The success and longevity of an enterprise are not guaranteed. Law firms are no exception. Succession planning has long been a focus of law firms, but perhaps such planning has never been as crucial as it is now, as the baby boomer generation approaches retirement. Baby boomer lawyers manage and control

significant client relationships and hold leadership positions, and they are retiring later than prior generations—with many working into their late 60s and beyond.

It is well settled that failing to plan for the future could cause a law firm to lose clients, talented young leadership and the ability to capitalize on sweat equity and goodwill. Not much has been written, however, on the concerns of those inside law firms related to a failure to plan for the future—particularly young lawyers.

Static Tiers

For many young lawyers in law firms, the goal is equity partnership. Young lawyers focus on meeting metrics for consideration, work long hours, create exceptional work product and develop close client relationships. Ideally, the effort is rewarded with a place in the equity partnership, and a plan to transition client relationships within the firm.

Implementing such a process effectively, however, is easier said than done. Experienced lawyers ask why they would ever give up their position as equity partner—both in name and benefit. Younger lawyers ask how transitions will occur when more experienced lawyers do not appear to be transitioning. From the perspective of a younger lawyer, a successful succession plan must include a process to make room for younger lawyers in the equity partnership. If the equity partnership is viewed as static, meaning a lawyer makes partner and stays in that position until they decide to retire, regardless of productivity or developing business, the younger lawyer may question the likelihood of attaining equity partnership and rethink their tenure at the firm.

Some firms deal with this issue by implementing a mandatory retirement age. That approach can be successful if handled delicately to ensure that experienced partners are treated with the respect they deserve while still providing for a clear path to transition. Too often, a mandatory retirement age is combined with less-than-mandatory transition policies, meaning an experienced partner can choose whether to buy into the policies or implement them at all. A mandatory retirement age without complementary transition plans will not be effective.

Some firms deal with this by changing the requirements for equity partner and then increasing the number of nonequity designations, like counsel or nonequity partner. From the perspective of the younger lawyer, this approach is problematic. Younger lawyers want and deserve a fair shot at equity partnership and can be frustrated and disheartened when it appears that the path is made more difficult for younger partners so that more experienced partners can enjoy the benefits of equity partnership longer into their careers.

Opportunities for Experience

It is no secret that clients often demand the most experienced attorney in the lead role on any matter. As those attorneys age, the risk for younger lawyers is that they may be deprived of opportunities to gain valuable experience because those opportunities remain with more experienced attorneys. Young lawyers—young partners, especially—are at a crucial stage in their development. To hone their technical legal expertise and professional development, young lawyers need opportunities. Stretch assignments, such as managing a deal, first-chairing a trial or leading a client pitch, help young lawyers develop and refine their skill sets and gain a deeper understanding of how their firms work. In addition to making better lawyers, these types of opportunities are also key to being elevated to and becoming a successful partner.

Client relationships can also take years to build. The failure to succession plan in advance means that a client will not have the necessary time to get to know and trust a young lawyer's technical abilities or their capacity to manage the relationship and deal with a client's sensitive political issues, crises or shifts in their industry. That training and opportunity must come from more experienced attorneys well before the transition. If a departing partner does nothing to invest in or train the next generation of lawyers, young lawyers and the law firm will be at a disadvantage. One idea firms may consider is to require two co-chairs of practice groups or client teams, with one of the chairs being a senior partner and the other chair being a younger partner in training. Another idea could be to factor into partner compensation whether the partner is proactively introducing younger attorneys to clients.

Failing to invest in young lawyers can also demotivate young lawyers. As millennials join the legal profession, many express a desire to be part of something larger than themselves—they want to impact the process and understand the big picture. By bringing young lawyers into succession planning early and involving them in the firm's sense of purpose, the client, firm and other attorneys on the team will benefit.

Investment in the Future

Perhaps the most obvious but least-discussed issue in succession planning is the divergence between the incentives of experienced lawyers and younger lawyers. Younger lawyers are generally incentivized to encourage the law firm to invest in itself and its attorneys for the future. More experienced lawyers, with fewer remaining years in the practice, may be more incentivized to maximize financial returns to the law firm and its equity partners in the short term. Some young lawyers fear that these competing incentives, if not properly managed, will result in less forward-looking investment in the law firm and, accordingly, a less secure future.

Young lawyers are looking for a succession plan with transparency and an eye toward managing these incentives. They want a plan that ensures appropriate investments are made for the future of the firm in infrastructure, leadership, technical skills and transitioning client relationships. They are also looking for a law firm with an interest in ­investing in the next generation of leaders. Providing leadership training to young lawyers and including them in leadership initiatives will help current leadership gain insights from the younger constituents at the firm and ensure the development of a group of leaders ready to take over the firm's legacy and culture. In addition, proactive succession planning reduces the risk that another firm's young, entrepreneurial lawyers may sweep in to poach clients from your firm's retiring senior partners.

Plan for Diversity

If successful succession planning includes a focus on identifying and developing the best candidates for future firm and client leadership, the best succession planning also takes into account the possible impact of implicit bias in choosing particular attorneys for succession roles. Clients prioritize a firm's diversity and inclusion efforts. That preference extends to succession planning, with recent client surveys pointedly asking outside counsel how they are factoring in diversity and inclusion initiatives when planning for their organization's future.

Young lawyers are interested in a firm whose current and future leadership reflect the core values of diversity and inclusion. Young lawyers, who are increasingly female, minority and LBGTQ, want to visualize themselves as leaders at the firm. They want to know that the firm recognizes the contribution of diverse lawyers through compensation, opportunities and significant leadership roles. They want firm awareness around the issues of implicit bias.

For these reasons, young lawyers prefer a succession plan that couples strategic objectives and formal processes with diversity and inclusion efforts to ensure that the firm identifies and develops a wide variety of candidates for client service and leadership. The failure to reaffirm the firm's commitment to diversity and inclusion by failing to recognize its role in succession calls those values into question.

As younger generations begin to step into leadership roles at firms and take key roles in client relationships, firms would be well-served by taking younger lawyers' concerns into account when planning for the future. Involving young lawyers in succession planning early and often will help firm leadership understand an important perspective, and also help younger lawyers gain the experience needed to succeed.

The views expressed here are personal to the authors and do not represent the opinions of their employers.

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