In 18 years of working in the legal industry, I cannot remember a time when more law firms were in need of talent than they are right now. That is especially true for small firms and midsize firms who are overwhelmed with work, trying to grow, and then losing a key associate (or more) to another firm. It’s like one step forward and three steps back.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for lawyers averaged just 0.8% in 2025, which represented roughly 10,000 unemployed lawyers out of a lawyer labor force of approximately 1.155 million. I am not sure that number even reflects what firms are experiencing today because, based on what I am seeing in the market. As of today, finding strong legal talent has become the number one challenge for the managing partners I work with around the US.
That is why I believe this is one of the most important times for law firms to really look at employee retention and ask whether they are doing everything possible to keep their best people.
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The reality is that your best lawyers are probably getting calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, and recruiter outreach on a regular basis. Everyone seems to be looking for talent right now, and when firms are busy and people are overwhelmed with work, there is always another opportunity being presented somewhere else. Sometimes it is more money. Sometimes it is a title. Sometimes it is flexibility. Sometimes it is simply the perception that another firm is going to offer a better culture or a better future.
The question becomes, what are you doing to make sure your people do not want to leave in the first place?
Here are five things I believe every law firm should be doing right now if they want to retain their best talent.
1. Have a Real Onboarding and Training Process
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When you bring somebody new into your firm, whether that was yesterday or a year ago, there should have been a real investment in onboarding and training them properly.
They should have known what their first day looked like, what their first week looked like, what the first month looked like, and ideally what their first 90 days were supposed to look like. There should have been a real schedule, a plan, mentorship, training, and a platform for helping them understand the firm.
That means understanding the culture, the processes, the technology, how files are handled, how clients are communicated with, how work is assigned, who they go to when they have questions, and what they need to do in order to be successful.
One of the fastest ways to frustrate a new lawyer is to leave everything ambiguous and expect them to simply figure it out.
Most people want to do a good job. They want to know what success looks like and what is expected of them. The more you can remove uncertainty and give them a clear path toward becoming successful within your firm, the more comfortable and invested they are going to become.
2. Be More Transparent
This is one of the areas where I think a lot of law firms fall flat.
There can be a culture inside firms where everything is a little gray, fuzzy, or cloudy around compensation, advancement, partnership, support, and how things actually work. People may know that certain lawyers are doing very well, but they have no idea how those lawyers got there or what they themselves would need to do to achieve the same thing.
That becomes frustrating over time.
If somebody does not understand what they need to do to become a partner, an equity partner, or a more valuable member of the firm, it becomes difficult for them to see a real future there.
I would encourage firms to be as transparent as they reasonably can be about compensation, advancement, and expectations. If you can have an open compensation plan or at least explain very clearly how compensation decisions are made, that can be extremely helpful.
People should know what they need to do to move up and what truly matters to leadership. This may be providing specifics of billing requirements, managing more client relationships or bringing in more business. Your team should know where the opportunities are and how they can position themselves for those opportunities.
When everything is kept under the radar, people start to feel as though the rich get richer while everyone underneath them is left guessing about how to succeed.
That is not a good environment for retention.
3. Invest Time in Your People
It is very difficult to know what somebody is really thinking if all you ever do is see them in the office, communicate about files, or interact over Zoom.
You need to invest time with your people and understand what they actually want.
Where do they want to be in one year, three years, or five years? What are their goals? What are they trying to accomplish professionally? What do they want personally? Do they want to become a partner? Do they want to build a book of business? Do they want more flexibility? Do they want to become a better trial lawyer? Do they want to develop more client relationships?
You are not necessarily going to get those answers during a five-minute conversation in the hallway.
Take somebody to lunch. Take them for coffee. Take them out for a drink. Get outside the normal work environment and have a meaningful conversation.
The point is not simply to socialize. The point is to create an environment where people feel comfortable enough to tell you what is going on in their world and where they want to go.
If you understand their motivations, you can help them get where they are trying to go. If you never ask, you are just guessing. Many lawyers leave simply because no one asked or listened to them.
4. Build Trust, Loyalty, and Development
People want mentorship, to be trained, and to get better at what they do.
Lawyers also want help in areas that law school never taught them, including branding, business development, networking, time management, leadership, and how to build a book of business.
If somebody is telling you they are interested in becoming better in those areas, invest in them. Give them the resources or at least help them find them. Introduce them to members of the firm who can show them how it’s done.
People want to feel like they are being supported to achieve their business and personal goals, and that means they need to be heard, listened to, and understood. That is basic human nature.
When you do not build loyalty internally, that is when an outside offer can suddenly look incredibly attractive. Somebody comes along with another $10,000, $20,000, and the person starts thinking about leaving even though they have spent years building relationships, credibility, and a career with you.
Sometimes the issue is not really the money. They are simply not feeling enough support, appreciation, or investment from the leadership of the firm. If people feel valued and believe you are invested in their future, it becomes much more difficult for another firm to pull them away.
5. Have Open Conversations About the Environment
The last thing I would recommend is having open and frank conversations about how people are really feeling about you and the firm.
Are they happy and feeling valued? Are they getting the support they need? What could you be doing better for them? What is frustrating them? What could make their job or their career better?
These are not conversations that should happen once a year or once every other year. I would argue that firms should be having them at least quarterly. You want to know where somebody is mentally before they are halfway out the door.
If there is something bothering them, you want to know about it while you still have the opportunity to fix it. A lot of firms find out what was wrong during the exit interview, which is about the least useful time to learn it. By then, the person is committed to leaving and it’s too late to reverse course.
The goal should be to create enough trust that people can tell you what is working, what’s not working, and what they need from you before the situation becomes a resignation.
Retention Is a Lot Less Expensive Than Starting Over
Think about what happens when you lose somebody you have invested three, four, or five years in.
You lose their knowledge, their productivity, their client relationships, and the time you spent developing them. Then you must go into one of the most difficult legal hiring markets we have seen and try to find somebody else.
Once you do, you have to start over. You have to recruit them, onboard them, train them, integrate them into the culture, introduce them to clients, and wait for them to become productive.
The cost of replacing a strong lawyer can be enormous. Depending on the person and the role, it can easily represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost productivity, recruiting expenses, training time, and opportunity cost. If you look at the value of retaining somebody and allowing them to grow with the firm over a career, the difference could ultimately be worth millions.
So, this is the time to invest some time, energy, and money into your people.
Make sure they understand how to succeed. Be transparent with them. Understand what motivates them. Give them opportunities to develop. Ask them how they are doing and actually listen to the answer.
Because right now, there are a lot of firms looking for talent, and there are a lot of recruiters calling the same people you are hoping will stay with you for the next five, 10, or 20 years.
The firms that take retention seriously today are going to have a much easier time growing tomorrow.
For more information about how to grow your book of business, develop as a rainmaker, improve law firm culture, scale a practice, and retain great people, check out the BE THAT LAWYER podcast. I regularly bring on successful rainmakers and legal professionals to talk about what they are doing to build stronger careers and stronger firms.
Hopefully this helps you build your book, own your future, and BE THAT LAWYER.
Steve Fretzin is a five-time bestselling author, host of the BE THAT LAWYER and Future Rainmakers podcasts, and a business development coach who works exclusively with attorneys. For more than 18 years, he has helped lawyers build strong books of business without selling, pitching, or chasing, using his proven Sales-Free Selling™ approach. His clients consistently become top rainmakers and credit his coaching and systems for driving meaningful, measurable growth. Steve can be reached directly at [email protected], or through his website at bethatlawyer.com. Connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin. His ALL NEW BE THAT LAWYER Community is changing how lawyers develop the skills never taught in law school. Learn more at bethatlawyer.com/community.