Senior Attorney Match Podcast

Mini Podcast from the Ep. 9 of the Ask Show: Why are today’s Senior Attorneys tired of running 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”

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.”

The 3rd of 3 Treasure Chests of Digital Value that Senior Attorneys Present to Growing Law Firms: Website Good Will

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.

The 2nd of 3 Treasure Chests of Digital Value that Senior Attorneys Present to Growing Law Firms: Digital Content

In Ep. 50, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 2^nd 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.

Poock’s Post Segment of Episode 14 of “The Ask the Law Firm Seller Show”

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:

 

1. 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.

 

2. 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.

 

3. 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.

 

4. 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.

 

 

Q&A Segment of Episode 14 of “The Ask the Law Firm Seller Show”

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:

 

1. 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.

 

2. 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.

 

3. 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”

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.

Why the Books of Business of Today’s Senior Attorneys Compare to Taxi Medallions in the Mid-2010s

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.”

The 1st of 3 Treasure Chests of Digital Value that Senior Attorneys Present to Growing Law Firms: Access to 100s (1000s) of Client Google Reviews

In Ep. 49, Senior Attorney Match’s Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. discusses the 1^st 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.

The 4 Winners When Senior Attorneys Sell to Growing Law Firms

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.