Health Crisis Succession Plan

Sole practitioners and attorneys in small firms should give serious consideration to creating and implementing a succession plan in case the attorney suffers a sudden health crisis. Doing so will help you protect your clients as well as your family, your employees and possibly your practice, if you are suddenly unable to continue in practice.

The terms “sudden health crisis succession plan” and “sudden health crisis emergency plan” are used largely interchangeably throughout this information, but the hope is that forward-thinking lawyers will create a “succession” plan in advance to avoid the need to create and execute an “emergency” plan after the fact of the lawyer’s disability.

提前安排好临时管理或永久关闭你的律师事务所以防突发的健康危机, 您正在进行的客户事务可以及时处理，您的客户可以得到更好的保护. 你的突发健康危机将不太可能导致法庭日期或其他最后期限错过或你的客户的利益受损. 创建一个突发健康危机继任计划也将有助于确保你的家庭在你的法律实践中的经济利益得到保护. 如果你没有创建一个突发健康危机计划并且州律师协会为你的实践指定了一个接收者, the receiver may not protect your claim for fees owed by your clients, which could adversely impact your family and your practice.

有关更全面及详细的专题分析，请参阅以下文件:  

• State Bar of Oregon Paper: 提前计划:在你残疾或死亡的情况下保护你的客户利益指南
• Illinois Paper: The Basic Steps to Ethically Closing a Law Practice (hereinafter, the “Illinois paper”)
• Michigan Paper: Sudden Death or Disability: Is Your Practice—and Your Family—Ready for the Worst? (hereinafter, the “Michigan paper”)

All three of these papers have excellent forms that can serve as a model, 但每一项都必须根据你的具体业务需求和乔治亚州法律的要求量身定制.

• First, 认真考虑与处境相似的律师同行订立伙伴/互惠协议.g., sole practitioner) so that you and the other lawyer agree to provide succession plan services for each other in the event of a sudden health crisis. A sample written reciprocity/buddy agreement can be found on page 10 of the Illinois paper and page 30 of the Oregon paper. You should also notify the State Bar of Georgia of your selection. On its annual license fee renewal notice, 州律师协会要求您提供同意以该身份为您服务的人的姓名和州律师协会编号. You and your “buddy” should list one another in the “Notice of Designated Attorney” section on your annual license fee renewal form through the State Bar. However, you need not wait until the next license fee billing cycle to notify the State Bar, you can do so at any time by either calling the State Bar at 404-527-8700 or logging into the Members Only section ，并在“编辑个人偏好”图标下添加指定律师.
• Second, 你应该教育你的主要员工，告诉他们如果你突发健康危机需要做些什么. 当你制定突发健康危机继任计划时，这些员工应该得到授权和教育(并征求他们的意见). 你可能很清楚自己在突发健康危机时该怎么做, but your staff, perhaps being more involved in the details of the running of your practice, 也许能够补充和调整你的想法，并帮助你提出一个更实际和详细的计划. As part of educating and empowering your key staff person in your succession plan, assure your staff that they will be paid (and perhaps even receive a bonus) if they stick with your practice during any transitional period after your sudden health crisis. 
• Third, you will need to ensure your successor helpers have continued access to key items like software (make a list of all of your software programs as well as passwords), checking accounts (have a reliable co-signer, if possible) and any post office box, safe deposit box or office safe (have a reliable person with a key, combination, and/or code to all of them). 
• Fourth, 您应该为将要为您管理这些过渡问题的人提供一份“要做的事情”清单. 你可以在这里找到一个清单的例子，你可以根据你的具体需求定制: Checklist for Closing Another Attorney's Office. See also the Michigan paper, p. 23, 25; the Illinois paper, p. 24; and the Oregon paper, p. 13.
• Fifth, in addition to your successor “buddy” Designated Attorney and your key staffer, 你应该明确指定一个人来为你处理个人的过渡问题(一个“过渡人”)。. 这可能是配偶、成年子女、兄弟姐妹、亲密朋友或重要的其他人. 这个人很可能是你选择作为你的遗产保管人或遗嘱执行人的人. You should carefully brief this person in advance of any sudden health crisis and let the person know exactly where all of the items referenced above may be found. If appropriate, 你也应该从个人层面上和那个为你处理过渡的人讨论薪酬问题. 

You can do other things in advance to help smooth the transition. One often overlooked item is to develop a clear, 一套完整的书面程序，使您的办公室在遭受突发健康危机之前最有效地运作. 这些办公程序的细节超出了这里所列信息的范围, but the State Bar’s Law Practice Management Program has many helpful resources. 你至少应该有一份详细的办公室手册，说明办公室工作的各个方面. Whether you have a sudden health crisis or not, clear written office procedures will increase your profitability, permit you to take more time away from your business with less stress and ensure a good transition whenever you decide to stop practicing law for any reason.

At a minimum, you should maintain a complete electronic list of all active cases/matters/clients, including relevant deadlines, contact information for the client, court and opposing counsel, if applicable. It is imperative that this list be kept up to date. A reliable member of your team should be assigned to maintain the list, 你应该每月检查一次，以确保你的团队成员正确地完成了工作. 良好的实践管理软件可以在很大程度上确保创建并良好维护该列表.

您还应该为所有办公室人员制定明确定义的角色和工作描述. These roles should be in writing. Not only will creating clear, written, well-defined roles help in the event you suffer a sudden health crisis, it will also better help your staff understand the jobs they are to do, as well as the ones they don't need to worry about doing. In other words, clear job descriptions will improve your office efficiency.

In addition, you should give serious consideration to adding language to your will and any financial power of attorney 您可以按以下方式执行(用于您还活着，但在突发健康危机后无法正常工作的情况下).

In discussing transition issues with your transition person, you should also discuss the possibility that you may have a sudden health crisis of temporary duration and might expect to return to practice in the future. This is particularly important if your sudden health crisis is not so sudden, 在你残疾之前，你有时间和你的过渡人谈谈. It is critically important for your transition person to know whether it is possible that you might return to your practice in the future so that steps can be taken to minimize the adverse impact on your practice from the sudden health crisis.

The possibility of your future return to practice should also be discussed with your Designated Attorney to ensure that steps can be taken to return to practice to you when you're able to resume the practice.

An Estate Executor’s Checklist is available here, and it may be of further assistance to you in setting up your plan.

Encourage coordination and cooperation among the three people or groups of people you have charged with helping you following your sudden health crisis: your Designated Attorney/succession “buddy,” your key staffer(s) and your personal transition helper (spouse, significant other, child, etc.). If these people don’t know one another, 一旦你制定了你的计划，在任何突发的健康危机袭击你之前，和他们开一次联席会议. 要求他们在任何突发健康危机发生后尽快召开联合会议，开始实施你的计划. Make sure all three people have full contact information about one another.

Make sure your personal transition person and/or your conservator or executor has full information about your personal assets and liabilities as well as those of your business, describe where they (or their documentation) are located, and indicate what you think they are worth. In addition to assets and liabilities, include information about your income and expenses, and indicate where copies of your prior tax returns (income and gift tax) are kept.

你也应该给这个人一份管理你遗产计划的文件清单, such as wills, inter-vivos trusts, business buy-sell agreements, advanced directives (combination of the old living will and durable power of attorney for health care) and any financial power of attorney documents, and note where they are located. 这个人也应该知道你的专业顾问，他们的服务可能需要解决你的遗产和结束你的做法, such as your preferred probate lawyer and your accountant. Identify coverage you have under any life, property, medical, hospital, accident and credit life policies, and note where the policies are located.

而您首选的遗嘱认证律师可以帮助您的个人过渡人确定谁是在您的残疾事件通知, some of these people include family, friends, 律师协会及市民活动的业务伙伴及同事，以及任何需要给予他们的特别指示或讯息.

With regard to your key staffer, items to discuss in your plan should include contacting the Designated Attorney to transfer active files to clients; contacting a (perhaps a different) lawyer to wind up your law practice; checking on and dealing with any statutes of limitations and court appearances and deadlines by notifying courts and opposing counsel of your sudden health crisis; notifying clients of your disability; disposing of closed or inactive files; billing and collecting fees and expenses on all open files; closing your office and disposing of your office furniture, equipment, library and other tangible assets; deciding who will be authorized to draw checks on the office account (including any trust accounts for client funds); refunding any unearned trust/escrow account funds; continuing of employment of your office manager, paralegal, secretary or other staff while your office is being closed out; handling subletting or terminating the lease on your office space occupancy and any leased equipment; paying current liabilities (such as utilities, rentals, debt service, salaries and wages, payroll taxes and benefits, service agreements, subscriptions); making appropriate arrangements to discontinue any legal directory and other listings and professional memberships; collecting accounts receivable and writing off uncollectible accounts; notifying your malpractice insurance carrier of your disability and purchasing any “tail” or similar appropriate insurance given your change in status; and ensuring any tax returns and tax liabilities (income and payroll) are handled timely.

For the benefit of your clients, employees and your family, it would be a good idea for you to organize vital information regarding your law practice in case you were to be temporarily or permanently unable to practice law. Writing a few notes now can save countless hours and great expense later when someone has to blindly go through your office to ensure clients aren’t damaged by delay in their case. Take the time to gather together information about your practice that would enable another attorney to keep your practice running while you recover or wind down your practice, if you are unable to return. 把这些信息传递给能提供帮助的人的一个好方法是写一封信. 建议您定期检查和更新您的信函，以便您可以反映重要软件的更改, filing systems, personnel, banks, practice areas, etc. You may find the following letter a good, basic starting point for creating your sudden health crisis succession plan: Emergency Letter for a Law Practice. Feel free to tailor it to your situation. 

A Law Firm List of Contacts form is also an excellent idea. See, e.g., the Michigan paper, p. 18.

Finally, you should review the webpage 在没有突发健康危机继任计划的情况下，解决突然残疾的工作人员和律师家属所面临的问题. 回顾这些信息可能会帮助你想出你自己的计划应该解决的其他项目和领域.

(Return to Sudden Health Crisis Succession Plan page)