Andrew Maloney’s Dec. 5 article entitled "Highest-Earning Partners May Be Looking to Cash In on Early Retirement" reports an interesting trend among some Big Law partners: A desire to maximize their books of business to retire early, rather than gain greater recognition among peers and clients. Reading this article, I wondered what drives these lawyers’ desire to pull the ripcord earlier in their careers, rather than die at their desks (as so many of their contemporaries vow to do)?

I suspect the answer is that the Big Law partners Mr. Maloney is talking about have an openness to what life might hold for them as something other than successful senior partners at prestigious law firms. In my retirement succession consulting practice, I see top-flight rainmakers in their 60s and 70s—even 80s—who reach the apex of the profession, but do not know how or when to stop. Sometimes this is because they are on autopilot, and continue working out of force of habit. Many other times, they simply cannot imagine themselves as anything other than lawyers.