The typical law firm business model and lawyer hubris often stymie effective succession planning.
Not that long ago, there was a plethora of articles and consultants focused on succession planning for law firms. You couldn’t attend a legal conference without seeing numerous presentations by well-heeled so-called experts on the subject. Of late, though, the craze seems to have died down. Propose a presentation on the issue now, and you probably won’t be invited to speak. It will be met with heh….old topic, already covered.
That’s why I was surprised to hear Laura Leopard, founder, and CEO of the consulting firm Leopard Solutions, being interviewed on the podcast, The Geek in Review, on just this subject. I must admit; I almost didn’t listen because I thought the topic had been beaten to death, and because I thought it had nothing to do with tech or innovation.
But after listening, I concluded just the opposite. Leopard talked about the results of a Study conducted by her company on the quality and existence of succession plans in law firms. The result: unfortunately, the prevalence of comprehensive succession planning in law firms is relatively low. In fact, succession planning in many law firms, by and large, doesn’t exist.
Ok, so what. Old lawyers hanging on to power. What else is new? But this failure reflects what is so wrong about our profession. A profession too often controlled by lawyer hubris and self-interest. A business model designed to not only permit self-interest and a focus on the here and now but encourages it.
Leadership of Long-Term Institutions Should Make Room for Others, Right?
Years ago, I was on the board of a nonprofit with several hundred members. At one particular meeting, we spent hours lamenting the need for more involvement of many