Q.2 from Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show: What are the Top 3 Reasons Why Senior Attorneys Question Selling to a Growing Law Firm?

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.