Senior Attorney Match Podcast

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.

Why Senior Attorney Law Firm Owners Feel Tired in the Mid-2020s

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.

The Top 3 Reasons Why Would-be Internal Successors Leave a Senior Attorney’s Law Firm to Accept a Job at Another Firm

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.

State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes: The Top 4 Trends for Law Firm Sales in 2024 – Part 2 of 2

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.