» Attorney Retirement

Succession is perhaps the most significant long-term challenge facing soon-to-be-retired, baby-boomer solo practitioners and small law firm owners. This is understandable, as a variety of psychological and emotional factors stack the odds against you laying the foundation for a smooth transition.

Decades of legal practice mold the brain. But when the work stops, the brain begins to change, bringing consequences that are rarely discussed but widely felt. The legal profession demands constant mental engagement. Over time, this sharpens a lawyer’s ability to anticipate problems and navigate complexity with precision. But emotional transitions don’t follow the same process.

When it comes to planning your law firm’s succession, a primary area of concern for your successor is whether your clients will choose to work with that successor after you leave. One way to assess that is to evaluate the type of goodwill that exists with your clients and whether that goodwill carries any transferrable value.

You have spent years building your practice, but what happens when you step away? For solo attorneys, retirement is not just about closing cases and notifying clients. It’s also about ensuring peace of mind, knowing that nothing from your past practice will come back to haunt you. This includes malpractice claims that could surface years after you stop practicing.

Lawyers are notorious for thinking of ways things can go wrong for their clients and then determining the best ways to protect their clients from them. One calamity few lawyers ever consider, however, is their own unexpected disability that puts their career on hold—or worse, their death.

It should come as no surprise that many of today’s successful small to medium-size law firm founders are Boomers who are retiring in unprecedented numbers. These leaders hope to cash out and enhance their retirement nest eggs through either buyout payments from younger partners, or contractual post-retirement formulaic obligations that resemble pension payouts.

When it comes to the future of their law firms, solo practitioners and small law firm owners frequently delay or entirely avoid doing what is necessary for succession planning. Numbers don’t lie. Thomson Reuters’ State of U.S. Small Law Firms reports that succession planning is a focus for less than a quarter of law firms. I would also strongly suspect that even if 25% say they are “focusing” on succession planning, I’d be shocked if more than 10% were doing anything about it. Procrastinating on succession planning can lead to significant complications, including financial loss, client and staff confusion, and emotional distress for loved ones. Let’s explore some of the reasons why lawyers procrastinate. After that, I will discu…

Many attorneys overlook the impact their office lease can have on retirement because they are so focused on the demands of running their practice. When your lease expiration date drives your retirement date, you increase the risk of facing two undesirable outcomes.