Transition and Succession Planning for Law Firms: Securing Core Knowledge

Number of Pages: 95

Law firms are facing a leadership crisis...The 'baby-boomer' generation is nearing retirement and will soon leave their firms, while the different career expectations of generation X and Y lawyers mean that firms may lack willing and trained future leaders. Is your firm prepared for this? In the next five years, your law firm will be transitioning to the next generation. If you fail to implement succession strategies now you may well find yourself with a leadership and talent gap in just a few years time. And what will start as an internal problem will soon escalate to a business crisis, as your firm loses vital knowledge and the means to effectively serve your clients. Managing Partner's report on Transition and Succession Planning for Law Firms will help you devise a sound succession plan for your firm that ensures not only a more secure organisational set-up that locks-in your core knowledge and expertise, but the means to impress your clients with the kind of long-term thinking that protects business interests. Importantly this report will help you ensure and plan for a reliable stream of up-and-coming talent that is productive and engaged. The report begins by identifying the key challenges that lie ahead by examining the emerging demographic trends against most recent developments in the legal profession. It then looks to provide innovative, realistic and simple solutions that can be cost-effectively applied in a post-recessionary environment. The report considers numerous issues including: * The impact of generations X and Y on the practice of law in the 21st century. What do senior management need to know to ensure a smooth transition to the next generation? * The retirement of the baby-boomer generation. What ongoing risks does this pose to a law firm's business stability? * The current preparedness of the younger generation to take the reins of their businesses. Do they even want to follow in the retirees' footsteps? * To what extent has the recession turned an ongoing succession challenge into a potential crisis, as numbers of lawyers, support staff and resources have been cut? * What are the potential solutions - how can strategies such as mentoring, after-action reviews, story-telling and interactive learning help enable smooth transition between generations? * What role can technology - and particularly Web 2.0 tools - play in addressing the succession challenge? * And whose responsibility is succession planning anyway? In the post-recession environment, firms will be keen to demonstrate to clients their long-term resilience following months of uncertainty. This important new report will include highly practical case studies from firms who have successfully implemented succession planning, including Weightmans LLP; Mills & Reeve LLP; Eversheds; Optim Legal; Macpherson & Kelley Lawyers; Altman Weil; Borden Ladner Gervais; and Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell and Berkowitz PC.