Marc Gericó: “If the top of the pyramid is full of partners, the firms propose a parallel path that ends up being an invitation to the lawyer to leave”

Senior lawyers over 55 years of age, removed from the law firms’ partnership, what new path is open to them?

It is a reality, as demonstrated by the II Senior Consumer Barometer, conducted by the Mapfre Foundation with the help of Google at the end of 2021, that senior lawyers over 55 are no longer welcome in the legal sector, despite their great experience and extensive knowledge in the field.

According to the data provided in this study, out of a segment of the population of 15.8 million Spaniards, 49% consider that they are not being valued by organizations and 38% prefer not to say anything.

The research does not focus solely on the legal sector, but it is a situation that some lawyers from the country’s major law firms recognize. These, despite the fact that they are still a decade away from retirement, are being removed from the highest levels of the firm to make way for younger partners, thus losing the talent of senior lawyers.

“After 25 years, the early retirement of senior lawyers caused him to launch his own boutique into the market”

Marc Gericó, our managing partner, who offers his opinion on the matter for Cinco Días, states that “if the top of the pyramid is full of partners, the firms propose a parallel path that ends up being an invitation for the lawyer to leave”. The solution that many lawyers opt for is to found their own law firms or legal boutiques, with which they end up being rivals with the firms they came from.

“I remember in 2009 the case of a lawyer, then a partner in one of the national firms with the highest turnover. After 25 years, early retirement caused him to launch his own boutique into the market, while that firm lost what could have been one of the best mentors for the firm’s junior and senior lawyers,” he adds.

To avoid this situation, some firms have decided to rename these lawyers as counselors (better known in the legal sector as of counsel) or, directly, by resorting to other alternative figures such as the non-quota professional partnership, in which the partners do not have shares in the capital of the firms, but acquire that status vis-à-vis the outside, explains Gericó.

This is not the only alternative that has been seen in recent years. Cuatrecasas, the country’s second-largest law firm in terms of turnover, has created a specific program for “emeritus partners”. In this way, partners continue to maintain a link with the firm so that they are known as its “best ambassadors”. Their role is known, from now on, by participating annually in a meeting with the presidency and general management, as well as by participating in certain projects, where they carry out “coaching, promotional or commercial tasks”. The firm also provides for the granting of the status of “honorary member” on an indefinite basis to all those lawyers who have reached the age of 50, have already left the firm and are considered worthy of special recognition.

If you want to read the full article in Cinco Días, click here.