your firm or your clients.  If you work out your notice period without actively preparing other lawyers to take over your clients, or without helping to introduce those lawyers to your clients, then your retirement strategy is not taking others into account.   Both the timing and the actions are critical.  I often wonder what the US would look like today if Ruth Bader Ginsberg had retired with sufficient time for Biden to have selected another member of the Supreme Court.  But she held on for too long, and despite her years or wisdom and contribution, that bit of ego became a black mark on her record and, some might say, negatively changed the course of history.
  4. Understand that the way you retire can either protect or destroy your legacy. This is where I want your ego to come to the forefront.  Anyone who has been with a law firm for a while – and particularly if they helped to build that firm or a practice within that firm – has a legacy to protect.  You’ll want to ensure that your practice/clients are well taken care of in your absence.  You’ll want to know that your staff are getting a soft landing.  You’ll want to know that you have done what you could to ensure the firm’s finances are affected as little as possible by your departure.  Too often, I seen instances where it feels as if departing lawyers wanted the firm to suffer as much as possible, to feel a loss, when they retired.  But I believe that most retiring lawyers want to be thought well of as they leave.  They want to know that all of their hard work over the years has not been in vain, and that the firm will survive and thrive for their efforts.

So, what’s the best way to prepare for retirement?

  • Work with the firm on a succession plan. This should be a document, that all can read and follow. It’s a commitment by you to do those things that will most smoothly and logically prepare for your eventual departure. It’s also a commitment from the firm to continue to support you, as needed, until your final departure date.
  • Start with appropriate timing. I believe it takes at least two years for a proper succession strategy.  The plan can cover three primary areas including:
  1. Which clients will go to which lawyers. Create a succession plan for each, allowing time for the gentle introduction and eventual transfer of those relationships.
  2. How you’ll prepare those lawyers for the role, including training but also client introductions and the transfer of trust; and
  3. How you will prepare other lawyers to serve as a leader in your practice area, as it’s likely most senior lawyers are providing some level of leadership within their firm, leadership that will be greatly missed on their departure.
  • Build a “next phase” plan so you know and can get excited about what comes next. Do whatever you can to prepare for this next phase, as mentioned above.
  • Decelerate work, if you can. It’s difficult to stop anything cold turkey.  You might benefit from a gradual decline at work and consecutively, and gradual incline of the new phase in your life.  For example, over a two-year period, you might reduce hours in the first year to four or even three days per week.  In the second year you might move from three to two days per week, gradually moving to one day per week as you get closer to retirement.

Understand that when you retire well, you are doing what you can to protect your legacy and the firm’s stability.  You are taking good care of your lawyers, your clients and your staff.  And you are teaching the lawyers in your firm what professionalism in retirement looks like.

Heather Gray-Grant is a business strategist, marketing expert and executive coach for law firms, lawyers and administrators.  She can be reached at heather@heathergraygrant.com