Canadian Lawyer

Law Office Management The wind down Not everyone wants to stop practising law but that day will eventually come — by choice or necessity. Start planning for it now. hat if you've decided it's been a great career but the time has arrived to take your name off the shingle and move on? What will your retirement income be and what becomes of your firm and your clients in your absence? The question takes on more weight in an economy that has proven a challenge and as that big sweep of the baby boom generation heads in the same direction. A lawyer without a plan, says Doug Hartkorn, is not doing himself, his clients, or anyone involved in his practice any favours. "If you want to have a succession plan, you have to build up a practice that will out-survive you. A sole practitioner 20 June 2013 www.CANADIAN generally doesn't have a great succession plan," Hartkorn observes through his work as a senior partner with accounting and business advisory firm Shimmerman Penn LLP. His is not simply an anecdotal comment. The Law Society of British Columbia was so concerned it launched a year-long campaign to encourage lawyers to develop a succession plan, including the assigning of a winding-up caretaker to ensure the files are all taken care of. The numbers pointed to the need for action, particularly in solo practices. According to the LSBC, 69 per cent of sole practitioners in 2011 were 50 or older. Further, it found only 13 per cent of those over 50 indicated they had lined up another lawyer on their trust reports. The law society's campaign helped L a w ye r m a g . c o m boost that number to 17 per cent. Ultimately, it's the law societies left holding the bag, having to appoint a custodian to take care of the files in the event the lawyer is in a position where he can no longer do that and hasn't designated someone else to that role. In Ontario in 2010, the law society found 32 per cent of lawyers were between 50 and 60 years old and 10 per cent were 65 or older. In Alberta, in 2009, about 58 per cent of its lawyers were between 41 and 70 while 25 per cent fell into the 31 to 40 age range and less than 10 per cent were under 30. "There have always been examples where lawyers have failed to make adequate retirement plans; there is a regulatory process in place to deal with that situation. We are encouraging all lawyers Sara Tyson W By Marg. Bruineman

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