How In-House Legal Departments Can Survive the Silver Tsunami of Retiring Baby Boomer GCs

America’s corporate suites are bracing for the impact of a steady flow of retiring executives, and the legal department is no exception to this demographic trend. The legal industry is “grappling with the impending wave of baby-boomer lawyer retirements,” reports Law360®.

“In-house lawyers are on the verge of witnessing a significant generational shift as many Baby Boomer general counsel rapidly approach retirement age,” writes Sterling Miller, who served as general counsel at various companies for 25 years. “This ‘silver tsunami’ is a looming wave of retirements that will create challenges and opportunities for in-house legal teams.”

Miller notes that the departure of a senior legal department leader means a potential loss of institutional knowledge, strategic insight and deep-rooted relationships with key stakeholders—but it also creates an opportunity to open doors for the next generation of leaders to step up and take the reins.

“In-house legal departments must pro-actively plan for this transition because it is here,” he advises. “Succession planning should be a priority, not an afterthought.”

Unfortunately, succession plans for the General Counsel—and for other key roles in the corporate legal department—are often lacking or informal, according to BarkerGilmore. This can cause problems with instability and disruption when leadership transitions occur, especially if they are unexpected.

Building a Future-Ready Legal Team: Talent Development and Knowledge Sharing Strategies for Succession Planning

Effective succession planning views the legal department as a cycle: senior lawyers approaching retirement, mid-career attorneys at their peak and new lawyers entering the profession. This cycle needs to be carefully nurtured and managed through strategic planning.

The Practical Guidance team for LexisNexis® has prepared an insightful practice note, Legal Department Succession Planning, which looks at two important aspects of the process: (1) Talent Development and (2) Knowledge Sharing. Here are some practical tips to help guide an in-house legal department succession planning strategy.

Employee Development

1. Strategic Hiring Practices: When hiring new lawyers, consider how they fit into the department’s fabrics and future needs. Look for candidates who are not only capable but who can grow within the organization. This approach ensures continuity while fostering a department where multiple lawyers share critical knowledge.
2. Formal Mentoring Programs: A well-structured mentoring program facilitates knowledge transfer between generations of lawyers. The most successful mentoring relationships have committed mentors willing to share experiences, receptive mentees eager to expand their skills and accept feedback, regular structured meetings, and clear goals and parameters defined in a mentoring agreement.
3. Promote from Within: Internal promotion preserves organizational culture while signaling growth opportunities to employees. This approach reduces external hiring costs, motivates employees to invest in professional development and encourages cross-departmental knowledge sharing when promoting from other areas of the organization.
4. Mandatory Vacation Policies: Requiring employees to take consecutive days off encourages cross-training and prevents knowledge siloing. When attorneys must cover for vacationing colleagues, they develop skills and familiarity with different matters. This practice also ensures multiple employees understand key responsibilities, reduces stress for vacationing employees and helps identify overloaded team members.

Knowledge Sharing

1. Direct Knowledge Transfer: Legal departments can facilitate direct knowledge sharing through formal group learning sessions in which they review areas of expertise and informal knowledge-sharing meetings (e.g. “coffee chats”). A comprehensive skills matrix should map expertise across the department, identify overlaps and track development needs.
2. Indirect Knowledge Transfer: To reduce dependency on individual employees, legal departments should implement robust knowledge management platforms where all information and documents can be centrally stored. Key considerations include evaluating off-site or third-party storage to determine what information should be transferred to the knowledge platform, establishing retention guidelines based on regulatory requirements, and standardized document creation and filing procedures.
3. Standardized Information Systems: Consistency is critical for effective knowledge management and transfer. Legal departments should follow standard procedures for creating new projects and files, house all correspondence within appropriate files, document final outcomes and closing procedures, and implement robust search functionality that allows keyword and phrase searches.
4. Shared Systems and Group Resources: To ensure continuity when individual attorneys are unavailable, it is important to use shared calendars with tickler systems for important deadlines. Also, implement group email addresses for contractual notifications with multiple recipients, and be sure to maintain records of software access, group memberships, committee participation and other key information for each employee in the department.

Effective succession planning for in-house legal departments requires a dual focus on employee development and knowledge management. By implementing strategic talent development practices and robust knowledge sharing systems, legal departments can ensure continuity of operations and maintain high-quality legal services regardless of personnel changes.

Stay Ahead of the Succession Curve with Lexis+ GC Suite: The All-in-One Resource for In-House Counsel

In-house counsel need access to timely legal news and insights to help them prepare their organizations for the looming retirement wave and ensure they have deployed an effective succession plan. All of these resources are accessible to in-house legal teams from Practical Guidance, an innovative resource within the Lexis+® platform, designed to empower legal professionals with actionable insights and streamlined workflows. It offers:

• Step-by-step guidance: Detailed procedures and checklists to help navigate complex legal processes.
• Expert commentary: Curated insights and analysis from leading industry experts.
• Integrated tools: Seamless integration with the broader Lexis+ ecosystem to enhance legal research and efficiency.
• Practice resources: Actionable materials that help reduce risk and ensure that your legal practice stays current with best practices.

Whether you're a seasoned attorney or new to the legal field, Practical Guidance within Lexis+ provides the support you need to manage legal challenges confidently. For more information, visit the Practical Guidance page.