Pricing a Law Firm When Selling to an Insider
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I always tell clients that my appraisal provides an excellent starting point for negotiating the price of a law firm with an insider, but that it is unlikely that it will be the final word. While it may sound like a cliché, for most small firm insider deals, parties ultimately agree on a price that seems “fair.” ... Read More
Categories: Selling Your Practice
Top 6 Reasons to Hire a Paralegal Over a Lawyer
Your solo or small law firm is busier than ever and you desperately need another warm body to complete the work. Resist the knee-jerk reaction to hire another lawyer. Instead, assess whether hiring a paralegal can fill the need. You’ll find that in most practice areas it can. ... Read More
Categories: Practice Management
Pro Bono: Doing Good Feels Good
In these pandemic days, many Americans have taken economic hits that have only led to further legal problems. But those less fortunate are often left to face their legal problems alone because they can’t afford legal counsel. ... Read More
Categories: Practice Management
Buying a Law Practice: Not as Risky or Complicated as You Think
Purchasing another lawyer’s practice is fast becoming a popular and more common way to grow or diversify one’s law firm. There are three main reasons for this: ... Read More
Categories: Selling Your Practice
Working Part-Time Before Retiring From Your Law Practice
For reasons that escape me, many people in the legal profession believe the practice of law is not amenable to working part-time. While this issue usually arises for new parents, part-time work is also a great option for senior solo and small law firm attorneys to consider before they completely exit the profession. Read More Read More
Categories: Legal Career Counseling
Paying a Premium for a “System”
Appraising a law firm requires assessing numerous factors. During the appraisal process, some attorneys will say to me something along the lines of, “In my law firm, I’ve got this great system that can…. That alone should be worth…” The marketplace for law firms doesn’t work like that, however. Here’s why. ... Read More
Categories: Selling Your Practice
An Overlooked Obstacle to Succession Planning
Law firm succession planning is certainly getting its share of attention these days. It makes sense, too, considering one-third of the attorney population will be made up of boomer lawyers (those 65 years of age or older) within the next 10 years. ... Read More
Categories: Retirement/Succession
Don’t Be Afraid to Raise Your Legal Fees
It’s getting to be that time of year when lawyers decide whether to raise their hourly rates or fixed fees when the new year begins. I suspect that many will fear doing so in the middle of a pandemic. Others always seem fearful of increasing legal fees, pandemic or no pandemic. My advice — with very limited exceptions — is to go for it. Clients are never as price-sensitive as you think. ... Read More
Categories: Practice Management
Assessing a Law Firm’s Revenue: All Is Not Created Equally
One of my truisms for valuing a law practice is that “all revenue is not created equally.” For example, revenue that stems from past clients or one’s referral network is far more valuable than the revenue generated from seminars or webinars. ... Read More
Categories: Selling Your Practice
Succession Planning Challenges? Don’t Let Them Hold You Back.
With Baby Boomers retiring left and right, law firm leaders everywhere are talking about succession planning. Yet, much like the weather, no one seems to be doing much about it. Legal consultants Altman Weil report that only 31% of its surveyed law firms had formal policies in place. ALM Legal Intelligence puts the number at 33%. ... Read More
Categories: Retirement/Succession
