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LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT Putting in place a sound succession plan should be a priority for Make a plan, Stan! around the idea of retirement." But, unlike many other lawyers with small- town practices, he has no concerns about his retirement income or the survival of his firm. That's because he and his partners at Cawood Demmans Baldwin Friedman in North Battleford, Sask., put a sound succession plan in place many years ago. "We have a suc- cession strategy that's working for us," he says. "And that's absolutely essential in a small centre. N Demmans is, as he puts it, "starting to kick Stewart It's an essential for any law practice " small firms and solo practitioners. BY KEVIN MARRON ow that he is the old- est partner in his firm, 58-year-old and should be a key priority for smaller firms and solo practitioners, who may be inclined to neglect succession plan- ning amid the hubbub of their day-to- day activities, according to Ray Leclair, acting vice president of public affairs at the Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Co. (LawPRO) and past chairman of the Canadian Bar Association's national real property section. Leclair has recently been delivering this message to local law associations across Ontario as part of a Law Society of Upper Canada initiative promoting succession and continuity planning. But he admits that he too may have been guilty of neglecting key aspects of suc- cession planning in the past. "When I was in private practice, I didn't have power of attorney or a clause in my will for taking over my practice, which — thinking about it now — I should have had, oversight. His colleague Dan Pinnington, now vice president of claims prevention and stakeholder relations at LawPRO, cites LSUC statistics indicating that about 75 per cent of Ontario lawyers do not have succession planning provisions in place. It' For example, the Law Society of British Columbia reports that only 12 per cent of sole practitioners over 50 have a designated winding up caretaker for their practices. For a professional liability insurance s a similar story elsewhere in Canada. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com JUNE 2012 23 And he was by no means alone in this " he says. Peter mitCHell