We attempted to do an informal telephone survey of how law firms prepare for the retirement of senior administrative staff members. The answer was – they don’t. We spoke with 13 administrators (including CFOs, CIOs, CHRO, etc) who retired or announced their retirement thus far this year. Only one of the people we interviewed retired on their schedule. The primary reason for extending retirement dates is that their firm did nothing about recruiting for a replacement or transferring knowledge until the last minute. The good news for retirees is that firms are almost routinely entering into consulting arrangements with departing administrators to maintain access to their knowledge. One New York firm CFO who has been retired for 12 years said that he is still on a consulting contract with the firm. Apparently no one else can perform the complex calculation for benefits under their non-qualified partner pension plan. 

One HR Director we spoke with has started her own knowledge transfer program. She has divided her job into five critical areas and is going about teaching a different member of the HR department each area. She believes that, by dividing the knowledge, the job of succession training becomes less overwhelming.