A look at the statistics clearly shows that the baby boomers are approaching the end of their working lives. But for many consultants and lawyers different rules apply. Some have an early retirement age in their contracts that differs from the statutory retirement age.

The topic is sensitive, and not many firms talk about it publicly. The basic arguments are clear: critics point to the loss of experience when managers leave for reasons of age, even though they do not yet view themselves as prospective retirees. In the worst case scenario, those who continue to work independently, or switch to the competition, take valuable client contacts with them. Law firms such as Linklaters and Pluta do not have an age limit.

Those in favour of such rules welcome them as an effective means of enabling colleagues to move up the ranks. The sought after partner positions are limited – and high-potential employees who fear that they will not get a chance in the foreseeable future may be lost to competitors.

Consulting firm EY sees its age limit of 62 as a „generational contract that enables younger employees to be developed into partners“. The age limit is regularly reviewed, but has not been adjusted in recent years, the company reports.

Deloitte also has an age limit, after which partners can take on different roles and tasks in client work, and as managers. And after retiring from the partnership position, there is „in individual cases the possibility of continuing to work for Deloitte, for example as an external consultant“, the company said in response to an inquiry. However, Deloitte does not wish to specify its age limit rules.

Industry giants such as the law firm Hengeler or the Big Four firm KPMG are not talking about the topic at all. However, there are rumours in the market that KPMG wants to raise the age limit to 65. The company itself declines to comment on this.

The question of when exactly an age limit should apply is controversial. „Moving this perceived biological age limit is a huge challenge for my generation,“ says restructuring expert Bernd Richter. In autumn 2023, he moved from EY to Pluta, a law firm specialising in restructuring, where he is now a member of the management board.

He left his previous employer, EY, at the end of June 2023 when he reached the age limit of 62. „The date is in the partnership agreement, so it's easy to adjust to,“ says Richter. He therefore sees no great pressure to radically change the system of age limits, but could imagine that these will tend to move further back.

Richter understands the arguments in favour of the age limit. „Older people shouldn't sit there like a cork in a bottle," he says. Retiring at 62 was out of the question for him, but by his own admission he is the exception rather than the rule. He found many of his colleagues to be „more relieved than depressed“ when they reached the age limit. After his time as a partner in the Strategy and Transactions division at EY, Richter immersed himself in other tasks at Pluta: „I had to turn down some roles, such as Chief Restructuring Officer or trustee, during my time at EY for compliance reasons,“ he reports. In his view, the willingness to reinvent oneself is also a prerequisite for success later in one's career.

Labour lawyer Thomas Ubber, known as a regular adviser to Deutsche Bahn on strike issues, recently left A&O Shearman at the age of 63 to set up his own boutique. However, this has nothing to do with an age limit, emphasises Wolf Bussian, Head of A&O Shearman Germany: „We don't have an age limit, and we don't need one", he says. Nevertheless, he regularly holds discussions with colleagues to prepare for the final years of their career: „In my view, the ideal situation is when we have three years for the handover.“ He therefore raises the topic for the first time when colleagues are in their late 50s.

For some of those affected, this is the first impulse to even think about their future life plans, says Bussian. For him, it is important to know what the partners' own ideas are. „But I would never push colleagues into retirement who want to continue working,“ he emphasises. Especially as law firms also benefit from their senior colleagues. Experienced staff often have a very resilient network that has grown over the years. Thus some law firms that have an age limit continue to utilise retiring partners in „Of Counsel“ roles.

At A&O Shearman, Bussian does not set an age limit for new hires either: „We have already brought lawyers on board who were in their mid or late 50s", he says. The current head of the German private equity practice, Nils Koffka, for example, joined A&O Shearman in 2018 at the age of 55. „Anyone who has been in the profession for 25 years has great client loyalty, which is a real asset,“ says Bussian.

Consulting firm EY also emphasises that former partners „generally have very good prospects of finding other employment after leaving the partnership“. Some continue to work as freelance consultants or are involved in supervisory and advisory boards. EY also does not want to completely lose contact with some former partners, and refers to „a programme through which some former partners remain associated with EY for a transitional period as Senior Partner Emeritus, and contribute their many years of experience and their network“.

However, not all senior positions in large organisations are created equal. „Reassigning interpersonal contacts is much more difficult than reallocating a task,“ says the former consultant Richter. Assessing the value of each partner individually quickly leads to unpleasant discussions, and "you get around this to a certain extent if you have a fixed age limit“.

At A&O Shearman, which emerged from the merger of Allen & Overy with the US-based law firm Shearman & Sterling, around 40 partners worldwide are older than 60, according to Bussian. This is also due to the fact that age limits are rather unusual in the USA. However, he also sees the approach to the topic changing in Germany. „My impression is that flexibility is increasing in our industry and we are becoming more diverse, including in the age structure of partners,“ he says. „As long as someone is doing a good job, I would find it absurd to take them out just because of their age.“

Restructuring consultant Richter also decided to move to Pluta because there is no fixed age limit. „I didn't switch off my creative drive at the age of 62,“ he explains. When it comes to age, he is currently taking his cue from the firm's founder Michael Pluta: „He will be 75 this year – that's a good next stop.“