Succession keynotes for law firms
A keynote and workshop on planning partner succession, so the book of business, the clients and the culture stay inside your firm.
For Managing Partners, executive committees, COOs & CMOs shaping the next decade of the firm.
The conversation firms avoid
A generation of senior partners is reaching the end of their careers. Most firms plan for everything except this, and the cost of getting it wrong lands on the balance sheet.
Firms are afraid to raise transition with their biggest producers, in case they take offense, and their book, straight to a competitor.
So nothing gets planned. Until a senior partner steps back the hard way and a nine-figure book of business walks out of the door with them.
Aging partners, AI, and a more mobile profession are reshaping the firm beneath you. Clients sense instability long before you do.
“When I could no longer add more value than the partners I had mentored, I planned my exit. Over three years I handed a forty-year book to my colleagues, without losing a client. Most firms never plan for that moment. That is the work I now do with them.”
Douglas J. Wood • 40+ years in practice, former senior partner at a global firm
What your clients actually want
In-house counsel want their firms to be “a source of stability and reliability”, with no surprises.
An unmanaged partner departure is the biggest surprise of all. Doug shows firm leadership how to plan succession so the continuity clients demand is never in doubt, turning a taboo subject into a competitive advantage.
What you can book
From a keynote at your partner retreat to a hands-on workshop for the partnership. Drawn from his book From Dawn to Dusk, every format is built on the disciplined method Doug used himself: an honest SWOT, a written plan, and a patient, client-first handover.
A signature talk for a partner retreat, firm conference or leadership offsite that gets the whole room talking about what no one will name.
An interactive session with the partnership to surface the real risks and start a succession framework the firm will actually follow.
One-to-one work with leadership and individual senior partners to design and run a transition, protecting the book every step of the way.
A candid conversation or panel appearance, ideal for a client event, alumni gathering or professional association.
Presentations for bar associations and CLE (Continuing Legal Education) audiences, the ongoing training lawyers complete, on succession and career strategy.
One-to-one coaching for senior partners planning their own transition, on their own timeline and their own terms.
Why firms listen
He does not teach succession from a textbook. He built a multimillion-dollar practice, led at the top of a global firm, and then transitioned it, deliberately, on his own terms.
Not another succession consultant. Doug is the rare adviser who has lived the whole arc: build a major practice, lead it, transition the book without losing a client, and shape what comes next. Very few can say they have done all four.
See him in the room
A few minutes from a recent firm keynote, the succession conversation your partners actually lean into.
Douglas J. Wood — keynote at Barclay Damon LLP
More than a lawyer
The reason Doug's talks land is simple: he is a natural storyteller. Alongside a 40-year legal career he has written a shelf of novels and an award-winning memoir, cheekily titled Asshole Attorney: Musings, Memories and Missteps in a 40 Year Career. Your partners will not sit through a dry lecture. They get four decades of hard-won stories, told with candor, warmth and a good deal of humor.
Heard it first on the podcast
The From Dawn to Dusk podcast: more than twenty episodes of senior lawyers on how they built their careers and moved on from them. The stories your partners will recognize.
A former Chief Legal Officer on mentoring the next generation and transitioning her responsibilities without losing a beat.
Watch the episode →A litigator who built a full life outside the law, and still executed a smooth, planned exit from his firm.
Watch the episode →From in-house counsel at Fidelity to founding a thriving winery. Proof that a planned transition opens doors, it does not close them.
Watch the episode →In their words
“Partners point to Doug's real gift: client handoffs, succession mentoring, and helping lawyers reimagine what comes next.”
Having been mentored by Doug for more than a decade, I can attest that Doug is the ultimate business developer.
Douglas Wood is more than a lawyer. He is an astute businessman.
He is an exceptional lawyer and an even better person.
A word from Doug
Why succession is the conversation your firm can't keep avoiding, and what it looks like to fix it together.
Book Doug to speak
Send a short inquiry and we will come back within one business day to find a time that suits you.