A group of five evenly spaced light blue diamonds on a white background.
Four diverse young adults in professional attire standing against a white wall, smiling, with arms crossed or in pockets.

The Catalyst Effect

Not Just Coaching Lawyers

Catalyzing Careers

Diagram of a projectile's trajectory with four blue diamonds marking key points, a large blue semi-circle representing the ground, and an arrow pointing downward indicating gravity.

Strategic Coaching for Your Firm’s Transitioning Attorneys

Managing Partners & Talent Leaders

You know the numbers. You feel the pressure. Your attorneys are caught in the squeeze — some you need to transition out, others are already planning their exit, and the talented ones you want to keep? They’re struggling to navigate the path forward.

What if there were a way to transform these challenging dynamics into strategic conversations that position everyone for success — including your firm?

Vertical row of seven blue diamonds on a black background.
A business meeting between a woman and a man in a conference room, with a whiteboard filled with notes and diagrams in the background.
Series of blue diamond shapes on a black background
Two women engaged in a conversation inside an office with large windows.

Introducing the Catalyst Effect

Every career conversation should strategically position both your attorneys and your firm for greater success, irrespective of where the attorney ends up.

The Catalyst Effect can transform these challenging conversations into opportunities to develop careers, enhance reputations and preserve relationships for years to come.

When your firm becomes the catalyst for attorneys’ strategic positioning, something powerful happens:

The firm becomes the place where careers are launched.

Five blue diamonds aligned vertically.
A blue crescent moon against a black background.

Outsource These Challenging Conversations

Coaching Services

Five blue diamonds aligned vertically on a black background.
A diverse group of professionals in a modern office during a meeting, with one man in the foreground listening attentively, and others engaged in discussion in the background.

For The Attorneys You Want to Retain and Promote

Become the catalyst for their strategic career development—prepare them for partnership while they position your firm for greater client service and new business through their expanded confidence and enhanced capabilities.

A middle-aged man and woman sitting at a table, smiling and having a conversation while holding coffee mugs.

For The Attorneys Who Want to Leave

Rather than losing them to competitors, the firm becomes the catalyst that helps them explore all options with the firm’s support. This ensures they leave positioned for success and your firm positioned as the place that truly invests in people and their longterm success.

A man and a woman are sitting across from each other at a white table in an office, engaged in a conversation. The man has a beard and is wearing a light-colored shirt, while the woman has curly hair and is dressed in a brown blazer. The office has a white wall and a green plant in the background, with red swivel chairs.
Four blue diamonds arranged vertically with a black background.

For the Attorneys Who Need to Move On

Instead of awkward conversations that damage relationships, the firm is the catalyst for their strategic repositioning in the market—turning disgruntled attorneys and potential reputational risks into grateful advocates who remember how professionally you handled their transition.

Alumni Relations and Business Development

The Catalyst Effect reaches well beyond the confines of your firm. When you invest in every attorney’s career success, the benefits redound to your firm in meaningful and quantifiable ways when they move on. They include:

  • Robust and cultivated alumni networks generate referral business and create valuable client contacts.

  • Foster lasting bonds by committing to individual success and creating brand ambassadors.

  • Expand your firm’s professional network and reinforce a positive industry reputation.

Group of people in business attire socializing with drinks at a professional event.

Meet Susan Brooks

Close-up of a smiling woman with red hair wearing round sunglasses, inside a store with display shelves and large windows.
A blue semicircular shape with four light blue diamond shapes in a horizontal line to the right.

My entry into the world of law began on a whim. I graduated from college as a liberal arts major without a clue as to what was next. Law school seemed like a great way to begin to figure it out. Since then, I have been an associate at an Am Law 50 law firm, an admissions officer for two law schools, and the manager of attorney recruiting and the director of human resources at an AmLaw 100 firm. Since 2007, I have consulted with and coached aspiring law students, lawyers and law firm professionals. Needless to say, I’ve seen the industry go through numerous peaks and valleys, but one thing has remained constant — most lawyers will work at more than one place over the course of their careers. In other words, moving on is a fact of life for most attorneys and for their firms. And truth be told, it needs to be this way! Yet it is rarely handled well. Let’s change that.

I help attorneys figure out what’s next.

Colorful calculator with a blue display showing zero, beige buttons, and a red button, on a gray background.
A large blue semicircular shape against a plain background.
Stack of four blue diamond-shaped tiles arranged vertically on a black background.

The Value Proposition

Cost of Attorney Churn:

  • Average cost to replace mid-level associate: $200K-$500K

  • Lost productivity, ramp down/ramp up, recruiting, training costs

  • Client relationship disruption

Investment in Coaching:

  • A fraction of turnover costs

  • Retain and develop high performers to prepare for partnership

  • Strategic off-ramp for positive departures that positions departing attorneys for success

  • Build opportunities for knowledge transfer and minimize client disruption through managed case and deal staffing transitions

  • Generate long-term business development ROI

Instead of merely managing risk, leverage coaching and create opportunities.

Diagram of connected blue circles forming a molecular or network structure.

Let’s discuss how the Catalyst Effect could strategically position your firm while becoming the catalyst for your attorneys' future success.

Because the firms that become the true career catalysts first? They don’t just solve their talent challenges, they create sustainable competitive advantages by being known as the firms that strategically position their people for success.

That’s the real power of The Catalyst Effect.