Feature Article: Law Practice Management Series
by Mary G. Anderson, Life Management Consulting Group
Managing a successful law practice includes many challenges from planning ahead, leading your team, organizing work flow, controlling costs and continuing to stay connected to your clients by offering valuable services.
How does the topic of legacy and business succession planning fit into my ‘law practice management’ article series? Easily. Providing additional services, beyond the minimum estate planning menu, gives your firm a steady advantage over other competitors.
Many people including parents and grandparents are interested in leaving behind more than just their ‘stuff’. They want to share their memories, stories and values. As the years advance, a “life review” is particularly rewarding, but at any age it can be a great pleasure and an amazing source of insights. If your client is young they may not be eager to hear family stories now, but eventually they will.
By offering your clients access to a he service and/or a trusted resource of someone to help them organize their thoughts (visually, orally, in print, audio, video, etc.) into a keepsake, your value as a trusted advisor will only be enhanced.
From writing a simple one page letter to completing a genealogy and in depth research of elders in the family– there are many different ways to share values, memories, and wishes for your clients’ heirs. Encourage your clients to get those stories on paper or recorded now — before memories fade and while people are still alive. One idea is to have a younger member of the family (such as a grandchild) spend time with a good tape recorder and have them begin to capture the memories of Grandma & Grandpa to have transcribed one day and ultimately to share with the extended family for generations to come.
Quote To Ponder
“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth —
and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up,
we will then begin to live each day to the fullest,
as if it was the only one we had.”
~Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
About the Author:
Mary G. Anderson, is the Program Director at Advanced Legal Training Institute. She also provides client service programs through her company, Life Management Consulting Group. Many estate-planning attorneys have clients that are in need of guidance and support as they manage their elder years. Mary offers 1-on-1 coaching support for families that are facing some of the challenging aspects of end-of-life/eldercare such as choosing/evaluating a nursing home/assisted living center, professional organizing of important papers and documents, estate settlement and support with funeral planning, grief and loss. These consulting services assist clients who are either in 1) the midst of handling a death of a loved one and executing their estate and/or 2) a client who has decided to get organized and plan ahead by completing their will, organizing their important papers, completing a checklist of final wishes and creating a legacy will. Mary is the author of “My Estate Management Guide“, “Pet Protection Legal Care Plan: Financial and Legal Planning to Protect Your Companion Pet” and a Certified Mediator & Estate Settlement Agent.
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