A few years before he retired in 2022, Pete Pontzer was rethinking his life. He was working as an administrative judge in Washington, D.C. As the COVID-19 pandemic wound down, Pontzer contemplated going back into the office and fighting D.C. traffic again.

It just didn't seem worth it.

Pontzer mulled over the goals he had for his life, including "being young and healthy enough" to enjoy the outdoors, family and adventures. He decided that he wanted to retire in his 50s, but not without making sure the finances made sense and that he had thought through what he wanted for the next stage of his life.

"The numbers worked out. My pension kicked in," says Pontzer, who lives in Fairfax, Virginia. "I made sure I had health coverage. I planned out how I would accomplish at least some of what I wanted to do, my goals."

For Pontzer, one goal is to achieve the Triple Crown, a reference to the long-distance hiking of the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, a total of almost 8,000 miles in 22 states. Pontzer completed the Appalachian Trail when he was younger, and his retirement plans include hiking the other two trails. After retiring, Pontzer hiked the Pacific Crest Trail until he broke his foot and had to take a break. In 2023, he finished the Pacific Crest Trail and started the Continental Divide Trail.

His story is a reminder that lawyers can have meaningful and fulfilling lives after retirement. However, as Pontzer quickly admonishes, there are some important steps to take long before leaving a full-time legal career.

"Before I retired, I had mentally taken notes on what kind of people were happy in retirement because I wanted that time to be something I actually enjoyed," says Pontzer, who has a wife and two daughters. "I am probably one of the happiest people you will know because I put it together—the finances, finding a community, having meaning in my life, goals and being physically active."

Besides immediate requirements for retirement, like financial security and client succession plans, lawyers contemplating retirement should examine what they want and need to be happy without their usual jobs to keep them busy, retirement experts and recent retirees say.

For some lawyers, retirement can mean stopping work altogether to pursue interests and spend time with family. But for others, retirement means either continuing to use their legal skills to work part-time or pro bono—or coming up with an entirely new career.

In the U.S., many people think about retiring at 65, but lawyers deviate a bit on retirement age compared with other professions. According to the 2023 ABA Profile of the Legal Profession report, nearly 14% of all lawyers are 65 or older. Comparatively, about 7% of all U.S. workers are 65 or older.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may still be affecting retirement choices. According to the 2021 ABA Profile of the Legal Profession report, one-third of lawyers 62 and over said the pandemic changed their retirement plans, with more than half saying their plans were delayed.

"The retirement years may end up being the renaissance years. It can be a time for lawyers to reinvent themselves, a time for them to do something that is fulfilling, whatever that is," says Bob Louis, chair of the ABA Senior Lawyers Division Financial Services & Retirement Planning Committee.

He also advises attorneys to think of their well-being as part of their retirement plan, including seeing all their doctors—including dentists and mental health specialists—regularly.

An individual in good health, Louis emphasizes, "may have a long time to live after retirement."

Many lawyers jump into retirement without concrete plans, says Daniel Roberts, a former practicing attorney. That, he adds, is a bad idea.

Roberts, who is based in Tucson, Arizona, coaches lawyers for retirement. He describes the sense of fear and urgency some lawyers feel when they've retired but not thought through what comes next.

"It's suddenly, 'Now what?'" Roberts says. "And then they rush into things to fill the void."

Emphasizing the importance of self-reflection, Roberts tells his clients to "slow down the horses" and learn what enriches their lives and what they find enjoyable.

"The worst thing you could do as you go into retirement is to jump on a board right away, for example," says Roberts, who practiced law for 25 years before switching to coaching lawyers.

He advises clients to experiment with their interests before they retire.

"If you think you will want to play guitar in retirement, take some classes beforehand and see if you really like it," Roberts says.

Pontzer says it's also important for lawyers to ask: What makes me feel useful and gives my life meaning?

"For some people, being fulfilled means giving back to the community," adds Pontzer, who plans to increase his time helping injured veterans receive benefits.

But despite meticulous planning, he wasn't prepared for one aspect of retirement: the effect it would have on his self-esteem to lose the immediate identity that comes from being a practicing lawyer or judge.

"I hadn't thought about, 'Once I retire, how do I introduce myself?'" Pontzer says. "I got used to introducing myself as a lawyer or a judge, and after I retired, that's not how I would introduce myself. Initially it bothered me, but then I got used to just introducing myself with my name."

Louis advises lawyers to think about retirement at the start of their careers, especially when it comes to money and saving.

"Lawyers are generally not great at thinking about the financial aspect of retirement," Louis says. "They often don't save enough money, and they often don't think ahead about how they plan to use their money after retirement."

He warns lawyers not to "get to the point where you are at your retirement party and trying to figure it all out."

"Save as much as possible as early as possible," Louis advises. For lawyers who don't do that, the big age to start catching up is 50, when attorneys are often able to increase their contributions to their retirement plans, he adds.

People can begin withdrawing money from their retirement plans without an early distribution tax imposed by the IRS at age 59½. However, he advises attorneys who plan to retire in their 60s or 70s to have "financial discipline" and avoid withdrawing money earlier even if they can do so without penalty.

Russel Morgan, principal and founder of Morgan Legal Group in New York City, says lawyers approaching retirement age need to finalize their personal trust and estate planning, such as revocable and irrevocable trusts; adult guardianship and health care directives; and any long-term care policies for home health care.

In addition, lawyers who plan to practice post-retirement, perhaps on a reduced schedule, need to add in the cost of malpractice insurance and health insurance while also weighing the contributions from Social Security and other retirement assets, says Larry P. Schiffer, 69, a self-described "not-quite semiretired" attorney and consultant who divides his time between New York and Florida.

For many attorneys, one of the most challenging aspects of retirement is letting go of client relationships and positions of authority, says Melissa A. Jones, firm managing partner of Stoel Rives.

She has observed a wave of baby boomer attorneys transitioning into retirement in the past few years.

"While many retiring lawyers have had very successful transitions, retirement can feel unnatural and difficult for lawyers who have spent decades in the production mindset," says Jones, who works out of the firm's Sacramento, California, office. "It's important that a retiring lawyer views a smooth transition of clients and cases as part of their legacy."

Long before retirement, lawyers should have written succession plans, says Michael S. Melfi, a partner at Mavacy in Detroit.

States like Michigan, he says, already require lawyers to identify another attorney ready to take over in emergency situations, such as death or a sudden illness. Other states—including Maine, Iowa and Florida—also have mandatory succession planning.

"Lawyers should start these conversations about retirement early in their career, and every law firm should have a structure in place where they know which lawyers will be stepping into the shoes of another should something unexpected happen and in preparation for retirement," Melfi says.

The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has advised that a sole practitioner has a duty to plan for protecting client interests in the event of the attorney's death. In addition, Rule 28 of the ABA Model Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement imposes some requirements on how to handle a situation when there is not a succession plan for attorneys who are unable to perform their duties or have disappeared or died.

Indeed, lawyers in smaller firms or solo practices have different considerations than government lawyers, BigLaw lawyers or in-house counsel. Sole practitioners may be trying to sell off their practices, says Eric Cooperstein, a Minneapolis attorney whose practice focuses on legal ethics.

"It can take some time to get a law firm ready to be sold and find a younger lawyer who wants to buy it," Cooperstein says. "A few years before solo practitioners plan to retire, they should be hiring someone to help ensure their firm is up to date on technology and otherwise ready to be sold."

Some lawyers aren't ready to stop their practice completely and want to continue helping some of their clients, Schiffer says. Lawyers in smaller firms can go out on their own with a few clients as part of their agreement to leave, while those at larger firms can sometimes negotiate terms in which they step down as partner and take on an of counsel status, he says.

Schiffer separated from Squire Patton Boggs in 2020 at age 65, but he wasn't ready to "just sit on a beach."

Instead, Schiffer decided to continue working in a part-time capacity, keeping a few clients. He likes testifying as an expert witness and doing mediation work, along with advising a handful of clients on insurance and reinsurance contract wording and disputes.

It was relatively easy to set up a small shop with just his computer and some software programs to help him organize his clients and billing.

"I like to keep busy, and I like to stay connected with the industry," says Schiffer, who works about 25 to 30 hours per week. "It's working for me."

Other lawyers look at retirement as a chance for a complete change.

Every weekday morning, Paul Huey-Burns, 67, takes a 20-minute drive from his home in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to the Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac. He teaches English and Advanced Placement Language and Composition at the all-girls private school and is in the classroom by 7 a.m.

"Gee, I love it," Huey-Burns says. "I look forward most days to coming into the classroom and interacting with bright young students who will be running the world someday."

Before retiring from law, Huey-Burns worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and then at several Washington, D.C.-area law firms specializing in securities enforcement defense. He says he enjoyed a "terrific career, but it had run its course."

Huey-Burns was in his late 50s when he decided he wanted to retire from law and pursue a teaching career, but first he had to get a master's degree in English literature. During that time, he continued practicing.

He says his "career 2.0" isn't exactly a more relaxing choice.

"People don't believe me, but I work every bit as hard as a high school English teacher as I did as a partner at global law firm," Huey-Burns says. "Teaching is a truly consuming occupation, but I am pretty passionate about it."

He thinks his legal career helps inform his teaching, especially when it comes to giving instruction about essay writing.

"AP Language and Composition is a class in which students learn how to construct and communicate arguments, sometimes in complicated situations," Huey-Burns says. "That's something I know a bit about."

Jan Levine, a former law firm partner and antitrust lawyer in Philadelphia, doesn't like the word "retirement"; she prefers "transitioning."

"I was in my late 50s, and I was thinking, 'Jan, there is another career for you out there,'" says Levine, 65. But she didn't hit on what that career was until several years later.

"A friend said, 'You should be an executive coach,' and I was like, 'That's it! That's it!'" Levine says.

Levine trained as an executive coach and wound down her law practice. In 2022, she left Troutman Pepper and founded JLP Executive Coaching. Many of her clients are lawyers in different phases of their careers.

"Rather than thinking that this time of life is the end, think about it as the beginning," Levine says. "It can be like the caterpillar turning into the butterfly or the snake shedding its skin. It can be an incredibly rich time."

Finding a community is one of the biggest hurdles for a lawyer heading into retirement, according to Pontzer and other recent retirees.

"While you are still in your legal career, you may not realize how connected your social life may be to your work life," Pontzer says. "You need to think before you retire about the communities you want to be part of after you retire."

Pontzer has found fellow hikers as a source of friendship. When on the trail, he tends to meet up with people moving at about the same pace, and they can camp together and establish camaraderie. In addition, when he's home, Pontzer has a neighborhood dinner club called the Romeos—"Retired Old Men Eating Out"—who try out different restaurants and connect.

One of Roberts' clients is an avid tennis player who goes at least twice a week to the club not just to play, but because that is where he has found his circle of friends.

"As we get older, it can be a lot harder to make friends, but it's important to have a social hub," Roberts says. "The tennis club is my client's social center."

As part of her coaching, Levine encourages clients to include time for building new relationships and communities. Potential friends, she says, can be found in many places, like book clubs, exercise classes or part-time volunteer positions.

Levine tells her clients about the challenges she encountered when switching from law firm work to coaching, along with the new opportunities. She has more flexibility in her schedule these days to "expand" her community, finding friends through yoga classes and movie clubs, while maintaining her established relationships with her former law firm colleagues. She also has found new connections through the coaching community.

"I tell my clients, "It's OK to feel some loss at first. Your life has changed,'" Levine says. "But don't close yourself off to the opportunities that are out there to form new relationships and get new meaning out of your life."