The importance of preserving a legacy of community service and high standards of work is a common refrain among family businesses that have successfully weathered generational changes. One particularly long-lived example is another of Murak’s clients, Magavern, Magavern & Grimm, a Buffalo-based law firm that traces its roots back to 1825. Three generations of Magavern family attorneys managed the firm through the 20th century, until about five years ago, when Thomas Schofield was named its managing partner.

The rapid pace of change in the field of law in recent years, especially technology advances, forced the firm to ascertain whether a new generation of management would be better suited to take it forward, or whether a merger or acquisition was a better idea, Schofield says. Making such a change at a firm with such deep roots might have been wrenching. But Schofield notes, “The secret here is the partnership agreement. It is structured in such a way to protect the continuity of the law firm. The other factor is that the founders have been extremely generous—there isn’t what you see in so many law firms where the founder’s family takes the lion’s share. We’ve had a very equitable partnership in terms of distribution of income. The generosity of the founding families allowed us to maintain our collegiality and independence and work through the succession issues.” The firm supports and participates in many of the region’s cultural institutions and activities. The partnership agreement, not unlike a family creed, supports these initiatives.