How to Change Law Firms at 60

Last year I turned 60, and left the fine law firm that had been my home for 33 years, joining another fine firm in July.

Leaving a job after a long career is like a divorce ' the less acrimony, the better. There are more than enough stresses in leaping to a new career without turning to the Dark Side. Why would your clients and new colleagues want to work with someone whose defining personality trait is bitterness?

There are ethical obligations to consider ' to your clients, your current firm and your next firm ' as well as the practicalities of making a move. Being a novice at transitions, I found some aspects of mine surprising, even after buying and reading the ABA's book on partner departures. Here are some steps to consider.

Look Before You Leap

Search broadly, using discreet online sources for job postings such as LinkedIn and LawCrossing.com and be open to a wide range of options. Late-career leapers' areas of competency are likely to be deeper and narrower than lawyers in their 40s. Still, consider what's out there; this could be an opportunity to change your direction, not just your venue.

Look more narrowly, too. Talk in strict confidence with a few people at other firms whom you respect, trust and preferably have known a long time. Only ask them to keep an ear to the ground for you ' don't expect them to be your placement service. Talk to some non-lawyer friends as well. They may know of opportunities that wouldn't have occurred to you, and might have more objective views.

Find Out What You're Worth

It's not easy to monetize people. Some online resources include compensation surveys for job type and regions. If you're in a firm rather than a legal department, calculate your own business generation and revenue production, but don't exaggerate. List the very real non-monetary contributions you bring to a new venture: your expertise, training and mentoring skills, public profile, authoring and lecturing abilities and connections.

“What am I worth?” Once you've come to an answer you can support with objective facts and data, test it by getting a second opinion. Talk confidentially with a legal search firm in your locale. They may even know of openings that would be ideal for you. Otherwise, offer to pay them for their time to tell you about similar attorneys they've placed and their compensation ranges. The small group of trusted lawyers with whom you've spoken may also have ideas about compensation, especially if they are in hiring roles at their firms or have made recent transitions themselves.

Do All the Diligence That's Due

Here's where your quantum leap starts to become less metaphysical and more tangible. If business generation is a requirement in the kind of job you're considering, it's important to know whether your existing business is truly transferable and whether your existing sources of business will continue to support you at your new venue.

On that note I have to pause, because firms' agreements are not all cut from the same cloth and your clients may or may not impose their own limitations on what you can say about their business. This is the time to pull out the checkbook and obtain a written opinion from a legal ethics attorney. To what extent do the clients' rights to select their own counsel trump other considerations? What can you say to a client before you announce your resignation? Let a qualified expert know your unique situation and guide you through the minefield.

Be Prepared

There will be a lot of paperwork. The ABA and other law groups recommend a joint letter from you and your current firm, notifying your clients of their rights to keep files where they are, follow you or move somewhere else entirely. The letter itself is a mail-merge form letter. Ideally, you should present your current firm with the draft letter and a mailing list of clients for whom you have active cases. Deliver these immediately after you give notice to minimize delays in obtaining client consents.

There are other lists to compile before you give notice: the proofs of service for your cases; your current benefit programs and their administrators; contacts you want to receive the professional announcement your new firm will be sending out; publications, websites, organizations, insurers and pals who send you e-mail or paper mail at your office address. (The State Bar should be No. 1 on this list. Change your State Bar contact info online the first day at the new job.)

Expect Delays

Even after client consents are in hand, your files won't transfer to your new firm immediately. Be ready to request extensions from opposing counsel, and have assisting attorneys at the new firm ready to help you, if needed, once the substitutions of counsel are signed, filed and served.

These are some “how to” steps, but they don't address the “how are you” aspect of a departure. Expect stresses and take care of your physical and mental well-being throughout the process.

Louie H. Castoria is a partner and director of Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck's West Coast professional liability practice group. He may be reached at [email protected]. The article also appeared in The Recorder, an ALM sister publication of this newsletter.

Last year I turned 60, and left the fine law firm that had been my home for 33 years, joining another fine firm in July.

Leaving a job after a long career is like a divorce ' the less acrimony, the better. There are more than enough stresses in leaping to a new career without turning to the Dark Side. Why would your clients and new colleagues want to work with someone whose defining personality trait is bitterness?

There are ethical obligations to consider ' to your clients, your current firm and your next firm ' as well as the practicalities of making a move. Being a novice at transitions, I found some aspects of mine surprising, even after buying and reading the ABA's book on partner departures. Here are some steps to consider.

Look Before You Leap

Search broadly, using discreet online sources for job postings such as LinkedIn and LawCrossing.com and be open to a wide range of options. Late-career leapers' areas of competency are likely to be deeper and narrower than lawyers in their 40s. Still, consider what's out there; this could be an opportunity to change your direction, not just your venue.

Look more narrowly, too. Talk in strict confidence with a few people at other firms whom you respect, trust and preferably have known a long time. Only ask them to keep an ear to the ground for you ' don't expect them to be your placement service. Talk to some non-lawyer friends as well. They may know of opportunities that wouldn't have occurred to you, and might have more objective views.

Find Out What You're Worth

It's not easy to monetize people. Some online resources include compensation surveys for job type and regions. If you're in a firm rather than a legal department, calculate your own business generation and revenue production, but don't exaggerate. List the very real non-monetary contributions you bring to a new venture: your expertise, training and mentoring skills, public profile, authoring and lecturing abilities and connections.

“What am I worth?” Once you've come to an answer you can support with objective facts and data, test it by getting a second opinion. Talk confidentially with a legal search firm in your locale. They may even know of openings that would be ideal for you. Otherwise, offer to pay them for their time to tell you about similar attorneys they've placed and their compensation ranges. The small group of trusted lawyers with whom you've spoken may also have ideas about compensation, especially if they are in hiring roles at their firms or have made recent transitions themselves.

Do All the Diligence That's Due

Here's where your quantum leap starts to become less metaphysical and more tangible. If business generation is a requirement in the kind of job you're considering, it's important to know whether your existing business is truly transferable and whether your existing sources of business will continue to support you at your new venue.

On that note I have to pause, because firms' agreements are not all cut from the same cloth and your clients may or may not impose their own limitations on what you can say about their business. This is the time to pull out the checkbook and obtain a written opinion from a legal ethics attorney. To what extent do the clients' rights to select their own counsel trump other considerations? What can you say to a client before you announce your resignation? Let a qualified expert know your unique situation and guide you through the minefield.

Be Prepared

There will be a lot of paperwork. The ABA and other law groups recommend a joint letter from you and your current firm, notifying your clients of their rights to keep files where they are, follow you or move somewhere else entirely. The letter itself is a mail-merge form letter. Ideally, you should present your current firm with the draft letter and a mailing list of clients for whom you have active cases. Deliver these immediately after you give notice to minimize delays in obtaining client consents.

There are other lists to compile before you give notice: the proofs of service for your cases; your current benefit programs and their administrators; contacts you want to receive the professional announcement your new firm will be sending out; publications, websites, organizations, insurers and pals who send you e-mail or paper mail at your office address. (The State Bar should be No. 1 on this list. Change your State Bar contact info online the first day at the new job.)

Expect Delays

Even after client consents are in hand, your files won't transfer to your new firm immediately. Be ready to request extensions from opposing counsel, and have assisting attorneys at the new firm ready to help you, if needed, once the substitutions of counsel are signed, filed and served.

These are some “how to” steps, but they don't address the “how are you” aspect of a departure. Expect stresses and take care of your physical and mental well-being throughout the process.

Louie H. Castoria is a partner and director of Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck's West Coast professional liability practice group. He may be reached at [email protected]. The article also appeared in The Recorder, an ALM sister publication of this newsletter.