Some small law firms may have chosen a successor. Most have not. Nor have they written a succession plan. Partners spend the majority of their time growing their practice.

“It’s never easy to think about how an unforeseen event can impact the practice. Anticipating the future is challenging for most of us. Ask yourself, ‘when do you plan to leave?’” says Shari Davidson, President of On Balance Search.

“Many of us get stuck, doing the same stuff day after day. It’s Groundhog Day! The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Many of the rainmakers of small firms don’t think about retiring. Now in their 60’s many rainmakers have created a strong legal practice. Suddenly, they wake up, and realize there is no one who can take over the firm. Don’t get me wrong in today’s business world being 60 is the new ‘middle age’.. But, now what do you do? Hire a young candidate to take over? It will take years to train your successor and there is no guarantee that it’s going to work out. Okay why not merge the practice or simply close shop. Don’t wait until life circumstances make the decisions for you,” says Davidson.

Break the cycle and put an end to Groundhog Day. Unlock your potential with an accurate business valuation. Gain insights from industry experts on how valuation affects exit strategies, retirement, and the unique dynamics that your law firm faces.

An attorney who is 40 or 50 years old and plans to stay on the job for many more years may not see the need for a succession plan. Older partners may be reluctant to think about retirement. They may believe that grooming a successor makes them vulnerable to being replaced. Or that failure to plan for a successor provides job security.

Get started and put a succession plan in motion. Think of succession planning as an on-going process.

• Begin to start developing your firm’s future leaders.
• Plan to replace departing staff members with minimal disruption.
• Deepen your organization’s leadership capacity, positioning the firm for growth.
• Require your team to formulate their future plans, knowing that they are not committing to specific dates.

Building a sustainable and growing succession plan can feel overwhelming, you may have feelings of being pushed out. You’re not bowing out early, it is about building value. Building a foundation of success today that will provide the opportunity for the future generations. Done right, and you’ll have the retirement of your dreams.

Talk to a legal counselor to guide you. Work with a legal advisor who can give you a comprehensive understanding of the succession planning process and how you can in-crease the value of your practice and position yourself for success tomorrow.

1. Set goals. Identify what you want to get out of the practice and what you want the business to be when you’re gone.
2. Identify the critical issues that impact succession.
3. Transition to your next path in your career. Read, Confessions of a Legal Recruiter: Succession Planning for Solos and Small Firms.

Change is a fact of life—no matter how well you plan ahead there may be some unexpected challenges. Have a contingency plan for your primary succession plan.

About On Balance Search Consultants

On Balance offers great insight and industry intelligence. Shari Davidson, president of On Balance Search Consultants, advises law firms on how to take a firm to the next level and helps rising talent make the transition to the right law firm.

Contact us today. Call 516.731.4300 or visit our website at http://www.onbalancesearch.com

Please note that the content of this blog does not constitute legal advice and is only in-tended for the educational purpose of the reader. Please consult your legal counsel for specifics regarding your specific circumstances and the laws in your states pertaining to social media and any legal restrictions regarding the law.

A lot of associates at top firms are ecstatic to see that they will receive thousands of dollars in the form of special fall bonuses. However, given the precariousness of the COVID-19 economy, and the damage it has caused, are there ways firms can show appreciation for their associates when they are unable to give out bonuses?

Big law firms constantly turned to money as their way to recognize good performance. This trend may be perhaps best evidenced by the annual year-end bonus wars, where Big Law firms attempt to one-up one another in who can dole out bigger bonuses to their associates—even when experts denounce the practice as short-sighted and fiscally irresponsible.

Despite dire forecasts in March this year, a lot of firms have been surprised by how busy they have remained, and a few firms may even see double digit revenue increases in 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Are you interested in learning more about how law firms can thank their associates without ‘throwing money at them?’ Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

As the new school year starts every law school professor looking for a position in the field has this question on their mind: Will law schools hire this year? 

In this week’s law.com column Ahead of the Curve, Karen Sloan, a legal education editor at Law.com, looks at the hiring market for entry level faculty. She also dives into whether law schools are likely to be bringing on a lot of new professors this cycle.

Plus, the People’s Paritiy Project included five new law professors on its recommended U.S. Supreme Court shortlist.

Are you interested in learning more about the law school hiring market amid the COVID-19 pandemic? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

The work created in the legal field when the COVID-19 pandemic first became a known threat in the United States—securing federal loans, as an example—may be silencing now. However, as the U.S. continues to cope with the consequences of the coronavirus, law firms are continuing to adapt their practice offerings.

By using a well-tested competitive strategy, law firms of all sizes are marketing ad hoc multidisciplinary practice groups to meet pandemic-related client needs. This is a move that is aimed to boost demand even as the coronavirus economic downturn takes a toll on all revenue.

Some firms are acting on these opportunities to help them during this trying time.

An example of this is the Paycheck Protection Program Audits and Investigations Practice that launched mid-September by Houston-based Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry. This team will help companies that have accepted PPP loans and meet their obligations under the law and avoid criminal or civil prosecution for misusing the funds.

Are you interested in learning more about how law firms are pivoting their practices to keep work coming in amid the curveballs the COVID-19 pandemic has created? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

Working from home is here to stay for a while in the legal field amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So when are lawyers and their staff expected to come back into the office? Not until 2021, according to several law firms. 

Representatives for almost a dozen big law firms that were polled on this subject indicated that they had set no target date for returning to their U.S. offices. Several firms said they expected office attendance to be required in 2021, but others said the work-from-home option would continue “indefinitely,” or until a coronavirus vaccine is widely distributed. 

In the meantime, big law firms are treating their offices as optional workspaces. They are also developing different safety mechanisms and measures for those lawyers and their staff who decide to return to their offices. 

Are you interested in learning more about how big law firms are planning to allow remote work for the rest of the year? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

This year has delivered huge changes to the way our world lives and works. But, will American law firms be ready to recognize and use what is going on in our world as an opportunity to create real change? In her book “Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen,” business professor Rita McGrath defines an inflection point as a moment that ““upends the basic assumptions that a business model is built on.”

Law firms are certainly responding to new economic conditions, however, one would be hard-pressed to make a serious argument that many have reached anything close to an inflection point. 

The business model of big law firms remains intact. Aside from some slight belt-tightening, most law firms appear to be advancing the status quo ante. 

This moment is unlike others our world has experienced and offers us a rare chance to think anew about what works and how law firms can innovate to prepare for the arrival of a true inflection point in the near future.

Are you interested in learning more about how in this moment of change, savvy law firms are finding new ways to innovate? Read more in this law.com article. 

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

The coronavirus pandemic brought sudden changes and unusual challenges to many general counsel and other corporate law department leadership. However, the good news is that the experience of successfully navigating their way through the storm could give in-house counsel a boost to the next rung on the career ladder.

This pandemic is definitely something in-house counsel should expect to discuss during their next job interview. “[Employers] are already asking these questions. I mean on our C-level or GC-level searches through corporate legal departments, one of the very first questions is, ‘Were you involved with a COVID-19 task force and what was your contribution?’” said Jared Coseglia, founder and CEO of TRU Staffing Partners Inc.

There is not just one right answer to the question, but there are general themes that are worth emphasizing that have to do with the manner in which coronavirus has altered the traditional concept of a corporate legal department itself. Brett Burney of Burney Consultants argued that in-house legal has typically been a buttoned-up environment where employees were largely tied to the office. “You show up because that’s the culture,” Burney said.

Are you interested in learning more about how general counsel looking for a job in a post-pandemic world should flex cybersecurity and crisis management muscles to get the job they want? Read more in this law.com article. 

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

In-house counsel may be overspending on outside counsel despite functioning in an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic economy. 

This is according to two different surveys by law.com sister publication Corporate Counsel covered in mid-August.

One survey from our affiliate ALM Intelligence and consulting firms Wicker Park Group says 57% of its in-house counsel respondents expected their budgets to remain the same while another 16% anticipated an increase. In-house counsel may be leaning on their outside counsel more than usual to stay ahead of the novel coronavirus crisis.

Another survey by research and advisory company Gartner found about 70% of in-house counsel spend too much time working on the urgent and unplanned pandemic matters, even reworking what they assign to outside counsel. This survey says the same majority of respondents are overspending on outside counsel who provide particular expertise.

Are you interested in learning more about how the COVID-19 pandemic is making legal departments spend more on outside counsel? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

Law firms and corporate legal departments were pulling from the cybersecurity talent pool before the outbreak of COVID-19. This pool was not exactly overflowing though. With the sudden influx of employees working remotely and a host of other pandemic-related needs, this pool might have even further narrowed the already hyperspecific criteria that legal professionals are looking for in cybersecurity support. 

Legal is not the only industry struggling to amplify its cybersecurity roster. At the end of July, the Information Systems Security Association published its “The Life and Times of Cybersecurity Professionals 2020” report, which indicated that 45% of the 327 global security and IT professionals surveyed believe that the cybersecurity skills shortage has “only gotten worse over the past few years.”

The effect that COVID-19 is having on the job market likely hasn’t helped matters inside legal.

Even if a lot of those recruiters have managed to survive this pandemic economy, their stable of available IT hires may be relatively light. While law firms have engaged in pandemic-related layoffs, Kermit Wallace, chief information officer at Day Pitney, believes that urgent security needs such as work from home setups and COVID-19 insured phishing schemes likely kept top security personnel safe from cutbacks.

Are you interested in learning more about the difficulties of finding decent help in legal IT and cybersecurity? Read more in this law.com article. 

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

In the time before the COVID-19 pandemic, law firm partners that were looking to make a lateral move, particularly to a firm with a national presence, can expect to spend substantial time in the air. However, that is currently no longer the case. And cutting out that travel is serving to compress the timeline for bringing new lawyers on board.

A few recruiters and firm leaders expect that a growing comfort with virtual meetings will result in a permanent shift in how law firm hiring is done, even when the time comes that travel is no longer feared.

That means a process that once took at least six months could well become significantly shorter, sometimes as short as six weeks, said San Francisco-based recruiter Avis Caravello. And these benefits can extend after the hiring process is over.

“Where time is imperative, you’re going to resort to virtual. Where someone has more time, and you want to be able to weigh body language and other considerations, then you’ll resort to the traditional way of doing things,” David Braswell said. “I don’t think we’ll be going back to the old way of always having somebody come in.”

Are you interested in learning more about how the hiring sector is rapidly changing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC