SPOTLIGHT ON SENIOR PARTNER RETIREMENT AND TRANSITIONING QUANDRIES

I want to share an excellent article with you. It is a well done exploration of the state of professional (especially law) firm thinking and progress on how to deal with transitioning of senior partners and providing a space for younger partners to grow and move up. The article appears with the title “Gray Matters” in the December issue of The American Lawyer magazine. The same article with the title “Law Firms Face Gray Area as Boomers Age“ appeared online on law.com. Here is the link.

My only quibble with it is that from my experience and observations, the article is too optimistic about how flexible firms have become to this date about flexible schedules and other arrangements for seasoned partners. They do seem to be reversing the trend of establishing and enforcing mandatory retirement policies, but it is still uncommon for the senior people to be able to cut back their time commitment, even with a corresponding cut in compensation, and retain their positions, except in "lockstep" firms.

Richard McDermott and I were very pleased to be interviewed and quoted in the article about our firsthand experience and our work. Check it out, and give us your thoughts and comments.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com