CHICAGO, May 28, 2013 — Succession is a fact of life ­ even for law firms. Founding partners retire, rainmakers depart, and, in the process, client relationships must be preserved. 

Peter A. Giuliani’s new book, Passing the Torch Without Getting Burned: A Guide to Law Firm Retirement and Succession Planning, is a comprehensive examination of key economic issues typically encountered by law firms when they consider how partners end their careers. Giuliani, an experienced law-firm management consultant, illustrates common retirement issues and their resolutions through case studies from his years of consulting experience. This book will help lawyers:

• Understand the basic economics of retirement and succession planning;
• Take care of founding partners upon their retirement;
• Bring new partners into the firm;
• Select a retirement plan that’s best for the firm — and make it affordable for employees;
• Weigh the costs and benefits of mandatory retirement;
• Consider “emeritus status” alternative retirement plans;
• Integrate compensation plans with retirement policies;
• Think about selling their law firm; and
• Understand special considerations for contingency-fee practices.

Author Peter A. Giuliani is a partner at Smock Law Firm Consultants in Lake Forest, Ill. His law firm management experience spans nearly 45 years, as a management consultant to law firms and other professional service firms and as executive director for seven years of Cummings Lockwood, a 180-lawyer law firm based in Stamford, Conn. His specialties include strategic planning; financial management and law firm economics; administrative and technology infrastructure planning; strategic mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; and practice group management. 

Title:                           Passing the Torch Without Getting Burned:                                         A Guide to Law Firm Retirement and                                        Succession Planning                            Publisher:                ABA Law Practice Management Section Pages:                          161 Product Code:         5110762 ISBN:                           978-1-61438-902-6 Size:                             7 × 10 Price:                          $79.95 Orders:                      800-285-2221 or ABA Web Store

Editor’s note: Review copies are available by sending an email to Lindsay Dawson at Lindsay.Dawson@americanbar.org. If you publish a review of this book, please send tearsheets or a copy for our files to Lindsay Dawson, American Bar Association, Book Publishing, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654.

The ABA Law Practice Management Section is a professional membership organization providing resources for lawyers and other legal professionals in the core areas of the business of practicing law — marketing, management, technology and finance — through its award-winning magazine, webzines, educational CLE programs, website and publishing division. For more than 30 years, LPM has established itself as a leader within the legal profession by producing ABA TECHSHOW, the world’s premier legal technology conference and expo, and through its publishing arm, which has more than 90 titles in print. 

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