Nearly 90% of partners say their book of business is portable, according to research from legal tech provider SurePoint. Depending on an attorney’s tenure, the loss could be particularly painful.
A 2024 Major, Lindsay & Africa survey found partners who’d been in the role for 11 to 20 years produced client originations that had more than three times the value than the ones generated by attorneys who’d been a partner for five years or less.
Even if partners don’t walk away with a big chunk of the firm’s business, their exit can complicate existing client relationships.
Firms that fail to buffer the impact could face debilitating outcomes — from having less institutional knowledge to a drop in financial performance, according to Laurence Stybel, Co-Founder of professional service outplacement and leadership coaching provider Stybel, Peabody & Associates.
“There is an abrupt transition of the relationship between the partner and more junior [attorney taking over],” Stybel says. “The knowledge isn’t [lost] so much on the firm side; it’s on the client side — how the client likes things done, things that upset the client.”
Informing Stakeholders a Partner Is Leaving
The key to maintaining business continuity can lie in a firm’s ability to swiftly shift a departing partner’s responsibilities.
Laredo, Smith & Kane has had more than a year to prepare for former Managing Partner Marc Laredo to leave the firm — in mid-2024, Laredo told his colleagues he planned to launch a mayoral campaign in Newton, Mass., but would work full-time until taking office in January 2026.
Matthew A. Kane and another partner took over the daily management of the firm, which allowed them to get used to performing the work and learn from Laredo.
“It’s been a lot of communicating with clients and getting everyone prepared for the transition,” he says. “He’s got a number of clients who are small businesses [and] just have periodic and sporadic needs; we made a concerted effort to reach out to them. We’ve had dozens of handoff meetings. We want to get them on Zoom and introduce people to new people.”
In addition to familiarizing clients with other attorneys, the firm worked to transfer Laredo’s referral relationships by having firm members get to know the contacts at in-person coffee and lunch meetings.
“We knew a lot of the same people; but we want to try to continue those relationships, which might be mutually beneficial for the other side of that relationship, as well,” Kane says.
Long before the Nov. 4 election, the firm began examining what changes should take place, such as obtaining new business collateral, if the firm removed Laredo’s name for ethical reasons. When he won, the firm’s leadership was prepared to flip the switch, Kane says.
“That’s one more aspect of having a long runway; that stuff takes time,” he says. “[Changing the] website domain; logos; physical sign; letterhead; any kind of brand-related stuff; LinkedIn profiles — [we were] cataloging all the places we need to be thinking about.”
Zach Gold assumed leadership of Cruz Gold & Associates in a somewhat shorter timespan, becoming its managing partner soon after his mother, the New Jersey law firm’s founder, passed away in 2023.
In the months beforehand, though, as she navigated hospitalizations and treatments, Gold had begun handling more of her duties and siphoning some of his previous tasks to team members.
“She was managing her illness for a while, and I gradually took on more responsibility in client communication, staffing and case management before stepping into the role formally,” he says. “It wasn’t a formal transition plan — more of a gradual shift born out of necessity.”
A week after his mother’s funeral, Gold held an in-person meeting with the immigration law firm’s employees to talk through what the leadership transition would involve.
“My mother’s long battle with breast cancer had prepared us in some ways; the team knew this day might come, and many had already stepped up to help her in her final year,” he says. “While it was emotional, it wasn’t a shock.”
