How to plan your post-law life
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There are lawyers who love the practice of law so much that they'll only leave it feet first—and in a box. But for those who'd prefer to exit the bar before closing time, Kevin McGoff has advice on planning that next chapter.
In his book Find Your Landing Zone: Life Beyond the Bar, McGoff describes his dawning realization that he was missing out on experiences while his life was dominated by his legal practice. He approached his law firm management team with a proposal to gradually decrease his hours and hand off his client work to younger successors.
A big believer in purposeful planning, McGoff offers a series of worksheets to help readers kick-start their plans for what a life after the practice of law might look like. For McGoff, one of the big dreams of his life—which began while he was stationed in Europe with the U.S. Army—was to spend more time traveling and to one day live in France.
He studied French and even sponsored a club at his children’s school to promote the French language. He and his wife, Patty, loved their trips to France. So when they discussed what the next chapter of their lives would look like, they decided to finally make it happen. A major goal for McGoff in writing Find Your Landing Zone is to help readers identify what their equivalent dream would be and how to find their own France.
In this episode of The Modern Law Library podcast, McGoff and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles discuss his motivation to write the book, his advice for planning a financial future, the importance of mentoring younger attorneys, and how he and Patty finally made their dream of living in France happen. He shares tips on building a succession plan and getting your firm on board and how to actually (mostly) cut down on your hours.
In This Podcast:
Kevin McGoff
Kevin McGoff is an author, a travel writer, a speaker and a lawyer. During his legal career, McGoff worked for a state agency, ran a solo practice and started a law firm. In the early days of his career, McGoff practiced in the fields of criminal defense and family law. Later, he was general counsel to a large Midwest firm. McGoff also represented lawyers and judges in professional licensure matters, assisted lawyers and firms on issues pertaining to firm management, firm dissolution and organization, malpractice, legal ethics and related litigation. He retired from the practice of law in 2021. McGoff is an award-winning travel writer, an avid cyclist and an inveterate traveler. He developed a successful program to complement his book Find Your Landing Zone: Life Beyond the Bar, published by the ABA Senior Lawyers Division (August 2023). McGoff and his wife, Patty, have three children, five grandchildren and no pets. They split their time between Indiana and the Southern France. McGoff also writes about his adventures in his travel blog.
