The Lawyer’s Guide to Succession Planning: A Project Management Approach for Successful Law Firm Transitions and Exits

Sixty-five percent of law firms’ equity partners in the U.S. are in their late 50s or early 60s. Over the next ten years, there will be many partners in firms of all sizes transitioning and exiting their practices. Many solo and sole owner attorneys as well as larger law firms are in ＂reactionary mode＂ and have not adequately prepared for transition of firm leadership and client relationships. A firm’s very survival may very well depend upon coming to terms with succession and transition and doing so early. The purpose of this book is to provide guidance to firms of all sizes, especially smaller firms and share succession and transition processes, approaches, and step by step action plans for solo practitioners, sole owners and members of larger law firms. The book discusses what to do and what not to do, how to do it and provides case studies, sample action plans, sample succession plans, sample agreements and other documents.

This book also contains downloadable files that dig even deeper into the formidable issues of succession planning. These sample worksheets and agreements cover everything from a broad action plan to more specific topics such as partner transition plans, merger agreements, and retirement readiness assessments. These informative examples, combined with the substantive information provided in the book, will guarantee the easiest and most successful path to any and all succession plans.

＂This book is like finding a roadmap to a buried treasure . . . filled with gold nuggets and easy-to-understand, yet concrete concepts. It is a very timely book given the number of ＂baby boomers＂ approaching retirement age and enormously practical. I highly recommend this book and will not only be applying some of these principles to our firm, but will be sending copies of it to several attorneys as business gifts. As the saying goes, ’an ounce of planning.’＂
--Jennie S. Malloy, Founding Partner at Malloy & Malloy, Miami, Florida, Boutique Intellectual Property Law Firm

＂Sooner or later you will need this book! Whether we like it or not, attorneys do age and even die. We do not practice forever. Dr. Olmstead’s book presents a practical guide for your firm to succeed for another generation. Use it as a textbook at each annual strategic planning retreat. Succession is always a timely topic. Indeed, it may be urgent. We never know.＂
--W. David Denton, Denton Law Firm, PLLC, Paducah, Kentucky

＂Having worked with John on numerous seminars and conferences targeted at improving all areas of law practice management, I have seen first-hand the depth and breadth of his vast knowledge gained over a lifetime of advising attorneys on achieving operational and financial success. With this book, John taps into his unparalleled data bank of experience and resources to share valuable insights and practical tips to create a user-friendly, step-by-step template that can be easily followed in developing and implementing a succession plan - one of the most important tasks any lawyer or law firm must do.＂
--Michele M. Jochner, Partner, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP, Chicago, Illinois

＂If I had picked up a copy of The Lawyer’s Guide to Succession Planning without the author being identified, once I read first two case studies, I would have known this was a John Olmstead work. I was one of John’s first clients 30 years ago, and I have stayed close to John as his career advanced through the legal consulting network. This book is a gritty, tell-it-like-it-is expose of how to avoid the ’practice until you drop’ mentality that many baby boomer attorneys are saddled with. This practical guide to law firm succession gives those of us afflicted with the personality disorder that retirement is ’for the other guy and not me’ just the incentive we need to transition from an active legal practice to a satisfying and rewarding ’final argument’ in retirement. I highly recommend this book for lawyers of any age, but it may be most useful for younger attorneys to assist them in focusing on the critical planning that is necessary for life after law.＂
--J. Thomas Long, of Counsel, Sandberg, Phoenix & Von Gontard, P.C., St. Louis, Missouri

＂Dr. Olmstead gives you, the practitioner, a practical and uniquely ’project approach’ to the journey of transition and exit planning. He convincingly sets the table to conquer the lurking devil of ’being stuck’ on examining these issues and uses action plans, case studies, and his own 30+ years of legal consulting to assist you in planning an orderly critical path to retirement. As a bonus, he thoughtfully discusses confronting the challenges and embracing the opportunities of life after the law. This book is a must for all lawyers whether they are a one-man shop or a large firm.＂
--William S. Wilson, Principal, Wilson and Wilson Estate Planning and Elder Law, La Grange, (Chicago) Illinois

John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC is a Certified Management Consultant and president of Olmstead & Associates, Legal Management Consultants, and Life On Balance. Both firms are based in St. Louis, Missouri. Olmstead & Associates is a practice management, marketing, and technology consulting firm that works with law and other professional service firms ranging in size from 100+ professionals to firms with solo practitioners. The firm, founded in 1984 serves clients across the United States assisting them with implementing change and improving operational and financial performance, management, leadership, client development and marketing. Dr. Olmstead has over 41 years of experience working with law and other professional service firms. His assignments have ranged from marketing and strategic planning to other legal management engagements such as organizational change, firm governance, implementation of technology, financial management, staff development, partner compensation, and practice management. Dr. Olmstead has helped clients implement client service improvement programs consisting of client satisfaction surveys, program development, and training and coaching programs. He has been a lecturer for the Association of Legal Administrators, Missouri Bar Assoication, Missouri Trial Attorneys, St. Louis Metropolitan Bar Association, The Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (Chicago), IBM, Illinois State University, Illinois State Bar Association, Solo-Map CPA Association of St. Louis and many other national, state and local bar and other professional associations. Dr. Olmstead has authored numerous articles on law office management in local, regional, and national law office management publications. He is currently serving as Editor-In-Chief, West Group, The Lawyers Competitive Edge: The Journal of Law Office Economics and Management. Dr. John Olmstead has a MBA in accounting/finance and marketing as well as a Ph.D in Business in Organizational Psychology. His doctoral dissertation An Exploratory Approach for Addressing Leadership Characteristics in Law Firms Using the Case of a Voluntary Bar Association, introduced an approach for addressing leadership interpersonal characteristics and interpersonal preferences for leadership roles. Dr. Olmstead is an associate member of the American and Illinois State Bar Associations, a member of the Institute of Management Consultants, and the Association of MBA Executives. He served as past Chair and is currently serving as a member of the Illinois State Bar Association Standing Committee on Law Office Manaagement and Economics and as Past President of the Institute of Management Consultants St. Louis Chapter. Dr. Olmstead may be contacted via e-mail at: jolmstead@olmsteadassoc.com.＂