Most organizations fail to plan for departures of key employees until it is already too late. Fund managers must understand that creating an effective, multi-faceted succession plan takes considerable time and requires an intimate understanding of the organization’s particularities. Informal succession plans will likely lead to incoherent strategies, as well as biased employment decisions that may negatively affect firms’ abilities to adapt to the changing market and expose them to legal action. This final article in a three-part series evaluates the risks of poor succession planning and provides a roadmap for developing a robust succession plan. The first article discussed the importance of addressing the CCO role in a manager’s business continuity plan, potential shortcomings of using an outsourced CCO and issues arising from high CCO turnover. The second article examined CCO hiring and onboarding, while also exploring whether managers should separate their compliance and legal departments. See our two-part series on legal issues with minority stake transactions: “Negotiation Points for Both Parties and Key Conflicts of Interest to Avoid” (Jul. 23, 2019); and “Important Structural Considerations and Managing Limited Liquidity Options” (Jul. 30, 2019).