Clients are often overlooked in the process of planning for lawyers to leave law firms, and this can create even greater problems
Succession planning does not always mean immediate retirement, especially in the legal profession. In fact, when it’s done well, succession planning begins at least five to seven years in advance of a client relationship partner retiring or moving on to post-law firm endeavors. Yet, the one key element that is often overlooked when dealing with succession issues is the client’s perspective.
Clients do not like to be told about any changes to the relationship team at the last minute, which is not surprising. Instead, involving clients up front is often a very smart decision on the part of the firm.
It’s also helpful to remember that succession can mean a number of things, especially to a client. It can mean a partner is planning to move on to post-law firm interests, an associate who may not be continuing on with the firm, or partners lateraling out to other firms. However, it may be the scenario involving a relationship lawyer and supporting legal team that is most crucial to firms.
No surprises please
In speaking of a relationship partner who had retired from an outside law firm, one Fortune 50 general counsel with whom I spoke, said: “I felt like I just walked down the hall, and the office was empty, and the lights were off. Clearly the firm thought I’d be upset about losing him as part of the team so decided to just let me know he left and gave me the name of the person who would be replacing him — this was quite upsetting, and I almost fired the firm over it.”
Clients do not like to be told about any changes to the relationship team at the last minute, which is not surprising.
Fortunately, after a few conversations, the firm was able to dissuade the client from letting the firm go, and firm leadership then involved the client in the decision about whom he wanted on the team to replace the partner who had left.
Daniel H. Weintraub, the Chief Administrative and Legal Officer of Audax Group, a leading private equity firm, says no surprises should be the rule. “Succession planning should start at the beginning of the relationship — it should never be a surprise,” Weintraub says. “You should build a client relationship that has succession built into it. No doubt, I would be fired if I didn’t have this redundancy put in place in our own organization.”
Weintraub explains that most of the time, clients hear about succession planning when someone calls up and says I’m retiring in a week. “This puts you in a bad position too, right? No one has focused on this but it’s critical,” he says. “If you need to ask who your person at the law firm is, then you have a problem. If my relationship is with one person, then that’s a problem from a succession planning perspective and also for me. It means I’m completely wedded into one person, so what happens if that person is gone? If I were a managing partner of a law firm, I’d make sure that succession planning was done from the top down. Avoid the surprises.”
Taking the cue from the company
Indeed, Weintraub’s comment about redundancy should resonate with firms. Companies in general do a much better job developing succession planning for their executives and key sales leaders who oversee important clients and customer relationships. That is to say, clients are very savvy and aware when it comes to service teams, and their important client and customer relationships, and they expect the same from their outside service providers.
The ongoing success of any firm’s client relationships is dependent on a few important details, and critically among them is trust and loyalty.
“I don’t want to learn about your succession planning through an out-of-office reply,” Weintraub says. “The relationships should be with multiple people on multiple levels — this is strategic account management.” Too often, he adds, outside law firms often tell clients who the new person is going to be without consulting with them beforehand. “There is an arrogance to that [on the part of the firm] — I get to decide who the relationship partner is going to be, rather than being told.”
The ongoing success of any firm’s client relationships is dependent on a few important details, and critically among them is trust and loyalty. However, this goes both ways. Involving clients in succession planning way in advance — three to five years at the very least — will build stronger, more loyal and more trusting relationships with important clients.
Unfortunately, most clients report that they are seldom involved in this process, which many view as an insult to them and a huge opportunity lost for a firm to differentiate itself from others. Clients value their outside counsel and see them as part of their team and involving them in important decisions will go a long way to retaining their revenue and building long-lasting relationships.
This is the first part of a two-part blog series on the view of succession planning from the client side. In our next installment, we speak with one lawyer about their succession experience leaving their firm.
