Still bracing for the boomer exit

Randy Osgood has been giving a lot of thought to retirement these days. A partner at Edmonton’s Meikle Osgood, he recently turned 65 and aims to hang up his spurs by 70. But before he can, he’s got some big questions to wrestle with.  

For starters, his three-lawyer firm lacks an obvious successor. One of his partners is a similar age. The other doesn’t practice in his area of law. And none of the articling students he’s taken on over the past decade proved to be the right fit, leaving him worried about who will serve his clients when he bows out. 

Money is another factor. Like most lawyers in private practice, Osgood doesn’t have a pension, and he wonders how much savings will be enough to sustain him through retirement, especially given the current financial uncertainty.

Meanwhile, winding down a practice is a daunting process of notifying clients, wrapping up cases, and figuring out which files need to be retained for how long. 

Then there’s the question of how to occupy himself if he’s not working. 

“The easiest thing is to simply not retire,” he says wryly. 

In Halifax, Kate Harris shares many of those concerns. The co-managing partner at Patterson Law — a mid-sized firm with five offices across Nova Scotia — has forged deep bonds with the clients she’s served for decades. Her buyout won’t be enough to sustain her through retirement, and like Osgood, she struggles to picture a life outside the profession. 

“Our identity is very wrapped up in what we do,” she says. “I really can’t imagine how I would spend my days if I were to retire.” 

Those reasons help explain why the median retirement age for Canadian lawyers is 69, according to Employment and Social Development Canada, pushing the predicted boomer exodus a little further down the road. 

The benefits and risks of hanging on

Solo practitioners can choose when to take their leave. And while some firms set mandatory retirement ages for equity partners, others recognize the deep knowledge, strong client base, and extensive network of connections older lawyers provide.

In fact, Patterson Law recently hired two 70-year-old lawyers who were forced to retire from another firm. 

“We really value the senior voices around our office. They’re fantastic in terms of mentoring, opening new doors, and introducing people to clients,” says Harris, 62. 

Patterson Law also allows older lawyers to step away from the pressures of partnership but continue working part-time as counsel. 

However, there are also risks to staying on too long as ageing takes its toll. 

“I’ve had (opposing) lawyers who were 88ish and should not have been working,” Osgood says. “I don’t want to get to that stage.”

Even if partners are performing at their peak, when too many continue to practice into their 70s and 80s, it can deprive younger lawyers of opportunities to move up. As a result, those up-and-comers may choose to leave instead. 

Navigating the post-boomer landscape

So what’s the best way to ensure a smooth transition as boomers slowly make their exit? There’s certainly no one-size-fits-all solution.

Because few newly minted lawyers have the interest or money to purchase an existing practice, a better option for smaller or solo practices may be to merge with a larger firm. Harris gives the example of a prominent real estate lawyer who joined Patterson Law a few years before her planned retirement. That handover period provided time to work together and slowly transition her clients and files to the firm’s real estate team. 

In firms without fixed retirement ages, it’s difficult to make clear succession plans — and to ensure there are enough junior lawyers on the partner track to pay out the retiring partners. Recruiting the right candidates to fill the resulting gaps is also challenging.

“There’s a lot of good talent coming into law,” says legal recruiter Daniel Lépine, president of Lépine Talent. 

“The bigger question is, do they want to stay?”

Young lawyers consistently tell him they’re not interested in working 80 hours a week like previous generations did. Fewer graduates are willing to practice in rural areas. And many are opting for in-house positions, government careers, or fields outside the legal sector.

That leaves senior lawyers like Osgood concerned about a justice system already plagued by delays. 

“You’re losing a whole bunch of knowledgeable lawyers who know how to make the system move more efficiently,” he says.

Even when new grads opt for a law firm career, retaining them isn’t easy. 

“There has to be a change in culture and how we do things,” Lépine says. 

He also points out that law has become more specialized, leaving lawyers vulnerable to market fluctuations. For example, how do you keep a mergers and acquisitions specialist happy and productive during an economic downturn?

It’s a lot for firms to navigate. 

“I think that our job as recruiters goes a little bit further than just being a vendor,” Lépine says, adding it often means helping firms rethink hiring strategies and shifting internal roles based on market availability. 

He predicts continuing turbulence in the years ahead as technology alters how law is practiced, boomers slowly move out the door, and a new generation with different priorities drives changes in the profession. 

There is one certainty, however. 

“I think I’m still going to be busy in 10 years,” Lépine says with a laugh.