Jordan Furlong posted an insightful piece on the motivations (or, properly, the lack thereof) behind the failures of many law firms to handle succession issues well (not "wills and estates", but transitioning power and practices between generations of lawyers). Furlong posits four vectors, which for lack of a better term I'll call "pecuniary" factors: loss of power; resistance to change; few future leaders (because compensation mechanisms do not encourage handing off key client files); and generational conflicts.
A fifth important vector is a deeper, structural attitudinal problem: law firms (at least that subset of law firms with which I think the discussion is concerned, namely large corporate law firms) haven't yet come to grips with the fact that there is a succession issue, because few of them have come to grips with the fact that they have transformed into quasi-corporate entities. Despite the headlong plunge into becoming business firms (in the sense that they are now profit-focused undertakings, which is something slightly, but importantly, different from professional associations), lawyers are still uncomfortable with acknowledging that they are now subject to the same concerns that have plagued the modern corporation for its century-long existence. There is an entire body of learning and class of technocrats (we call them "managers") devoted to managing the challenges which face large corporate entities - yet lawyers are resolutely reticent about drawing on that vast reserve of knowledge and talent. How many law firms across the country employ non-lawyer management professionals as part of their governance infrastructure? Canada's largest law firm (with nearly 700 lawyers, to say nothing of non-legal staff) only adopted a corporate governance structure four years ago. It's only been in the last twenty to thirty years that the "mega-firm" structure has come to the Canadian legal landscape - a lawyer who was in his early forties in the mid-80s is just now getting to the point where retirement and relinquishment of power is an issue. In short, lawyers are bad at succession planning in the large firm context because they largely haven't had to deal with it before (at least in the context of the current large and diffuse structure that many firms have taken on) and may not yet have realized that they need to at all.
Corporate lawyers firm deal with all the regulation and the legal aspects related with the company. This firm has experience bankruptcy lawyers providing excellent services in this field. Corporate lawyers have significant knowledge in dealing and working for big firms with the issues related to the business and its legal complexities.
http://www.lawyersindemand.com/
Posted by: Corporate Lawyers Firm | January 14, 2009 at 02:07 AM