Most states have no mandatory rules for attorneys to create a succession plan. You can drop dead in your bowl of soup at the county bar dinner and the presiding judge will simply select the oldest lawyer in the room to wind down your practice for you. I suppose this works fine most of the time. But if you have built a practice that you love, or have a devoted team, or truly love your clients the best way to handle your ultimate demise is to create a succession plan.
There are a few states that have guidance on this issue. Most of them have recommendations or guides. There is a good guide from Colorado available online. Most of the ethics rules from across the county have the same basic guidance:
- You “may” designate an attorney to manage your practice.
- You “may” want to have a list of contacts and passwords.
- You “may” want to make some financial provisions for all of this.
- You “may ” want to have a power of attorney or some other written document to govern this.
The inherent problem with this is that most attorneys are so busy managing their practice and their personal lives already that they don’t have the time to do this or even know where to start. Consider how hard it is to get people to create an estate plan when they have children and a few assets… then try to make that sales pitch to a solo lawyer! Good luck – I try all the time and I’m fairly persuasive.
While I enjoy working with lawyers and their staff to put these plans or “binders” as I like to call them, together, the hardest part is just getting started.
If you are thinking about putting together a succession plan, where should you get started? If you are looking to do this on your own what are some of the basic questions you need to consider? Here are a few high-level considerations
- Who can I designate as an assisting or succeeding attorney?
- Do I have a comprehensive office manual?
- Do I have a comprehensive list of accounts and passwords?
- Do I have written instructions to hand off to an attorney or receiver who may end up winding down my business?
- If Duey Cheatum, Esq. walked into my firm as the court appointed receiver, could he find this stuff?
You know you, but the entire point of succession planning is that you will no longer be there (spoiler: You are either dead or incapacitated). If you don’t have the sense that someone else could figure out what is going on in your law firm or business, such that your staff and clients are protected, then you need to consider taking the time to draft a succession plan.
While I try to make light of our ultimate demise the reality is that at some point you may not want to continue to practice law. The best way to make your firm marketable is to have these things in order. I was able to walk away from a million-dollar law firm overnight and I can help you get there too.
If you are interested in discussing your options for succession planning, please schedule a consultation with me at the link on this page.
