Senior Attorney Match Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jeremy E. Poock, Esq.
The Senior Attorney Match Podcast addresses all topics relating to lawyers considering how to sell their law practices, including how to value a law practice, determining the "right" successor, when to start a transition toward retirement, and much more.
In Episode 74 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The 2 Reasons Why Senior Attorney Sellers Want Purchasing Law Firms to Win
Reason #1 for why Senior Attorney sellers want purchasing law firms to win:
Financial
Considering that most sales of Senior Attorney-led law firms involve earnout payment terms, selling attorneys want a purchasing firm to win because:
The more clients from a selling law firm’s Book of Business that a purchasing firm represents means the greater amount paid to a selling attorney(s) via earnout terms that typically include negotiated fee sharing terms paid during a negotiated number of years.
Reason #2 for why Senior Attorney sellers want purchasing law firms to win:
Legacy
As Poock explains, Sellers want purchasers to win for the following 3 legacy related reasons:
-
Ensuring that clients of a selling law firm will continue to benefit from ongoing, competent and zealous representation.
-
Making sure that the staff of a selling law firm continue to have ongoing employment with a purchasing law firm.
-
The satisfaction of helping a purchasing firm succeed post-sale in terms of:
(i) Adding new clients;
(ii) Welcoming the talented and experienced lawyer and non-lawyer staff of a selling law firm; and
(iii) Benefiting from the subject matter knowledge that a selling attorney(s) has developed over the course of decades.
During the Poock’s Post segment of Ep. 38 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Importance of Bus. Dev. Attribution to Law Firm Sales
Poock begins by distinguishing between:
(a) Bus. Dev. attribution for traditional Rainmaker-led law firms; and
(b) Bus. Dev. attribution for post-2020 Digital Rainmaker Law Firms.
As Poock explains, Bus. Dev. attribution for traditional Rainmaker-led law firms relates primarily to the Book of Business that 1 or more Rainmaker attorneys developed often during the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth era.
Those Books of Business present value to a purchasing law firm, albeit limited to a ceiling of business attributable to the Book of Business.
By contrast, as law firms continue transitioning to becoming Digital Rainmaker Law Firms based upon investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing (egs. Google, AI, social media, optimized websites, and more), those firms now have measurable Digital Value and Brand Equity whose reach for potential new clients/business extends well beyond the limited scope of a traditional Rainmaker attorney’s Book of Business.
As Digital Rainmaker Law Firms continue spending more and more on Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, Poock points out the following:
The importance of attributing the sources of digital Bus. Dev. because doing so will show how new clients predictably, reliably, and consistently seek legal services from Digital Rainmaker Law Firms.
As Poock states, “[A]ll of that data will increase the value of a Digital Rainmaker Law Firm in terms of a [sales] multiple, whether that is of EBITDA, net profits or other multiples that will continue to develop with law firm sales.”
During Ep. 38 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
I wish that my Internal Successor showed more interest in Bus. Dev. What can I do to explain the importance of Bus. Dev. to owning a law firm?
When addressing this question, Poock begins by asking:
What's the issue here?
The underlying issue relates to the following:
Who wants and needs to purchase a law firm and who does not?
Even though most law firm sellers would prefer that their internal successors a/k/a key employee attorneys succeed to owning their law firms, in reality, most key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ small business law firm, and they cannot afford to either. Instead, most key employee lawyers want a Reliable, Predictable, and Safe job.
Rather than focusing on how to explain the importance of Bus. Dev. to key employee lawyers, Poock advises that law firm sellers instead consider their key employee lawyers as key assets of their firms.
Poock also points out that Growing Law Firms want and need the following 3 resources to boost their growth:
(1) New clients;
(2) Experienced and talented lawyers and non-lawyer staff; and
(3) Digital content to attract the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients who continue to search online for lawyers and law firms to hire.
Poock then distinguishes between the following:
(a) The 4 winners that result when Senior Attorney-led firms sell to or merge with a Growing Law Firm, namely: (i) The Senior Attorney seller(s) who monetizes their law firm; (ii) Key employee lawyers and support staff who often join a purchasing law firm and win by maintaining their Reliable, Predictable, and Safe jobs; (iii) Clients of a selling law firm who win because they will continue to benefit from ongoing, competent and zealous reputation; and (iv) Growing Law Firms who benefit from instant client growth, enhancing their workforce; and benefiting from receiving literally treasure chests of digital content to attract the attention for potential clients via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.
(b) Short-Term & Long-Term Negative Impacts of a Random Tuesday Event: Poock explains that when Senior Attorneys wait too long to recognize that their key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm, those key employee lawyers could wind-up giving them either 2 or 4 weeks notice on a “Random Tuesday” about leaving to join another firm.
In that event, Senior Attorney owners lose revenues in the short-term due to loss of billings and general productivity by a key employee lawyer who unexpectedly departs their firm. Long-term, their law firms lose value because many law firm purchasers want and need to hire a selling firm’s key employee lawyers and staff to continue representing the clients of a selling law firm.
In conclusion, Poock points out that even though most law firm sellers prefer that their key employee lawyers become better rainmakers in advance of pursuing an internal succession plan, Growing Law Firms typically present a more viable purchaser for their law firms, including their recognition of the following: That key employee lawyers and support staff comprise a major component of a selling law firm’s value.
During Ep. 38 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What are the Components to Valuing a Law Firm?
As Poock explains, “When it comes to valuing a law firm, there are 5 key components to the valuation for what a law firm is worth.”
Those 5 components consist of the following:
(1) Client List
(2) Referral Source List (together with the Client List, the “Book of Business”)
(3) Key Employee Lawyers & Support Staff
(4) Subject Matter Knowledge
(5) Digital Value
Poock then poses the following 2 questions:
(a) Who wants and needs the 5 Components of Value? and
(b) What will they pay for it?
Distinguishing between internal successors and Growing Law Firms, Poock points out that Growing Law Firms want and need the 5 Components of Value that a selling law firm offers because the 5 Components of Value compliment the following 3 resources that Growing Law Firms need:
(1) More clients
(2) Talented lawyers and support staff; and
(3) Digital content
Regarding how much a Growing Law Firm will pay for the 5 Components of Value, Poock explains the following 2 law firm sale structures:
(1) Law Firm Sales 1.0 in which a seller’s value primarily relates to its Book of Business (client list & referral source), where the financial terms typically involve an earnout pegged to collections derived by a purchasing law firm from a selling law firm’s Book of Business during a negotiated period of time; and
(2) Law Firm Sales 2.0, which involves a fixed price, plus earnout terms, where the fixed price derives from the predictability of client originations attributable a selling law firm’s Digital Value and Brand Equity.
During Ep. 37 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
I found a Buyer for my law firm, but we have not agreed upon terms yet. What do you recommend?
At the outset, Poock clarifies the scope of the question to apply to Small Business Law Firms, typically owned by 1 or more founders.
Poock next distinguishes between why sellers typically have difficulty agreeing upon terms with either of the following 2 types of purchasers:
(a) Internal successors; and
(b) Growing Law Firm purchasers.
Regarding internal successors, Poock explains the following as typical reasons for why negotiations stall:
Most internal successor prefer remaining as key employee lawyers because of their concerns about the following risks associated with purchasing their boss’ law firm: (i) Risk of decreased originations after the firm’s founding Rainmaker(s) retire; (ii) Risk of not affording to pay a purchase price; (iii) A need to work even harder; (iv) A worsening work-life balance; (v) Personal financial risk associated with guarantying an office lease and bank credit line; and (vi) Risk of key employees departing the firm.
Based upon those risks, key employee lawyers often stall negotiating purchase terms, followed by, at some point, sharing their preference to remain as an employee, rather than an owner of their boss’ law firm.
Poock then explains the following typical reasons for why negotiations stall between selling law firms and Growing Law Firm purchasers: (i) Discomfort with asking difficult questions during due diligence; (ii) Not necessarily knowing terms to include in a letter of intent, offer, or similar document; and (iii) Difficulty negotiating financial terms with a buyer who is often a colleague or friendly competitor.
As a cure to such stalled negotiations, Poock shares the following advice:
That the parties consider engaging a deal intermediary to facilitate completing due diligence, negotiating purchase terms, and preparing an agreement.
Here’s why:
The value of a deal intermediary includes: (i) Asking difficult questions to a seller and a buyer, including financial questions, experience level questions, post-Closing role questions, and more; (ii) Sharing the answers to difficult questions with each party, together with assisting the parties to remain focused on reaching deal terms; (iii) Facilitating the negotiation of deal terms; and (iv) Assisting with drafting deal terms into a Letter of Intent, followed by an agreement.
So, when a selling law firm and a purchasing law firm become “stuck in the mud” with reaching terms, a deal intermediary can provide the value needed to assist the parties with completing due diligence, facilitating negotiations, and reaching a win-win agreement.
During Ep. 37 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why do purchasing law firms need to hire the lawyers and support staff of a selling law firm?
As Poock explains,
“There's really four reasons why purchasing law firms need the lawyers and support staff from a selling law firm, and it's broken down into two categories. The first two needs relate to the clients of a selling law firm, and the second two needs [relate] to the clients of a purchasing law firm.
Regarding the first category, as it relates to the clients of a selling law firm, Poock explains that the lawyers and support of a selling law firm fulfill the following 2 needs of a purchasing law firm:
-
Continue representing the clients who comprise the Book of Business that a selling law firm presents to a purchasing law firm; and
-
Facilitate the post-sale “Trust Transfer” of the clients of a selling law firm to the lawyers and support staff of the purchasing law firm.
Regarding the second category, as it relates to the clients of a purchasing law firm, Poock points out the following:
-
As today’s Growing Law Firms continue to generate new clients digitally, they need talented lawyers and support staff to provide high quality legal services to those clients, which the experienced lawyers and support staff of a selling law firm can provide, often with minimal, additional training.
-
In addition to needing talented and experienced lawyers and support staff, Growing Law Firms need a stable workforce, which lawyers and support staff from a selling law firm provide because they have a similar need for stability in the form of needing to maintain a reliable, predictable, and safe job.
Taken together, purchasing law firms need the lawyers and support staff of a selling law firm to: (a) Ensure maintaining relationships with the clients of a selling law firm; and (b) Increase the talent pool at a purchasing law firm to provide top notch legal services to clients whom a purchasing firm self-originates, often via digital marketing in today’s Digital Era for the legal industry.
In Episode 72 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The 4.5 Reasons Why MSOs Have Arrived to the Legal Industry
During the course of Ep. 72, Poock explains the following reasons why Management Services Organizations (MSOs) have arrived to the legal industry in the mid-2020s.
Reason No. 1: Today’s clients search for lawyers online
Reason No. 2: The emergence of Digital Rainmaker law firms
Reason No. 3: Today’s lawyers want a Reliable, Predictable & Safe Job
Reason No. 3.5: Legal Tech delivers better work-life balance for today’s lawyers
Reason No. 4: Opportunities for Profits & Exits
During Ep. 36 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What is a Law Firm to Law Firm Sale?
As Poock explains,
“The predominant sales of law firms continue to be Law Firm to Law Firm sales.”
Typically, Law Firm to Law Firm sales involve the following:
The sale or merger of law firms lead by Senior Attorney founders to Growing Law Firms who seek the following 3 resources that selling law firms offer:
- Clients for whom Senior Attorney sellers offer their Books of Business, which they have often developed over the course of decades.
- An experienced workforce, consisting of talented attorneys and non-attorney staff who want and need a reliable, predictable, and safe job.
- Subject matter knowledge in multiple practice areas, whose utility includes the following: Content for digital marketing to attract the attention of today’s clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to retain.
Poock also shares the following 2 typical components to Law Firm to Law Firm Sales:
(a) Earnout Purchase Terms: In most Law Firm to Law Firm sales, payment terms involve earnouts based upon the owner(s) of a selling law firm receiving a percentage of collections attributable to a selling law firm’s Book of Business, payable over a negotiated period of time.
(b) The Importance of Trust Transfer: To maximize earnout payments, sellers need to transfer the trust of their long-time clients to lawyers at a purchasing law firm.
As Poock, states, “The importance of Trust Transfer . . . cannot be underscored. When a law firm sale happens, the seller should really have an expectation that the purchasing firm is going to need the selling Rainmaker Attorney or attorneys to transfer the trust of the clients to lawyers at the growing firm. And then, the consideration is fee sharing over a negotiated period of time.”
During Ep. 33 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
I am tired of running my law firm, but I still want to practice. What options do you recommend?
Poock begins by pointing out that many of today’s Senior Attorney law firm owners have become tired of running and managing their offices.
After explaining succession planning options that Senior Attorneys have, Poock shares the following preferred option:
Selling to or merging with a Growing Law Firm, which typically provides Senior Attorney law firm owners with the following:
A pathway to transform from Tired to Inspired to Retired
By joining a Growing Law Firm, Senior Attorneys become inspired by:
-
The relief of no longer managing the day-to-day affairs of their law firm; and
-
Joining a Growing Law Firm that wants and needs the clients, experience, and know-how that Senior Attorneys have developed over the course of their careers.
After joining a Growing Law Firm and typically continuing to practice during a negotiated time period, Senior Attorney sellers can then retire with the pride and peace of mind of leaving a legacy that includes:
(1) Ensuring that their clients will continue benefiting from ongoing, competent representation;
(2) Securing ongoing employment for their talented lawyers and non-lawyer staff with a Growing Law Firm purchaser; and
(3) Sharing a career’s worth of experience and knowledge, together with providing treasure chests of Subject Matter Knowledge for a Growing Law Firm purchaser to convert to Digital Content to attract the attention of new clients who search online today for lawyers and law firms to retain.
During Ep. 33 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why should I consider selling my law firm within the next 1-2 years?
Poock begins by sharing the following 5 typical reasons for why “now” presents the right time to sell a law firm:
(1) Low probability of selling to an Internal Successor a/k/a a key employee lawyer
(2) The arrival of growth by acquisition to the legal industry
(3) The need to spend more time outside of “the office”
(4) Not generating as much new business as yester-year
(5) Upcoming lease renewal
When contrasting key employee lawyers as buyers to Growing Law Firm buyers, Poock distinguishes between key employee lawyers who want a reliable, predictable, and safe job to Growing Law Firms who view growth by acquisition as presenting the following 3 benefits:
(a) Instant client growth;
(b) Adding experienced lawyer and non-lawyer staff to their workforce; and
(c) Opportunities to convert decades of Subject Matter Knowledge into Digital Content to publish to multiple channels of digital marketing to attract the attention of today’s clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to hire.
Poock concludes by sharing the following non-financial benefits that Senior Attorney sellers of law firms experience after they sell to or merge with Growing Law Firms:
(1) The joy of spending more time outside of “the office,” including more time with family.
(2) The dual satisfaction of knowing that clients will continue to receive ongoing representation, together with the satisfaction that a Growing Law Firm often hires a selling law firm’s lawyers and support staff.
(3) The ability to continue practicing, often as Of Counsel attorneys, benefiting from having the time to focus on what Senior Attorneys enjoy (egs. business development, drafting, litigating, etc.).
In Episode 71 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
Why Senior Attorneys Smile after Selling to a Growing Law Firm
Poock begins by sharing the following 2 popular reasons for why Senior Attorneys decide to sell their law firms to a Growing Law Firm:
-
The need to no longer manage the law firm that they have built over the course of their careers.
-
Frustration regarding their key employee lawyers not expressing interest to purchase their law firms.
Turning to the end of the sale cycle, Poock explains the following 3 reasons for why Senior Attorneys smile after selling to a Growing Law firm:
(1) Achieving 4 wins: Senior Attorney achieve the following 4 wins by selling to Growing Law Firms: (i) Monetize their law firms; (ii) Encourage Growing Law Firms to hire their lawyer & non-lawyer staff; (iii) Ensure continuous, competent representation for clients; and (iv) Facilitate growth for a Growing Law Firm.
(2) Gaining More Control of Their Lives: By no longer managing “the office,” Senior Attorneys can finally take a 3-week vacation, or even go away for months at a time. Also, for those Senior Attorneys who continue practicing (and many do), they can pick and choose which clients with whom they want to work.
(3) Benefiting by Leaving a Legacy: By selling to a Growing Law Firm, Senior Attorneys sellers benefit by transforming from their law practices, defining their identities to leaving a legacy of: (i) Taking care of their clients; (ii) Taking care of their employees, and (iii) Sharing the experience and knowledge that they have developed over the course of their careers.
As Poock states, “So, when [I] go on to the websites of the Growing Law Firms that our clients join, I am just not surprised anymore at all that our clients smile when they take . . . the pictures for their bios at the Growing Law Firms to whom they sell.”
During Ep. 35 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, guest Dennis Meador, Founder of The Legal Podcast Network (LPN), turns the microphone around asks the following question to Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq.:
What is the “sweet spot” age for lawyers to sell a law firm?
Poock responds by distinguishing between the sales of Senior Attorney-led law firms and Start-up Law Firms.
Regarding law firms owned by Senior Attorneys, that is, attorneys who have practiced for 30+ years, Poock shares the following:
Ages 55-75 present the right age for Senior Attorneys to sell their law firms.
Why?
As Poock explains, “We find that lawyers between ages 55 and 75 . . . [are] in the MVP years of their careers . . . meaning that they have the knowledge to know one or more practice areas super well that attracts clients to their firm. They've developed a reputation in their community, in their state, regionally, sometimes even nationally. They close on matters regularly.”
Based upon typical earnout terms tied to a selling law firm’s Book of Business, Senior Attorney law firm owners realize maximum value during the MVP years of their careers by presenting the following to a purchasing law firm:
A Book of Business filled with clients and referral sources
When Senior Attorney law firm owners wait too long to sell, though, the value of their law firms decreases due primarily to the following:
Originating less new clients than yester-year, which results in offering a less valuable Book of Business to a purchasing law firm.
In contrast to the sales of Senior Attorney-led firms, Poock points out the following new trend in law firm sales:
The sales of Start-up Law Firms, whose value relates to Digital Value and Brand Equity, as compared to the Book of Business value of Senior Attorney-led firms.
As Poock points out, purchasing law firms will pay “real money” at a closing table in consideration for Start-up Law Firms because purchasing firms want and need the following during today’s Digital Era for the legal industry:
-
Clients;
-
Digital Value; and
-
Brand Equity
During the guest appearance of Ep. 35 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Dennis Meador, Founder of The Legal Podcast Network (LPN), discusses the following:
Podcasting as an Example of Brand Building & Thought Leadership for Today’s Digital Rainmakers
Since founding LPN in May 2024, LPN has grown to host over 200 legal podcasts and publish over 400 podcasts each month.
Addressing the growth of lawyer hosted podcasts, Meador distinguishes between:
-
Community building podcasts in which lawyers interview guests for the purpose of providing community type value by interviewing guests and essentially becoming a center of influence; and
-
Authority podcasts in which a lawyer can exemplify subject matter authority by publishing content geared toward the client profiles of a podcast host.
Meador elaborates about the value of authority podcasts from the standpoints of digital content delivery, personal branding, client development, and establishing “know, like, trust” relationships via content-rich podcast episodes.
Poock and Meador also discuss the following value that legal podcasts offer from the standpoint of law firm sales:
-
The development of brand value based upon the authority derived from content-driven podcasts;
-
Client attribution data when new clients credit a legal podcast as the reason for contacting a lawyer or law firm; and
-
The interest of law firm purchasers to succeed to the Digital Value and Brand Equity that established legal podcasts present.
In Episode 70 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Rising Importance of Digital Value in Law Firm Sales
As law firms continue investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to originate new clients, their Digital Value continues to rise.
This episode addresses:
- The cash flow benefits as law firms continue transitioning to becoming Digital Rainmaker law firms
- The long-term benefits of rising Digital Value and Brand Equity in Law Firm Sales 2.0
- The need for law firms to attribute client originations to their Multi-Channel Digital Marketing efforts to increase their Digital Value & Brand Equity in advance of a sale
As law firms continue transforming to becoming Digital Rainmaker law firms that originate clients via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, their sale values will continue to increase because of greater predictability for client originations, as compared to depending on a limited number of traditional Rainmaker attorneys.
During Ep. 34 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why should I track digital originations at my law firm?
As Poock explains,
In the mid-2020s and as we head toward 2030, more and more law firms continue recognizing that the norm for developing business today involves Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, as compared to yester-year’s Word-of-Mouth dependent Rainmaker attorneys.
As law firms transition to becoming Digital Rainmaker law firms, Poock points out the following 5 digital windmills that generate clients for Digital Rainmaker law firms:
-
Google
-
AI
-
Social Media
-
Law firm websites
-
Audio, Video & Webinar mediums
“If you are spending the time, the effort and the money to be developing clients digitally, it is vital to be looking at the data analytics to understand how the clients are coming into your law firms from those different digital media venues in which you are investing,” Poock states.
Poock also explains Law Firm Sales 2.0, which consists of law firm buyers paying:
(a) Fixed pricing attributable to the Digital Value and Brand Equity of a selling law firm; plus
(b) Earnout terms attributable to a more traditional Book of Business that consist of a selling law firm’s clients and referral sources.
As Poock states, “[W]hen you're able to show the data analytics that can support that predictability of how clients are coming into your practice, then you're going to be able to have a fixed payment at a closing table . . . So, just to say that very succinctly, in terms of why should you be tracking digital originations for your law firm? It’s because, if you want to receive a . . . higher fixed payment at a closing table in Law Firm Sales 2.0, please be prepared with data to show that you have become a Digital Rainmaker law firm that has real Digital Value, real Brand Equity.”
During Ep. 34 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What does “Just Don’t Fumble the Ball” Mean in the context of a law firm sale?
As Poock explains,
Most law firm sales include the transition of a selling law firm’s Book of Business from its Rainmaker attorney lawyers to lawyers at a purchasing law firm (the “Growing Law Firm”).
Considering that selling Rainmaker Attorneys have developed deep trust with their clients, Poock shares the following advice to the lawyers at a purchasing law firm who want to continue representing those clients:
“Don't fumble the ball.”
Similar to a quarterback handing-off a football to a running back, Poock explains the following 3 methods of Trust Transfer that results in successful client transitions in law firm sales:
-
In-person meetings
-
Virtual meetings via Zoom or another virtual video platform
-
Via social media in which clients of a selling law firm receive digital content from lawyers at a Growing Law Firm (egs. e-newsletters, LinkedIn posts, podcast links, video content, and more).
When Trust Transfer successfully results in transitioning clients from a selling law firm to a Growing Law Firm, Poock explains that the following 4 winners benefit, as follows:
-
Senior Attorney sellers benefit by selling their law firms
-
Key Employee Lawyers and Para-Staff at a selling law firm benefit by Growing Law Firms that typically hire them to continue providing legal services to the clients of a selling law firm who transition to a Growing Law Firm.
-
Clients of a selling law firm who benefit from ongoing, competent representation
-
Growing Law Firms who benefit from: (1) New clients; (2) An experienced workforce; and (3) The opportunity to convert the subject matter knowledge of attorneys at a selling law firm into digital content.
During the Poock’s Post segment of Ep. 34 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
Why Digital Marketing Analytics Present More Value than Lawyer Portables
As Poock explains:
Pre-2020, and certainly, pre-Google, Rainmaker Attorneys developed Books of Business that represented their “portables” while practicing and their primary asset when selling their law firms.
By limiting portables to a Book of Business, sale prices have tended to result in a circa 1x of gross revenues, derived from a defined Book of Business and paid via an earnout per fee sharing attributable to clients in a Rainmaker Attorney’s Book of Business who continue retaining a successor law firm.
As Poock points out:
“In the mid-2020s and heading towards 2030 . . . firms are heading to becoming Digital Rainmaker firms.”
Digital Rainmaker Law Firms continue developing new business via multi-channel digital marketing, supported by data analytics. By focusing on multiple marketing channels, Digital Rainmaker law firms have also begun developing brand equity, the features of which include: (i) Digital presence; (ii) Brand awareness; (iii) Trade names; and (iv) Quality Perception (ex. multiple 5-Star Google reviews).
Unlike the volatility of the Book of Business pegged to a Rainmaker Attorney, data analytics that support a Digital Rainmaker law firm’s digital client originations introduce greater predictability for originations and revenues.
“And hence, those digital marketing analytics are becoming more valuable than lawyer portables as we head towards 2030 and as the legal industry continues to transition from being led by traditional Rainmaker Attorneys to law firms that are becoming Digital Rainmaker Law Firms.”
In Episode 69 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Growing Importance of Tracking Digital Originations
As law firms continue transforming to becoming Digital Rainmaker law firms that originate clients via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, their sale values will continue to increase because of greater predictability for client originations, as compared to depending on a limited number of traditional Rainmaker attorneys.
This episode addresses:
- How Digital Rainmaker law firms originate new business during today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry
- The importance of tracking digital originations in the context of law firm sales
- The rise of Law Firm Sales 2.0, which consists of: (1) Fixed payments attributable to data analytics that support how digital marketing efforts consistently generate a law firm’s originations; plus (2) Earnout payment terms, attributable to a selling law firm’s Book of Business.
During Ep. 32 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why Do Key Employee Lawyers Want a Boss & Do Not Aspire to become Law Firm Owners?
As Poock explains,
“What is it that key employee lawyers want? What they really want is a reliable, predictable, and safe job.”
Rather than aspiring to owning a small business law firm, most key employee lawyers want a boss because a boss will provide them with a reliable, predictable, and safe job.
Until Senior Attorney owners of law firms recognize the likelihood that their key employee lawyers prefer a boss, rather than becoming the boss, Poock explains the possibility of a collision of expectations, namely:
The goal for a Senior Attorney owner for key employee lawyers to succeed to ownership often collides with a key employee lawyer’s goal to maintain a reliable, predictable, and safe job.
When those goals collide, unfortunately, the following “Random Tuesday” event can (does) occur:
Key employee lawyers give their longtime Senior Attorney bosses 2 or 4 weeks notice about joining another law firm that can restore their need for a reliable, predictable, and safe job.
Rather than colliding, Poock shares that their respective goals align when a Senior Attorney owner, together with key employee lawyers, join a Growing Law Firm.
In that collaborative scenario, the following 4 winners result:
-
Senior Attorneys win by establishing a viable succession plan that includes sale terms.
-
Key employee lawyers win by maintaining their need for a reliable, predictable, and safe job.
-
The clients win via assurance that they will continue benefiting from ongoing, competent representation.
-
The Growing Law Firm wins by benefiting from new clients, an experienced workforce, and succeeding to decades’ worth of Subject Matter Knowledge to convert into much-needed Digital Content in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry.
During the Poock’s Post segment of Ep. 32 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following warning:
Warning to T&E Attorneys: Clients Do Not Necessarily Hire the Same Firm that Prepared an Estate Plan for Probate & Trust Administration
As Poock explains:
“What we continue to see with Trusts & Estates attorneys is that when the clients for whom Trusts & Estates attorneys prepared wills and trusts - when they pass away, their children [and] their named fiduciaries, they will go to Google [and] ask for ‘Best Trusts & Estates attorney near me.’”
In terms of why children and fiduciaries ask Google, or their preferred AI thought partner, to suggest the best Trust & Estate attorney to hire, Poock shares the following:
Beneficiaries and fiduciaries want to hire a Trusts & Estates law firm that features multiple 5-Star Google Reviews and that publishes compelling content on their websites, as well as social media, as compared to returning to the law firm that prepared the original estate plan per the following mindset:
“Just because Mom or Dad trusted them, doesn’t mean that we need to.”
What can Senior Attorney T&E attorneys do now to preserve a significant, valuable aspect of their T&E practices, namely, the future probate and trust administrations on behalf of their Trusts & Estates clients?
Poock offers the following suggestions:
- Consider Your Wills Cabinet as Estate Plans under Management: Please consider the estate plans that you have prepared as “Estate Plans under Management.”
Similar to financial planners who maintain Assets under Management, maintaining Estate Plans under Management involves: (a) Regularly updating client contact information; and (b) Periodically contacting T&E clients to offer to update their plans.
- Establish Relationships with Named Beneficiaries & Fiduciaries: As a proverbial antidote to named fiduciaries and beneficiaries searching online for T&E attorney when a need to probate a will or trust arises, Poock suggests that T&E lawyers proactively establish relationships with both beneficiaries and named fiduciaries.
As Poock states, “Let them know who you are . . . You care about the people for whom you wrote the estate plans, and you can let [beneficiaries and fiduciaries] know: ‘We're here for you.’”
- Update Your Website & LinkedIn Profile: Considering the likelihood that named fiduciaries and beneficiaries will search online for a T&E attorney to administer their loved one’s estate plan, Poock suggests the following:
That Senior Attorney T&E lawyers update their websites and LinkedIn profiles to establish a digital assurance that the firm that prepared the estate plan for their loved one has the experience and capability to administer the plan, as well.
Regarding the significance of this warning in the context of selling a T&E law firm, Poock explains the following:
In Law Firm Sales 1.0, purchasing firms pay a selling law firm upon an earnout basis, namely, fee sharing upon revenues derived from a selling law firm’s defined Book of Business.
Importantly, if estate planning clients do not return to a purchasing law firm when the need arises to administer a will or trust prepared by a selling law firm, the following negative consequences will occur:
-
The potential value of a selling law firm’s Estate Plans under Management will become unrealized; and
-
The expected earnout will not match a selling law firm’s expectations, despite having prepared hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of estate plans.
As Poock advises, “If you want to get as high of an Earnout as possible when you sell your firm, [i]t is just so important to keep in touch with your clients.”
And, as Poock suggests, “[R]each out to your clients; get that updated contact information; learn more about who the beneficiaries are, who the fiduciary is; keep in touch with them and let them know your firm is here for them and their families for years and decades to come.”
During Ep. 32 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What is a Digital Rainmaker Law Firm?
As Poock explains, during a very short time period between the “Digital Pivot” that occurred worldwide in 2020 and now in the mid-2020s, Digital Rainmaker Law Firms have “e-merged.”
The e-mergence of Digital Rainmaker Law Firms resulted from the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients shifting to searching for lawyers and law firms online, as compared to the pre-2020, pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era for business development for lawyers.
As Digital Rainmaker Law Firms continue growing, Senior Attorney-led firms offer the following 3 resources to boost that growth:
-
Book of Business: The Books of Business of a Senior Attorney-led firm present instant client growth.
-
Experienced Workforce: Senior Attorney-led firms offer experienced lawyers and para-staff who can capably produce the sophisticated legal services that Digital Rainmaker Law Firms need to provide to their clients.
-
Digital Content: The Subject Matter Knowledge that lawyers at Senior Attorney-led Firms have developed over decades presents treasure chests of content to convert into digital content to attract the attention of new clients to a Digital Rainmaker Law Firm.
Poock also explains that those 3 needs will become less valuable over time as:
(i) The cost of Digital Rainmaking for new clients becomes less than paying consideration for a Senior Attorney’s Book of Business;
(ii) Homegrown talent and AI decrease the need for lawyers and para-staff from a Senior Attorney-led firm; and
(iii) AI produces sophisticated, digital content without the need of the decades of experience that lawyers at Senior Attorney-led firms offer.
And, regarding sales of Digital Rainmaker law firms, Poock shares the following:
As Digital Rainmaker Law Firms continue developing measurable Digital Value and Brand Equity, they will benefit from higher sale prices per Law Firm Sales 2.0.
Unlike Law Firm Sales 1.0 in which law firm value relies upon the transfer of the good will of 1 or more Rainmaker Attorneys, the value of Digital Rainmaker Law Firms involves greater predictability, attributable to data analytics that show and measure digital sources of a selling law firm’s revenues, including (i) The submission of website contact forms; (ii) Calls and texts generated by phone numbers assigned to particular digital marketing campaigns; (iii) Rankings for key phrases; and (iv) More.
In Episode 68 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. welcomes Boris Ziser, Esq. of McDermott Will & Schulte to discuss Management Services Organizations (MSOs) and the benefits that MSOS offer to Personal Injury Law Firms.
During this episode, Attorney Ziser addresses:
-
What is a MSO?
-
Insights about the benefits for certain Personal Injury Law firms to set-up a MSO
-
The role for MSOs as Private Equity firms continue entering into the single event Personal Injury Law marketplace
While explaining the functions of a MSO in the legal industry, including for certain Personal Injury Law firms, Attorney Ziser points to the value that MSOs provide by separating the non-legal functions of a law firm from the practice of law.
Addressing the potential concern for unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyer owners of a MSO, Ziser points out that lawyers will presumably not violate ethics rules and risk their bar licenses by permitting non-lawyer involvement in decision making about a law firm’s practice of law.
As Ziser says, “[T]he notion that Private Equity, which owns a service provider, is somehow now controlling the law firm, I just don't think that's true. And, by the way, it isn't good for business for the Private Equity firm either, because if there is such a violation . . . if the law firm goes under, for example, there's nobody to pay the service provider. That's not going to help grow the enterprise.”
In his concluding remarks, Poock reiterates Ziser’s point that MSOs will enhance the enterprise value of law firms as MSOs improve the business of law, which will result in higher prices for law firm sales.
Poock also points out that Private Equity has expressed particular interest in Personal Injury Law because of the volume of clients that Personal Injury law firms can represent, plus the predictability of revenues due to many Personal Injury Law matters involving insurance companies paying on behalf of defendants.
During the Poock’s Post for Ep. 31 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following:
For those Senior Attorneys who do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing for business development, Poock suggests considering selling their law firms during the second half of the 2020s while their firms continue offering the following 3 resources that purchasing law firms want and need:
-
A Book of Business that presents instant client growth
-
Experienced lawyers and para-staff
-
Subject Matter Knowledge to convert to Digital Content to attract the attention of potential clients who search online today for lawyers and law firms to retain.
Poock also points out that Growing Law Firms will soon have a lesser need to purchase Senior Attorney-led law firms because of the lower case cost acquisition that Multi-Channel Digital Marketing presents, as compared to purchasing a Book of Business from a Senior Attorney-led law firm.
And, as a warning to those Senior Attorneys who do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to grow their Books of Business, Poock quotes Shooter Flatch’s famous line from the 1986 movie, Hoosiers, in the context of Growing Law Firms that continue to want and need the 3 resources outlined above: “Don’t get caught watching the paint dry.”
During Ep. 31 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following 4 trends to expect for law firm sales in 2026:
-
The phaseout of Law Firm Sales 1.0 for Senior Attorney-led Law Firms
-
The increase of “unexpected” key employee departures from Senior Attorney-led Firms
-
The normalization of Digital Rainmaker law firms
-
The rise of Law Firm Sales 2.0 & 2.5
In Episode 67 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. welcomes Seth Deutsch and Jordan McMillian of Samson Partners Group for an in-depth focus on the entry of Private Equity to the Personal Injury Law marketplace.
This circa 45 minute podcast episode involves a Q&A format, in which Seth and Jordan discuss the following:
-
Why did Samson Partners Group identify Personal Injury Law as ripe for opportunities for Samson’s Private Equity Legal Alliance?
-
Could you please share 5 factors that Samson considers when valuing a PI law firm?
-
As sales of PI firms continue to buzz throughout the industry, what range of multiples of EBITDA do you observe and foresee?
-
What is a MSO, and what role do you foresee for MSOs in the sales of Personal Injury Law Firms?
-
What do you foresee as opportunities for platform acquisitions and tuck-in acquisitions during the next 5 years?
In Episode 66 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
Why Many Senior Attorney-led Law Firms Will become Worth Less during the 2nd Half of the 2020s
As Poock explains, today’s Senior Attorneys, who have practiced 30+ years, developed their Books of Business during the pre-Google, 1.0 Word-of-Mouth Era as Rainmaker Attorneys who handed out 100s or 1000s of business cards per year, attended multiple networking events per month, spoke in-person anywhere and everywhere, sponsored local events, and advertised in-print, on radio, sometimes, on TV.
Today’s Senior Attorneys developed valuable Books of Business filled with clients and referral sources as Rainmaker Attorneys.
In the early 2020s, though, Digital Marketing Disruption entered into the legal industry as a result of society’s digital pivot in 2020, which resulted in clients beginning to search online to find lawyers and law firms to hire, rather than asking a relative, friend, co-worker, etc. for a referral.
The digital pivot by clients to search online for lawyers and law firms has resulted in the rise of Digital Rainmaker law firms that embrace Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients.
During the second half of the 2020s, those Senior Attorney-led firms that continue relying upon Word-of-Mouth for business development will unfortunately become worth less as follows:
-
Short-Term: A decrease in annual revenues due to originating less new clients than during today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry.
-
Long-Term: Less value of their law firms’ Books of Business due to not replenishing their Books of Business with new clients and referral sources similar to during the pre-Google, 1.0 Word-of-Mouth Era.
As Poock points out, despite a Senior Attorney-led firm generating less new clients, the value of their firm will become worth less, but not worthless because Growing Law Firm purchasers continue to want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer:
-
New clients
-
An experienced workforce, consisting of lawyers and para-staff
-
Subject Matter Knowledge to convert to Digital Content to attract the online attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients who search for lawyers and law firms online.
As Poock warns, though, “[I]f you are not replenishing your Book of Business as well as you did pre-Google, now is the right time to sell because over the course of the remainder of the 2020s, the value of Senior Attorney-led firms will become worth less, even though not worthless at this time.”
During Ep. 29 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. replies to the following Question 2:
I lead a Trusts & Estates Law Firm that has prepared 500+ estate plans. What are my options?
Initially, Poock explains that the owner of a Trusts & Estates firm needs to determine what the firm has in terms of:
- Its sources of revenues and amount of revenues per source (egs. Drafting, Probate/Trust Admin., Real Estate, etc.).
- The firm’s client list, including updated information about names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and cell phone numbers. Importantly, for T&E firms, updating client information should include updating contact information about fiduciaries named in the firm’s estate planning documents (egs. Personal Representatives and Trustees).
- Inventorying the number of estate plans under management, including ideally, determining how many clients have re-published their estate plans with another law firm, moved out of state, or may have already died.
Regarding sale options, Poock shares the following 3 options:
(a) Sell to or merge with a Growing Law Firm, and preferably, a Growing Law Firm that focuses on T&E or maintains a T&E department (Preferred)
(b) Pursue an internal succession plan (Potential)
(c) Maintain the Status Quo, i.e., establish no succession plan (Risky)
Poock points out that Growing Law Firms offer the preferred option because they want and need the following resources that Senior Attorney-led T&E law firms offer:
(1) New clients;
(2) An experienced workforce, comprised of both lawyers and para-staff; and
(3) Subject Matter Knowledge to convert to Digital Content to attract the attention of new clients who search online today (and tomorrow) for lawyers and law firms to retain.
Poock also observes the following trend that jeopardizes a particular, future value of Senior Attorney-led T&E Law Firms:
Digital Marketing Disruption in the legal industry means that, despite T&E law firms including a “blue back” page in their estate planning documents that lists the contact information for the law firms that prepared a given estate plan, surviving family members and fiduciaries have begun by-passing those “blue backs” in favor of asking Google or their AI thought partner to suggest the best T&E attorney near them to administer a Will or Trust.
If the families of estate planning clients do not return to the original firm that drafted an estate plan to assist with Probate/Trust Administration, the future value of that firm will become jeopardized because of the expectation that surviving loved ones and fiduciaries will seek Probate/Trust administration services from the same firm that prepared a client’s estate plan.
Poock concludes with offering the following suggestion to T&E law firms that have prepared 500+ estate plans and may (should) have growing concerns that families will not return to their law firms for Probate/Trust Administration of the plans that the firm has drafted:
Maintain contact information for clients’ named beneficiaries and fiduciaries for the purposes of:
(i) Establishing a relationship with the firm that prepared an estate plan; and
(ii) Minimizing the risk that beneficiaries and fiduciaries by-pass the firm that prepared a client’s estate plan in favor of asking Uncle Google or an AI thought partner to recommend an alternative law firm for Probate/Trust Administration services.
In Episode 65 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
- The emergence of Startup Law Firms
- How Law Firm Sales 2.0 will apply to the sales of Startup Law Firms
- The value that Senior Attorney-led Firms offer to Startup Law Firms
- A warning to Senior Attorney-led Firms as a result of the continuing ease for Startup Law Firms to originate new clients digitally during today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the Legal Industry
As Poock explains, today’s Startup Law Firms feature the following characteristics, or really, steps:
-
Introduce a product, namely, the practice area(s) of a Startup Law Firm
-
Develop a strategy to bring a Startup Law Firm’s product to market
-
Originate clients
-
Build a team
-
Grow sales/profits
-
Achieve an exit/sale
Poock also points out that Senior Attorney-led Firms offer the following value to Startup Law Firms:
(a) Instant client growth;
(b) Welcoming in the workforce of Senior Attorney-led Firms, that is, key lawyers and their support staff; and
(c) The subject matter knowledge that the lawyers at selling law firms have developed, which Startup Law Firms want and need to convert to digital content to attract the attention of clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to hire.
Poock points out that Startup Law Firms will sell their firms per Law Firm Sales 2.0, followed by Law Firm Sales 2.5, and eventually, Law Firm Sales 3.0.
In Law Firm Sales 2.0, Startup Law Firms will enjoy fixed payments upon their digital and brand value, plus earnout terms based upon their defined Books of Business.
Looking forward to Law Firm Sales 2.5 and 3.0, Poock explains that no earnout terms will apply to those sales because of sale value tied to digital value, brand equity, and good will without any dependence upon Rainmaker Attorneys to transition their Book of Business to a purchasing law firm.
As a result of the arrival of the Age of the Startup Law Firm, Poock includes the following warning to Senior Attorney-led Firms:
It’s very important for Senior Attorneys to recognize that as Startup Law Firms continue reducing their client acquisition costs due to the ease of generating clients digitally in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the Legal Industry, the Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led Firms will become less valuable.
And, to listen to the Bonus Segment to Episode 65, please listen here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-personal-injury-law-firms-can-develop-measure-their/id1498670329?i=1000735060815
During Ep. 65 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Nicole Bergen, Founder & Chief Strategist for Elevate Marketing Research, joins to address the following 2 questions:
Question 1: What do you recommend for PI firms seeking to develop & measure their firm's brand value, including how to score high on Elevate’s Brand Report Card?
Question 2: What are your thoughts about how a PI firm's brand value can enhance a PI firm's value when planning for a sale exit strategy?
When developing brand for a Personal Injury Law Firm, Bergen emphasizes the need to focus on what is important to the consumer, urging listeners to consider advertising as “Me-vertising,” i.e., what is in it for me, the consumer – the client?
As Bergen states, “If you can't answer that question, you're not developing a brand. A brand is the answer to that question.”
Bergen also describes aspects of Elevate’s Brand Report Card, including suggesting that Personal Injury Law Firms identify their Unique Selling Point (USP) and structure “Me-vertising” with a focus on 1 or 2 USPs, followed by measuring how a USP performs in the marketplace to attract more clients based upon that USP, i.e., its brand.
Bergen suggests that PI firms consider the following:
“How can you demonstrate empathy to the consumer?”
When discussing how brand value can enhance a Personal Injury Law Firm’s value in contemplation of an exit/sale or to bolster investment, Bergen points out that data analytics can support a PI law firm’s brand value.
Poock adds that demonstrating brand value will also result in adding a separate line item to the sale of Personal Injury Law Firms, in addition to determining a multiple of EBITDA.
As Poock states, “[W]hen firms can have and present data analytics that show that “Me-vertising” is translating into sales because of brand value, that's going to add additional zeros . . . could be a lot of zeros, by the way, when you are taking on, as Nicole is saying, an investor, or when you are selling your Personal Injury Law Firm.”
During Ep. 29 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. replies to the following Question 1:
My lease terminates 1+ years from now. Shouldn’t I wait until 12-24 months before my lease expires before considering selling my law firm?
Poock begins by sharing a checklist relating to “Now is the Right Time to Sell Because . . . .”
That checklist features the following:
- Life Event (egs. age, health, spouse’s retirement, etc.)
- Low probability of selling to an internal successor
- The arrival of growth by acquisition
- The need to spend more time outside of “the office”
- Not generating as much business as yester-year
- Upcoming lease renewal
As Poock points out, “[W]e consider the lease as a deal term.”
Reasons why include the following: (i) The possibility of a diminishing Book of Business by a selling law firm if that firm does not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry; (ii) The possibility of a Random Tuesday event that would cause the value of a law firm to diminish significantly (egs. unexpected departure of a key employee lawyer; unforeseen physical or mental health event, or pre-mature death of a law firm owner); (iii) The value of lost time, especially after realizing the importance of time during the post-Covid 19 Era.
Poock also explains that Growing Law Firms present the common purchasers of Senior Attorney-led firms because Growing Law Firms want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer:
- Clients and referral sources, i.e., a Book of Business;
- Talented and experienced lawyers and para-staff; and
- Subject matter knowledge to convert to digital content to attract the attention of new clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to hire in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry.
Poock concludes by advising, “If you're considering selling your law firm, even if your lease may not terminate for more than one year out, we recommend that you really consider pursuing [a] sale. And, please consider your lease as a deal term to negotiate with a growing law firm that wants and needs what you have.”
During Ep. 29 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock’s Post:
How the One-Two Punch of AI + Google Continues to Decrease the Relevancy of Yester-Year’s Rainmaker Attorneys
Poock begins by reminiscing about the Pre-Google “Age of the Rainmaker Attorneys” who built their Books of Business in-person and via Word of Mouth, including: (i) Handing out 1k+ business cards per year; (ii) Leading in-person speaking engagements as often as possible (CLEs, Chambers of Commerce, etc.); (iii) Attending and sponsoring charity events, including placing full page ads in event tribute books; (iv) Investing in print ads in newspapers, journals, legal directories, White Pages, Yellow Pages, etc.; and (v) “Working the room” at networking events.
Post-2020, though, Business Development for lawyers and law firms has pivoted digitally, including the following “One-Two Punch” of AI, plus Google:
Potential clients consult with AI (egs. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and more) to inquire about lawyers and law firms capable of addressing their particular issues, followed by researching those firms via Google . . . doing so while by-passing yester-year’s Rainmaker Attorneys.
The rise of Digital Rainmaking in the mid-2020s, as part of today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry, includes the following results for those Senior Attorney-led firms that do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to supplement their Word of Mouth business development efforts:
- The decreasing relevancy of yester-year’s Rainmaker Attorneys in favor of the rise of Digital Rainmakers;
- A decrease in revenues for Senior Attorney-led firms that do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to supplement old school Word of Mouth rainmaking; and
- A decrease in law firm value among Senior Attorney-led firms that do not replenish their Books of Business during today’s 3.0 Digital Era as well as during the pre-Google Word of Mouth Era.
Poock also points out the following:
Despite the ongoing disruption to business development that today’s 3.0 Digital Era presents, law firm purchasers want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer:
- A selling law firm’s Book of Business;
- Talented lawyers and support staff; and
- Subject matter knowledge to convert to digital content to attract the attention of potential clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to retain.
That stated, Poock raises the following forecast for Senior Attorneys to consider:
Once “Digital Rainmaker” law firms can generate new clients for less cost than purchasing a Senior Attorney-led firm’s Book of Business, the market value for those Books of Business will decrease.
As Poock states, “We strongly believe that Law Firm Sales 1.0 will come to an end at some point, but that's not going to be in the 2020s . . . I think it's going to be in the in the 2030s, because when law firms can generate new clients for less money than the fee sharing [per] Law Firm Sales 1.0, [they will not] . . . need Senior Attorney-led firms’ Books of Business as much as they do now.”
And, as Poock states in conclusion: “Hence why we strongly recommend for those law firms that are committed to Word of Mouth, as compared to today's, Digital Era for generating clients digitally, that now is the right time to consider selling your law firm.”
During Ep. 28 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
I enjoy practicing law, but I am tired of managing “the office.” What options do I have?
In response, Poock explains that Senior Attorneys often share the following common complaint: That they have grown tired with managing “the office;” not that they want to necessarily sell their law firms or retire, but instead, that they are literally tired of running “the office,” including the responsibilities associated with making payroll, paying monthly rent, hiring/firing, dealing with the copy machine, and much more.
In terms of options, Poock describes the following 3 options:
Option 1 – The Non-Option: Poock explains that even though Senior Attorneys want their key employee lawyers to assume more management duties as a pathway to purchasing their law firms, the vast majority of key employee lawyers want a “Reliable, Predictable, and Safe” job rather than succeed to owning their boss’ law firm.
Option 2 – The Preferred Option: Joining a Growing Law Firm presents the preferred option to solve the issue of Senior Attorneys becoming tired of managing their small business law firms because Growing Law Firms want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer: (1) Instant client growth; (2) Talented lawyers and support staff; and (3) Treasure chests of subject matter knowledge to convert to digital content to attract the attention of today’s legal consumers (clients) who search online when considering to hire a lawyer or law firm.
For those Senior Attorneys who join a Growing Law Firm and continue practicing, Poock explains the following sequence of events that occurs:
Transforming from “Tired to Inspired to Retired”
After joining a Growing Law Firm, Senior Attorneys often become inspired after removing the yoke of managing their offices and having the time to: (1) Focus on portions of practicing law that they enjoy; (2) Choose the clients whom they personally represent; (3) Publish digital content, including podcasts, post to social media, record YouTube videos, and more; and (4) Spend more time outside of the office without the proverbial shackles of the office constraining their freedom while away.
Inspiration also includes benefiting from transferring the trust of a Senior Attorney’s clients to attorneys at the firms that they join, together with sharing their career’s worth of knowledge with lawyers at the firms that they join.
And, upon retirement, Senior Attorneys who join Growing Law Firms benefit as follows: (1) Financially by selling their law firms; and (2) By ensuring their legacy, which includes (i) The peace of mind by knowing that their clients will continue to benefit from ongoing, competent and zealous representation; and (ii) The satisfaction that their key employee lawyers and para-staff will continue to have “Reliable, Predictable & Safe” jobs because Growing Law Firms often hire the staff of a Senior Attorney-led firm as part of a sale or merger.
Option 3 – Become a Referring Attorney: Especially relevant for solo Senior Attorneys who may want to continue practicing while reducing the exhaustion of running their offices, Poock explains the following option: Start referring less desirable or more time consuming matters to third party lawyers and law firms in consideration of referral fees per Rule 1.5 of the Professional Rules of Conduct in the given state where a Senior Attorney practices.
During Ep. 28 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What are several top mistakes to avoid before selling a law firm?
In response, Poock explains the following Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid before Selling a Law Firm:
No. 1: Wait too long to sell
No. 2: Assume that “Internal Successors” want to buy
No. 3: Underestimate Google & AI for Post-2020 Business Development
No. 4: Overlook converting Subject Matter Knowledge to Digital Marketing Content
No. 5: Hope that tomorrow will continue like today
During Ep. 28 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Tim McKey, CPA, CEO of Vista Consulting Team, joins to address 3 Tips for Strategic Planning to Sell a Plaintiff Contingency Law Firm
McKey initially explains that Vista Consulting Team provides strategic consulting to Plaintiff contingency law firms, assisting clients with systemizing their businesses per Vista’s tagline: The business resource for Plaintiff law firms.
McKey then shares the following 3 tips for strategic planning to sell a Plaintiff contingency law firm:
Tip No. 1: As McKey says, “The best thing you can do to prepare your firm to be sellable is to be profitable.”
Underlying that tip relates to law firms knowing their numbers.
Examples of numbers to know include: (a) Gross revenues vs. Net Revenues; (b) The EBITDA for your firm; (c) Average fee per case; (d) Case acquisition costs; (e) Number of open cases, together with estimated values of those cases; and (f) Average time on desk to resolve cases, including differentiating between pre-lit. and litigation matters.
Tip No. 2: Know the value of your firm per 1 or more recognized methodologies of valuation.
Tip No. 3: Have efficient, effective, and documented operations within your firm, including (a) A methodology for internal reports that hold teams at a firm accountable; and (b) A means to make sure that a firm does not need its founder/rainmaker for the firm to operate.
McKey and Poock also discuss their thoughts about what buyers want/need when purchasing Plaintiff contingency practices, including strategic purchasers who seek to purchase more than one law firm, usually, in anticipation of a future roll-up type transaction.
As a recap for why the rewards outweigh the risks for growth by acquisition, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. summarizes the following 6 rewards that growth by acquisition offers to Growing Law Firms:
(1) Instant client growth by succeeding to a well-established Book of Business filled with clients & referral sources.
(2) Adding knowledgeable & experienced lawyers and para-staff.
(3) Low risk earnout payments as consideration to the owner(s) of a selling law firm (percentage of revenues paid during a fixed period of time).
(4) Opportunities to convert decades of Subject Matter Knowledge to digital content for Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.
(5) Succeed to a legacy phone number(s).
(6) Benefit from established websites & additional digital value (egs. SEO rankings, 5-Star Google Reviews, 3 Pack results & more).
Poock also summarizes the following 3 risks:
(1) Potentially overpaying a Seller if the clients from a selling law firm’s Book of Business do not retain the acquiring firm.
(2) Not having enough lawyers & para-staff to provide legal services to the clients of a selling law firm
(3) The costs of adding overhead associated with growth by acquisition (egs. salaries, benefits, additional rent, etc.)
In conclusion, Poock states, “The rewards absolutely outweigh the risks when it comes to growth by acquisition for Growing Law Firms.”
In Episode 63 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Clock Has Begun Ticking on Law Firm Sales 1.0
As Poock explains, the clock has begun ticking on Law Firm Sales 1.0 because of the ongoing impact of Digital Disruption upon business development for lawyers in today’s post-2020, 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry.
Unlike the pre-Google, 1.0 Word-of-Mouth Era in which Senior Attorneys built their Books of Business as Rainmaker Attorneys, today’s and tomorrow’s clients by-pass Rainmaker Attorneys and search Google, as well as additional digital platforms (egs. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and more), to search for lawyers and law firms to hire.
That Digital Disruption to business development in the legal industry has also caused the clock to start ticking upon Law Firm Sales 1.0, in which selling law firms benefit from fee sharing derived from the performance of their Books of Business, for the following reason:
If a selling law firm’s Book of Business diminishes as a result of Digital Disruption in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry, the value of their earnouts via Law Firm Sales 1.0 will diminish as well.
Poock also explains that the clock has begun ticking upon Law Firm Sales 1.0 because Growing Law Firms may soon prefer acquiring new clients via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, rather than paying referral fees in consideration of the Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led firms.
As Poock states, “[W]e're starting to see . . . in the marketplace that Growing Law Firms may very well not need to acquire Senior Attorney firms because their customer acquisition cost, that is, their new client acquisition costs could be less expensive and more efficient via their Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.”
And, as Poock has shared in previous podcasts, for those Senior Attorney-led firms that will not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to replenish their Books of Business, the best time to sell is now, while Growing Law Firm purchasers continue to want and need their: (1) Book of Business; (2) Experienced workforce; and (3) Subject Matter Knowledge to convert into digital to attract the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s potential clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to hire.
During Ep. 27 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What is Senior Attorney Match’s Design Phase?
As Poock explains, Senior Attorney Match’s Design Phase involves 4 steps, the cumulative goal of which involves assisting selling law firms determine what they have, who wants what they have, determining their best option(s) for sale, and addressing payment terms to expect from a purchaser.
The 4 steps of the Design Phase include the following:
Step 1: Step 1 of the Design Phase focuses on determining the value of what a Senior Attorney-led firm has, including analyzing the following 5 components of value: (a) The Selling Law firm’s Book of Business, including its clients and referral sources; (b) Client volume by practice area; (c) Revenues by practice area; (d) Bios, skill sets, and experience of key employee lawyers and para-staff; and (e) Digital Value
Step 2: Analyze who wants and needs what a selling law firm offers. As Poock explains, there are 2 purchaser options, of which Growing Law Firms present typical purchasers, and internal successors represent infrequent purchasers.
Poock points out that Growing Law Firms want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led law firms offer: (a) New clients, i.e., instant client growth; (b) An experienced workforce, consisting of lawyers and para-staff; and (c) Treasure chests of Subject Matter Knowledge to convert to digital content to attract the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to retain.
By contrast, internal successors infrequently purchase their boss’ law firm because internal successors typically want and need the following per their roles as key employee lawyers: A Reliable, Predictable, and Safe Job.
Step 3: Determine a preferred sale option. During this step, Senior Attorney Match explores the following 4 sale options Senior Attorney sellers to consider: (a) Join/Seller to a Growing Law Firm (preferred); (b) Structure and internal sale (potential); (c) Maintain the Status Quo (Risky); or (d) Become a referring attorney per a given state’s version of Rule 1.5 of the Professional Rules of Conduct (alternative to a sale and maintaining the Status Quo).
Step 4: Address Law Firm Sale Payment Options. During this step, Senior Attorney Match explains the following 3 payment options available to a selling law firm: (a) Law Firm Sales 1.0, which primarily consists of earnout terms, payable as negotiated fee sharing upon collections attributable to a selling law firm’s Book of Business during a negotiated period time: (b) Law Firm Sales 2.0, which includes a fixed payment attributable to a selling law firm’s digital and brand value, plus an earnout; or (c) Additional payment options, including : (i) A fixed price; (ii) A Buy-Sell Agreement with internal successors or a third party law firm; or (iii) A tiered purchase approach, typically negotiated with an internal successor.
Guest Appearance during Ep. 27 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show: Greg Maxwell, Esq., CFP of Amicus Settlement Planners: What tax savings value do structured settlements provide to sellers and buyers of Contingency Fee law firms?
During Ep. 27 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Greg Maxwell, Esq., CFP of Amicus Settlement Planners joins to address the following question:
What tax savings value do structured settlements provide to sellers and buyers of Contingency Fee law firms?
Maxwell initially explains that Amicus Settlement Planners primarily works with contingency fee practices, assisting with settlement planning from the standpoint of spreading out recoveries in contingency fee matters to reduce the “tax bite” that plaintiffs may otherwise incur.
Maxwell and Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. then discuss the benefits that structured settlements offer to contingency fee plaintiff attorneys, including a role for structured settlements in the sales of contingency fee law firms.
As Poock and Maxwell discuss, structured settlements can play a role in the following scenarios:
(a) Deferring taxes upon a portion of upfront money paid by a purchaser to the seller of a contingency fee law firm; and
(b) Deferring portions of annual earnout payments for sales structured as earnouts once a selling contingency fee attorney receives annual earnout payments that satisfy a selling attorney’s annual income needs.
Maxwell explains the benefits of a structured installment sale when sellers of contingency fee law firms receive significant upfront payments in consideration of their law firms.
In those sales, Maxwell explains that a buyer can direct a portion of purchase proceeds to a company such as MetLife or Independent Life, which can establish a future series of payments for a seller, such as payments over the course of 3, 5, or 10 years, or the remainder of a Seller’s lifetime.
As Maxwell states, “So, the point of that is to really get them down into the tax bracket that they want to be in so that they don't have a huge spike in taxes the year they sell their firm. . . This gives them the opportunity to spread out that recovery . . . and keep themselves in a tax bracket that's more comfortable for them.”
Maxwell’s appearance also includes addressing the following hypothetical:
- Assume that the 67 year old owner of a Personal Injury Law firm that generates $2M in annual legal fees sells to a growing PI firm in consideration of 1/3 fee sharing for 5 years upon cases attributable to the Seller’s Book of Business.
- Assume that the Seller’s Book of Business continues to generate $2M/yr. during the 5 year earnout period, which would result in annual fee sharing with the Seller in the amount of $667k/yr.
- Assume that the Selling attorney only needs to earn $350k/yr. because of revenue from other sources of income.
- How could a structured settlement arrangement “capture” the additional $317k in annual earnout revenue, including deferring taxes for the Seller?
As Maxwell explains, the Seller may treat the additional $317k as deferred compensation, where similar to an annuity, that $317k could benefit from deferred tax treatment until the Seller receives all or a portion of that amount from a plan administrator in the future.
During the Bonus Addition to Ep. 61 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. welcomes Attorney Bishoy Habib of Tampa, FL based Levacy Legal to discuss:
Why does growth by acquisition fit into the growth model for Levacy legal?
As Bishoy explains, an established Senior Attorney-led firm that has a Book of Business, a staff in place, and has subject matter knowledge and expertise, “adds a ton of value [on] day one.”
Bishoy also explains the value of Senior Attorney sellers and their key employee lawyers continuing to practice following a law firm acquisition.
As Bishoy states, “The goal when we acquire . . . is never to let anybody go . . . We want to keep what's going on in tact and make it more efficient, make it better, and bring it into [a] new era . . . .”
In Ep. 61 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
Why the Rewards Outweigh the Risks for Growth by Acquisition
As Poock explains, “When it comes to Growing Law Firms that are considering growth by acquisition, it's really six rewards that we're going to talk about versus three risks.
The 6 rewards are as follows:
(1) Instant client growth by succeeding to a well-established Book of Business filled with clients & referral sources.
(2) Adding knowledgeable & experienced lawyers and para-staff.
(3) Low risk earnout payments as consideration to the owner(s) of a selling law firm (percentage of revenues paid during a fixed period of time).
(4) Opportunities to convert decades of Subject Matter Knowledge to digital content for Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.
(5) Succeed to a legacy phone number(s).
(6) Benefit from established websites & additional digital value (egs. SEO rankings, 5-Star Google Reviews, 3 Pack results & more).
The 3 risks are as follows:
(1) Potentially overpaying a Seller if the clients from a selling law firm’s Book of Business do not retain the acquiring firm.
(2) Not having enough lawyers & para-staff to provide legal services to the clients of a selling law firm
(3) The costs of adding overhead associated with growth by acquisition (egs. salaries, benefits, additional rent, etc.)
Poock addresses those risks as follows:
- By often structuring law firm sales as earnouts, purchasers minimize their risk by aligning the consideration paid in a law firm acquisition with collections derived from a selling law firm’s Book of Business during a negotiated period of time.
- Key employee lawyers and para-staff at a Senior Attorney-led Firm present great opportunities for new hires for acquiring law firms because of the key employees’ experience, plus their trusted relationships with the clients of a selling law firm.
- In terms of adding overhead costs, Growing Law Firms recognize that any increase in overhead attributable acquiring a Senior Attorney-led firm will become offset by adding hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sometimes, millions of dollars, in new revenues.
In conclusion, Poock states, “The rewards absolutely outweigh the risks when it comes to growth by acquisition for Growing Law Firms.”
In Ep. 62 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Impact of Digital Rainmaking upon Law Firm Sales
As Poock explains, society’s digital pivot in 2020 has revolutionized rainmaking in the legal industry as follows:
Unlike the pre-Google, pre-2020 Era during which Rainmaker Attorneys developed clients in-person and via Word-of-Mouth referrals, today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry involves Digital Rainmakers whose law firms attract the online attention of prospective clients who search Google and multiple digital platforms (egs. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and more) for lawyers and law firms to hire.
Based upon the rise of Digital Rainmakers and the vanishing Word-of-Mouth Rainmakers, Poock shares the following 2 observations:
Observation No. 1: Those Senior Attorneys who do not commit to Multi-Channel Digital Marketing will not replenish their all-important Books of Business with new clients as often as during the pre-2020, pre-Google Era.
As a result, the value of their law firms will continue to decrease because of the correlation in Law Firm Sales 1.0 between a purchaser fee sharing upon revenues attributable to a selling law firm’s Book of Business and the number of clients that comprise that Book of Business, i.e., as the Book of Business of a selling law firm’s Book of Business decreases, so will the value of the firm itself.
Observation No. 2: As Growing Law Firms continue adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients who search online when considering hiring a lawyer or law firm, their practices will continue becoming more valuable because of the following 2 assets that Digital Rainmaker law firms continue developing:
(1) Digital Value
(2) Brand Equity
As Poock states, “[I]n Law Firm Sales 2.0, we are going to see higher multiples . . .because the sellers are selling not only the Book of Business, but also that Digital Value and Brand Equity . . . .”
For those Senior Attorneys who will not become Digital Rainmakers, Poock shares the following points:
- If you already attract less clients than pre-2020, now is the best time to consider selling your law firm because Law Firm Sales 1.0 involves deriving value via an earnout based upon collections attributable to a selling law firm’s Book of Business.
- So far, the digital disruption in the legal industry has primarily disrupted rainmaking, i.e., business development.
Even though Senior Attorney-led firms may not develop as many new clients during today’s 3.0 Digital Era, Growing Law Firms continue to need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer: (a) Instant client growth; (b) Experienced lawyers and para-staff; and (c) Subject Matter Knowledge to convert to digital content.
As Poock states, “Even if your Book of Business is not replenishing as much as yester-year . . . you present an experienced workforce, and you have Subject Matter Knowledge that Growing Law Firms want and need because they need to convert your Subject Matter Knowledge into digital content to attract today's and tomorrow's clients who are looking to Digital Rainmakers that will catch their attention when they're looking to hire lawyers and law firms to meet their legal needs.”
During Ep. 26 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why do Growing Law Firms want to purchase Senior Attorney-led Law Firms?
Poock answers this question by explaining the following 4 upgrades that Senior Attorney-led Law Firms present to Growing Law Firms:
Upgrade 1: Instant upgrade to a Growing Law Firm’s Book of Business by acquiring the Book of Business that a Senior Attorney-led firm has developed over the course of a career.
Upgrade 2: Upgrade to a Growing Law Firm’s workforce by welcoming experienced and talented key employee lawyers and para-staff as part of growth by acquisition.
Upgrade 3: An upgrade to subject matter knowledge depth in multiple practice areas that Senior Attorneys and their key employee lawyers bring to a Growing Law Firm.
As Poock explains, “[B]y bringing in Senior Attorney lawyers and the lawyers that practice at their firms, they have often decades of subject matter knowledge that is going to make your [growing] practice more valuable by offering even more talent to your current clients and prospective clients.”
Upgrade 4: A Digital Value Upgrade, which includes the following (i) Adding bios of Senior Attorneys and additional lawyers to a Growing Law Firm’s website; (ii) Adding pre-existing 5-Star Google Reviews and requesting new 5-Star Google Reviews from satisfied clients among a Senior Attorney-led Firm’s Book of Business; and (iii) Convert Subject Matter Knowledge into digital content for a Growing Law Firm to post to multiple channels of social media (egs. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram), plus e-newsletters, podcasts, YouTube videos, and more to attract the digital attention of prospective clients in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry.
During Ep. 26 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
How long does it take to sell a law firm?
Poock answers this question by explaining the following 3 stages involved with selling a law firm:
Stage 1: Preparing to sell a law firm
Poock points out that during the 12-24 months prior to selling a law firm, the owner(s) of a selling law firm should organize the following:
- The law firm’s client list, including addresses, e-mail addresses, and cell phone numbers.
- Update the firm’s website, including updating content, removing stale content, and refreshing bios & pics.
Ideally, updating a website should include adding 5-Star Google Reviews from satisfied clients because potential buyers and clients want to review 5-Star Google reviews, similar to how consumers expect to review 5-Star Google reviews prior purchasing any product or service in today’s digital era.
- Update social media profiles, and particularly, LinkedIn bios & pics.
- Review all contracts that are not terminable at will (egs. commercial lease, software licenses, malpractice insurance, copy machine lease, etc.).
Stage 2: The 6 Meetings Needed to Sell a Law Firm
The 6 meetings needed to sell a law firm are as follows:
- Meet & Greet
- Due Diligence
- Negotiate a Letter of Intent
- Sign the Letter of Intent
- Negotiate a definitive Agreement
- Sign the Agreement
Poock explains that the process from Meet & Greet to Signing the Agreement can involve circa 3-9 months, and sometimes, longer.
Stage 3: The 4 Steps to Achieve Success after Selling a Law Firm
The 4 steps to achieve success after selling a law firm are as follows:
- Listening Tour
- Adapt
- Adopt
- Grow Together
Toward the end of answering Question 1, Poock offers the following:
[I]n terms of how do we know that the deal is successful? We started . . . with a meet and greet and went through due diligence and . . . signed an agreement. We know that we have success . . . when our clients will say, “I should have done this earlier.”
During Ep. 25 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why should Growing Law Firms pursue growth by acquisition?
As Poock explains, Growing Law Firms share the following 3 needs when it comes to their interest to boost the growth of their firms.
(1) They need new clients.
(2) They need an experienced workforce, including talented lawyers and support staff.
(3) During today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry, they need digital content to attract the attention of today's and tomorrow's clients, who continue to look online for lawyers and law firms to hire.
Growing Law Firms should pursue growth by acquisition because doing so fulfills their 3 needs, as follows:
(1) Senior Attorney-led firms have developed Books of Business literally over decades, which present instant client growth to an acquiring law firm.
(2) Senior Attorney-led firms typically have key employee lawyers and para-staff who want and need the following that Growing Law Firms can offer: A Reliable, Safe & Predictable Job.
(3) Senior Attorneys and their talented lawyer staff present treasure chests of subject matter knowledge that Growing Law Firms can convert to digital content to publish to multiple channels of digital marketing (egs. LinkedIn & Facebook posts, podcasts, YouTube videos, a monthly e-newsletter, Instagram reels, and more).
Poock also points out that the long-time, satisfied clients of a Senior Attorney-led firm present opportunities to request 100s of 5-Star Google Reviews, which today’s new clients continue relying upon as they consider retaining a lawyer or law firm.
In summary, Poock explains the following:
“[I]f you are running a firm and you're thinking about how to grow, what do you need? You need new clients. You need an experienced workforce, and you need digital content to attract the attention of today's and tomorrow's clients who are looking digitally . . . before they are making a call or sending in a contact form or a text to a law firm that they want to hire.
Senior Attorney-led firms check all of those boxes by offering them the Book of Business that Senior Attorneys have developed over the course of their careers. They have lawyers and the Senior Attorneys themselves . . . plus para-staff. And, they offer literally treasure chests of digital content to Growing Law Firms.”
During Ep. 25 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why should Senior Attorney-led Firms consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm in the Mid-2020s?
As Poock explains, those Senior Attorneys who built their Books of Business during the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era will not originate as many clients as yester-year because today’s (and tomorrow’s) clients continue searching for lawyers and law firms via “Uncle Google,” America’s greatest referral source and rainmaker for law firms in today’s Digital Era for the legal industry.
As Poock states, “[B]usiness development for law firms fundamentally changed post-2020. And, the reason why is because of a shift in consumer behavior . . . They are going straight to Google . . . And, for those law firms that are investing in multi-channel digital marketing, they're attracting more clients than those than those . . . Senior Attorney-led firms that are maintaining a website only, Word-of-Mouth type approach.”
As Poock also explains, “[I]f your firm is generating less clients in the post-2020 era because you're not investing in digital marketing to attract new clients, and if you're seeing that your firm is not generating as many clients as you did in the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth era, then now is the right time to sell.”
This episode also explains that Growing Law Firms want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer:
(1) New clients from a Senior Attorney-led firm’s Book of Business.
(2) Key employee lawyers and para-staff; and
(3) Treasure chests of subject matter knowledge to convert into digital content to attract the attention of today’s (and tomorrow’s) clients who search for lawyer and law firms online.
In addition, Poock debunks the following 3 fears that many Senior Attorneys express about selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm:
(1) Fear of having a Boss
(2) Fear of losing control by no longer managing “the office”
(3) Fear of loss of identity by transitioning from owning a law firm to joining a Growing Law Firm
And, the episode concludes with the following overview of typical payment terms by Growing Law Firms when acquiring Senior Attorney-led firms:
“What we're seeing, and what we call Law Firm Sales 1.0, is that when you are transitioning your Book of Business (your clients and your referral sources) to the lawyers at Growing Law Firms . . . that the consideration is structured as an earnout, that is, that you're being paid a percentage of the revenues that is derived from your Book of Business, paid over a negotiated period of time, which often happens during your retirement years. Hence, you're able to monetize, annuitize that all important Book of Business that you've worked so hard over the course of your career to develop.”
During the Poock’s Post segment of Ep. 25 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
Why the Rewards Outweigh the Risks for Growth by Acquisition
As Poock states at the outset, “[W]hen it comes to growth by acquisition for Growing Law Firms, the rewards absolutely outweigh the risks.”
Poock explains the following Rewards associated with growth by acquisition:
(1) Instant client growth by succeeding to a well-established Book of Business filled with clients and referral sources
(2) Adding knowledgeable and experienced lawyers and para-staff
(3) Low-risk earnout payment terms (% of revenues paid during a fixed period of time)
(4) Opportunities to convert decades of Subject Matter Knowledge to content for Multi-Channel Digital Marketing
(5) Succeed to a legacy phone number(s)
(6) Benefit from established websites and additional digital value (egs. SEO Rankings, 5-Star Google Reviews, 3-Pack results & more)
Poock also explains the following Risks associated with growth by acquisition:
(1) Overpaying a Seller if clients do not retain the acquiring firm
(2) Not enough lawyers and para-staff to provide legal services to additional clients
(3) Costs of adding overhead (egs. salaries, benefits, additional rent, etc.)
When pointing out those risks, Poock references the well-known buzzer sound from Family Feud game show to point out how the Rewards outweigh those Risks.
During Ep. 24 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why do key employee lawyers consider purchasing their boss’ law firm as too risky?
As Poock explains, “[W]hat we see in the marketplace is that when Senior Attorneys consider selling their law firms to whom they consider an internal successor, which is typically one or more key employee lawyers . . .those key employee lawyers will perform a Risks vs. Rewards analysis, where the risks all too often outweigh the rewards.”
Even though key employee lawyers recognize the benefits of potentially higher compensation, access to firm profits, and the ability to succeeding to managing the practice, they also spot the following issues when considering purchasing their boss’ law firm:
- What if they are not able to originate the same amount, or even more clients, than the Senior Attorney founder(s) of the firm.
- How will they replace the Senior Attorney founder(s) of the firm from the standpoints of rainmaking and revenue generation?
- What if instead of benefiting by higher compensation and access to profits, their compensation actually decreases?
- What about taking on personal exposure in the form of guarantying a lease and bank credit line for the firm?
- What if a key lawyer or para-staff unexpectedly leave the firm?
Based upon the risks outweighing the rewards, Poock points out that key employee lawyers typically do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm and cannot afford to either.
Instead, key employee lawyers at Senior Attorney-led firms typically want and need the following:
A reliable, predictable, and safe job.
In Ep. 60 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Do’s & Don’ts of Succession Planning for Lawyers in the Mid-2020s
Poock explains the following 5 Dos:
(1) Update Book of Business contact info. (addresses, e-mails, cell phone nos.)
(2) Recognize that Key Employee Lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm because they want a reliable, predictable & safe job
(3) Update content & pics. for the firm’s website, plus request 5-Star Google reviews from clients
(4) Consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants & needs new clients, experienced lawyer/non-lawyer staff & digital content
(5) Expand digital marketing (egs. update LinkedIn profile & regularly post to social media platforms)
Poock also explains the following 5 Don’ts:
(1) Wait too long to sell if your firm originates fewer new clients in the Mid-2020s than Pre-Google
(2) Assume that Key Employee Lawyers want to become Internal Successors
(3) Underestimate “Uncle Google” as America’s greatest referral source for attorneys
(4) Maintain the Status Quo & risk a Random Tuesday Event (egs. unexpected departure of a Key Employee Lawyer; pre-mature death or incapacity of a Senior Attorney law firm owner)
(5) Overlook converting Subject Matter Knowledge to Digital Marketing Content
In this 1 hour CLE program during Clio’s May 8, 2025 Solo & Small Firm Virtual Summit, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Schwabe partner, Steve Horenstein, Esq., discuss how to value, sell, and purchase a law firm post-2020, together with the ethical rules associated with succession planning for lawyers.
Horenstein shares his first-hand experience after merging his Vancouver, WA practice with a regional law firm, Schwabe, in 2022.
Alex Bramos of Clio moderates the CLE program, including its Q&A session.
Topics include:
(1) How to value a law firm;
(2) The 3 options for selling a law firm;
(3) Important items to update and organize 12-24 months before selling a law firm;
(4) The top 5 mistakes to avoid before selling a law firm;
(5) The value of growth by acquisition;
(6) The 4 steps needed to achieve success post-sale; and
(7) The Professional Rules of Conduct associated with Succession Planning for Lawyers
During the Poock’s Post segment of Ep. 24 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following:
The Do’s & Don’ts of Succession Planning for Lawyers
Poock explains the following 5 Dos:
(1) Update Book of Business contact info. (addresses, e-mails, cell phone nos.)
(2) Recognize that Key Employee Lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm because they want a reliable, predictable & safe job
(3) Update content & pics. for the firm’s website, plus request 5-Star Google reviews from clients
(4) Consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants & needs new clients, experienced lawyer/non-lawyer staff & digital content
(5) Expand digital marketing (egs. update LinkedIn profile & regularly post to social media platforms)
Poock also explains the following Don’ts:
(1) Wait too long to sell if your firm originates fewer new clients in the Mid-2020s than Pre-Google
(2) Assume that Key Employee Lawyers want to become Internal Successors
(3) Underestimate “Uncle Google” as America’s greatest referral source for attorneys
(4) Maintain the Status Quo & risk a Random Tuesday Event (egs. unexpected departure of a Key Employee Lawyer; pre-mature death or incapacity of a Senior Attorney law firm owner)
(5) Overlook converting Subject Matter Knowledge to Digital Marketing Content
In Ep. 59, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains why most key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm.
As Poock points out, key employee lawyers typically do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm because, at some point, they will perform a Risks vs. Rewards analysis.
Even though the rewards, at the outset, appear appealing, the risks often outweigh those rewards.
The rewards include: (i) Increased compensation and access to profits; (ii) Management authority to make changes; and (iii) The option and ability to grow the practice.
As good lawyers, key employee lawyers then start spotting issues, i.e., risks, which include the following: (i) The possibility of not originating enough new clients to maintain the firm’s cash flow needs; (ii) The challenge of replacing a Senior Attorney founder from the standpoints of skills, billings, and rainmaking capabilities; (iii) The potential for making less money rather than more; (iv) Personal debt exposure (egs. personal guaranty to a lease or line credit); (v) Decrease in work-life balance; (vi) Unforeseen changes (ex. loss of 1 or more key employees).
“So, when key employee lawyers . . . perform this Risks vs. Rewards analysis, the risks just all too often outweigh the rewards,” Poock states.
Poock also points out that most key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm and cannot afford to either.
Instead, most key employee lawyers seek the following:
A reliable, safe, and predictable job.
When Senior Attorney law firm owners falsely expect their key employee lawyers to purchase their law firms, unfortunately, such false expectations can result in a Random Tuesday Event, where a key employee lawyer gives his or her boss only 2 or 4 weeks notice in advance of joining another firm.
In addition to the short-term loss in revenues that such a Random Tuesday Event can cause, Poock explains that the unexpected departure of a key employee presents the following longer-term negative impacts, as well: (i) The inability to retain as many new clients if the firm no longer has the capacity to represent as many clients; and (ii) A loss in firm value due to a combination of (a) A potential loss of clients who join a former key employee at a new law firm; and (b) Decreased appeal to a Growing Law Firm purchaser who wants and needs a selling law firm’s key employee lawyer to continue representing the firm’s clients, as well as clients of a purchaser’s firm.
By contrast, when Senior Attorney law firm owners recognize (realize) that their key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their law firm and can’t afford to either, they can then realize the following:
Key employee lawyers present 1 of the following 3 key resources that Growing Law Firm purchases seek when purchasing a law firm:
- The Selling law firm’s Book of Business
- Key employee lawyers and para-staff, whom Growing Law Firms want and need for the purposes of continuing to represent a Seller’s clients, plus clients of a Growing Law Firm.
- The combined subject matter knowledge of Senior Attorneys and their key employee lawyers, which today’s Growing Law Firms need to convert to digital content for the purposes of attracting the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to retain.
And, when Senior Attorneys sell their law firms to Growing Law Firms, Poock explains the following 4 Winners that result:
- Senior Attorneys: Senior Attorneys win by monetizing their law firms; spending more time with their families; no longer needing to manage “the office;” and having the option to continue practicing in an Of Counsel type capacity for months, or even years to come.
- Key Employee Lawyers & Para-Staff: Key employee lawyers and para-staff win by maintaining a reliable, predictable and safe job, as well as the benefits and joy of maintaining their team at a new employer.
- Clients: Clients of a Senior Attorney-led firm win by benefiting from continuing, competent legal representation.
- Growing Law Firms: A Growing Law Firm purchaser wins by acquiring the following 3 resources needed to boost growth (i) Clients; (ii) Experienced lawyer and non-lawyer staff; and (iii) Subject Matter Knowledge offered by Senior Attorneys and key employee lawyers to convert into digital content to boost their multi-channel digital marketing efforts to generate new clients who search online today for lawyers and law firms to retain.
In Ep. 58 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following 2 Random Tuesday Events:
- A Key Employee Random Tuesday Event; and
- A Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event
A Key Employee Random Tuesday Event occurs when a key employee lawyer(s), typically the lawyer(s) whom a Senior Attorney views as the firm’s internal successor, provides only 2 or 4 weeks about accepting a new job at another law firm.
This type of Random Tuesday event causes the following short-term and long-term negative results for a Senior Attorney-led law firm.
Short-Term Impact: In the short term, the sudden loss of a key employee attorney impacts law firm revenues because key employee attorneys typically generate considerable billings, either in the form of hourly billings or revenues derived from flat fee or contingency type matters.
Immediate losses also stem from the potential loss of clients and referral sources who may choose to continue working with a key employee lawyer at the law firm that a key employee lawyer joins.
Long-Term Impact: A Key Employee Random Tuesday Event negatively impacts the following 2 key components of a Senior Attorney-led firm’s long-term value:
- The value of a Senior Attorney-led firm’s Book of Business due to (i) The loss of clients and referral sources who follow a key employee lawyer to a new law firm; and (ii) The potential for not accepting as many new clients if the firm can no longer service the work before replacing a key employee lawyer; and
- Decreased appeal to a Growing Law Firm purchaser due to Growing Law Firms seeking the following when considering growth by acquisition: (i) A Book of Business; and (2) Experienced, key employee lawyers to continue providing sophisticated legal services to a seller’s clients post-sale.
Once Senior Attorneys realize that their key employee attorneys prefer a reliable, predictable, and safe job, Senior Attorneys can then pursue a sale with a Growing Law Firm that seeks the following 3 resources to boost growth (1) Clients; (2) An experienced workforce, including key employee attorneys; and (3) Digital content derived from the subject matter knowledge of Senior Attorneys and key employee attorneys alike.
A Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event occurs when a Senior Attorney law firm owner prematurely dies or becomes incapacitated prior to selling their law firm or establishing an internal succession plan.
Here, we focus on small business law firms, lead by 1 or more Senior Attorney founders and for whom their key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm and cannot afford to either.
In those instances, the primary sale option involves selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm per a Law Firm Sales 1.0 type structure that consists of fee sharing upon a percentage of collections derived from a defined Book of Business during a negotiated period of time.
In the event of a Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event, the value of the Senior Attorney-led law firm plummets because of the unavailability of Trust Transfer by the Senior Attorney who maintains the relationships with the firm’s clients.
Instead, a Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event typically results in the firm’s clients retaining successor counsel, or receiving referrals to successor counsel at 1 or more law firms without any fee sharing terms.
Even if a personal representative or power of attorney can sell a law firm following a Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event, the consideration typically involves minimal realization of the firm’s true value due to the inability for its Senior Attorney owner to transfer the trust of clients to lawyers at a purchasing law firm.
During Ep. 22 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why do Key Employee Lawyers at Senior Attorney-led Firms not want to purchase their boss’ law firm?
In response, Poock first explains the following 4 reasons why key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm:
- Owners of Senior Attorney-led firms hired their key employee lawyers “X” number of years ago, and those same key employee lawyers continue to only want a job, as compared to aspiring to becoming the owner of their boss’ law firm.
- Key employee lawyers went to law school and not business school, i.e., the vast majority of key employee lawyers do not consider themselves as professional lawyers, as compared to entrepreneurs who seek to own and grow a small business law firm.
- Key employee lawyers cannot afford to purchase their boss’ law firm because of too many other monthly expenses, including home mortgages, ongoing student debt, saving for their retirement, saving to help their children with college tuition, saving to purchase a second home, etc.
- An assumption (hope) by key employee lawyers that their Senior Attorney bosses will never retire.
Poock also explains the following more fundamental reason why key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm:
Key employee lawyers want and need to maintain a “Reliable, Predictable, and Safe” (RPS) job.
As Poock points out, key employee lawyers often maintain a RPS meter, which they seek to remain green, i.e., safe.
So, when Senior Attorney bosses approach their key employee lawyers to discuss purchasing their law practices, the RPS meter of those key employee lawyers often immediately shifts from green (safe) to red, i.e., no longer reliable, predictable, and safe.
In fact, as Poock, explains, rather than having an intended effect of key employees expressing an interest purchase their boss’ law firm, the effect of the RPS meter shifting from green to red can lead to a “Random Tuesday Event,” namely, the applicable key employee lawyer(s) notifying their Senior Attorney boss about accepting another job, together with providing only 2 or 4 weeks notice.
Rather than risk the loss of key employees to a Random Tuesday event, Poock advises that Senior Attorneys recognize that their key employee lawyers likely want to maintain a Reliable, Predictable, and Safe Job.
And, rather than pursue an internal succession plan that could result in a Random Tuesday Event, Poock explains that Senior Attorney sellers of law firms should instead pursue selling to, or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants and needs the key employee lawyers of Senior Attorney-led firms.
“[R]ather than try to force the square peg into that round hole of having [a] key employee lawyer try to purchase your practice, we really urge that Senior Attorneys recognize that what your key employees want instead is a reliable, predictable, and safe job, which is what growing law firms present when they purchase Senior Attorney-led firms,” Poock states.
During Ep. 22 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
If I merge my law firm with a Growing Law Firm, won’t I suddenly have a new boss?
In response, Poock begins by explaining that when Senior Attorneys contact Senior Attorney Match, they often share the following commonalities: (a) An interest to stop managing their small business law firms; and (b) Their hope that their key employee lawyers will recognize the opportunity to purchase the practice that their Senior Attorney boss has developed.
Regarding key employee lawyers becoming internal successors, Poock states, “When we meet with Senior Attorneys, we find out often that their key employee lawyers are just that, their key employees. You hired them to do a job. They really only want a job, and they don't want to purchase you a law firm.”
That then leads to the following question to address a Senior Attorney seller’s interest to stop managing their practice and monetize the practice that they worked an entire career to develop:
What is the next best option for selling a Senior Attorney-led firm if a key employee lawyer(s) does not want to purchase the practice?
That option involves selling to, or merging with, a Growing Law Firm that recognizes the value of growth by acquisition and will often need Senior Attorneys to continue practicing for an agreed-upon time period to transition clients and referral sources to the acquiring law firm.
Upon learning about this option, Senior Attorney owners typically raise the following issue/concern:
By selling to or merging with a Growing Law Firm, won't I suddenly have a new boss?
In response, Poock shares that Senior Attorneys do not have a boss when they join Growing Law Firms as part of a law firm sale or merger for the following reason:
Senior Attorney sellers present instant client growth to the Growing Law Firms that they join.
As Poock states, “[R]ather than having a new boss at the firms that our clients join, our Senior Attorney clients join firms with [a] name tag . . . that says: ‘Hello, I bring instant client growth to your firm.’”
In addition to not having a boss, Poock explains the following additional benefits that selling to, or merging with, a Growing Law Firm presents to Senior Attorney sellers of law firms:
- No longer needing to manage “the office,” including no longer making payroll every two weeks, paying rent every month, handle hiring/firing, etc.
- Experience the freedom of spending more time outside of “the office,” including finally having time to take a multi-week vacation.
- Benefiting from the proverbial “deep bench” of attorneys and support staff that Growing Law Firms present, including typically maintaining the lawyer and non-lawyer staff of a Senior Attorney-led firm.
- Establishing a legacy for the Senior Attorney owner(s), which consists of the following 4 components (i) Ensuring ongoing, competent representation of the Senior Attorney’s clients; (ii) Securing ongoing employment for the lawyers and support staff of a Senior Attorney-led firm who often join the acquiring firm; (iii) Sharing the subject matter knowledge that Senior Attorneys have developed over the course of their careers with younger attorneys at the firms that they join; and (iv) Participating in converting a Senior Attorney’s subject matter knowledge into digital content for publication on a Growing Law Firm’s website and in its Multi-Channel Digital Marketing efforts (egs. podcasts, YouTube videos, posts to social media, and more).
During Ep. 22 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
What value do Senior Attorney-led Personal Injury Law Firms offer to Growing Personal Injury Law Firms?
In response, Poock explains the following dual value that Senior Attorney-led Personal Injury Law Firms offer to Growing Personal Injury Law Firms:
- Value No. 1 – Originate New Clients: In contrast to the rising costs for today’s Growing PI firms to generate new clients (egs. Google, optimized websites, vanity phone numbers, social media, ads on TV, radio, and via billboards, and lead generation cos.), Senior Attorney-led PI firms present the following lower costs for originating new clients: (a) Established Books of Business filled with clients and referral sources; (b) Rainmaker attorneys well known in their communities who continue generating new matters via their word-of-mouth reputations among individuals and professionals; (c) Legacy phone numbers; (d) Mature websites; and (e) Untapped digital value in terms of (1) Access to 100s (even 1000s) of 5-Star Google Reviews; and (2) Opportunities to convert decades worth of subject matter knowledge to digital content to post via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of potential clients.
As Poock states, “[I]t's very expensive for growing PI firms today to acquire new clients because the only way to acquire those new clients is by investing in Google, optimizing your website, vanity, phone numbers, social media, TV, radio, billboards and lead gen companies.
A far less expensive way to be generating new clients today is by purchasing, acquiring, merging with Senior Attorney-led firms that offer legacy value in terms of Books of Business, rainmaking skills, legacy phone numbers, websites that are mature, and untapped, digital value in the form of Google reviews, and converting subject matter knowledge into digital content.”
- Value No. 2 – Maximize Case Value: Once Growing Personal Injury Law Firms originate new clients, the following question arises: How do we maximize case value?
“[A]nd, that's where Senior Attorneys at Senior Attorney-led [PI] firms offer tremendous value to those growing PI firms,” Poock states.
Examples of how Senior Attorney PI attorneys maximize case value include: (a) Assisting with signing-up high value cases based upon experience, coupled with the ability to assure clients that they are in “good hands” with a law firm that has been there/done that, including experience with achieving high value results in matters just like theirs; (b) Decades of experience of knowing how to “build the case;” (c) The value of including a Senior Attorney PI’s signature to a demand letter or complaint, where insurance companies and defense counsel immediately know the trial and settlement history of the attorney representing the Plaintiff’s interest; (d) A career’s worth of experience with Discovery and conducting depositions; and (e) Trial ready, including often maintaining reputations among defense counsel, mediators, and judges.
As Poock summarizes, for those Growing PI law firms who continue spending vast sums to generate new clients, Senior Attorney-led firms present tremendous opportunities to maximize case values because of their experience, know-how, and reputations.
In Ep. 57, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains how digital marketing disruption has resulted in the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker.
As Poock points out, “[D]igital marketing disruption is here. That is, clients today are searching for lawyers online. They are by-passing yester-year's Rainmaker Attorneys . . . Today's and tomorrow's clients will go straight to Uncle Google and other social media, multi-channel digital platforms to be searching for lawyers and law firms . . . It is disrupting client origination. And, we are absolutely seeing that Senior Attorneys that remain in that pre-Google age . . . are just generating less new clients during this Digital Marketing disruption era that we are in here in the mid-2020s.”
As Poock also states, “[W]e say that Uncle Google is America's greatest referral source for lawyers and law firms. Uncle Google is also America's greatest rainmaker for lawyers and law firms. And, if clients are literally by-passing yester-year’s Rainmaker, then, what we're seeing before our eyes is that Vanishing Rainmaker from the Word of Mouth pre-Google era because if you're not going to be found, you're not going to be hired.”
Poock then shares the following 2 choices for Senior Attorneys in the Mid-2020s with respect to today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry:
- Adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of potential clients and continue replenishing their firm’s Book of Business; or
- Consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer: (a) Instant client growth via Books of Business developed during the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era; (b) Talented lawyer and non-lawyer staff whom Growing Law Firms need to produce sophisticated legal work; and (c) Untapped treasure chests of digital content by converting the subject matter knowledge of Senior Attorneys and additional attorneys at Senior Attorney-led firms into digital content to publish via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of new clients.
Even though the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker will result in Senior Attorney-led firms having less value due to not replenishing their Books of Business, Poock shares the following:
“[A]t this point in the mid-2020s, we highly recommend to Senior Attorney-led firms that this is the best time for you to consider selling or merging your practice because it has the most value and presents the best value to Growing Law Firms that want and need what you have.”
During the Poock’s Post segment of Ep. 21 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Digital disruption will continue eroding the Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led law firms in the Mid-2020s
As Poock explains, 2020 introduced the “digital pivot” to the legal industry, where consumers, i.e., would be clients pivoted in 2020 to searching for lawyers and law firms online, primarily by searching Google.
By the Mid-2020s, Growing Law Firms have adjusted and adopted Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of clients who seek to know, like, and trust lawyers and law firms before contacting them.
As Poock points out, Uncle Google has become America’s greatest referral source for lawyers and law firms, replacing the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era and by-passing yester-year’s Rainmakers.
Regarding the impact of digital marketing disruption upon the value of the Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led firms, Poock states, “If you are not generating clients digitally via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, what we are seeing is that [the] Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led law firms [are] not replenishing as much as it did in yesteryear. So really senior attorneys in particular.”
Poock also addresses the following to Senior Attorney law firm owners:
“We really want to get the message across that you are on notice that if you are not replenishing your Book of Business as much as you did in yester-year, your law firm is just going to be worth less and less as this decade continues.”
In addition, Poock shares the following good news with Senior Attorneys in the mid-2020s:
Even if today’s Senior Attorneys do not replenish their Books of Business similar to yester-year due to not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, they continue to offer the following value to Growing Law Firm buyers:
(1) A Book of Business filled with clients that Senior Attorneys worked during an entire career to develop.
(2) An experienced workforce, including senior associates and junior partners who prefer to continue as key employee lawyers rather than purchase their boss’ law practice, as well as well trained and experienced paralegals and legal assistants; and
(3) The ability to convert decades worth of subject matter knowledge into digital content to post to Multi-Channel Digital Marketing platforms, which today’s Growing Law Firms need to attract the attention of today’s and tomorrow’s would-be clients who search Google and social media when researching lawyers and law firms to retain for the legal needs.
As Poock states, “[N]ow, in the mid-2020s, is the best time for Senior Attorney-led firms that are not committed to Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to consider selling your law firms . . . [w]hile you still have these three resources that Growing Law Firms want and need . . . .”
During Ep. 21 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
“What do Sellers share with Senior Attorney Match months or years after selling their law firms?”
In response, Poock first explains that when Senior Attorneys sell their law firms to Growing Law Firms, they often continue practicing for a number of months, and sometimes even years.
In addition to the financial benefits that Senior Attorneys experience by selling their law firms, Poock shares the following benefits that Senior Attorney Match clients enjoy when they continue practicing at the Growing Law Firms that they join prior to partially and then fully retiring:
(1) The freedom of no longer managing “the office,” including not having to make payroll every two weeks and not needing to pay a rent check every month, and instead.
(2) Benefiting by having access to a “deeper bench” of attorneys who can capably represent their clients.
(3) The ability and flexibility to spend more time outside of the office, including taking multi-week and sometimes, multi-month vacations.
While practicing at the Growing Law Firms that they join, Senior Attorneys also benefit greatly by utilizing the following MVP-level skills and achievements that they have developed during the course of their careers:
(1) Subject Matter Knowledge;
(2) Good Will among their community and sometimes regionally, nationally, and even, internationally; and
(3) Client development skills.
And, as a bonus MVP-level opportunity, digital savvy Growing Law Firms present opportunities for Senior Attorneys to convert their Subject Matter knowledge in multiple practice areas to Digital Content, including Digital Content for (a) E-newsletters; (b) Podcasts; (c) YouTube videos; and (d) Posts to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, and more.
In Ep. 56, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains why the mid-2020s present the right time for Senior Attorneys to sell their law firms.
As Poock states, “[F]or Senior Attorneys that are considering selling their law firms, we need to recognize that post-2020 clients are searching online for lawyers to hire. As a result, if you're not investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing with a significant investment in Google for clients to find you when they're searching Google . . . you're just not going to generate as many clients as you did in yester-year. . . And, as your Book of Business does not replenish as much as yester-year, your Book of Business is going to become less valuable to a Growing Law Firm if you're not presenting as many clients as you could when your Book of Business is as filled with clients and referral sources as it is now in the mid-2020s, as compared to later in this decade and into the 2030s.”
Poock also distinguishes between today’s digital marketing disruption to business development in the legal industry to the following 3 digital disruptions outside of law: (1) Uber to taxis; (2) Netflix to Blockbuster; and (3) Amazon to Sears.
Unlike Uber that did not need taxi cars or taxi medallions, Netflix that made VHS cassettes and DVDs obsolete, and Amazon, which proved that consumers can conveniently shop for everything and anything online rather than visiting a big box store, today’s Growing Law Firms still need the following from Senior Attorney-led firms:
(a) Their well-established Books of Business because Growing Law Firms always need new clients;
(b) Their experienced workforce (lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants) to do the sophisticated work that law firms produce on behalf of their clients; and
(c) The treasure chests of digital content that attorneys at Senior Attorney-led firms offer by converting their decades of subject matter knowledge into posts for Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the online attention of today’s would-be clients who search Google and social media for lawyers and law firms to retain, as compared to the pre-Google Word of Mouth Era.
Poock also explains that today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry coincides with the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker.
“We want to make it very clear to Senior Attorneys, in particular, who may not be adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, that you are on notice that the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker has begun, and that the writing is on the wall that you are not going to develop as many new clients as you did in yester-year.”
During Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
“What are the top 3 reasons why Senior Attorneys question selling to a Growing Law Firm?”
Reason #1: Maybe now is not the right time for change
As Poock explains, the mid-2020s presents the best time for Senior Attorneys to consider change by selling their law practices because of Google’s ongoing disruption to business development in the legal industry.
As Poock states, “[F]or those lawyers and law firms that continue to rely on word of mouth, our concern concern for those firms is [that] you're going to generate less clients [and] have a less valuable book of business over time.”
If Senior Attorneys, in particular, do not invest in Google and Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, their law firm’s most valuable asset, namely, their Book of Business will not replenish similar to the pre-Google Word of Mouth era, which will result in realizing less value for Senior Attorney-led firms.
As Poock states, now “is the right time to consider selling your law firm by joining a Growing Law Firm that wants and needs what you have, which is your Book of Business. And, you want to sell that Book of Business . . . when your Book of Business is as filled as possible with clients and referral sources.”
Reason #2: Concern about having a Boss by joining a Growing Law Firm
When considering selling their law firm by joining a Growing Law Firm, Senior Attorneys often raise the following concern: “[I]f I join a growing law firm and practice there for X number of years, then I'm just going to have a boss again. And, at this point in my career, when I'm in my late 50s, 60s, or into my 70s, I don't want to have a boss.
As Poock states, “I can reassure you, in our experience . . . when our clients sell their firms to Growing Law Firms . . . [t]hey do not have a boss.”
Poock explains the following reason why: Unlike the 20-something version of themselves whose former bosses assigned work to them, today’s Senior Attorney sellers make their own schedules and do not have bosses because Senior Attorney sellers deliver a Book of Business to Growing Law Firms. As a result, Senior Attorney sellers, who join Growing Law Firms as Of Counsel attorneys, non-equity partners, and sometimes, partners, travel often, delegate, and choose clients with whom they want to work.
“Simply stated, when you join a Growing Law Firm as part of selling your practice, you do not have a boss,” Poock states.
Reason #3: Maybe, this year, the Firm’s would-be an Internal Successor(s) will offer to purchase the Firm from its Senior Attorney Owner(s)
As Poock explains, most would-be Internal Successors are really key employee lawyers who do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm and cannot afford to either.
As Poock shares, “[W]hat we see often in the marketplace is those same key employees who you hired . . . [t]hey still want only a reliable, predictable, and safe job. . . They're not going to walk down the hallway and offer to purchase your practice.”
Instead, as Poock explains, they enhance the value of a Senior Attorney-led firm because Growing Law Firms want and need a Senior Attorney’s Book of Business, plus the firm’s talented, experienced workforce.
During Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
“I am considering retiring within the next 12 months by closing my office. Could I sell my law practice instead?”
When considering selling a law firm, as compared to retiring, Poock points out that Growing Law Firms, in particular, want and need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer:
(a) Clients & referral sources (a Book of Business);
(b) An experienced workforce, often including attorneys, plus paralegals and legal assistants; and
(c) Digital content, which involves converting the Subject Matter Knowledge that Senior Attorneys and additional lawyers at their law firms have developed in multiple practice areas into digital content for posting via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing (egs. posts to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, and more, plus content for e-newsletters).
Poock also explains the following consideration that Growing Law Firms pay to Senior Attorney sellers in Law Firm Sales 1.0:
Earnout payments, consisting of a percentage of revenues derived from a Senior Attorney-led firm’s defined Book of Business, payable over a negotiated number of years.
And, based upon the dependency of revenues from the Book of Business of a Senior Attorney-led firm, Poock explains Trust Transfer as the “flux capacitor” of Law Firm Sales 1.0, where Senior Attorneys transfer the trust of their clients to lawyers at a purchasing law firm per the following 3 ways:
(a) In-person;
(b) Via Zoom, or another video platform; and
(c) Social Media
As Poock states, “Trust transfer absolutely works.”
During Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock’s Post:
3 Law Firm Sale Trends in 2025
The 3 law firm sale trends in 2025 are as follows:
Trend No 1. for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Growing Law Firms will continue purchasing Senior Attorney-led Firms because they offer the following 3 resources that Growing Law Firms Need: (a) Clients; (b) An experienced workforce; and (c) Digital content.
Trend No. 2 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law firms that invest in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing will experience the following short and long-term benefits: (a) Continued business development expansion by attracting the attention of today’s post-2020 clients who search for lawyers and law firms online; and (b) Increased Brand Equity value as the ROI from investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.
Trend No. 3 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law Firm Sales 2.0 has arrived! The consideration in Law Firm Sales 2.0 consists of the following 2 payments: (a) The same earnout payment terms as Law Firm Sales 1.0; plus (b) An upfront payment, attributable to a selling law firm’s Brand Equity and Digital Value, as evidenced by data analytics upon which a purchasing firm, as well as a bank, may rely when determining the upfront payment component of Law Firm Sales 2.0.
During Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock’s Post:
3 Law Firm Sale Trends in 2025
The 3 law firm sale trends in 2025 are as follows:
Trend No 1. for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Growing Law Firms will continue purchasing Senior Attorney-led Firms because Growing Law Firms need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms have: (a) Access to new clients from Books of Business developed over the course of decades; (b) An experienced workforce, consisting of lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants; and (c) Treasure chests of digital content available from subject matter knowledge gained in multiple practice areas.
Trend No. 2 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law firms that invest in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing will experience the following two-fold benefits: (a) Continued business development expansion, and its accompanying increase in annual revenues, by attracting the attention of today’s post-2020 clients who search for lawyers and law firms digitally, as compared to the pre-Google Word of Mouth Era; and (b) A transition in law firm value from the good will attributable to particular Rainmaker attorneys to Brand Equity value as the ROI from investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing.
Trend No. 3 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law Firm Sales 2.0 has arrived! The distinction between Law Firm Sales 1.0 and 2.0 is as follows:
The consideration in Law Firm Sales 1.0 depends entirely upon earnout payments in which selling law firms receive a percentage of revenues attributable to collections from the defined Book of Business of a selling law firm, payable over a negotiated period of time. Stated differently, Law Firm Sales 1.0 involves 100% seller financing due to the risk that a selling law firm’s Book of Business will not generate similar client revenues for a purchasing law firm, post-sale.
By contrast, the consideration in Law Firm Sales 2.0 consists of the following 2 payments: (a) The same earnout payment terms as Law Firm Sales 1.0; plus (b) An upfront payment, attributable to a selling law firm’s Brand Equity and Digital Value, as evidenced by data analytics upon which a purchasing firm, as well as a bank, may rely when determining the upfront payment component of Law Firm Sales 2.0.
During Ep. 19 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock’s Post:
Lessons Learned in 2024 for Law Firm Sales
The 4 lessons learned that Poock shares include:
(1) Growing Law Firms continue recognizing the value of growth by acquisition because Senior Attorney-led firms offer: (a) Instant client growth; (b) Experienced lawyers and support staff; and (c) Treasure chests of subject matter knowledge to convert to Digital Content to gain the attention of would-be clients who search for lawyers and law firms online today, as compared to yester-year’s Word-of-Mouth era.
(2) Trust Transfer works to transfer the trust of Senior Attorneys to lawyers at Growing Law Firms that they join via the following 3 methods: (a) In-person; (b) Via Zoom; and (c) Via social media.
(3) Key employee lawyers at Senior Attorney-led firms do not want to purchase their boss’ law firms and can’t afford to either.
(4) The writing is on the wall that those Senior Attorney-led firms that do not adopt multi-channel digital marketing for business development will not replenish their all-important Books of Business similar to yester-year, thereby leading to less value for their law firms.
During Ep. 9 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:
Why are today’s Senior Attorneys tired of running their law firms?
As Poock explains, Senior Attorneys feel tired of running their law firms for the following 3 reasons:
(1) Post-Covid, Senior Attorney owners of law firms have not enjoyed returning the “status quo ante” of managing their law firms, including making payroll twice per month, paying rent every month, and essentially, continue as the “buck stops hear” leader of their practices as they continue contemplating retirement and thinking about succession planning options for their practices.
(2) As time goes by, Senior Attorney owners of law firms realize that their key employee lawyers likely do not want to purchase their law firms, which adds stress and fatigue to their professional and personal lives.
Even though Senior Attorneys wish and hope that their key employee lawyers will someday walk down the hall one day to offer to purchase the practice, in reality, most key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss’ small business law firm and instead, want a reliable, safe, and predictable job.
(3) Post-2020 the world has changed, including how business development for lawyers works during today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry. Unlike yester-year’s Word-of-Mouth era that led to Senior Attorney rainmakers developing and regularly replenishing their Books of Business based upon personal relationships, today’s (and tomorrow’s) clients by-pass rainmaker attorneys by searching online via Google and social media outlets when considering lawyers and law firms to retain.
As Poock states, “Google is also becoming America's greatest rainmaker for developing business for attorneys and law firms, and for those Senior Attorneys that are not investing in that multi-channel digital marketing, it's becoming even harder to develop business. And, hence why Senior Attorneys are tired.”
Poock also addresses how today’s Senior Attorneys can transform from:
Tired à Inspired à Retired
Episode 9 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 2 questions:
(1) Why are today’s Senior Attorneys tired of running their law firms? and
(2) What Will the Market for Selling Personal Injury Law Firms Look Like by 2030?
In Segment 2, Poock presents the following “Poock’s Post:”
“The writing is on the wall about Digital Marketing impacting the value of Senior Attorney-led law firms”
As Poock states during Segment 2, “In the post-2020, 3.0 digital world . . . [w]e are saying that Uncle Google is America's greatest referral source for lawyers. Uncle Google is also becoming America's greatest Rainmaker for developing business for attorneys and law firms. And, for those Senior Attorneys that are not investing in that Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, it's becoming even harder to develop business.”
Ep. 51 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales “In 11 Minutes” includes the following:
Topic 1: The Importance to Senior Attorneys of Website Good Will
As Poock explains, “[P]ost-2020, we need to recognize that we have now entered into . . . what we call the 3.0 Digital Era for the Legal Industry.”
In advance of selling a law firm, Poock recommends that Senior Attorney law firm owners update the content of their websites, starting with updating attorney bios, including pictures. Poock also suggests adding new content and removing stale content.
Topic 2: The Boost to Website Good Will that Senior Attorneys Present to Growing Law Firms
As Poock explains, the bios of Senior Attorneys and additional attorneys from Senior Attorney-led firms, add to a Growing Law Firm’s credibility based upon the accomplishments, leadership roles, and digital content that those bios present to a Growing Law Firm’s website.
For those Senior Attorney-led firms that have invested in their websites for a number of years, their websites also present (1) Valuable Google Analytics data; and (2) Backlinks to articles authored by Senior Attorneys or that mention Senior Attorneys in local, national, and sometimes even international publications or other media outlets (egs. American Bar Association, local trial attorney association, local bar association, TV news, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, etc.).
Buzzer Beater: The Value of Website Good Will When Selling a Law Firm
During the “Buzzer Beater” portion of Ep. 51, Poock points out the following boosts to a Growing Law Firm’s website that Senior Attorney-led firms present:
(1) Bios of Senior Attorneys and additional lawyers from Senior Attorney-led firms that include multiple accomplishments and add to the overall credibility of a Growing Law Firm;
(2) Google Analytics offered by Senior Attorney-led firms with mature websites;
(3) Backlinks to authoritative third-party websites; and
(4) 301 redirects with regard to popular website pages from a Senior Attorney-led firm’s website.
In Ep. 50, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 2nd of 3 Treasure Chests of Digital Value that Senior Attorneys present to Growing Law Firms, namely, Digital Content.
Ep. 50 includes the following:
Topic 1: The Importance to Senior Attorneys of the State of Digital Marketing in the Legal Industry
As Poock points out, business development for lawyers has dramatically changed in the 2020’s. Rather than would-be clients asking for a lawyer’s business card or a word-of-mouth referral, today’s clients much more conveniently search online for the best [FILL-IN THE BLANK] attorney.
As a result, we have entered the “Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker,” where new clients by-pass the Rainmaker attorneys (today’s Senior Attorneys) in favor of searching for lawyers online.
As Poock explains, today’s Senior Attorneys face a crossroads for business development, namely
“take that proverbial plunge and start investing in digital marketing yourself to attract the attention of those clients that are searching Google for lawyers to hire, or, as we really recommend to Senior Attorneys . . . consider joining a Growing Law Firm that practices in your practice area and looks at [your] subject matter knowledge that you have developed as really untapped digital content.”
Topic 2: Warning to Today’s Senior Attorneys about Digital Marketing
As Poock states:
“[The] warning to Senior Attorneys is that if you just let that Treasure Chest [of Digital Content] just stay buried and unopened, then you're really losing out on the opportunities to attract the attention of today's clients and be able to regenerate, replenish, and continue to grow your Book of Business.
In reality, what we recommend, because so many Senior Attorneys will not themselves invest in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, is to highly consider joining a Growing Law Firm that will welcome you into their practice. You bring clients. You bring referral sources. You bring a cumulative workforce.
And, very importantly, you bring untapped Digital Content for them to be able to utilize your Subject Matter Knowledge and convert it into multiple forms of Digital Content to get the attention of would-be clients who today are searching online for lawyers and law firms to retain.”
Side Bar: Why the Digital Disruption in the Legal Industry Differs from Amazon, Uber & Netflix
As Poock explains, unlike Amazon that digitally disrupted Sears, Uber that digitally disrupted taxi cabs, and Netflix that digitally disrupted Blockbuster, the Multi-Channel Digital Marketing deployed by today’s Growing Law Firms actually needs Senior Attorneys because of the treasure chest of Digital Content that their decades of subject matter knowledge, experience, and success presents to Growing Law Firms.
So, unlike Sears’ in-store inventory, taxi cab owners’ vehicles and medallions, and Blockbuster’s VHS cassettes and DVDs that all became irrelevant due to digital disruption, today’s Growing Law Firms want and need the following from Senior Attorneys during today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry: their untapped treasure chests of Digital Content.
Episode 14 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 3., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following Poock’s Post:
“Your key employee lawyers do not want to purchase your law firm . . . and can’t afford to either”
As Poock explains, most Senior Attorneys share the following 4 false expectations that their key employee lawyers will someday offer to purchase their law firms:
- False Expectation that Key Employee Lawyers Do Not Only Want a Job: Most Senior Attorneys hired their key employee lawyers during a growth period for their law firms. When Senior Attorneys later approach their retirement years, they falsely expect that their key employee lawyers will suddenly morph from relying upon a safe and predictable twice per month paycheck to the financial uncertainty associated with owning a small business law firm.
- False Expectation that Key Employee Lawyers Can Become Small Business Law Firm Owners: As Senior Attorneys consider to whom to sell their law firms, they falsely expect that their capable and competent key employee lawyers will aspire to become small business law firm owners without recognizing that they intentionally decided to go to law school rather than business school.
- False Expectation that Key Employee Lawyers Can Afford to Purchase a Law Firm: Senior Attorneys falsely expect that their key employee lawyers can afford to purchase their law firms without recognizing their pre-existing financial obligations, which often include ongoing student loan debt, a home mortgage, car payments, and additional monthly expenses, together with goals to save for retirement, help pay for their kids’ college tuition, and save-up for their next [FILL-IN THE BLANK] major purchase that does not include purchasing their boss’ law firm.
- False Expectation that Key Employee Lawyers Believe that Their Boss Will Ever Retire: Despite Senior Attorneys signaling their dual goals to sell the practice and retire, their continuous 40+ hours per week at the office, together with generating the work, overseeing the work, and managing the staff creates a false expectation by key employee lawyers that their boss will never retire, i.e., Senior Attorneys falsely expect that their key employee lawyers actually “get it” that their boss really does want to retire by selling the practice to them.
As Poock explains, the 4 false expectations typically lead to either of the following possibilities:
(1) A Random Tuesday Departure by a Key Employee Lawyer(s): In this scenario, once key employee lawyers no longer consider their job as reliable, safe, and predictable, they will search for another job, followed by providing their Senior Attorney bosses with either a 2 or 4 week notice that they plan to join another firm - the effect of which causes the following short-term and long-term losses:
(i) Short-term revenue losses stemming from less billings and the potential loss of clients; and
(ii) A long-term loss in law firm value attributable to a potential loss of clients, as well as losing access to those key employee lawyers whom Growing Law Firms want and need to continue providing sophisticated legal services to a selling firm’s clients post-sale or merger.
(2) A Realization that Key Employee Lawyers Do Not Want to Purchase a Senior Attorney-Led Firm: When (if) Senior Attorneys realize that their key employee lawyers prefer a safe, reliable, and predictable job than own a law firm, Senior Attorneys then recognize the value of selling to or merging with a Growing Law Firm.
And, when Senior Attorneys, together with their key employee lawyers, join a Growing Law Firm, the following 4 wins result:
(i) A win for Senior Attorneys who can sell their law practices to a firm lead by lawyers who want and need what Senior Attorneys present (clients, talented and experienced workforce, and treasure chests of digital content);
(ii) A win for key employee lawyers who want to maintain their safe, predictable, and reliable jobs;
(iii) A win for clients who want and need ongoing, competent, and zealous legal representation; and
(iv) A win for Growing Law Firms who benefit from instant client growth, addition of talented lawyers and para-staff, and access to treasure chests of Digital Content to advance their multi-channel digital marketing efforts to digitally attract new clients in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry.
Episode 14 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 2 questions:
(1) I am considering selling my law firm within the next . . . What do I need to do know?
(2) You say that maintaining the Status Quo is risky, but I am not ready to sell my practice yet. What are my options?
Key points from the Q&A segment include the following:
When considering selling a law firm, Senior Attorneys should conduct the following 3 updates:
- Identify Top Performing Practice Areas: In advance of selling a law firm, its Senior Attorney owners should analyze revenues of their top practice areas during the last several years. As Poock points out, knowing where revenues have come form will typically indicate to a purchaser a forecast for future revenues.
- The Importance of Updating the Selling Firm’s Client List, plus 2 Bonuses: Considering the importance of a Selling Firm’s Book of Business, Senior Attorneys should update the following for all of their clients: physical addresses, e-mail addresses, and cell phone numbers. As 2 bonuses, Poock suggests the following:
While updating the Client List, please consider requesting 5-Star Google Reviews from satisfied clients and connecting with clients on LinkedIn.
- The Need to Update a Selling Firm’s Website & Attorney LinkedIn Profiles: As Poock explains, would-be purchasers will visit a Selling Firm’s website, as well as the LinkedIn profiles for its attorneys.
When visiting a Selling Firm’s website, visitors want to see updated pictures and new content, as compared to pictures from 10+ years ago and stale content. Visitors to LinkedIn profiles also want to see new pictures, updated biographical information, at least 500 connections, and ideally, recent content posts.
Regarding the risk to Senior Attorneys by maintaining their Status Quo, Poock shares the following:
“The major risk of the Status Quo is a Random Tuesday . . . is that your key employee lawyers could come down the hall one day and say to you that they're not going to continue with your practice. They've taken another job. And, as a result, in the short-term, your revenues will go down. And, in the long-term, your practice will be less valuable without those key employee lawyers because Growing Law Firms want and need them to be able to do the work from that Book of Business that you present to Growing Law Firms.”
Episode 14 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 2 questions: (1) I am considering selling my law firm within the next . . . What do I need to do know? and (2) You say that maintaining the Status Quo is risky, but I am not ready to sell my practice yet. What are my options?
Segment 2 offers a “Personal Injury Spotlight” in which Poock starts by playing an audio clip from Ep. 258 of the Personal Injury Mastermind (PIM), where Attorney James Helms of Top Dog Law replies to host, Chris Dreyer’s question about the state of the market for Personal Injury Law. Poock then adds a perspective from the standpoint of Senior Attorney PI attorneys, including presenting good news and not such good news.
And, in Segment 3, “Poock’s Post” addresses the following: Your key employee lawyers do not want to purchase your law firm . . . and can’t afford to either.
In Ep. 46, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses why the Books of Business of today’s Senior Attorneys compare to taxi cab medallions in the Mid-2010s.
Ep. 46 includes the following:
Topic 1: Uber in the 2010s: A Case Study of Disruption to Adoption
As Poock explains, in the early part of the mid-2010s, owners of taxi cab medallions “absolutely started to see the writing on the wall. . . they started to feel in the early part of the 2010s the disruption that Uber had started to present - not getting as many rides to and from the airport, not getting as many rides from Midtown to Downtown.”
Why?
Simply stated, consumers proved in the 2010s that we prefer the convenience of ordering rides via the Uber app, rather than waiting to hail a taxi.
Topic 2: How the Books of Bus. of Sr. Attys. in the Mid-2020s Compares to Taxi Medallion Owners in the 2010s
As Poock points out, society’s digital pivot in 2020 accelerated the e-disruption in the legal industry, causing consumers of legal services, i.e., clients, to pivot to searching for their lawyers online rather than rely upon yester-year’s Word-of-Mouth custom of asking for lawyer referrals from their friends, relatives, work colleagues, professional advisors, etc.
Poock references an Exhibit “A” and Exhibit “B” to show how the largest law firms in America continue adopting SEO and invest in Google to attract the digital attention of potential clients. By example, Hennessey Digital’s 2023 study, “America’s Most Googled Personal Injury Law Firms” reports that Morgan & Morgan draws the attention of approximately 266,000 Google searches per month.
As Poock states, “[B]ecause clients are searching for their lawyers online, what we are seeing is that [Senior Attorneys’] revenues are actually going down because if you're not being found, you're not going to be hired. And if you're not hired by new clients, you're not going to be generating as much revenues.”
Poock also offers the following distinction between Senior Attorneys in the early part of the mid-2020s to taxi cab medallion owners in the early 2010s:
Unlike Uber drivers did who did not need either the medallions or taxi cabs of Taxi Medallion Owners, Growing Law Firms continue to need Senior Attorney-led law firms because senior attorneys continue to offer: (1) A Book of Business; (2) Their subject matter knowledge; (3) Their good will; and (4) Their Digital Value.
As Poock recommends: “[W]hile your Book of Business is . . . filled with clients, filled with referral sources, we are recommending that now, in the early part of the mid-2020s, is the ideal time for Senior Attorneys to consider selling to, joining, merging with, associating with Growing Law Firms that want and need what they have.”
Buzzer Beater: Why the Books of Business of Today’s Senior Attorneys Compare to Taxi Medallions in the Mid-2010s
As the 2020s progress, the Books of Business of Senior Attorneys will become less valuable due to many Senior Attorneys not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing and thereby not replenishing their Books of Business at a pace comparable to yester-year.
Unlike the digital disruption that led to the plummeting in value of taxi cab medallions in the 2010s, the digital disruption in the legal industry in the early part of the mid-2020s presents the right time for Senior Attorneys to consider selling their law firms while Senior Attorneys continue to have: (1) A valuable Book of Business filled with clients and referral sources; (2) Good Will; (3) Subject Matter Knowledge; and (4) A treasure trove of digital content that Growing Law Firms want and need.
As Poock states, though, “[I]f you wait too long, and as your Book of Business may continue to decrease in value, your practice will become worth less.”
In Ep. 49, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 1st of 3 Treasure Chests of Digital Value that Senior Attorneys present to Growing Law Firms, namely, access to 100s (1000s) of client Google Reviews.
Ep. 49 includes the following:
Topic 1: Pre-Sale Value of Treasure Chest #1 – 5 Star Google Reviews
As Poock points out, Senior Attorneys have developed Books of Business over the course of their careers, which consist of their clients and their referral sources. “By and large, that Book of Business is an inanimate object - it's intangible,” Poock states.
Pre-sale, Poock points out that Senior Attorneys can convert their Books of Business to become interactive by requesting 100s, and even 1000s, of 5-Star Google Reviews, to place prominently on the websites of Senior Attorney-led firms for potential clients to review, as well as future, potential purchasers for their law firms.
Topic 2: Post-Sale Value of Treasure Chest #1 – 5 Star Google Reviews
Today’s Growing Law Firms recognize that potential clients search online when considering to retain a lawyer or law firm.
Once potential clients visit a growing law firm’s website, what do potential clients want to review?
5-Star Google Reviews by other clients who have retained the services of the law firm to assist them with similar legal needs as theirs.
Senior attorneys present 100s, even 1000s, of potential 5-Star Google Reviews from the satisfied clients who fill their Books of Business.
Buzzer Beater: Senior Attorneys Have Access to Treasure Chests of 100s (1000s) of Google Reviews
Senior Attorneys have access to treasure chests of 100s, even 1000s, of Google reviews.
Pre-sale, Senior Attorneys have the opportunity to contact satisfied client who comprise their well-earned Books of Business to request 5-Star Google Reviews to prominently appear on the websites of Senior Attorney-led firms.
Post-sale, purchasers of law firms recognize that Senior Attorneys present a treasure chest of Digital Value in terms of the potential for 100s, and even 1000s, of 5-Star Google Reviews that their Books of Business offer.
In Ep. 48, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains the following 4 Winners when Senior Attorneys sell to Growing Law Firms:
Winner #1 – Senior Attorneys: As Poock explains, the “win” for Senior Attorneys when they sell their law firms to Growing Law Firms consists of the following 4 components (1) Monetize the law firm; (2) No longer need to manage “The Office;” (3) Spend more time with family, as well as outside of “The Office,” generally; and (4) Continue practicing at the Growing Law Firm, but with a focus on matters in which Senior Attorneys enjoy.
Winner #2 – Key Employee Lawyers & Para-Staff: As Poock points out, key employee lawyers and para-staff want job security. “They want to know that they're going to be able to maintain employment by joining a growing law firm, because what they really want and need . . . [is] to have reliable, predictable and safe jobs,” Poock states.
Winner #3 – Clients: The clients of a selling Senior Attorney benefit significantly when Senior Attorneys sell their law firms to Growing Law Firms because of the peace of mind that they will continue receiving ongoing competent legal representation by lawyers at the Growing Law Firm whom their long-time Senior Attorney trusts.
Winner #4 – The Growing Law Firms: As Poock explains, Growing Law Firms “win” based upon the following 3 components: (1) Succeeding a Senior Attorney’s Book of Business; (2) Adding competent, capable, and experienced lawyers and para-staff from a Senior Attorney-led firm; and (3) The treasure trove of digital content that Senior Attorneys and their key employee lawyers present to Growing Law Firms who need that digital content to attract the attention of post-2020 would-be clients who regularly search Google for attorneys to retain, as compared to yester-year’s Word-of-Mouth Era.
In Ep. 45, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses why Senior Attorney law firm owners feel tired in the mid-2020s. Poock addresses the following topics:
- The 3 reasons why Senior Attorneys feel tired while running their law firms in the Mid-2020s, namely (1) Post-Covid, Senior Attorneys wish that they could finally start slowing down from the standpoints of managing “the office” and generating the work; (2) Their ongoing expectation and frustration that their would-be Internal Successors don't want to purchase their law firms and can't afford to either; and (3) The realization that the world changed in 2020, where post-2020, business development has become more difficult as potential clients now search digitally for their lawyers and thereby by-pass yester-year’s “Rainmaker Attorneys” who built their Books of Business during the pre-2020 Word-of-Mouth Era.
- 3 choices that Senior Attorneys have to go from “Tired to Inspired to Retired, namely (1) Maintain the status quo, which unfortunately, will lead to a short-term loss of revenues by not replenishing their Books of Business without adopting digital marketing a long-term loss of firm value due to a diminishing Book of Business; (2) Embrace the digital world by adopting and implementing Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to generate new clients by attracting their digital attention across multiple platforms (website, social media, podcasts, e-newsletters, YouTube videos, Google Reviews, and more); or (3) Consider joining a Growing Law Firm that wants and needs what Senior Attorneys have in terms of Instant Client Growth, talented and experienced lawyers and non-lawyers, and a “treasure trove” of content for digital marketing purposes.
Regarding the benefits of Senior Attorneys joining a Growing Law Firm, Poock states, “What we see with . . . Senior attorneys . . . joining Growing Law firms is this transformation from being tired . . . to what we call inspired.” Poock also explains that the inspiration derives from:
(1) Gaining the freedom to choose what Senior Attorneys want to work on, which ranges from practicing law to business development;
(2) The satisfaction of transferring the trust of a Senior Attorney’s clients to lawyers at a Growing Law Firm; and
(3) Leaving a legacy by which clients will continue benefiting from competent counsel, key employees of a Senior Attorney will usually continue as employees of the Growing Law Firm, and Growing Law Firms benefit by the treasure troves of digital marketing content that the career’s worth of knowledge and experience that Senior Attorneys offer.
In Ep. 47, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following 3 reasons why would-be Internal Successors leave a Senior Attorney’s law firm to accept a job at another firm:
Reason #1: The false expectations by Senior Attorney law firm owners that their Key Employee Lawyers will want to someday become law firm owners. As Poock states, “What we find is that those Internal Successors may hit-up a Senior Attorney with what we call a “Random Tuesday.”
As Poock explains, a “Random Tuesday” occurs when a would-be Internal Successor walks down the hall on a “Random Tuesday” and rather than announce an intention to purchase a Senior Attorney’s practice, the Key Employee Lawyer(s) instead notifies their boss that they decided to take another job, together with offering 2 or perhaps 4 weeks notice after having practiced at a Senior Attorney-led firm for many years.
Reason #2: The need for job security by would-be Internal Successors. As Poock points out, “[W]hat is it that key employees want and need? They want and need job security. They want their job to be reliable, predictable, and safe.” When those Key Employee Lawyers consider their jobs as no longer reliable, predictable, and safe, they will begin looking for and then accept a job at another firm.
Reason #3: When the need for job security by Key Employee Lawyers clashes with false expectations by Senior Attorneys. As Poock states, “[T]his is what we're often seeing in the marketplace, that is, [a] Senior Attorney announces to would-be Internal Successors that ‘I've decided I'm going to retire within, let's say, the next 12 months.’ The would-be Internal Successors, at that point, they, for lack of a better phrase, they start freaking out because they think that this time he really means it.”
As Poock explains, would-be Internal Successors then often start looking for another job for the purpose of restoring the reliable, predictable, and safe job that they seek and need.
During the “Wrap-up” of Ep. 47, Poock points out that when Senior Attorneys realize that their would-be Internal Successors want a reliable, predictable, and safe job, as compared to owning a small business law firm, they can together pursue joining a Growing Law Firm to succeed to the Senior Attorney’s practice.
As Poock states, joining Growing Law Firms results in the following 4 wins:
Win #1: Senior Attorneys join a Growing Law Firm, which fulfills a Senior Attorney’s goal of retiring and monetizing the practice.
Win #2: By joining a Growing Law Firm with their former Senior Attorney boss, Key Employee Lawyers get what they want and need, namely, a new job with salary, with benefits, i.e., reliable, safe, and predictable continuity of employment.
Win #3: Continuity for clients because when Senior Attorneys and their former Key Employee Lawyers join a Growing Law Firm, the firm’s clients benefit from the continuity of competent legal representation that a Growing Law Firm provides.
Win #4: The fourth win goes to the Growing Law Firm. As Poock asks: “What do Growing Law Firms want and need? They want and need clients, and they want and need talented lawyers to do the work.” Senior Attorneys, together with their Key Employee Lawyers, deliver both.
In this Part 2 of the Top 4 Trends for Law Firm Sales in 2024, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following trends for Law Firm Sales in 2024, plus a prediction about the “Vanishing Rainmaker:”
Trend #3: By Not Adopting Digital Marketing, the Books of Business of Today’s Senior Attorneys Will Decrease in Value
Trend #4: Growing Law Firms Will Continue Buying Law Practices Because . . . .
2024 Prediction: The Age of the Lawyer Rainmaker Will Continue Vanishing throughout the 2020s
As Poock explains, “[M]any Senior Attorneys have not adopted Multi-Channel Digital Marketing yet and maintain what we call a “Website Only” approach to digital. And, as a result, they're not attracting as many new clients as they did pre-2020 . . . If [Senior Attorneys] are not replenishing those clients and referral sources, and they're not doing so by investing in digital, what we're finding is that their Books of Business are not replenishing as much as they did pre-2020, and that is having a longer-term impact on the value of their practices themselves.”
Poock also shares the following 3 reasons why Growing Law Firms will continue purchasing law practices in 2024 and throughout the 2020s:
[1] Growing law firms need new clients.
[2] They need an experienced workforce.
[3] Throughout the 2020s and beyond, Growing Law Firms will need Digital Content to be able to attract the attention of clients who continue searching “Uncle Google” to find their attorneys, as compared to yester-year’s Word-of-Mouth Era. And, today’s Senior Attorneys offer treasure troves of such Digital Content in written, audio, and video formats based upon the subject matter knowledge and cumulative expertise that they have developed throughout their careers
And, as a 2024 prediction, Poock states:
“Our prediction for 2024 and throughout the 2020s is that the Age of the Lawyer Rainmaker will continue vanishing throughout the 2020s.”
As Poock explains, today’s would-be clients search for their lawyers digitally.
“And, because they're searching for their lawyers digitally, the Rainmaker Attorney has become less relevant in 2024 and will become less relevant throughout the remainder of the 2020s,” Poock states.
For those Senior Attorneys who do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing in the mid-2020s, the “Vanishing Rainmaker” will have 2 impacts:
[1] In the short-term, less new clients and a corresponding decrease in annual revenues as a result; and
[2] In the long-term, less value for their law practices if their Books of Business do not replenish similar to yester-year’s Age of the Rainmaker.
Episode 8 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” The Importance to Senior Attorneys of the Vanishing Rainmaker.
As Poock states, “The age of the Rainmaker is actually vanishing.”
As Poock explains, “Post-2020, we're often saying that Uncle Google has become America's greatest referral source, or really, to say it differently, Uncle Google has become the collective Rainmaker for law firms because clients today are not so much seeking out the card, the business cards of lawyers who they want to hire. They're going straight to Google, and they are searching for lawyers on Google without the need for that Rainmaker attorney to be handing the card to that would-be client.”
Poock also shares the following: “What we are seeing in the marketplace is that for those Senior Attorney led firms that are not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing and attracting clients digitally to their law firms, that their Books of Business are not replenishing as much as they did in yester-year.
And, that means that they are generating less clients, and also, their Referral Sources, who are typically similarly aged as Senior Attorneys, well, their Referral Sources are retiring, and those retiring Referral Sources, unfortunately, aren't sending business to them as they did in yester-year, which means that their Books of Business, that is, Senior Attorneys, what we're seeing in the mid-2020s is their Books of Business are just not replenishing as much as they did in yester-year.”
Episode 8 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 3 questions: (1) What are examples of important items to update before selling a law practice? (2) How long does it take to sell a law practice? and (3) What is a “Random Tuesday?” in the context of valuing a law firm?
Episode 8 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 3 questions: (1) What are examples of important items to update before selling a law practice? (2) How long does it take to sell a law practice? and (3) What is a “Random Tuesday?” in the context of valuing a law firm?
In Segment 2, “Poock’s Post” addresses: The Importance to Senior Attorneys of the Vanishing Rainmaker
Episode 7 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 3, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” Why More Growing Law Firms Should Pursue Growth by Acquisition.
As Poock states: “[O]ur overall message here is that as Growing Law Firms are considering how they can continue to grow their firms, they really should be considering more and more that the Books of Business that Senior Attorneys provide - presents an amazing, under-utilized opportunity to grow your firm, to grow by acquisition.”
“When it comes to the business development opportunities that Senior Attorney-led firms present,” Poock states, “we like to say that they offer windmills of energy. They really power business development for Growing Law Firms because that Client List and Referral Source List. . . powers and generates new clients. . . [A]lso, the Goodwill of Senior Attorneys and other attorneys at their firm; the Subject Matter Knowledge; and that Digital Value really presents a very powerful way for Growing Law Firms to continue growing, that is, growth by acquisition.”
Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes David L. Cohen, Esq. of David L. Cohen, P.C. to discuss David’s thoughts and insights from the perspective of a potential purchaser of a Senior Attorney’s practice.
A particular opportunity that Poock and Cohen discuss relates to a “player-manager” analogy, namely, the value that a solo attorney acquirer presents to a Senior Attorney-led firm, where solo attorneys present the following dual value:
- The lawyer skillset to succeed to representing a Senior Attorney’s clients;
- Small business owner experience to succeed to operating and growing a Senior Attorney-led firm.
Episode 7 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) When a lawyer sells a practice to another firm, who is entitled to the uncollected receivables for previously billed work? (2) How do the parties in law firm sales typically deal with ongoing ethical obligations such as client file retention, original records, and roles like trustee appointments? (3) How should a lawyer handle malpractice risk in succession planning? and (4) How do you envision the market for law firm sales in the mid-2020s?
Episode 7 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) When a lawyer sells a practice to another firm, who is entitled to the uncollected receivables for previously billed work? (2) How do the parties in law firm sales typically deal with ongoing ethical obligations such as client file retention, original records, and roles like trustee appointments? (3) How should a lawyer handle malpractice risk in succession planning? and (4) How do you envision the market for law firm sales in the mid-2020s?
In Segment 2, Poock welcomes David L. Cohen, Esq. of David L. Cohen, P.C. to discuss: (1) What excites you about succeeding to a Senior Attorney’s practice? and (2) How do you foresee growth by acquisition by a solo attorney?
And, in Segment 3, “Poock’s Post” addresses: Why More Growing Law Firms Should Pursue Growth by Acquisition.
Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 3, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” The Risk to Law Firm Value in the 2020’s When Senior Attorneys Do Not Adopt Digital Marketing – And, 2 Solutions
As Poock explains: “Today's Senior Attorneys, that is, attorneys that have practiced more than 30 years - they developed their Books of Business by and large, pre-Google, and they did it what we call the “hard way.”
That “hard way” consisted of:
- In-Person Networking (ex. handing out thousands of business cards at networking events)
- Non-Digital Thought Leadership (egs. writing articles & speaking at CLE’s)
- Event Sponsorship (ex. placing ads in event ad books)
- Pre-Y2K Advertising (egs. Yellow Pages; newspaper ads; radio; TV)
Poock also points out the following:
“What we're consistently seeing is that Senior Attorneys that maintain their Status Quo, that is, attorneys who are aged today between 55 and 75 and maintain their Status Quo in terms of how they market for new business, or really how they are not marketing for new business by not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing - their revenues are going down.”
Poock offers the following 2 solutions for Senior Attorneys to consider to address those revenues going down:
- Join a Growing Law Firm: As Poock explains, Senior Attorneys have what growing law firms want and need, namely: (1) Instant client growth; (2) Lawyer and non-lawyer staff; (3) Cumulative expertise in multiple practice areas; and (3) Untapped digital content for Growing Law Firms to develop and distribute among a Senior Attorney’s Book of Business and clients of a Growing Law Firm; or
- Do It Yourself (DIY): Per this solution, Senior Attorneys can adopt the following 5-pronged approach to market for new clients in today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry: (1) Invest in Google (egs. pay-per-click and SEO); (2) Increase a Senior Attorney’s social media presence (egs. LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, X, Instagram, and more); (3) Optimize a Senior Attorney’s website, together with increasing Google reviews; (4) Establishing an audio and video presence (egs. podcasts, YouTube videos, and even TikTok posts); and (5) Old School networking (egs. attend in-person networking & place in-print ads).
“[T]he reality of Senior Attorneys shifting towards adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing - in our experience is pretty low,” Poock states.
Poock further explains that the lower revenues that Senior Attorney-led firms experience short-term as a result of not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing in the mid-2020s will have following unintended future consequence: Lower values when Senior Attorneys later sell their firms due to their Books of Business having less clients and referral sources than yester-year.
As Poock states, “So, as Senior Attorneys are thinking about how the value of their firms is going to go in the 2020s, if you maintain that Status Quo, your revenues short-term could go down, and the value of your practice could go down. For those Senior Attorneys that join Growing Law Firms, their revenues, while they continue to practice, are going to go up. That is our experience, and you're going to get higher value on that all important Book of Business that is the key component to the sale of your law practice.”
Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes Attorney Christine Morgan who joined a growing law firm in 2020.
During their conversation, Morgan and Poock discuss:
- Attorney Morgan’s methodical approach to succession planning for her practice.
- The importance of joining a law firm with a “Deep Bench” that will continue representing Attorney Morgan’s clients after she retires.
- Attorney Morgan’s experience with “Trust Transfer,” including how she has transferred the trust of her longtime clients to a particular attorney at the growing law firm that she joined in 2020.
- How Attorney Morgan’s work-life Balance has changed since joining a Growing Law Firm
- Attorney Morgan’s advice for Senior Attorneys considering selling a law practice
Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) From a buyer’s perspective, should I purchase a firm to deepen our Subject Matter Knowledge in a particular practice area? (2) What is the importance of Firm Culture in law firm sales? (3) How do you value a Contingency Fee Practice? and (4) If I join a Growing Law Firm, won’t I suddenly have a boss? Hell, no!
In this Part 1 of the Top 4 Trends for Law Firm Sales in 2024, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following trends for Law Firm Sales in 2024, plus a prediction for the Personal Injury Law industry:
Trend #1: Law Firm Sales 1.0 will continue in 2024
As Poock explains, we foresee the continuation of Law Firm Sales 1.0 in 2024.
“The key feature of Law Firm Sales 1.0 is that the payment terms are based upon earnout terms, as compared to significant consideration paid at a closing table because the buyers are typically more prepared to pay earnout terms [based upon the] personal goodwill nature of the Book of Business that Senior Attorneys are selling,” Poock states.
Poock also points out the following 2 warnings for Senior Attorneys who will pursue Law Firm Sales 1.0 type sales in the mid-2020s:
Warning #1: Would-be Internal Successors do not want to purchase the small business law firms that their Senior Attorney bosses have developed for the following 4 reasons: (i) Today’s Senior Attorneys hired their now would-be Internal Successors as key employees, and they want to remain employees; (ii) They went to law school and not business school; (iii) They cannot afford to purchase a small business law firm; and (iv) They assume that their Senior Attorney bosses will never retire.
Warning #2: In today’s 3.0 Digital Era for the Legal Industry, those Senior Attorneys who do not keep pace with digital marketing to attract new clients will not replenish their Books of Business as much as they did in yester-year, which means that their practices will not offer as much value to Growing Law Firm buyers later in the 2020s.
Trend #2: Law Firms Sales 2.0 Will Gain Momentum in 2024
As Poock explains, “A huge differentiator between Law Firm Sales 1.0 and Law Firm Sales 2.0 is the introduction of fixed pricing. That is, we're not just selling in Law Firm Sales 2.0 the Goodwill of a Senior Attorney’s practice. What is also for sale is the Digital Value and the Brand Awareness that law firms continue to develop.”
As Poock also points out, “[W]hen law firms have the data analytics to support . . . Brand Equity, they are going to be receiving fixed prices at closings that not only will buyers be prepared to pay, but banks will be lending on. And, we're going to see this more and more throughout the mid-2020s.”
Poock concludes this episode with the following prediction for the Personal Injury Law industry for 2024 and throughout the mid-2020s:
“If you are a Personal Injury law firm and if you have developed significant Digital Value and Brand Awareness, our prediction is that we are going to see significant 8-figure and maybe even 9-figure sales, let alone, 7-figure sales on Personal Injury law firms because buyers are going to be very interested in that Brand Equity that that these types of firms continue to develop, and banks will lend on them as well, as well as the introduction, interestingly, in the mid-2020s of the growth - the introduction and growth of Alternative Business Structures.”
Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) From a buyer’s perspective, should I purchase a firm to deepen our Subject Matter Knowledge in a particular practice area? (2) What is the importance of Firm Culture in law firm sales? (3) How do you value a Contingency Fee Practice? and (4) If I join a Growing Law Firm, won’t I suddenly have a boss? Hell, no!
In Segment 2, Poock welcomes Attorney Christine Morgan to discuss her experience after joining a growing law firm in 2020.
And, in Segment 3., “Poock’s Post” addresses: The Risk to Law Firm Value in the 2020’s When Senior Attorneys Do Not Adopt Digital Marketing – And, 2 Solutions
Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes Attorney Paul Tetzel of Boston based Tetzel Law, which acquired a Senior Attorney lead Personal Injury Law firm in early 2020.
During their conversation, Tetzel and Poock discuss:
- How welcoming 2 Senior Attorney PI attorneys to Tetzel Law has benefited the practice
- Tetzel’s advice for Senior Attorney PI attorneys considering selling their law practices?
- Tetzel’s answer to the following question: “Would You Purchase Another Law Firm?”
In the Top 3 Lessons learned in 2023, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares “The Top 3 Lessons Learned in 2023:”
Lesson #1: Internal Successors Want a Job & Not a Business: The #1 lesson learned in law firm sales in 2023 is: Internal Successors do not want to purchase their boss’ law firm. Instead, Growing Law Firms want and need Senior Attorneys and their lawyer and non-lawyer staffs, together with the client list, cumulative expertise, and marketing value that Senior Attorneys present.
Lesson #2: Trust Transfer Works: Trust Transfer fulfills the dual functions of: (1) Transferring the trust of Senior Attorneys’ longtime clients to lawyers at the Growing Law Firms that Senior Attorneys join; and (2) Ensuring compensation to Senior Attorneys, which typically derives from fee sharing upon revenues attributable to a Senior Attorney’s Book of Business.
Lesson #3: The Books of Businesses for Senior Attorneys Do Not Replenish as Much as Yester-Year: For those Senior Attorneys who do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to generate new clients in the 2020s, their all-important Books of Business will not replenish as much as during yester-year’s Pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era.
Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) If I plan to sell my law practice within the next 1-2 years, what do you recommend? (2) What are typical financial terms in law firm sales? (3) Should I consider selling to a growing law firm that wants to add my practice area to its practice? and (4) I am worried that if I ask my Internal Successor to purchase my practice, she will look for another job. What do you recommend that I do?
Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) If I plan to sell my law practice within the next 1-2 years, what do you recommend? (2) What are typical financial terms in law firm sales? (3) Should I consider selling to a growing law firm that wants to add my practice area to its practice? and (4) I am worried that if I ask my Internal Successor to purchase my practice, she will look for another job. What do you recommend that I do?
In Segment 2, Poock welcomes Attorney Paul Tetzel of Tetzel Law, which acquired a Senior Attorney lead Personal Injury Law firm in early 2020.
And, in Segment 3., “Poock’s Post” addresses why Books of Business are not evergreen.
Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 3, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” Your Book of Business is Not Evergreen.
As Poock explains, the Book of Business is the most important asset that Senior Attorneys and Senior Attorney led firms have when they're selling their law practices.
The Books of Business for today's Senior Attorneys are absolutely not evergreen for the following reason: If Senior Attorneys do not generate clients via Digital Marketing in today’s Post-2020 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry, they will not replenish their Books of Business similar to yester-year’s Pre-Google 1.0 Word-of-Mouth Era.
And, if a Senior Attorney’s Book of Business has less clients than yester-year, the practice does not offer as much value to a purchaser.
As Poock states, “[T]he overall point for today's Poock’s Post . . . is that if you're starting to see that you are not generating as many clients as you did pre-[2020], or even as you did in the pre-Google world . . . because your firm is based upon Word-of-Mouth, we highly recommend that now is the right time to consider selling because your practice is worth more now than it very well could be tomorrow, next month, next year.”
Episode 4 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” Why Growing Law Firms Need to Invest Money & Time Post-Sale.
As Poock explains, Growing Law Firms need to invest time and money post-sale because the benefits of a “Listening Tour,” followed by adapting and adopting, leads to Senior Attorneys and lawyers at a Growing Law Firm (1) Working together; and (2) Benefiting from the “Trust Transfer” of long-time clients and referral sources of a Senior Attorney to attorneys at the Growing Law Firm.
As Poock also points out, if Growing Law Firms do not invest that time and money, “both sides will not realize the tremendous opportunity that growth by acquisition presents to Growing Law Firms.”
Episode 4 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 6 questions: (1) How long does it to sell a law firm? (2) What Are the Payment Terms in Law Firm Sales? (3) What Are the Expectations of a Seller Post-Sale? (4) What Are Examples of Post-Sale Headaches That a Buyer and Seller Should Know in Advance? (5) What is the ROI on a Law Firm's Value by Introducing a Trade Name? and (6) If I was going to buy a law firm, I would want to know: Is their client list up to date?
Episode 4 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 6 questions: (1) How long does it to sell a law firm? (2) What Are the Payment Terms in Law Firm Sales? (3) What Are the Expectations of a Seller Post-Sale? (4) What Are Examples of Post-Sale Headaches That a Buyer and Seller Should Know in Advance? (5) What is the ROI on a Law Firm's Value by Introducing a Trade Name? and (6) If I was going to buy a law firm, I would want to know: Is their client list up to date?
In Segment 2, “Poock’s Post” addresses the following: Why Growing Law Firms Need to Invest Money & Time Post-Sale
Episode 3 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 3, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” When is the Right Time to Sell a Law Practice? Poock points out the following indicators for when attorneys should know that now is the right time to sell: (1) Upon realizing that a would-be Internal Successor is really not ever going to purchase your law firm; (2) Recognizing that Growth by Acquisition has arrived to the legal industry; (3) Personal reasons such as wanting to spend more time outside of the office post-Covid; (4) You’re not generating as much business as yester-year; and (5) Disinterest to renew a multi-year office lease. Poock also describes the importance of Synergy Value when selling a law practice to a Growing Law Firm.
Episode 3 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes Attorney Steve Horenstein of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt to discuss his experience after joining Schwabe in May 2022. During their conversation, Steve explains why he chose to merge Horenstein Law Group (HLG) with a regional law firm; the Synergy Value that HLG presented to Schwabe; and insights about transitioning HLG into Schwabe.
Episode 3 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 3 questions: (1) How do I best prepare my law practice for sale? (2) If a Personal Injury Law Firm would not receive upfront money upon a sale, why not sell via a generous fee split upon the Seller’s open cases to another PI attorney? and (3) How often and under what circumstances will law firm sales generate an upfront payment?
Episode 3 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 3 questions: (1) How do I best prepare my law practice for sale? (2) If a Personal Injury Law Firm would not receive upfront money upon a sale, why not sell via a generous fee split upon the Seller’s open cases to another PI attorney? and (3) How often and under what circumstances will law firm sales generate an upfront payment? In Segment 2, Poock welcomes Attorney Steve Horenstein of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt to discuss his experience after joining Schwabe in May 2022. And, in Segment 3., “Poock’s Post” addresses the following: When is the Right Time to Sell a Law Practice?
Episode 2 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments.
In Segment 3, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock’s Post:” The Ongoing Disruption in Law Firm Values Caused by the Post-2020 3.0 Digital Era. Poock explains how Senior Attorneys who do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing during the Post-2020 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry risk lower business development for new clients than yester-year for the following reason: Driven by convenience, today’s clients search “Uncle Google” for referrals for their legal needs rather than ask their brother, sister, best friend, accountant, financial planner, etc. as they did during the Pre-Google 1.0 Word-of-Mouth Era. And, in terms of the disruption that the Post-2020 3.0 Digital Era poses to law firm values, Poock states that for those lawyers “not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing for their practices, their number of new clients is going to decrease. And, that . . . decrease in clients is also going to decrease the value of your practice.”
Episode 2 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments.
In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes Attorney Harold Kestenbaum of Spadea Lignana to discuss Harold’s experience after joining Spadea Lignana in 2019. During their conversation, Harold debunks the following 3 fears that Senior Attorneys often have about selling their law practices by joining a Growing Law Firm: (1) Having a new boss after owning a law practice for many years; (2) Loss of control by joining a new law firm; and (3) Loss of identity by no longer running “the office.”
Episode 2 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments.
In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) Why isn’t acquisition a larger strategic initiative for growth in the legal industry? (2) Please explain the typical options for selling a firm; (3) What are the 3 most important factors a young lawyer should consider before buying a practice? and (4) How will a lawyer know when it’s time to sell the law practice?
Episode 2 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments.
In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) Why isn’t acquisition a larger strategic initiative for growth in the legal industry? (2) Please explain the typical options for selling a firm; (3) What are the 3 most important factors a young lawyer should consider before buying a practice? and (4) How will a lawyer know when it’s time to sell the law practice?
In Segment 2., Poock welcomes Attorney Harold Kestenbaum of Spadea Lignana to discuss his experience after joining Spadea Lignana in 2019.
And, in Segment 3., “Poock’s Post” addresses the following: The Ongoing Disruption in Law Firm Values Caused by the Post-2020 3.0 Digital Era.
In this episode of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales “In 7 Minutes,” Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following top 4 reasons why Growing Law Firms want & need Senior Attorneys and their staff:
(1) The instant client growth that Senior Attorneys present;
(2) The value of combining a Senior Attorney’s staff, together with the staff of a Growing Law Firm;
(3) The cumulative experience that Senior Attorneys and their staff present; and
(4) The marketing value that Senior Attorneys offer to Growing Law Firms in today's 3.0 Digital Era.
In this Trial Attorney practice area spotlight episode of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales “In 7 Minutes,” Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. welcomes Sam Dolce, Esq. of Milestone Consulting to discuss the benefits of Attorney Fee Deferral strategies for Trial Attorneys when selling their law practices.
Key points include:
- Trial Attorneys have 3 options when considering selling their practices
- An Attorney Fee Deferral strategy presents 3 benefits to Trial Attorneys
- To benefit from an Attorney Fee Deferral strategy, Trial Attorneys need to establish a Qualified Settlement Fund (QSF)
In this episode of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales “In 7 Minutes,” Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following top 3 reasons why Senior Attorneys question joining a Growing Law Firm:
(1) “Now is not the time for change.”
(2) “I don't want a boss.”
(3) “This is the year that my Internal Successor will offer to purchase my practice.”
Key points include:
- Now is the right time for Senior Attorneys to consider selling their law practices because their 5 “Value Chips” have their highest value at this time in the early 2020’s.
- The 4 reasons why Senior Attorneys do not have a “boss” when they join Growing Law Firms.
- The 4 reasons why Internal Successors don’t want to purchase your law practice and can’t afford to either.
In this State of the Market for Law Firm Sales “In 7 Minutes,” Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses why Growth by Acquisition has arrived to the Legal Industry.
Key points include:
- Senior Attorneys have what Growing Law Firms want and need.
- Growing Law Firms have 3 primary needs:
(1) A need for new clients;
(2) A need for an experienced workforce; and
(3) Digital Content for today’s 3.0 Digital Era for law firms.
- The following 2-fold benefits that Growth by Acquisition presents to Growing Law Firms:
(1) Pure Growth by Acquisition; and
(2) Cross-Marketing / Cross-Solving
In this State of the Market for Law Firm Sales episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and guest, Attorney Harold Kestenbaum of Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys, discuss how a successful sale looks and feels 2+ years later.
Key points include:
· The reasons why Harold decided not to pursue an Internal Successor.
· The Synergy Value that Harold presents to Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys.
· The quality of life benefits that Harold enjoys now that he can focus his time on practicing law, developing business, and spending more time outside of the office.
In this State of the Market for Law Firms episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 4 Reasons to Sell Your Law Firm in 2022.
Key points include:
· Senior Attorney lead practices will enjoy their highest value this year, as compared to future years during the 2020’s.
· If you have would-be Internal Successors in your law practice, those Internal Successors likely do not want to purchase your law firm and cannot afford to purchase it either.
· Growing Law Firms want and need Senior Attorney lead practices because of the Synergy Value that Senior Attorneys, together with their lawyer and professional staff, present.
· When Senior Attorneys sell their law practices to Growing Law Firms, they realize significant quality of life benefits for themselves and their families.
In this State of the Market for Law Firms episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses why Internal Successors don’t want to purchase a Senior Attorney’s law practice and can’t afford to either.
Key points include:
· There are 4 reasons why Internal Successors do not want to purchase a Senior Attorney’s law firm
· Growing Law Firms recognize and need the Synergy Value that Senior Attorney lead firms offer
· A “Winning Combination” results when Senior Attorneys and their would-be Internal Successors join Growing Law Firms
In this State of the Market for Law Firms episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Litify’s Dov Slansky discuss growth by acquisition opportunities for Trial Attorney Firms in 2022.
Key points include:
(1) The market is ripe for growth by acquisition in the Trial Attorney space;
(2) Growth by acquisition favors Trial Attorney firms that recognize the need to embrace technology in today’s 3.0 Digital Era; and
(3) Senior Attorney Trial Attorneys present tremendous Synergy Value to Growing Trial Attorney Firms.
In this State of the Market for Law Firms episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the impact of the Post-2020 Digital Era upon law firm sales.
Key points include:
· 2020 pivoted (really, plunged) the legal industry into the 3.0 Digital Era.
· Business development for law firms will continue favoring Growing Law Firms that embrace Multichannel Digital Marketing post-2020 because clients continue searching for their lawyers online.
· In reality, most Senior Attorneys are not adopting the same levels of digital marketing as their younger competitors.
· The Post-2020 Digital Era presents a supply and demand dynamic between:
Client attention migrating to Growing Law Firms (the Supply); and
The need by those clients for talented and experienced legal counsel (the Demand).
· As Growing Law Firms consider how to deliver the talent that their clients demand, Senior Attorneys present tremendous “Synergy Value.”
· When Growing Law Firms acquire Senior Attorney lead firms, it presents a “1 + 1 = 7” Business Development opportunity by applying Post-2020 digital marketing to the clients and referral sources that Senior Attorneys have developed during the course of their careers.
In this State of the Market for Law Firms episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 4 reasons why law firms should consider growth by acquisition in 2022.
Key points include:
- The 4 reasons for why law firms should consider growth by acquisition:
- Instant Client Growth;
- Combining a Senior Attorney’s experienced workforce with a Growing Law Firm;
- The Cumulative Experience of Senior Attorneys, together with their lawyer and support staff; and
-
The Marketing Value that Senior Attorneys present.
-
The 1 + 1 = 7 Business Development opportunities that Senior Attorneys present to Growing Law Firms.
-
Senior Attorneys offer tremendous Synergy Value to Growing Law Firms.
In this State of the Market for Law Firms episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 5 components to valuing a law practice post-2020.
Key points include:
- Pre-2020, law firm value consisted of the following 4 components: (1) Client List; (2) Referral Source List; (3) Good Will; and (4) Subject Matter knowledge.
- 2020 propelled the legal industry into the 3.0 Digital Era and introduced the following 5th new component to valuing a law practice: Digital Value.
- Senior Attorneys who continue practicing in the 1.0 Word of Mouth Era and 2.0 Website Plus Era will continue losing market share to law firms that embrace the 3.0 Digital Era and its accompanying Multi-Channel Digital Marketing approach to business development.
- Senior Attorneys offer tremendous Synergy Value to Growing Law Firms via the 5 Components of Value that Senior Attorneys have developed over the course of their careers.
In this State of the Market for Law Firm Sales, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott R. Loring, CPCC, address why Growing Law Firms want and need the 4 components of value that Senior Attorneys present
Key points include:
-
Growing Law Firms want and need the following 4 components of value that Senior Attorneys present: (i) New Clients; (ii) New Referral Sources; (iii) Good Will; and (iv) Subject Matter Knowledge.
-
Growing Law Firms that have adopted Multi-Channel Digital Marketing present a “1 + 1 = 7” business development opportunity for Senior Attorneys by: (i) Marketing to a Senior Attorney’s clients and referral sources; and (ii) Marketing a Senior Attorney’s Good Will and Subject Matter Knowledge.
-
Senior Attorneys who maintain their Status Quo between Ages 55 - 75 will generate less revenues post-2020 due to losing market share to Growing Law Firms who deploy Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to develop new business.
-
Growing Law Firms welcome Senior Attorneys, together with their key employee lawyer staff, because Growing Law Firms need competent lawyers who already know a Senior Attorney’s clients and the applicable subject matter knowledge.
In this State of the Market episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott R. Loring, CPCC, address the impact of 2020 upon the 4 Components of Value of a Senior Attorney’s practice.
Key points include:
-
2020 propelled our society deeper into the Digital Age, which has resulted in Google becoming America’s No. 1 referral source for lawyers.
-
Senior Attorneys, who began their careers during the 1.0 Word of Mouth Era for Business Development now find themselves in the 3.0 Digital Marketing Era, where business development for new clients requires a Multi-Channel Digital Marketing approach.
-
Consumers for legal services will continue migrating to convenience to find lawyers similar to how we all conveniently shop on Amazon, watch our favorite shows/movies on Netflix, workout at home on our Pelotons, and order Ubers rather than wait for taxis.
-
Growing Law Firms, who continue outpacing Senior Attorneys in the 3.0 Digital Marketing Era for business development, want and need the 4 Components of Value that Senior Attorneys present.
In this State of the Market episode, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott R. Loring, CPCC, address the 4 Reasons Why Internal Successors Offer Limited Potential to Purchase a Senior Attorney’s Law Practice:
- Key employee lawyers will not wake-up one day and convert into becoming business owners.
- Potential Internal Successors lack business operations experience and the entrepreneurial mindset to own and operate a law practice.
- Even though key employees maintain the trust of a Senior Attorney’s clients, they do not present the “1 + 1 = 7” Business Development potential that Senior Attorneys deserve.
- As key employees, Internal Successors lack the capital to purchase a Senior Attorney’s practice.
By comparison, Senior Attorney Match recommends that Senior Attorneys sell their law practices to Growing Law Firms for the following 3 reasons:
- Growing Law Firms want and need Senior Attorneys, together with key employees
- Growing Law Firms have the ability to maximize the “1 + 1 = 7” for Business Development opportunities that Senior Attorneys present.
- Growing Law Firms present the preferred pathway for Senior Attorneys to accomplish their goals of (i) Selling their law practices; (ii) Ensuring long-term representation of their clients by competent, successor counsel; and (iii) Securing long-term employment for their key employee lawyer and administrative staff.
In the State of the Market episode, “How to Sell a Law Practice Post-2020,” Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott R. Loring, CPCC, address:
- The 3 Options for Selling a Law Practice Post-2020
- The 4 Components to Valuing a Law Practice
- The Ongoing Shift in Legal Consumer Behavior Post-2020
- The Key Factors that Impact Revenues for Senior Attorneys (Ages 55-75)
Poock and Loring discuss how a Senior Attorney’s “Trust Transfer” of clients and referral sources presents “1 + 1 = 7” business development opportunities to Growing Law Firms.
They also discuss how rising competition for legal services by Growing Law Firms that adopt post-2020 Multi-Channel Digital Marketing strategies will continue impacting new client revenues for Senior Attorneys.
In this episode, Margaret Burke of Kolibri Law Support Solutions, discusses the importance of Integration Consulting during the first 30, 60, 90, and 180 days after Senior Attorneys join Growing Law Firms.
Burke, who has previously served as CEO of a mid-sized law firm and holds a MBA, Bachelor of Science in Accounting, and is a Certified Professional Coach, assists law firm leaders with: (i) Law firm management; (ii) Financial management; (iii) Human capital management; (iv) Operations Management; and (v) Sales and marketing management.
As Burke states, “Our goal is to free-up the attorneys so they can focus on what they do best and what they enjoy doing.”
When addressing the benefits of Integration Consulting during the first 180 days, Burke and Poock advise Senior Attorneys and Growing Law Firms as follows:
Days 1 – 30: Focus on “meet-and-greets,” social events, assigning mentors, and explaining new processes to the Senior Attorneys joining a new firm.
Days 30 – 60: Prepare to jointly contact and meet with a Senior Attorney’s clients and referral sources. As Burke states: “This is also a great time to recognize that perhaps something that was in the original plan [needs] a small adjustment.”
Days 60 – 90: “This is a time to really re-focus, be open, [and] make changes that can be made. If they cannot be made, discuss why,” Burke says.
Days 90 – 180: Here, Poock adds that during Days 90 – 180, the parties learn to trust each other, where they develop that trust by listening and learning from each other.
Addressing the value of an Integration Consultant during the first 180 days, Burke states: “[E]valuation and [the] opportunity for people to meet and discuss things . . . with the help of a third party is critical to move forward and reach the goals that everyone set when they originally decided to join each other.”
In this episode, Mark S. Gottlieb, CPA/ABV/CFF, ASA, CVA, CBA, MST of MSG Accountants, Consultants & Business Valuators (www.msgcpa.com) discusses valuing law firms.
In response to the “What is My Law Practice Worth” question, Gottlieb explains that valuing a law practice depends on the size of a practice, namely, a sole proprietorship, a medium-sized firm, or a large law firm.
For small law practices, Gottlieb explains that valuation depends upon the following question: “What is the amount of cash flow available to the owner both before and after officer’s compensation, and what is the risk associated with earning that revenue stream?”
In the context of succession planning for lawyers, Poock points out that Growing Law Firms pay for the value of a Senior Attorney’s practice via fee sharing derived from a Senior Attorney’s clients and referral sources, payable over a defined period of time.
Gottlieb defines that value as: “Synergy Value.”
As Gottlieb states: “Growth is now primarily coming from acquisition, not from organic growth.”
In this episode, David F. Keefe III, CLU, ChFC (linkedin.com/in/davidfkeefe) of 4-Point Financial (www.4-pointfinancial.com) addresses the role of life insurance in succession planning for lawyers. As a life insurance advisor who specializes in understanding the value of Human Capital, David addresses the importance of life insurance for: (i) Law firm partners as business owners; (ii) Senior Attorneys who join Growing Law Firms per a term of years earnout; and (iii) Senior Attorneys who do not yet have a successor and for whom life insurance can serve as a phantom buyer. As Poock points out, attorneys who have not fulfilled a succession plan yet should especially consider including life insurance as part of their business planning strategy.
In this episode, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Jared D. Correia, Esq., Founder and CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting (www.redcavelegal.com), discuss the importance and opportunities attributable to a Senior Attorney’s client list and referral source list. As Poock explains, valuing a law practice consists of 4 elements (a) Client list; (b) Referral Source list; (c) Good Will; and (d) Subject matter knowledge. Correia, who has consulted with 4,000+ law firms to become more effective businesses, points out that client lists present tangible, business generation opportunities to Growing Law Firms. Correia also explains best practices for managing client and referral source lists, including (1) Housing the client and referral source lists within marketing automation services (egs. CRM software, Mailchimp, etc.); (2) Establishing marketing and re-marketing protocols; and (3) Tracking responsiveness to marketing campaigns.
In this episode, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott Loring address the top 5 reasons why a commercial lease should not delay succession planning for Senior Attorneys: (1) Avoid the “Sunk Cost Fallacy,” which Loring defines for listeners as when we continue an action because of our past decisions, rather than a rational choice of what will maximize our utility at this present time; (2) Recognize that a “Random Tuesday Event” could occur before the end of the lease term; (3) A successor may have interest to assume the lease; (4) Options for mitigation; and (5) The risks that maintaining the Status Quo presents to the value of a Senior Attorney’s practice. Poock also points out that Growing Law Firms view a Senior Attorney’s commercial lease as a cost of doing business. In the context of the influx of clients and referral sources that a Senior Attorney’s practice presents, Growing Law Firms often say, “Please, put that on the table for us to discuss and negotiate.”
In Part Two of the FSBO episode, business brokers, Gary Rayberg, President of ROI Corporation (www.roibusinessbrokers.com) and Cress V. Diglio, Managing Partner of Calder Associates (www.calderassociates.com), address FSBO’s in the context of: (i) A friendly competitor; and (2) An internal sale. When considering a friendly competitor, Diglio and Rayberg explain how a business broker can expedite the sale process, as well as identify when a friendly competitor lacks a genuine interest to purchase the Seller’s business, or worse, may seek a Seller’s competitive information. Poock adds that introducing additional buyers for a Seller to consider beyond a familiar, friendly competitor also provides value to Sellers. For internal sales, Poock explains the value of structuring, valuing, and serving as an emotional buffer that intermediaries provide. As Diglio points out, business brokers who structure internal sales deliver a “feel good story all the way around” by achieving the sale of a Seller’s business to a key employee or family member who can continue running the company.
In this two-part episode, two national leaders in business brokerage, Gary Rayberg, President of ROI Corporation (www.roibusinessbrokers.com) and Cress V. Diglio, Managing Partner of Calder Associates (www.calderassociates.com), discuss For Sale by Owner – FSBO. In Part One, Rayberg and Diglio define FSBO and address the risks that FSBO presents to Sellers. When comparing selling a business via FSBO to working with a business broker, Rayberg identifies the amount of work involved with selling a business, including valuing, marketing, and allocating 150-300+ hours from Listing to Closing. Diglio emphasizes the benefits of an intermediary’s sales process, including the importance of a valuation. As Diglio states, “The valuation sets an expectation.” Rayberg adds, “Having someone that is knowledgeable about valuation and also deal structure can help someone who is selling understand if they are getting a good deal.”
In this episode, Attorney Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott Loring of Cooperative Coaching & Mediation discuss “Integration Consulting” the fourth step in Senior Attorney Match’s 4-step process for designing and implementing succession plans for Senior Attorneys. Poock and Loring discuss Integration Consulting as it applies to a Senior Attorney joining a growing law firm. During Integration Consulting, Senior Attorney Match continues its role as intermediary by assisting the parties to: (i) Build trust among each other during their first 6-12 months practicing together; and (ii) Keep their eyes on the proverbial ball by focusing on fulfilling the terms of the agreement that they negotiated during Implementation. As Poock explains, the Integration Consultant makes the process of integrating a Senior Attorney’s practice into a growing law firm “so much smoother, so much more effective, and ultimately, much more successful for the Senior Attorney, the growing law firm, and really, the clients who benefit by these parties having come together.”
In this episode, Attorney Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott Loring of Cooperative Coaching & Mediation discuss “Implementation,” the third step in Senior Attorney Match’s 4-step process for designing and implementing succession plans for Senior Attorneys. In Implementation, Senior Attorney Match implements upon the succession planning option determined during the Next Step Process. Typically, that option involves pursuing a growing law firm. Implementation involves 4 phases: (1) Identifying growing law firms for Senior Attorneys to consider; (2) Serving as the intermediary to contact growing law firms that Senior Attorney Match identifies for its clients; (3) Conducting and leading negotiations between a Senior Attorney and a growing law firm; and (4) Overseeing the drafting of an agreement between the parties to document the terms that Senior Attorney Match assists its clients to negotiate. As Poock states, “At the end of day, our goal is to make sure that our clients are getting the right successor for their law practice.”
In this episode, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., founder of Senior Attorney Match (www.seniorattorneymatch.com), Ari P. Kornhaber, Esq., Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Esquire Bank (www.esquirebank.com), and Peter Webb, a founding member and Senior Vice President of Scorpion (www.scorpion.co) discuss intelligent growth opportunities for Trial Attorney Firms to thrive and not just survive during the Covid-19 era. Webb identifies the 3 major problems that Trial Attorney Firms face today: (i) Generating more/better cases; (ii) Getting in front of the types of cases that Trial Attorneys want; and (iii) Wasting money on case acquisition costs. Webb defines “Intelligent Growth for Trial Attorneys” as the strategic expansion of (i) Cases; (ii) Firm size; (iii) Geography; and (iv) Market share. Kornhaber stresses the need for Trial Attorney Firms to “plan for long game now,” starting by projecting case inventory revenues for the next 12, 24, and 36 months. Kornhaber explains the benefits that case cost financing offers to Trial Attorneys and describes the Case Cost Line of Credit and Working Capital Line of Credit that Esquire Bank offers to Trial Attorney Firms. Webb and Kornhaber discuss the interplay between investing in Internet Marketing Strategies and operational infrastructure for growing Trial Attorney Firms, including how Esquire Bank’s case cost financing can free-up financial resources for Trial Attorneys to: (i) Improve their firm’s brand; (ii) Generate new cases; and (iii) Invest in operational infrastructure to position themselves for growth. Poock shares the “Win-Win” opportunities that Senior Attorney trial lawyers present to growing Trial Attorney Firms, including: (i) Adding new cases; (ii) Adding new referral sources; and (iii) Bringing 30+ years of trial experience that often results in increasing a growing Trial Attorney Firm’s overall case values.
In this episode, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott Loring discuss the “Next Step Process,” the second part of Senior Attorney Match’s 4-step approach to design and implement succession plans for Senior Attorneys. During the Next Step Process, Senior Attorney Match (i) Determines the value of a Senior Attorney’s practice; (ii) Simulates the “Internal Plan” vs. “External Plan” options for who can succeed to a Senior Attorney’s practice; and (iii) Designs a “go to market” plan for Senior Attorneys to implement.
In this episode, Peter Webb, SVP and Angela Wearn, EVP of Scorpion’s Personal Injury Law Division (www.scorpion.co) provide tips and developing best practices as Trial Attorneys evaluate and pivot their Internet Marketing Strategies in response to the global Coronavirus Pandemic. As Peter recommends, “Take a fresh look at how your firm is perceived online. . . because that is a critical component to acquiring new clients today.” Angela and Peter address the current and future opportunities that Zoom and other video conferencing platforms offer to Trial Attorneys. As Angela states, “Speed in marketing is really the name of the game. The person who gets to a client first statistically will sign them.” In response to Poock commenting about the “incredibly personal” nature of Zoom when communicating with clients, Peter adds, “It is fantastic new addition that all firms should embrace.” As Internet Marketing advice for the remainder of 2020, Peter and Angela emphasize the importance for Trial Attorneys to (i) remain front, center, and present for their clients; and (ii) review the interplay between their operational infrastructure and Internet Marketing Strategy. As Peter comments about the impact of the Pandemic: “From this, things change, and you need to change with it.”
In this episode, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Scott Loring explain the 5 Myths vs. Realities about who can succeed to a Senior Attorney’s practice. As Poock and Loring discuss, the 5 Myths are as follows: (1) This year, my internal successor will approach me to offer to purchase my practice; (2) If I ask my internal successor to make me an offer, he will get scared that I may retire soon and then leave with my key clients and referral sources; (3) This year, I will recruit a lawyer from a mid-size or large law firm with 15-20 years of experience and a book of business who will want to take over my practice when I retire; (4) If I consider merging my practice with a Growing Law Firm, my internal successor will leave and take my key clients and referral sources with him. (5) Based upon the long-time loyalty of my lawyer staff, they deserve to take over my practice. Poock points out the 4 values that Senior Attorney lead practices present to the right successor, namely: (1) Clients; (b) Referral Sources; (c) Good Will; and (d) The know-how of a Senior Attorney’s staff, including well-trained, knowledgeable junior attorneys. Poock and Loring discuss the risks that relying upon the 5 Myths for too long presents to the value of a Senior Attorney’s practice. And, Poock explains the 3 Wins that Growing Law Firms present to Senior Attorneys: (i) Entering into a succession plan with the right successor who will welcome the Senior Attorney and often, the Senior Attorney’s lawyer staff; (ii) Securing ongoing, competent representation for the Senior Attorney’s clients; and (iii) Transitioning a Senior Attorney’s practice to a successor that wants the practice and has both the capability and motivation to continue growing it beyond the generation’s worth of good will that the Senior Attorney developed.
In this episode, we explain why Senior Attorney Match created its 90 minute Next Step Workshop for attorneys considering selling their law practices. As Poock explains, the Next Step Workshop provides a safe environment for attorneys to explore: (1) What is my practice worth? (2) To whom can I sell my law practice? (3) What is the difference between an Internal Plan and an External Plan? (4) What risks do waiting too long present? (5) How do I rate the importance of monetizing my practice vs. gaining the freedom to spend more time with family and other “outside the office” pursuits? (6) What is my time frame? and (7) What do I really want and why? Participants leave the Next Step Workshop with a road map and timeline to accomplish the goals that we design. They also learn about the risks that waiting too long can present, including: (a) The increased risk for an unexpected physical or mental health event; (b) A decrease in practice value as a Senior Attorney’s clients and referral sources retire or move away; and (c) The “4-Bads” that result when a key associate or partner unexpectedly decides to join another law firm rather than succeed to a Senior Attorney’s practice.
In this West Coast edition of “Trial Attorneys: Open for Business,” Attorney Robert E. Cartwright, Jr. of San Francisco based Cartwright Law Firm (www.cartwrightlaw.com) and Attorney R. Brent Wisner of Los Angeles based Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, PC (www.baumhedlundlaw.com) join returning guest, mediator Attorney Sarah E. Worley of Boston based Worley Conflict Resolution (www.worleyconflictresolution.com ). Addressing his experience with defense counsel while courts remain closed for trials, Cartwright expresses encouragement about the progression of Discovery, virtual depositions, and virtual mediations. Wisner explains how his Mass Tort practice has transitioned to focusing on areas that do not require in-person interactions. Worley, who transformed her national mediation practice in mid-March to a virtual platform via Zoom, states: “I am mediating every day.” Worley also explains that insurance company decision-makers have actually become more accessible during virtual mediations. Addressing his experience with virtual mediations, Cartwright states that Zoom works “pretty well,” but long-term “we are going to be in trouble if we cannot figure out how to get cases to trial. . . Without the threat of a trial, it’s hard to have the leverage to settle a case.” Looking to the future of Mass Torts once Stay-at-Home orders begin easing, Wisner foresees the need for significant, in-person catch-up. Before then, Wisner comments about ongoing innovation and adaptation in Mass Torts such as the recent stipulation for the appointment of a Special Master in the Zantac litigation. Commenting about how that Special Master has organized the parties to negotiate discovery agreements, Wisner states: “We’ve made more progress during Covid in this limited time than I have ever seen happen in a MDL, and yet, we haven’t even physically met each other one time.” As Poock states: “This is what innovators do. They adapt.”
In this episode, Peter Webb, SVP and Angela Wearn, EVP of Scorpion’s Personal Injury Law Division (www.scorpion.co) provide tips and developing best practices as Trial Attorneys evaluate and pivot their Internet Marketing Strategies in response to the global Coronavirus Pandemic. As Peter recommends, “Take a fresh look at how your firm is perceived online. . . because that is a critical component to acquiring new clients today.” Angela and Peter address the current and future opportunities that Zoom and other video conferencing platforms offer to Trial Attorneys. As Angela states, “Speed in marketing is really the name of the game. The person who gets to a client first statistically will sign them.” In response to Poock commenting about the “incredibly personal” nature of Zoom when communicating with clients, Peter adds, “It is fantastic new addition that all firms should embrace.” As Internet Marketing advice for the remainder of 2020, Peter and Angela emphasize the importance for Trial Attorneys to (i) remain front, center, and present for their clients; and (ii) review the interplay between their operational infrastructure and Internet Marketing Strategy. As Peter comments about the impact of the Pandemic: “From this, things change, and you need to change with it.”
In this second episode of Boomer Women in the Legal Profession, our panel discusses how to prepare the next generation of women leaders in the Law. Attorney Scharf emphasizes the importance of innovative research and initiatives to advance women lawyers into leadership positions. Attorney Mayes stresses providing upcoming women leaders with “stretch opportunities” to move-up to the next level, including focusing on the personal development of individual women lawyers with real time feedback from sponsors and executive coaches. Attorney Buckley adds that “we should start early, and we should do more to train women to be leaders earlier in their lives.” Speaking on behalf of Culhane Meadows where women lawyers comprise over 50% of the firm’s equity partners, Attorney Rittenberry Culhane explains the importance for upcoming women lawyers to develop direct and close relationships with clients early in their careers. Poock shares the generational opportunity for women leaders in the Law to succeed to the law practices of Boomer male attorneys as they continue retiring during the next 5-20 years. The panelists conclude by sharing their hopes and dreams for women leaders in the Law by 12/31/29, including Attorney Scharf stating: “My hope is that . . . we have turned the curve and can have an unconstrained discussion about retirement and its opportunities, regardless of gender, race, and ethnicity.”
In this first episode of Boomer Women in the Legal Profession, we introduce our panelists, (1) Attorney Stephanie A. Scharf, co-founder of Scharf Banks Marmor LLC (www.scharfbanks.com), current chair of the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession, past president of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), founder of the NAWL Annual Survey of Retention and Advancement of Women in Law, and co-author of the recent ABA publication, “Walking Out the Door: The Facts, Figures, and Future of Experienced Women Lawyers in Private Practice;” (2) Attorney Michele Coleman Mayes, General Counsel for the New York Public Library (www.nypl.org), previous General Counsel for Allstate and Pitney Bowes, and immediate past chair of the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession; (iii) Attorney Gabrielle M. Buckley, Director of the Gannon Center for Women and Leadership at Loyola University Chicago (www.luc.edu/gannon); and (iv) Attorney Kelly Rittenberry Culhane, co-founder and Managing Partner of Culhane Meadows, the nation’s largest women-owned, full-service law firm (www.culhanemeadows.com). Our panel then discusses retirement options for Boomer Women in the Law, including (i) Attorney Buckley describing her transition from full-time private practice to becoming the Director of the Gannon Center; (ii) Attorney Mayes discussing how Ida Abbott’s advice about “retiring by design” offers Boomer Women in the Law opportunities to re-tool in retirement the human capital developed while practicing law; (iii) Attorney Scharf pointing out the ongoing challenge to the legal profession presented by 40% of women having already left the profession after 25 years of practicing law; and (iv) Attorney Culhane explaining the platform that Culhane Meadows offers to Boomer women attorneys structured without billable hour requirements and focusing instead on fulfilling the question: “What does retirement look like for you?”
In this episode, Scott R. Loring (www.cooperativecoach.com) and Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discuss the following 2 choices that the multi-month Coronavirus pandemic presents to Senior Attorney lead law firms: (1) A 12+ month re-building process, including countless administrative related hours to oversee re-building while generating new work and billable hours; or (2) Join a growing law firm that needs the following 4 assets that Senior Attorneys and their practices offer: (1) Clients; (2) Referral Sources; (3) Know-how; and (4) Good Will. Loring and Poock discuss the positives and challenges associated with each choice. As Poock states with respect to the growing law firm choice: “Senior Attorneys have what growing law firms want and need. . . Senior Attorneys have a lot of negotiating power.”
In this episode, Trial Attorney Ben Rubinowitz of Manhattan based Gair Gair Conason (www.gairgair.com) and Defense Attorney Chris Kenney of Boston based Kenney & Sams (www.kslegal.com), together with Boston based Attorney Sarah Worley of Sarah E. Worley Conflict Resolution (www.worleyconflictresolution.com), discuss how Personal Injury Law matters continue progressing while courts remain closed in New York and Massachusetts as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Kenney explains incentives that insurance companies have to move cases along reasonably and efficiently, together with examples of conducting discovery while maintaining social distancing. From a Trial Attorney’s perspective, Rubinowitz provides examples for moving clients’ matters forward, including preparing pleadings and conducting video depositions. Rubinowitz and Kenney both address the benefits that virtual mediation presents in Personal Injury Law matters. Worley, who has conducted over 5,000 Personal Injury law mediations, explains that during the 2 week period since mid-March 2020, Worley had already conducted 12 mediations, including a 10 party fire subrogation matter with 17 participants and 8 breakout rooms. Worley also addresses best practices for conducting virtual mediations, including how Trial Attorneys can encourage their plaintiff clients to trust the virtual mediation process. Rubinowitz explains that “patience wins” and advises his Trial Lawyer colleagues to focus on the best interest of the client and: “Don’t ever panic.” As practical advice, Kenney suggests the following 4 points for defense attorneys and adjusters to make daily, linear progress on their open matters: communicate, plan, execute, and assess.
In this video podcast, Senior Attorney Match founder, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., sits with Scott Loring, long-time business exit strategist, to discuss why Poock considers now as a Seller's market and Buyer's market for Senior Attorney lead law firms. Poock and Loring discuss the impact that status quo has on the value of a lawyer’s practice, the “glean in the eyes” of growing law firms, and the winning combination that growing law firms present to Senior Attorneys.
Danny Hughes, a partner with Thompson Flanagan, a Chicago based E&O insurance brokerage firm discusses professional liability insurance (malpractice insurance) for lawyers with a focus on Trial Attorneys (http://thompsonflanagan.com/lawyers-liability). As “Specialists for Specialists,” Thompson Flanagan brokers E&O insurance for law firms, private equity firms, venture capitalists, and financial institutions. Together with a team of 20 brokers, Thompson Flanagan brokers professional liability, cyber liability, employment practices, and additional commercial insurance to over 600 law firms nationwide. Since 2008, Hughes has focused on Trial Lawyers, brokering malpractice insurance policies for approximately 260 Trial Attorney firms, including several of the largest Trial Attorney firms in the U.S. Hughes explains why Trial Attorney firms present good risk to underwriters, which permits Thompson Flanagan to seek competitive coverage for their Trial Attorney clients. Hughes and Poock discuss the cost calculations, logistics, and planning opportunities involved with obtaining an Extended Reporting Period (tail policy) when lawyers and law firms consider a merger, sale, or retirement. Hughes also explains the trending increases in annual policy premiums and even caps on coverage as a result of the emerging hardening market for malpractice insurance for lawyers. In a “hard market,” Hughes emphasizes the need for law firms to submit their malpractice insurance applications early to allow brokers to effectively obtain competitive coverage for their law firm clients.
In this first global edition of the Senior Attorney Match Podcast, Philip Stein provides his perspective of the growing legal market in Israel as the President & CEO of Philip Stein & Assoc., the largest U.S. accounting firm in Israel (www.pstein.com). Originally from Chicago and educated at the University of Michigan (MBA), Philip founded Philip Stein & Assoc. in 1979 in Israel. Philip explains the progression of Israel’s legal market from the Dot Com Era during the 1990’s through Israel achieving its status as the Start-up Nation in the early 21st Century. Boasting the highest number of lawyers per capita of any country worldwide, the number of lawyers in Israel has increased from approximately 11,000 in 1990 to over 54,000 in 2020. Philip addresses a current tax tip for Israel-based start-ups to consider organizing their companies in the U.S. based upon Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Sec. 1202. And, Philip discusses that Israeli law firms lack a standard retirement model and continue to need options for Baby Boomer partners seeking to partially or fully retire.
Philip Stein & Assoc. provides tax and accounting services to individuals and businesses with a focus on Israeli start-ups seeking to enter the U.S market, or establish a U.S. subsidiary. The company prides itself on finding innovative solutions for its clients’ U.S. tax needs by utilizing its expertise and detailed knowledge of both U.S. and Israeli tax law. Philip Stein hosts the podcast, “From the Midwest to the Middle East,” which highlights amazing companies that drive the Israeli economy and have “no end to new ideas.” (https://www.pstein.com/podcasts/)
In this episode, Franchise Attorneys, Harold Kestenbaum, Tom Spadea, and Josh Lignana discuss Kestenbaum merging his Melville, NY based Franchise Law practice into Philadelphia based Spadea Lignana in April 2019 (www.spadealaw.com). Kestenbaum began practicing Franchise Law in 1977 and opened his own Franchise Law practice when New York passed its state franchise law in 1981. Spadea and Lignana, lifetime friends, started Spadea Lignana in 2011, following Spadea’s decision to go to Temple University Law School for the sole purpose of becoming a Franchise Attorney. Following Spadea asking Kestenbaum at a franchise trade show in January 2019 to consider Spadea Lignana for a future merger possibility, Senior Attorney Match facilitated negotiations that resulted in their merger in late April 2019. Now, a Top 5 Franchise Law firm nationwide, Spadea Lignana combines Kestenbaum’s 40+ year career of incubating and representing thousands of franchisors with Spadea Lignana’s reputation of assisting franchisors to strategically grow their brands. Spadea Lignana has its sights upon becoming the No. 1 Franchise Law firm nationwide. As Spadea states: “We are helping small franchisors build generational wealth.” For Kestenbaum, the merger has resulted in Kestenbaum “doing more of what I like to do.” Dubbed by Spadea and Lignana as the “Terminator,” Kestenbaum continues focusing on business development and assisting emerging brands bring their franchise dreams and ambitions to reality. Reflecting upon the addition of Kestenbaum to Spadea Lignana, Spadea says, “It’s phenomenal.”
In this episode, recorded at the 2020 AAJ Winter Convention in New Orleans, Peter C. Webb, Founding Member & SVP of Personal Injury at Scorpion (www.scorpion.co) and a digital marketing consultant, explains Scorpion’s industry-leading Internet marketing business for law firms that includes a focus on trial lawyers. Per Scorpion’s motto, “Building a Better Way,” Scorpion offers a 3 part approach to Internet marketing for its law firm clients: Design content; Develop strategy, and Implement upon the strategy. According to Peter, the attention span for an individual searching for a PI attorney online is as low as 2-4 seconds. Scorpion understands that websites and social media channels for today’s trial lawyers must clearly portray why they are the best attorney choice for injured clients searching the Internet for an attorney to represent them. With over 850 employees in offices located in LA, the Dallas area, and Long Island, Scorpion has the resources and experience to develop 1, 3, and 5 year plans to position their trial lawyer clients to potential injured clients via a comprehensive digital strategy, including website and multiple social media channels. Peter describes 2 success stories. First, involving a mid-size, Houston-based PI firm for whom a collaborative digital marketing campaign helped increase the firm’s verdicts and settlements by several hundred million dollars over a 7-year span spearheaded by Scorpion. Second, involving a boutique plaintiff practice that needed to supplement their predominantly peer-based referrals by generating more cases directly. Within three months, they had already obtained a 7-figure new case, along with several dozen smaller accident and injury claims.
Regarding Senior Attorneys, Peter describes the “match made in heaven” that the combination of younger, growing law firms with the experience, track record, and legacy that Senior Attorneys presents to injured clients. Peter also encourages more Senior Attorneys to consider Scorpion for their Internet marketing needs because clients need to get the representation that they deserve. As Peter states: “It’s your job and duty to make sure you show up so they get the representation. That can’t happen if the Senior Attorneys aren’t standing up and making sure that they can be found.”
In this podcast, Ari. P. Kornhaber, Esq., co-founder of Esquire Bank, talks about the challenges lawyers face when lawyers seek to and grow their practice using external financing. The lending options available to law firms today are vast and often confusing with terms and conditions often hidden in the detail. Ari explains these real-world law firm lending options available to lawyers in simple ‘non-financial’ terms, helping law firms compare the different options available. Ari also explains that one of Esquire Bank's core differentiators is that Esquire understands that a law firm’s cases are its most valuable asset and one that Esquire uses when valuing a law firm and providing capital for growth.
In this episode, Scott Loring of Cooperative Coaching and Mediation and Jeremy discuss the 3 biggest risks for Senior Attorneys who wait too long to implement a succession plan for their law practices. The 3 biggest risks are: (1) The increasing unlikelihood that new clients will retain you because clients seek lawyers who will represent them for 5+ years; (2) The increasing risk of an unexpected physical or mental ailment that can end a lawyer’s career; and (3) The unexpected departure of a partner or long-time associate whom you expected to succeed to your practice. Each of those risks negatively effect the value of law practices. Jeremy and Scott discuss how Senior Attorneys can plan for avoiding these risks, including the value of Senior Attorney Match’s Next Step Workshop. We also discuss how to know whether a senior associate or partner actually can succeed to your practice. And, we discuss how growing law firms present the winning combination that clients seek, namely, combining the experience and know how that Senior Attorneys offer with the long-term relationship with their attorneys that growing law firms provide.