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Parting Friends?

By Jeffrey Lowe
March 30, 2009

Perhaps the most troubling decision for any partnership's management committee is the determination to force partners from the partnership. Last year, in “The Broken Covenant: A Retrospective ' Partners for Life” (Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, April 2008), I examined the reasons for the breakdown of the “covenant” that formerly governed a law firm's relationship among its partners. The thought of terminating partners because business was slow was once unthinkable. Today, the legal world is a much scarier place than it was only a year ago, and the last remnants of the covenant are under further siege. Layoffs continue at a record pace, and law firms and partners struggle to figure out what's next. If one still believes that the practice of law is a profession, rather than a mere vocation, do law firms owe their departing colleagues something other than a pat on the back and three months of severance? This article examines what law firms can do to assist their partners as they show them the door.

Designation for Departure

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