Succession Planning: Business development is a powerful succession strategy

David E. Wood

Many law firms assume that business development will take care of itself as new lawyers step up to replace retiring partners. Historically, this assumption held true: Each new generation of lawyers managed to generate enough business to sustain firm revenues, allowing firm leadership to pivot away from succession planning to other issues.

Today’s demographic realities challenge this model. The number of senior rainmakers preparing to retire is outpacing the number of younger lawyers poised to replace them. This imbalance has led to an aggressive lateral hiring market, with firms bidding up top-performing partners in a costly, potentially unsustainable effort to enhance current earnings and plug the revenue gaps that lie ahead when senior partners retire.

This trend highlights a deeper issue. Many law firms lack a structured succession plan, relying instead on outside hires rather than internal talent to ensure future financial health. There is a better, more sustainable approach. When firms prioritize business development across all levels of the partnership and invest in training younger lawyers alongside senior attorneys, they can create a steady, long-term pipeline of client relationships and revenue generation – the overarching objective of all succession planning.

Why business development must be firm-wide

The traditional law firm model places much of the responsibility for bringing in business on senior partners. But when those partners retire, their firms often cannot – or make no effort to – retain their significant client relationships without changes to their compensation systems they are loath to make. Absent a structured succession plan that integrates business development at every career stage while removing compensation-based barriers, firms risk losing critical revenue streams they may not be able to fully replace. To build a resilient firm, business development must be ingrained at every level.

1. Junior associates:  Laying the foundation

Young lawyers are often told to focus exclusively on legal work rather than client development, prioritizing current revenue production over well-planned eventual succession. This approach misses a key opportunity to instill a business-minded perspective early.

While junior associates may not yet be rainmakers, they can – and, to achieve the greatest success as they mature, must – begin developing skills in networking, relationship-building, and industry engagement from their formative years as lawyers. Law firms should provide associates with structured training in client interactions, encourage them to attend industry events, and pair them with mentors who can guide their development.

2. Mid-level and senior associates: Building relationships

By the time lawyers reach mid-career, they should be transitioning from strictly service-delivery positions to managing client relationships. This stage is critical for developing the skills needed to generate new business. Firms should offer formal business development training, including coaching on how to identify opportunities, pitch for work, and deepen client trust. Encouraging involvement in trade associations, speaking engagements, and thought leadership helps establish them as recognized experts in their fields.

3. Non-equity partners:  Strengthening revenue streams

As lawyers move into partnership ranks, the expectation to bring in business increases. Yet many firms provide little or no training to help newly minted partners do so.

While not every non-equity partner is destined to be a top rainmaker, most of them will bring in business in some amount if properly prepared. Non-equity partners should receive advanced training in client management, cross-selling within the firm, and strategies for expanding existing relationships. Firms should also foster collaboration between senior and junior partners, ensuring that client relationships transition smoothly when the older generation retires.

4. Equity partners and senior leaders: Ensuring continuity

Even established partners benefit from refining their business development strategies, particularly as they prepare for succession at the end of their careers. Senior partners should actively transition client relationships to younger lawyers well before retirement, and firms should adapt their compensation systems to achieve this goal. Not only does this promote service continuity for clients, but it also strengthens the firm’s internal business development pipeline. Firm leaders should view the cost of business development coaching and training for equity partners as an investment in getting them from good to great, or great to greater.

The benefits of a firm-wide business development culture

1. Stronger client retention

One of the most dangerous fallouts of inadequate succession planning is the loss of long-standing clients when senior partners retire. Firms that prioritize business development across all levels ensure that multiple lawyers have strong relationships with key clients, reducing the likelihood of client departures. Many firms’ compensation systems permit, even encourage, partners to eat with their arms around their plates, keeping younger lawyers away from their clients.

This practice defeats succession at the most fundamental level. Firms that tolerate it cannot expect to retain retiring partners’ clients. Moreover, this practice model compounds the business development work the rest of the partnership must do to fill the revenue gaps partner retirements create.

2. Less reliance on costly lateral hiring

While lateral recruitment can complement business development efforts and help firms replace their retiring partners, this strategy is risky and expensive. Lateral partners do not always bring as much business with them as they thought they would. Sometimes they prove to be a bad cultural or personal fit. In today’s red-hot lateral recruitment market, laterals command richer compensation packages than ever before. If a lateral does not work out for any reason, the recruiting firm has invested time and treasure in a failed revenue opportunity.

Because of these risks, lateral recruitment should not be a law firm’s primary succession strategy. While internal talent development takes longer, firms that prepare and train younger lawyers as part of their culture are less vulnerable to the external hiring risks and pressures inherent in hiring laterals.

3. A more collaborative and engaged firm culture

When business development is not solely the responsibility of a few senior lawyers, firms become more collaborative. Lawyers tend to work more cooperatively with their peers to cultivate client relationships and cross-sell services. This creates a sense of common purpose and shared success, strengthening both internal engagement and the firm’s external reputation.

4. Long-term financial stability

Ultimately, a business development-focused succession strategy is about future-proofing the firm. Instead of scrambling to replace lost revenue when partners retire, firms with a strong internal business development ethic maintain steady, predictable growth. This stability allows for better strategic planning, resource allocation, and long-term investment in firm success.

A proactive approach to succession

Many law firms remain reactive in their approach to succession planning, waiting until senior partners are on the brink of retirement to address client retention and service continuity. This approach is fraught with the risk of costly hires that do not work out. Instead, firms should take a proactive stance, embedding business development training into every stage of a lawyer’s career.

By investing in young lawyers early, supporting mid-career attorneys in developing client relationships, and supporting senior partners in making the leap from good to great, firms create a self-sustaining model of business generation – a strong and sustainable succession strategy.  Building better business development at all levels of a firm, above all else, galvanizes firm culture around a common objective: Perpetuation of the enterprise for the good of future generations.

 

 

A former senior partner with Am Law 100 firm Barnes & Thornburg, David Wood retired after a 38-year career as a trial lawyer representing large corporate clients. In his final two years of practice, he spent hundreds of hours migrating his $6 million book of business to younger partners. He now works as a business development and succession consultant to law firms, training and coaching lawyers at all levels to do what he did: Build productive, sticky client relationships that stay with the firm when senior partners retire. He can be reached at [email protected].