Q.1 from Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show: I am considering retiring within the next 12 months by closing my office. Could I sell my law practice instead?

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.”