POYNER'S POINTERS: A Raleigh law firm looks for a younger edge, hoping to sustain its success against larger rivals.

• Author: Saylor, Teri

In a different era, a law firm of 90 attorneys was a powerhouse. Now, Raleigh-based Poyner Spruill LLP, which counts that number on its staff, finds itself competing against rival firms boasting more than 1,000 lawyers around the U.S. and the globe.

The 134-year-old North Carolina firm is staying competitive by focusing on succession planning that hinges on retaining lawyers and putting younger ones into management positions more quickly--while staying true to its mission, Managing Partner Dan Cahill says.

"We are very comfortably a North Carolina-only firm, and I anticipate we always will be," says Cahill, 50, who grew up in Raleigh and worked in marketing research for two years before earning a law degree at Wake Forest University. He's spent the last 16 years at Poyner, where he was elected to lead the firm last April. He succeeded Joseph "Bo" Dempster, who remains with the firm after 12 years as managing partner. As part of the transition, Poyner's five-member management committee expanded to include partners Chad Essick, 36, and Mike Slipsky, 39, who have been with the firm for 14 years and 12 years, respectively.

"You bring younger lawyers in, you teach them, you take the time to train them. You introduce them to your clients so that one day, partners can slow down as associates get older and ramp up. And then they take over those relationships," Cahill says. "It's a simple concept. It's a little harder to put into practice, but it's something we strive for."

Passing the baton gracefully is a challenge in the legal world. "The vast majority of lawyers are not interested in talking about retirement," says Camille Stell, vice president of client services for Lawyers Mutual of North Carolina, which sells liability insurance and provides other types of professional services. "Even some of the biggest and most sophisticated law firms do not have succession plans, meaning there are senior lawyers within their firm, and they have had no conversations about when they plan to retire, or if they want to transition their clients."

Strong relationships developed between clients and their lawyers can last decades. Law-firm partners who are 60 or older still control at least a quarter of their firm's revenue, according to a 2017 study of 386 U.S. firms by the Altman Weil legal-consulting firm. While executives and middle managers in many U.S. industries tend to step aside in their late 50s and 60s, the American Bar Association estimates 400,000...