Partners in small private practices and sole practitioners are finding it increasingly difficult to retire, writes Denis Cameron

The classic baby boomer is a person born in those few years after the Second World War. I am one of the oldest, having been born in 1946.


The solicitors' profession has more than its fair share of old boomers. The mid-1960s saw a huge growth in the numbers going to university and consequently a larger number of those graduates entered the profession at the beginning of the 1970s.


I have recently retired from private practice and there must be large numbers from my generation thinking of retiring, if not actually doing something about it.


Retiring from private solicitor practice is far from easy these days for partners in small firms and can be even more difficult for sole practitioners.


Recent studies by the Law Society show that the average age of sole practitioners is higher than any other category and, therefore, they have a more pressing problem. There are about 9,200 law firms in England and Wales, with 4,200 of them sole practitioners.


How does one retire as a partner from a small firm or as a sole practitioner? Unless your remaining partner or partners agree, there are really only two acceptable options. They are merger or cessation.


I am not sure that cessation should really be thought of as acceptable. It is a difficult thing to achieve. First, the business has to be run down prior to the cessation date to get rid of as much work in progress as possible and no new work must be taken on.


On cessation of a business, solicitors are compelled to take indemnity insurance run-off cover at between two-and-a-half to three times the last annual premium. The cessation needs to occur as near as possible before the insurance renewal date, which will usually be 1 October.


Any slip into a new insurance year will mean little or no refund will be given.


The few clients left will have to be persuaded to go elsewhere and the solicitors will have to make arrangements either to dispose of all deeds and wills to the clients or arrange for them to be stored indefinitely.


Files will also have to be stored for a minimum of six years and in many cases 12 years or more. Contact arrangements for former clients or their new firms will have to be put in place. All this is extremely daunting and will see the old boomers tied to their practice in one way or another until they fall off their perches.


The better option is merger with a practice or practices that will become successor practices. This is getting increasingly difficult for small firms and sole practitioners, and for some it is just not possible.


A few lucky practitioners may be able to sell their practices, but that is becoming far less frequent than it used to be. Firms with poor insurance claims or disciplinary records may find it impossible even to give their firms away.


Even if the acquiring firm does not become a successor practice, it might face unacceptable increases in insurance premiums that will deter it. However, if a merger is possible, it is the best route to retirement. It is still not easy, requiring much thought, work and patience.


There is a final very worrying option that some firms are increasingly taking and that it is abandonment of practice and subsequent intervention.


This is a ludicrously expensive way for a firm to be closed down.


It is bad for the image of the profession, bad for the solicitors involved and bad for their clients.


Denis Cameron is the Law Society Council member for Central Lancashire and Northern Greater Manchester