Succession planning is a topic of much discussion in law firms today. With the b

Succession planning is a topic of much discussion in law firms today. With the baby boomer generation at or nearing retirement age, the need to ensure both leadership and client relationship succession is top of mind for many law firms. Research indicates that partners over the age of 60 “control”, via billings or originations, up to 35-40% of a firm’s revenue. Ensuring that those client relationships stay with the firm beyond the boomers’ retirement is critically important to the future of the firm.
Much of firm leadership is also on the cusp of retirement, taking years of institutional knowledge with them. A seamless transition of leadership, without the loss of significant institutional knowledge, is also critically important to the future of the firm.
Assume you are the COO of a 250-lawyer firm facing these very issues. You have a 15-20 year window before your own retirement and these concerns are quite real to you and your own future. Write a paper of not more than 5,000 words detailing what is your advice and proposed strategy for your own firm facing the pending retirement within three years of the Managing Partner and one-half of the current Executive Group Leaders, a group of partners who also have significant client relationships. You have been with your firm for ten years and would like to successfully end your career there, but not just yet. Your advice and strategy must be actionable and pragmatic and take into account that human emotion and self-identity and other less than rational elements are likely at issue.