Stephen Seckler is a seasoned marketing coach, career coach, and legal recruiter. He is the President of Seckler Attorney Coaching, where he advises attorneys on how to advance their careers and coaches them to take action towards their goals.
Stephen has over 25 years of experience working with hundreds of partners, associates, and in-house counsel. He has been the Author of the blog Counsel to Counsel since 2005 and more recently started the Counsel to Counsel Podcast, where he interviews leading attorneys and consultants.
Stephen founded The Next Stage coaching program to help senior lawyers determine what comes next. Succession planning can be challenging, especially for lawyers whose passion and purpose is their career, but Stephen knows precisely how to work with them and help them discover opportunities in life outside of their firms.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Stephen Seckler defines succession planning and shares why it’s important
- What can happen if you don’t plan for succession?
- How senior attorneys can overcome fears of succession and help their firms transition
- Stephen shares tips for generating healthy conversations that will benefit your firm
- The value of taking time off to examine the possibilities in your life
- Why law firms should invest in professional development at all stages of a lawyer’s career
- Stephen’s final piece of advice: talk with others who have walked in your shoes — and successfully exited their firms
In this episode…
There’s a bottleneck in the law firm environment because senior lawyers no longer want to retire. However, reluctance to succession planning can be a strategic mistake for lawyers and their firms. So what are the consequences of not planning for succession? And how can senior attorneys find the drive to prepare for their exit?
Succession planning allows lawyers to make sure that the firm they have today continues to exist in the future with the same — or more — strength. If you don’t take the opportunity to plan for succession, clients may leave, behind the scenes lawyers may go, and your firm will cease to exist. Stephen Seckler, an expert and coach in succession planning, reminds us that leaving a firm is not the end of the world. There are so many opportunities out there for senior lawyers, and your firm will be better off when it’s prepared for your exit.
In this episode of The Lawyer’s Edge Podcast, Elise Holtzman talks with Stephen Seckler, President of Seckler Attorney Coaching, about the best practices for succession planning. Stephen shares why succession planning is essential, how senior lawyers can overcome their fears of retirement and help their firms transition, and the value of mentorship and peer-to-peer conversations. Stay tuned!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Elise Holtzman on LinkedIn
- The Lawyer’s Edge
- Stephen Seckler on LinkedIn
- Stephen Seckler’s website
- Counsel to Counsel
- Counsel to Counsel Podcast
- Ida Abbott on The Lawyer’s Edge Podcast
- Retirement by Design: A Guided Workbook for Creating a Happy and Purposeful Future by Ida Abbott JD
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by The Lawyer’s Edge, a firm based in the New York metropolitan area founded by Elise Holtzman in 2008 to help lawyers become skilled business developers and leaders so that they can grow their practices, retain top talent, and step confidently into leadership roles.
The firm offers customized coaching, consulting, and training programs such as their signature business development program, Lawyers Making Rain.
Now more than ever, it’s not enough to just do good work and hope your law firm will thrive. And no matter how smart and hard-working you are, it can be time-consuming and overwhelming to figure it all out by yourself.
To learn more about how we help lawyers become rainmakers and leaders, visit thelawyersedge.com or email us at podcast@thelawyersedge.com.
