Q.1 from Ep. 22 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show: If I merge my law firm with a Growing Law Firm, won’t I suddenly have a new boss?

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:

 

1. No longer needing to manage “the office,” including no longer making payroll every two weeks, paying rent every month, handle hiring/firing, etc.

 

2. Experience the freedom of spending more time outside of “the office,” including finally having time to take a multi-week vacation.

 

3. 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.

 

4. 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).