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Retiring Leaders May Leave Firms in a Bind Leigh Jones Adding to that exodus are the skyrocketing associate attrition rates and increased lateral defections that have created an ever-shifting workplace where the chance for new opportunities often trumps law firm loyalty. The upshot is that many of today's law firms have a real problem with planning for tomorrow. "People generally don't go to law school to run a business," said Judith Lockhart, managing partner of Carter Ledyard & Milburn in New York. Identifying attorneys who possess the legal and business acumen to take the management helm is only part of the job. They also have to be willing to do it, Lockhart said. "You've got to find people who are interested in seeing the firm prosper," she said. Lockhart and other firm leaders at the 115-attorney firm have worked in recent years to transition in next-generation department leaders, she said. Carter Ledyard is a 150-year-old firm based in New York's financial district whose clients include the American Stock Exchange, Playtex Products Inc. and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The firm has created some "turnover" in department heads in recent years, Lockhart said, adding that it also has remained flexible with its retirement policy. "We recognize that not everyone wants to retire," she said. Succession planning for law firms is becoming "much harder," said Stanley Kolodziejczak, a national leader of the law firm services practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers International Ltd. in New York. Baby-boomer retirement and job movement among associates and partners make it much more difficult for firms to determine who will be left to run the show. "They have to know who they have on the bench and who will be retiring," he said. About 1 million lawyers are licensed in the United States, according to the American Bar Association (ABA). Extrapolate from the current total of attorneys, and a full 25% of attorneys — or 250,000 — will begin reaching retirement age by 2011. About half of law firms have some form of mandatory retirement policy, according to a recent survey by the ABA of 2,000 law firm leaders. Meanwhile, attrition rates are soaring. According to NALP, a Washington-based nonprofit group that tracks legal employment trends, by the time associates at large firms are in their fifth year of practice, 78% have left their firms. Long work hours, a lack of meaningful assignments and an unfriendly work environment are often cited as the reasons for the departures. |
