There’s been a lot of hoopla recently here in La-La land (aka SoCal) about farewell tours. Kobe Bryant has left the building, e.g. Staples Center, after a twenty year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, including five NBA Championship rings. It was time, he said.
The one and only Vince Scully is in his final victory lap as the play by play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is retiring; he’s 88 and has called Dodger games since the team was in Brooklyn at Ebbetts Field. If you have never heard Vince Scully call a baseball game, you have missed out on one of the great announcers of all time. (He’s only calling TV games in his final season.) Scully said that it was time.
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John Wooden, probably the greatest basketball coach ever (he retired before many of you were even born, so you need to Google or Wikipedia him), aka the Wizard of Westwood (yes, another reference to SoCal), decided that it was time. He retired at 65, but, as his wife Nell said, he didn’t retire, he just “rewired.”
So many sports references here. Why? Is it that these exceptional people “knew when to hold them, when to fold them… and when to walk away?”
On its website, the State Bar of California recently asked its lawyers “how long do you plan to keep practicing law?” The poll was completely unscientific, as it didn’t tally the results by age, years in practice, or any other criteria whatsoever. However, the result was not surprising, at least to this dinosaur: more than fifty percent of the responding lawyers said they would continue to practice as long as they are able. (Ten percent or so said they were looking to switch careers as soon as possible, approximately twenty percent said that they hoped to take early retirement, and approximately fifteen percent said they’d practice until they turned sixty-five. Note to millennials: the retirement age at which you can start receiving full Social Security benefits is creeping upward.)
What does “as long as they are able” mean in this context? Does it mean until the brain cells are off sipping mai-tais somewhere? Does it mean until there isn’t another client waiting in the wings and whatever previous clients have gone on (either to their great rewards or to other lawyers?) Does it mean until there’s enough money in the retirement account to fund the current lifestyle or a better one? Does it mean until all the kids are grown, educated, and launched? Does it mean until the current office lease expires and the decision is made not to renew?
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For lawyers, deciding to retire is not usually done in the glare of the spotlight. However, even for these sports legends, Bryant, Scully, and Wooden, I would bet that there were more than a few sleepless nights (and days) evaluating what the best for their families, for the teams they represented, for themselves. Leaving what you have loved to do for so many years is a form of death; it’s mourning the loss of professional identity. It is not something that is easy for anyone to do, and if anyone tells you otherwise, then look at the length of the nose. Remember Pinocchio?
What also stands out with these three men is that they each took affirmative steps to make the decisions to end their various careers as player, broadcaster, and coach. No one (at least not publicly) told them that their time was up, that it was midnight on the retirement clock, and so they needed to move on and out.
Just like sports, our profession, whoops, our business, is now one of sharp elbows, trash-talking, and scorekeeping. We will jettison those who may still have much to give, just like sports.
Layoffs of senior lawyers (is “expense reduction” code for whacking the oldsters?) seem to be par for the course these days, leaving dinosaur lawyers often adrift and bewildered at the instantaneous change of circumstances. Not enough billable hours, not enough new clients, not enough new business from existing clients. They were in their highest-earning years, busily funding the 401(k)s with the “catch-up” contributions available to those 50 plus, and now applying for unemployment, wondering if they can make it to 59 and 1/2 without breaking into those 401(k)s.
The Lakers and the Dodgers will continue without Kobe and Vince, although I’ll bet that fans will look back nostalgically at their years on their teams. (Nostalgia still prevails for those East Coast transplants to SoCal who remember the Brooklyn Dodgers, who ditched the Big Apple for the Big Orange way back in 1958.) UCLA basketball fans look back that way at the Wooden years.
Who will look back with nostalgically, and maybe even with regret, as dinosaur lawyers retire? Will their contributions to the firms, the entities that employed them, whether in-house or outside, be recognized and appreciated? Or will it be “thank goodness, she’s gone?” There aren’t usually victory laps for these lawyers, aside from perhaps a farewell “party,” where other employees stand around awkwardly, thanking whomever that it’s not them, but wondering on whose neck the axe will fall next.
When lawyers decide to leave, whether voluntarily or not, what will they do? What do they do? Do they retire or rewire, as Nell Wooden said? So, dinosaur lawyers, what’s your plan? What are you doing about your clients and your practice? How do you transition from warp speed to a slower pace? As the bumper crop of boomer lawyers start to think about what’s next, what will be next for them? For you?
Jill Switzer is closing in on 40 (not a typo) years as a active member of the State Bar of California. Yes, folks, California, that state west of the Sierra Nevada, which everyone likes to diss. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see old lawyers, young lawyers, and those in-between interact — it’s not always pretty. You can reach her by email at [email protected].