Young US lawyers do not want to join their firms' top table because of the effect partnership would have on their lifestyles, a leading legal profession management consultant told the conference.

Concerns about liability and the long-hours culture have caused many young US lawyers to turn their backs on partnership offers, triggering a crisis of management even in some significant US practices, said Ward Bower of Pennsylvania-based Altman Weil. 'Young lawyers today are different from their predecessor generations,' he said. 'They are not prepared to do the same things and work the same hours. They want balance in their lives.'


Mr Bower maintained that many young practitioners in the US were in two-lawyer families, having met at law school and married shortly after. 'Even if neither is a partner, their joint income will still be very good and therefore they don't feel the need to go for partnership.'


The lack of desire for partnership is causing a problem in ownership succession for many firms, Mr Bower maintained. 'Firms must point to the benefits of being a partner,' he said.


Mr Bower also highlighted other succession problems for legal practices. Management succession was a difficulty for those firms that had been run by a single individual for many years.


Management training for younger lawyers early in their careers was vital, he said. 'Don't wait until you are 18 months away from the retirement of your long-serving managing partner before you start to look for the heir apparent, only to find there is no one suitable to take over,' he advised. Mr Bower said it was difficult to parachute a managing partner into a firm from outside. His consultancy had advised in no more than five cases where an outside managing partner was recruited, with only one appointment actually being successful.


Client succession was also a problem for firms when leading partners either retired or died. Mr Bower advised that firms should always maintain more than one point of contact for major corporate clients.