Thoughts on Transitioning to Retirement

Much of my joy at work came from teaching the next generation of managers and partners. See if there is an individual who has the right combination of skills and interest to take over. If so, how long would it take to train this individual? This can be an ideal approach if you have the right candidate, but depending on your role, the size of your firm and potential successors (and the willingness of your partners to accept a subordinate in a new, more senior role), this can also be a hard path to follow.

Know whether your needs and timing can coincide with the firm’s needs while understanding how long the firm needs you. 

When I planned for my retirement, firm leadership needed to determine what role they wanted the new administrator to play. They appointed a sub-committee to review the job description. What were their priorities? Communications, finance, HR, operations, law firm experience? The priorities would also be dependent on the strength of the support team of professional managers. The new person would not have the same experience and personality, so we needed room for them to “own” the position. We allowed several months for the sub-committee review.  

We considered internal candidates, the ALA network, other professional networks and recruiters. We established a small team, which included partners, our Chief Human Resources Officer and me, to review the resumes. This group would conduct initial interviews and then expand the team to include senior professional leaders and partners in leadership roles. This would take a few more months.  

Timing would be critical. How much overlap would be ideal? The incumbent would not want to be a lame duck for long, and you want the partners and staff to turn to the new person instead of following old habits. Timing should be discussed with the new hire. We presumed one to three months overlap. For the incumbent, “The secret to survivin’ is knowin’ what to throw away and knowin’ what to keep…” 

The last piece to consider is communication: the management of both the internal and external message. You do not want people jumping to the wrong conclusion about a change in senior leadership.  

So, how much time is right? I used two years to remind people that my retirement was coming; the real work took less than a year. As with everything else a good administrator touches, planning a retirement requires analysis, communication and time management, juggling people with mixed expectations, and trusting others to do things right. Then it’s time to say goodbye and proceed on to new challenges.