The State Bar Association of North Dakota Spring 2014 Gavel Magazine | Page 13

A PLAN TO DIE AT YOUR DESK

ISN’T THE BEST OF PLANS
The past few years have been a bit rough in terms of
the economy and there are few signs that things will
dramatically improve anytime soon. The national debt
continues to rise and there are still way too many who
are unemployed or under employed. For those who
went into this extended downturn living paycheck to
paycheck, the past few years have been particularly
hard. There is a lesson that can be taken from all this
however. There is value in planning ahead in order
to be financially prepared for the unexpected. How
prepared are you? Perhaps it will come as no surprise;
but I see the failure of an attorney to appropriately
plan ahead as not only a financial misstep but a risk
management concern as well.
I constantly meet and work with attorneys who have
done, and will continue to do, all that they can to
provide quality legal services to their clients for a fair
and reasonable fee. This is a good thing. However,
add into the mix a desire to provide a decent wage
and some sort of benefit package to keep and reward
competent and dedicated staff then couple this with
the all the other costs of running a law practice and
financially things starts to get complicated. Of course
there are also the realities of life that might include
raising a family, providing a college education for the
kids, purchasing a home for the family, caring for
elderly parents, covering unexpected medical bills,
rebuilding the nest egg after a divorce, recovering
from that one hot investment tip that unfortunately
led to a large loss, or taking the vacations that helped
you keep it all together. You see where this starts to
go. Life happens, whether we want it to or not, and
it also happens at a speed that can take so many of us
off guard.
For some, as the retirement years finally near, there
is a harsh awakening to the reality that somewhere
along the line the retirement plan that was always
meant to be a priority never actually did become
one and therein lies the problem. I have visited with
attorneys who shared that they simply aren’t able to
retire because there is no adequate retirement fund.
Life and/or the practice kept getting in the way.
Unfortunately claims and disciplinary matters can
and do arise as a result of financial pressures and
sometimes the reason is as simple as an attorney no
longer had the energy or desire to practice law but
couldn’t afford not to. When one’s heart is no longer
in it, the odds of a misstep go up.

When I stumble upon an “unable to retire” situation,
I often wonder whether it might have been prevented
with appropriate financial advice and planning. I
suspect that for some it truly could have. Too many
attorneys fail to develop formal business plans for
their practices, see that their own wills get drafted and
signed, or set up retirement accounts just for starters.
Perhaps one reason is that they’re too busy seeing that
these kinds of things get