Episode 62- Financial & Career Planning for Senior Attorneys

This past year has been one of great reflection for many attorneys. The lawyers I speak to are thinking more about what they want from their careers and how they can find meaning in their professionals and personal lives. One group I'm particularly enjoying working with are senior lawyers who have 30 or more years of experience in practice.  The pandemic has caused this group of attorneys to think more about existential questions (What do I really want to do the next 10-15 years?  Am I ready to make a big shift? Should I cut down on my practice or leave the practice altogether and if so, how do I fill my time in meaningful ways?) Making a career transition raises a host of issues for lawyers at any stage of their career.  But financial issues are particularly salient for senior lawyers.  Do I have enough to retire?  When can I stop working full time?  How do I protect myself and my family as I go through this transition? In this episode, my guest Chris Cahill talks about these issues and provides a framework for thinking about the financial part of making a career transition.   Chris is a financial planner who is also an attorney. A lot of his clients are now attorneys and I had Chris as a guest speaker in the Fall.  Chris is much more than a money manager.  He brings a host of skills to wealth management and most importantly, he understands the attorney psyche.  Chris and I talk about the financial planning issues that face senior attorneys, how Chris got involved in this work, and what are the issues that are particularly challenging for attorneys in managing money.

Om Podcasten

Counsel to Counsel is a periodic podcast produced by Stephen Seckler of Seckler Attorney Coaching (www.counseltocounsel.com). It addresses important career, marketing, and leadership issues facing attorneys. The target audience is associates, counsel and partners at law firms of all sizes; but the podcast also addresses issues that are relevant to in-house counsel, law students or any lawyer who is looking for career insights inside or outside of the law. Counsel to Counsel is aimed at individual lawyers who are looking to increase their own career satisfaction and build their marketing and leadership skills. The podcast features interviews with leading consultants, career professionals and marketing experts who advise attorneys on careers, marketing, law firm management and related issues. The guests are also a roster of successful attorneys who have found career satisfaction inside and outside the law. Counsel to Counsel is a direct outgrowth of the blog Counsel to Counsel which Stephen Seckler has been publishing since 2005. Since graduating from law school in the late 1980s, Stephen Seckler has been advising lawyers on career and marketing issues and working with a broad mix of law firms and corporate law departments. He began blogging when legal blogging was in its infancy and his blog Counsel to Counsel was named to the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 in 2007 and 2008 (the first two years that list was in existence). Steve has written extensively on career and marketing issues and he has spoken at many law school, law firm and bar association events. He served on the Boston Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Work Life Balance and was Vice Chair of the Law Practice Management Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He is active in the Senior Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association, the ProVisors business network, and has been quoted frequently in the legal and business press.