Taking Control of Your Professional Retirement

Taking Control of Your Professional Retirement. As lawyers, we like planning ahead of time. It allows us to try and control how things will go for our clients and get them to the desired outcome or minimize the harm.

Thinking ahead about how to control a case is a massive part of what we do daily. Planning, looking at the next step, and making sure it doesn’t take our clients or us by surprise works exceptionally well in law practice.

As lawyers, we seldom deploy the same technique, focus, and effort to lay out a plan to control our retirement. Not planning ahead of time doesn’t allow us to maintain our professional careers.

1. Review Your Ethical Responsibilities.

Start with N.C. Rules of Professional Conduct 1.6, 1.7, 1.15, and 1.17. These are taking so much time, and we should be addressing them early.

2. Establish Your Timeline.

Set a clear and defined timeline with actual dates for your professional transition plan and final retirement date.

3. Engage Your Team of Professionals.

Bring your financial advisor, CPA, insurance advisor, and law firm consultant into your decision-making process early and often.

4. Creating a Transition Plan.

Make sure you have a documented plan for what needs to be done for clients, the firm, and for you to be able to achieve your retirement date.

5. Plan for After Law.

Retirement isn’t the end; it’s just the start of the next phase. Make a list of things you want to do with your extra time and start to plan.

Don’t let retirement take you by surprise. Taking some simple steps now can help you control this phase in your professional career. The key is getting started now and planning ahead of time.