Retirement. It often comes up this time of year as part of the year-end discussions about compensation and related concerns over succession planning at law firms.
Retirement is confronting 70 million Baby Boomers, a generation known for a strong work ethic and “do what it takes” attitude. They are reluctant to quit the field. Boomers continue to dominate equity partner ranks at law firms and control a significant percentage of firm revenue. “I don’t plan to ever retire,” is a phrase many Boomer lawyers utter.
When one enjoys a profession, retirement can imply quitting, a scenario that just doesn’t fit for many career types, even non-traditional ones. Take rock ‘n’ roller Keith Richards, who is just north of the Boomer category at age 76 as case in point. In a recent Wall Street Journal article by
Interestingly, Boomers are only a few generations removed from an era when people did not ever retire. Credit Otto von Bismarck with the retirement idea. As president of Prussia, he proposed a system in 1881 wherein the German government would provide for citizens over the age of 70, Bismarck’s goal was a political one aimed at satisfying the demands of his political opponents to do more for the citizens of Prussia, who like the rest of the world of that era either worked until they couldn’t or died.
Pensions began a few decades later, mostly pegged at delivering a retirement income at age 65. When Congress passed the Social Security Act in 1935, it designated 65 as the official retirement age, which was an actuarial calculation of what the program could afford. The word “retirement” comes from the French word retirer dating to the mid-1500s - to withdraw to a place of safety or
Notoriously fond of autonomy, senior lawyers invariably assume they are in the driver’s seat and will choose when they leave the practice of law. Events, including health issues and client decisions, often dictate senior lawyer career trajectories. When they remain past when they can depart on their own terms, they often end their law firm career chapters on sour, sometimes even bitter notes.
The more successful programs in support of lawyers charting what comes next when they leave the firm commence at a standard age, say 60-65, and make a variety of resources available to help them think constructively about this transition. In firms where the retirement age is specified as part of the transition planning process, things are a bit easier. That said, when there is also a provision for exceptions for a host of reasons, the process tilts away from helpful clarity into subjectivity and the same problems that firms encounter that have no specified retirement age. Clear policies, including how exceptions are made and at what point lawyers move into senior counsel status, avoid surprises and misunderstandings, aiding both the lawyers and the firm in planning ahead.
For lawyers making this transition, the time to adequately think it through takes time –at least one or two years. For those who often define themselves in terms of their career label – “lawyer” – relinquishing this label for something else is not going to happen overnight. The goal is to legitimately engage them to think through what they want to do, where and how. It is a daunting prospect. They likely haven’t faced this kind of blank canvas in many decades.
Helping lawyers make the transition to what’s next needs to include curriculum that equips the lawyers with tools and ideas for their career transitions. Tools include information about Medicare and health insurance options, Social Security, financial and tax planning, strategies for community involvement and volunteering, continuing education resources, and even counseling and coaching services. This is far different than succession planning. Ideally, succession planning starts years earlier as a standard protocol for deliberate client relationship development and ensuring the client’s needs are met.
Lawyers may not be rock stars, but they are right to assume no one can take their place. Over time, others take over leadership positions and client relationships, but the DNA of a particular lawyer and the lawyer’s practice cannot be duplicated. However, this is not an excuse for clogging the law firm transition pipeline. This transition pipeline also necessarily includes long-term thinking about firm leadership roles. It is simply good business to plan ahead for firm leadership, practice mix, and client relationships. And on a very pragmatic note, clients loathe approaching their lawyers with concerns about when they plan to retire or who their backup is. Sadly, clients may even slip off to another law firm rather than address the issue with the lawyer or the law firm.
Ultimately, how lawyers embark on their next chapters and the grace with which they do it are as varied as the lawyers themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone out of the office and in doing so, it acquainted Boomers with a way of working most had not previously experienced. It is too soon to tell how this plays out as the pandemic recedes, hopefully sometime in 2021. If nothing else, the COVID era is a reminder that life is not only precious, it is sometimes terrifyingly unpredictable.
The year 2020 afforded Boomers the opportunity to think carefully about how they want to live, where, and what they want to spend their next chapter doing. Guitar lessons anyone?
1“Keith Richards on Covid-19, the Next Rolling Stones Album and His Solo Career,” by Neil Shah, The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2020.2Oxford Languages, the content of which constitutes Google’s English dictionary.