If you are considering selling your law firm, you have two basic options. They are: Have an existing associate or associates (if you have associates) buy you out, or Transition to a third party (sell to or go “of counsel” with another firm). Let’s take a look at the considerations for each. ... Read More

Law practices are often valued in divorce proceedings. As such, lawyers frequently assume that it should be relatively easy to apply similar valuation principles when trying to sell a practice. Nothing can be further from the truth.

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Lawyers aren’t just advising private equity (PE) firms anymore, they’re becoming investors themselves, taking a page straight from the PE playbook. While the legal profession debates whether PE should own law firms, some lawyers have already made their move, quietly stepping into the role of investors themselves. ... Read More

If your firm is like many solo and small law firms, a significant portion of your firm’s value derives from the amount of business your website generates. When selling a law firm—be it an actual sale or a transition to another firm as “of counsel”—it is therefore critical that the buying firm retains the benefit of the seller’s previous website traffic. ... Read More

Are you a solo lawyer or small-firm owner facing retirement? Then, like most Boomer lawyers out there, you’re contemplating the option of selling your law practice. ... Read More

CPAs, appraisers, and other business evaluators use various valuation methods to value law firms. To be quite frank, none should be relied upon as a valuation technique for legal practices. In this post, I’ll break down the common valuation methods. I’ll briefly explain how each method works and how it falls short in measuring the value of a law firm. ... Read More

For personal injury law firm owners thinking about leaving practice, there’s good news and bad news regarding selling a personal injury law firm. First, the good news. Unlike most practices, personal injury practices have a real monetary value and a relatively easy manner to determine that value, even if the owner decides to shut the firm down. At times, this value can be significant and easy to monetize. ... Read More

Lawyers, by their very nature, are competitive. So, it should come as no surprise that for many lawyers, “winning” means making more money than other lawyers. If you’re in Big Law, it’s not very difficult to get a good idea whether you are “winning.” Associate salaries are widely publicized, and to a lesser extent, so is partner compensation. Indeed, a lot of the jumping around one sees in Big Law, is driven by the knowledge that, at least when it comes to compensation, you know whether the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. ... Read More