Pre-pandemic surveys reported that 73% of lawyers in the United States lack a cohesive retirement plan but instead intend to “die at their desks.” However, the ongoing pandemic and resulting remote working environment has caused some lawyers to reassess their life priorities with a focus on future plans. For some, this has meant exploring other opportunities for employment. For others, this has meant considering long-term career goals, including potential retirement.

Retirement is not a dirty word. A well-planned retirement process can help serve as a tribute to an accomplished career. But lawyers who do not consider what will happen to their practices when they stop practicing law may be harming themselves, their clients and their colleagues.  Thus, succession planning can give lawyers and law firms a valuable tool to maintain some measure of control over the future.

Why a succession plan?

Some lawyers are reluctant to get a succession plan in place for their practices because of the potential unstated implication that it means they are dispensable. However, the goal of succession planning is to ensure business continuity and growth for both planned and unplanned events. When done properly, a succession plan benefits the individual lawyer, clients, colleagues and the law firm.

Succession plans are not only helpful just for unexpected events or for permanent retirements. They also can be quite effective and useful for building teams that support ongoing client relationships. Doing that is helpful for when a lawyer takes a vacation or sabbatical or has to take extended sick leave. Even for lawyers who have a key role in their client relationships, having support helps ensure that clients can continue to be served even when the lawyer just needs a little time off.

Indeed, succession planning may be on the minds of clients, whether they directly say so or not. If it is, it can give clients peace of mind to know that their preferred lawyer has an adequate support network available to provide ongoing services, even where no retirement is imminently planned, as it shows that the client’s needs can still be met regardless of an illness or other unexpected event. Similarly, introducing potential long term successors to clients presents an opportunity for lawyers and law firms alike to demonstrate their continued commitment to superior client services as well as to ensure continuity in the future. This adds value to client relationships and may also increase client loyalty.

How to implement a succession plan

There is no bright-line rule on how lawyers can implement their succession plans. It can be done formally or informally, internally or externally. However, most succession plans require some collaboration to outline who will take over various roles, responsibilities, and client relationships years before it is set to happen. The implementation of a succession plan not only involves the decision on transferring a client relationship, but also ensuring that the transfer of knowledge happens early on—the details about key clients, the core values of the culture, the client’s plan for the future, and the wisdom that comes with experience.

Lawyers who choose a more formal approach may want to draft a succession plan agreement that provides the trigger event(s), how long the agreement should remain in effect after the trigger, the scope of the successor’s responsibility, and a list of the successor’s duties. It also should describe what steps will be taken to introduce clients to the successor to ensure that the client is comfortable with the new attorney.

A less-formal approach may involve lawyers introducing their successors to clients and allowing them direct access to the clients in order to build trust and confidence in the successors over a longer period of time. This supports a more organic transition.

There can also be many options in-between. How a succession plan is implemented comes down to what works best for a particular lawyer, the lawyer’s practice and the clients involved.

The importance of mentorship

Succession plans also provide built-in opportunities for mentorship. Some of the most important components of a lawyer’s development from junior associate to senior partner come from mentoring and sponsorship opportunities.

Succession planning is the product of careful planning over time and typically involves senior lawyers identifying, cultivating and supporting junior lawyers who demonstrate certain leadership capabilities and legal acumen. Identifying the right successor for a particular lawyer’s practice also opens the door for law firms to advance their diversity and inclusion goals.

It is also important for the transitioning lawyers to facilitate the handoff. Thus, taking the time to groom a potential successor ensures the senior lawyer’s legal skills will be imparted on the successor. The senior lawyer and law firm can also feel confident knowing the successor has taken the time not only to learn the practice area thoroughly, but to understand the nuances of the clients’ needs.

Along with engaging senior lawyers in constructive strategic planning and succession planning discussions, it is equally important to develop the next generations of lawyers who will work together with their more senior partners to transfer important assets and maintain the scope and quality of practices and services the previous generation has built. Actively seeking mentorship opportunities is even more important while lawyers are practicing law from home, which may dampen organic opportunities for friendships and mentoring relationships to develop.

A consideration often forgotten in succession planning is that lawyers can step away or scale back their practice to reduce workload to enjoy other pursuits: it does not mean lawyers have to go from 100 miles per hour to zero. However, whatever that next thing is, being prepared for it can ease the minds of clients, law firms, and lawyers.