Some law firms needlessly lose a significant amount of business when senior partners retire. Yet anticipating and preparing for those retirements with an effective client succession process can ensure that handovers go smoothly and clients stay with the firm when the relationship partner retires. This protects the firm’s finances and stability and has numerous other benefits as well.
Highlights of this issue:
• How partner retirements can lead to lucrative business opportunities for a law firm.
• Retirement resources that may be helpful.
• New publications that may interest you.
• My upcoming speaking engagements. If you’ll be in any of the cities where I’ll be, let me know if you’d like to get together.
Retirement and Client Succession
Partner retirements present valuable opportunities that too many law firms overlook. In firms of all sizes, senior partners often represent a large percentage – sometimes the majority – of the partners who control major client relationships and generate a disproportionate percentage of firm revenues. This means that their retirement can have a terrible, even catastrophic, financial impact on the firm if their clients decide to take their business elsewhere. After all, clients frequently use an outside lawyer’s retirement as a chance to look around for new representation, and in this competitive climate, there are many firms for them to choose from.
On the other hand, a partner’s pending retirement can give your firm numerous lucrative opportunities. If managed properly, transitioning clients to other lawyers in your firm can increase…