Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Spring 2014, Vol. 40, No. 1 | Page 39

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and contact information for all staff and
principal vendors such as banks, insurance
companies, utility companies, and the landlord. In short, think about what you would
need to know if you were the person coming in to wind down your practice and capture that intellectual capital in a way that
will be useful to the designated attorney.
If you feel that you need assistance in developing a plan for your death or disability, the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund has published a handbook with
related forms that can be of real help. This
handbook, available to out-of-state lawyers at a reasonable price, will also provide
significant help to the designated attorney
should his or her services ever be needed.
In this book entitled Planning Ahead: A
Guide to Protecting Your Clients’ Interests
in the Event of Your Disability or Death, you
will find items such as a checklist for closing
another attorney’s office, a sample notice
of designated assisting attorney, sample
letters to clients, a sample authorization for
the transfer of a client file, and much more.
Also be aware that a few useful resources based upon the materials in this Oregon guide are available on the websites of
a number of state bars, including the VBA
website. Finally, the ABA has published a
similar resource entitled Being Prepared: A
Lawyer’s Guide for Dealing with Disability
or Unexpected Events that might be of use
as well.
____________________
ALPS Risk Manager Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq., has conducted over one
thousand law firm risk management assessment visits, presented numerous continuing legal education seminars throughout the United States, and written extensively on risk management and technology. Check out Mark’s recent seminar, Succession Planning: Managing the Transition
from Start to Finish, by visiting our on-demand CLE library at alps.inreachce.com.
Mark can be contacted at: mbass@alpsnet.
com.

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SPRING 2014

Succession Planning Really Isn’t Optional

nation of an attorney who will be responsible for administering the winding down
of your practice. This attorney should be
competent, experienced, and someone
who displays the utmost professionalism.
This person should have the time, or the
ability to make the time, to come into the
practice. She must be able to make rapid
decisions and assume, at least for a period
of time, something of an additional practice. Now remember that the purpose of
the designated attorney is not to come in
and take over the practice but rather to
take the lead in winding down the practice.
It’s about being expeditious with file review, client notification, protective action,
and transitioning files to other attorneys.
Perhaps these responsibilities could even
be shared among a select group if time
constraints are a concern. Obviously, the
designated attorney ought to be someone
quite familiar with your practice areas and
also not likely to have a significant number
of conflict concerns arise as a result of ever
having to step in. Finally, don’t overlook
the importance of making certain that appropriate employees are aware of who the
designated attorney is and how to contact
this individual in an emergency. One added benefit of choosing a designated attorney (and often this is a reciprocal designation) is that this individual can also act as
your backup attorney thereby allowing you
to take extended absences from your office for work, pleasure, or health reasons.
Beyond designating an attorney, there
are a number of other things that should
be done with your practice if they are not
already taken care of. Consider providing
notice of the existence of and reason for
a designated attorney in your fee agreements so that clients are aware of the steps
you have taken to protect their interests in
the event of an emergency. Maintain a current office procedures manual that discusses the calendaring system, conflict system,
active file list, open and closed file systems,
accounting system, and any other key system as this can be valuable in expeditiously bringing the designated attorney up to
speed on how your practice is run. It is imperative that critical systems such as the
calendar and conflict systems be kept current at all times and make certain that all
files are thoroughly documented. The designated attorney will need to review all client files as quickly as possible in order to
make a determination as to whether any
immediate protective action is necessary.
Mistakes can and will be made with poorly
documented files. Finally, write a letter for
the designated attorney that details duties
for all employees, includes passwords for
and instructions on the use of the computer system, provides financial details such as
location and account numbers for all bank
accounts, particularly client trust accounts,

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