Senior Attorney Match Podcast

In Ep. 60 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following: The Do's & Don'ts of Succession Planning for Lawyers in the Mid-2020s   Poock explains the following 5 Dos:   (1) Update Book of Business contact info. (addresses, e-mails, cell phone nos.)   (2) Recognize that Key Employee Lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm because they want a reliable, predictable & safe job   (3) Update content & pics. for the firm's website, plus request 5-Star Google reviews from clients   (4) Consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants & needs new clients, experienced lawyer/non-lawyer staff & digital content   (5) Expand digital marketing (egs. update LinkedIn profile & regularly post to social media platforms)   Poock also explains the following 5 Don'ts:   (1) Wait too long to sell if your firm originates fewer new clients in the Mid-2020s than Pre-Google   (2) Assume that Key Employee Lawyers want to become Internal Successors   (3) Underestimate “Uncle Google” as America's greatest referral source for attorneys   (4) Maintain the Status Quo & risk a Random Tuesday Event (egs. unexpected departure of a Key Employee Lawyer; pre-mature death or incapacity of a Senior Attorney law firm owner)   (5) Overlook converting Subject Matter Knowledge to Digital Marketing Content

In this 1 hour CLE program during Clio's May 8, 2025 Solo & Small Firm Virtual Summit, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. and Schwabe partner, Steve Horenstein, Esq., discuss how to value, sell, and purchase a law firm post-2020, together with the ethical rules associated with succession planning for lawyers.   Horenstein shares his first-hand experience after merging his Vancouver, WA practice with a regional law firm, Schwabe, in 2022.    Alex Bramos of Clio moderates the CLE program, including its Q&A session.   Topics include:   (1) How to value a law firm;   (2) The 3 options for selling a law firm;   (3) Important items to update and organize 12-24 months before selling a law firm;   (4) The top 5 mistakes to avoid before selling a law firm;   (5) The value of growth by acquisition;   (6) The 4 steps needed to achieve success post-sale; and   (7) The Professional Rules of Conduct associated with Succession Planning for Lawyers

During the Poock's Post segment of Ep. 24 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following: The Do's & Don'ts of Succession Planning for Lawyers   Poock explains the following 5 Dos:   (1) Update Book of Business contact info. (addresses, e-mails, cell phone nos.)   (2) Recognize that Key Employee Lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm because they want a reliable, predictable & safe job   (3) Update content & pics. for the firm's website, plus request 5-Star Google reviews from clients   (4) Consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants & needs new clients, experienced lawyer/non-lawyer staff & digital content   (5) Expand digital marketing (egs. update LinkedIn profile & regularly post to social media platforms)   Poock also explains the following Don'ts:   (1) Wait too long to sell if your firm originates fewer new clients in the Mid-2020s than Pre-Google   (2) Assume that Key Employee Lawyers want to become Internal Successors   (3) Underestimate “Uncle Google” as America's greatest referral source for attorneys   (4) Maintain the Status Quo & risk a Random Tuesday Event (egs. unexpected departure of a Key Employee Lawyer; pre-mature death or incapacity of a Senior Attorney law firm owner)   (5) Overlook converting Subject Matter Knowledge to Digital Marketing Content

In Ep. 59, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains why most key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm. As Poock points out, key employee lawyers typically do not want to purchase their boss' law firm because, at some point, they will perform a Risks vs. Rewards analysis.   Even though the rewards, at the outset, appear appealing, the risks often outweigh those rewards.   The rewards include: (i) Increased compensation and access to profits; (ii) Management authority to make changes; and (iii) The option and ability to grow the practice.   As good lawyers, key employee lawyers then start spotting issues, i.e., risks, which include the following: (i) The possibility of not originating enough new clients to maintain the firm's cash flow needs; (ii) The challenge of replacing a Senior Attorney founder from the standpoints of skills, billings, and rainmaking capabilities; (iii) The potential for making less money rather than more; (iv) Personal debt exposure (egs. personal guaranty to a lease or line credit); (v) Decrease in work-life balance; (vi) Unforeseen changes (ex. loss of 1 or more key employees).   “So, when key employee lawyers . . . perform this Risks vs. Rewards analysis, the risks just all too often outweigh the rewards,” Poock states.   Poock also points out that most key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm and cannot afford to either.   Instead, most key employee lawyers seek the following:   A reliable, safe, and predictable job.   When Senior Attorney law firm owners falsely expect their key employee lawyers to purchase their law firms, unfortunately, such false expectations can result in a Random Tuesday Event, where a key employee lawyer gives his or her boss only 2 or 4 weeks notice in advance of joining another firm.    In addition to the short-term loss in revenues that such a Random Tuesday Event can cause, Poock explains that the unexpected departure of a key employee presents the following longer-term negative impacts, as well: (i) The inability to retain as many new clients if the firm no longer has the capacity to represent as many clients; and (ii) A loss in firm value due to a combination of (a) A potential loss of clients who join a former key employee at a new law firm; and (b) Decreased appeal to a Growing Law Firm purchaser who wants and needs a selling law firm's key employee lawyer to continue representing the firm's clients, as well as clients of a purchaser's firm.   By contrast, when Senior Attorney law firm owners recognize (realize) that their key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their law firm and can't afford to either, they can then realize the following:   Key employee lawyers present 1 of the following 3 key resources that Growing Law Firm purchases seek when purchasing a law firm:   The Selling law firm's Book of Business   Key employee lawyers and para-staff, whom Growing Law Firms want and need for the purposes of continuing to represent a Seller's clients, plus clients of a Growing Law Firm.   The combined subject matter knowledge of Senior Attorneys and their key employee lawyers, which today's Growing Law Firms need to convert to digital content for the purposes of attracting the attention of today's and tomorrow's clients who search online for lawyers and law firms to retain.   And, when Senior Attorneys sell their law firms to Growing Law Firms, Poock explains the following 4 Winners that result:   Senior Attorneys: Senior Attorneys win by monetizing their law firms; spending more time with their families; no longer needing to manage “the office;” and having the option to continue practicing in an Of Counsel type capacity for months, or even years to come.   Key Employee Lawyers & Para-Staff: Key employee lawyers and para-staff win by maintaining a reliable, predictable and safe job, as well as the benefits and joy of maintaining their team at a new employer.   Clients: Clients of a Senior Attorney-led firm win by benefiting from continuing, competent legal representation.   Growing Law Firms: A Growing Law Firm purchaser wins by acquiring the following 3 resources needed to boost growth (i) Clients; (ii) Experienced lawyer and non-lawyer staff; and (iii) Subject Matter Knowledge offered by Senior Attorneys and key employee lawyers to convert into digital content to boost their multi-channel digital marketing efforts to generate new clients who search online today for lawyers and law firms to retain.

In Ep. 58 of the State of the Market for Law Firm Sales in 11 Minutes, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following 2 Random Tuesday Events: A Key Employee Random Tuesday Event; and   A Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event   A Key Employee Random Tuesday Event occurs when a key employee lawyer(s), typically the lawyer(s) whom a Senior Attorney views as the firm's internal successor, provides only 2 or 4 weeks about accepting a new job at another law firm.   This type of Random Tuesday event causes the following short-term and long-term negative results for a Senior Attorney-led law firm.   Short-Term Impact: In the short term, the sudden loss of a key employee attorney impacts law firm revenues because key employee attorneys typically generate considerable billings, either in the form of hourly billings or revenues derived from flat fee or contingency type matters.   Immediate losses also stem from the potential loss of clients and referral sources who may choose to continue working with a key employee lawyer at the law firm that a key employee lawyer joins.   Long-Term Impact: A Key Employee Random Tuesday Event negatively impacts the following 2 key components of a Senior Attorney-led firm's long-term value:   The value of a Senior Attorney-led firm's Book of Business due to (i) The loss of clients and referral sources who follow a key employee lawyer to a new law firm; and (ii) The potential for not accepting as many new clients if the firm can no longer service the work before replacing a key employee lawyer; and   Decreased appeal to a Growing Law Firm purchaser due to Growing Law Firms seeking the following when considering growth by acquisition: (i) A Book of Business; and (2) Experienced, key employee lawyers to continue providing sophisticated legal services to a seller's clients post-sale.   Once Senior Attorneys realize that their key employee attorneys prefer a reliable, predictable, and safe job, Senior Attorneys can then pursue a sale with a Growing Law Firm that seeks the following 3 resources to boost growth (1) Clients; (2) An experienced workforce, including key employee attorneys; and (3) Digital content derived from the subject matter knowledge of Senior Attorneys and key employee attorneys alike.   A Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event occurs when a Senior Attorney law firm owner prematurely dies or becomes incapacitated prior to selling their law firm or establishing an internal succession plan.   Here, we focus on small business law firms, lead by 1 or more Senior Attorney founders and for whom their key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm and cannot afford to either.   In those instances, the primary sale option involves selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm per a Law Firm Sales 1.0 type structure that consists of fee sharing upon a percentage of collections derived from a defined Book of Business during a negotiated period of time.   In the event of a Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event, the value of the Senior Attorney-led law firm plummets because of the unavailability of Trust Transfer by the Senior Attorney who maintains the relationships with the firm's clients.   Instead, a Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event typically results in the firm's clients retaining successor counsel, or receiving referrals to successor counsel at 1 or more law firms without any fee sharing terms.   Even if a personal representative or power of attorney can sell a law firm following a Pre-Mature Death or Incapacity Random Tuesday Event, the consideration typically involves minimal realization of the firm's true value due to the inability for its Senior Attorney owner to transfer the trust of clients to lawyers at a purchasing law firm.

During Ep. 22 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question: Why do Key Employee Lawyers at Senior Attorney-led Firms not want to purchase their boss' law firm?   In response, Poock first explains the following 4 reasons why key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm:   Owners of Senior Attorney-led firms hired their key employee lawyers “X” number of years ago, and those same key employee lawyers continue to only want a job, as compared to aspiring to becoming the owner of their boss' law firm.   Key employee lawyers went to law school and not business school, i.e., the vast majority of key employee lawyers do not consider themselves as professional lawyers, as compared to entrepreneurs who seek to own and grow a small business law firm.   Key employee lawyers cannot afford to purchase their boss' law firm because of too many other monthly expenses, including home mortgages, ongoing student debt, saving for their retirement, saving to help their children with college tuition, saving to purchase a second home, etc.   An assumption (hope) by key employee lawyers that their Senior Attorney bosses will never retire.   Poock also explains the following more fundamental reason why key employee lawyers do not want to purchase their boss' law firm:   Key employee lawyers want and need to maintain a “Reliable, Predictable, and Safe” (RPS) job.   As Poock points out, key employee lawyers often maintain a RPS meter, which they seek to remain green, i.e., safe.   So, when Senior Attorney bosses approach their key employee lawyers to discuss purchasing their law practices, the RPS meter of those key employee lawyers often immediately shifts from green (safe) to red, i.e., no longer reliable, predictable, and safe.   In fact, as Poock, explains, rather than having an intended effect of key employees expressing an interest purchase their boss' law firm, the effect of the RPS meter shifting from green to red can lead to a “Random Tuesday Event,” namely, the applicable key employee lawyer(s) notifying their Senior Attorney boss about accepting another job, together with providing only 2 or 4 weeks notice.   Rather than risk the loss of key employees to a Random Tuesday event, Poock advises that Senior Attorneys recognize that their key employee lawyers likely want to maintain a Reliable, Predictable, and Safe Job. And, rather than pursue an internal succession plan that could result in a Random Tuesday Event, Poock explains that Senior Attorney sellers of law firms should instead pursue selling to, or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants and needs the key employee lawyers of Senior Attorney-led firms.   “[R]ather than try to force the square peg into that round hole of having [a] key employee lawyer try to purchase your practice, we really urge that Senior Attorneys recognize that what your key employees want instead is a reliable, predictable, and safe job, which is what growing law firms present when they purchase Senior Attorney-led firms,” Poock states.

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:   No longer needing to manage “the office,” including no longer making payroll every two weeks, paying rent every month, handle hiring/firing, etc.   Experience the freedom of spending more time outside of “the office,” including finally having time to take a multi-week vacation.   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.   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).

During Ep. 22 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question: What value do Senior Attorney-led Personal Injury Law Firms offer to Growing Personal Injury Law Firms? In response, Poock explains the following dual value that Senior Attorney-led Personal Injury Law Firms offer to Growing Personal Injury Law Firms:   Value No. 1 – Originate New Clients: In contrast to the rising costs for today's Growing PI firms to generate new clients (egs. Google, optimized websites, vanity phone numbers, social media, ads on TV, radio, and via billboards, and lead generation cos.), Senior Attorney-led PI firms present the following lower costs for originating new clients: (a) Established Books of Business filled with clients and referral sources; (b) Rainmaker attorneys well known in their communities who continue generating new matters via their word-of-mouth reputations among individuals and professionals; (c) Legacy phone numbers; (d) Mature websites; and (e) Untapped digital value in terms of (1) Access to 100s (even 1000s) of 5-Star Google Reviews; and (2) Opportunities to convert decades worth of subject matter knowledge to digital content to post via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of potential clients.   As Poock states, “[I]t's very expensive for growing PI firms today to acquire new clients because the only way to acquire those new clients is by investing in Google, optimizing your website, vanity, phone numbers, social media, TV, radio, billboards and lead gen companies.   A far less expensive way to be generating new clients today is by purchasing, acquiring, merging with Senior Attorney-led firms that offer legacy value in terms of Books of Business, rainmaking skills, legacy phone numbers, websites that are mature, and untapped, digital value in the form of Google reviews, and converting subject matter knowledge into digital content.”   Value No. 2 – Maximize Case Value: Once Growing Personal Injury Law Firms originate new clients, the following question arises: How do we maximize case value?   “[A]nd, that's where Senior Attorneys at Senior Attorney-led [PI] firms offer tremendous value to those growing PI firms,” Poock states.   Examples of how Senior Attorney PI attorneys maximize case value include: (a) Assisting with signing-up high value cases based upon experience, coupled with the ability to assure clients that they are in “good hands” with a law firm that has been there/done that, including experience with achieving high value results in matters just like theirs; (b) Decades of experience of knowing how to “build the case;” (c) The value of including a Senior Attorney PI's signature to a demand letter or complaint, where insurance companies and defense counsel immediately know the trial and settlement history of the attorney representing the Plaintiff's interest; (d) A career's worth of experience with Discovery and conducting depositions; and (e) Trial ready, including often maintaining reputations among defense counsel, mediators, and judges.   As Poock summarizes, for those Growing PI law firms who continue spending vast sums to generate new clients, Senior Attorney-led firms present tremendous opportunities to maximize case values because of their experience, know-how, and reputations.

In Ep. 57, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains how digital marketing disruption has resulted in the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker. As Poock points out, “[D]igital marketing disruption is here. That is, clients today are searching for lawyers online. They are by-passing yester-year's Rainmaker Attorneys . . . Today's and tomorrow's clients will go straight to Uncle Google and other social media, multi-channel digital platforms to be searching for lawyers and law firms . . . It is disrupting client origination. And, we are absolutely seeing that Senior Attorneys that remain in that pre-Google age . . . are just generating less new clients during this Digital Marketing disruption era that we are in here in the mid-2020s.”   As Poock also states, “[W]e say that Uncle Google is America's greatest referral source for lawyers and law firms. Uncle Google is also America's greatest rainmaker for lawyers and law firms. And, if clients are literally by-passing yester-year's Rainmaker, then, what we're seeing before our eyes is that Vanishing Rainmaker from the Word of Mouth pre-Google era because if you're not going to be found, you're not going to be hired.”   Poock then shares the following 2 choices for Senior Attorneys in the Mid-2020s with respect to today's 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry:   Adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of potential clients and continue replenishing their firm's Book of Business; or   Consider selling or merging with a Growing Law Firm that wants the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms offer: (a) Instant client growth via Books of Business developed during the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era; (b) Talented lawyer and non-lawyer staff whom Growing Law Firms need to produce sophisticated legal work; and (c) Untapped treasure chests of digital content by converting the subject matter knowledge of Senior Attorneys and additional attorneys at Senior Attorney-led firms into digital content to publish via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of new clients.   Even though the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker will result in Senior Attorney-led firms having less value due to not replenishing their Books of Business, Poock shares the following:   “[A]t this point in the mid-2020s, we highly recommend to Senior Attorney-led firms that this is the best time for you to consider selling or merging your practice because it has the most value and presents the best value to Growing Law Firms that want and need what you have.”

During the Poock's Post segment of Ep. 21 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question: Digital disruption will continue eroding the Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led law firms in the Mid-2020s   As Poock explains, 2020 introduced the “digital pivot” to the legal industry, where consumers, i.e., would be clients pivoted in 2020 to searching for lawyers and law firms online, primarily by searching Google.   By the Mid-2020s, Growing Law Firms have adjusted and adopted Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the attention of clients who seek to know, like, and trust lawyers and law firms before contacting them.   As Poock points out, Uncle Google has become America's greatest referral source for lawyers and law firms, replacing the pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era and by-passing yester-year's Rainmakers.   Regarding the impact of digital marketing disruption upon the value of the Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led firms, Poock states, “If you are not generating clients digitally via Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, what we are seeing is that [the] Books of Business of Senior Attorney-led law firms [are] not replenishing as much as it did in yesteryear. So really senior attorneys in particular.”   Poock also addresses the following to Senior Attorney law firm owners:   “We really want to get the message across that you are on notice that if you are not replenishing your Book of Business as much as you did in yester-year, your law firm is just going to be worth less and less as this decade continues.”   In addition, Poock shares the following good news with Senior Attorneys in the mid-2020s:   Even if today's Senior Attorneys do not replenish their Books of Business similar to yester-year due to not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, they continue to offer the following value to Growing Law Firm buyers:   (1) A Book of Business filled with clients that Senior Attorneys worked during an entire career to develop.   (2) An experienced workforce, including senior associates and junior partners who prefer to continue as key employee lawyers rather than purchase their boss' law practice, as well as well trained and experienced paralegals and legal assistants; and   (3) The ability to convert decades worth of subject matter knowledge into digital content to post to Multi-Channel Digital Marketing platforms, which today's Growing Law Firms need to attract the attention of today's and tomorrow's would-be clients who search Google and social media when researching lawyers and law firms to retain for the legal needs.   As Poock states, “[N]ow, in the mid-2020s, is the best time for Senior Attorney-led firms that are not committed to Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to consider selling your law firms . . . [w]hile you still have these three resources that Growing Law Firms want and need . . . .”

During Ep. 21 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. addresses the following question:   “What do Sellers share with Senior Attorney Match months or years after selling their law firms?”   In response, Poock first explains that when Senior Attorneys sell their law firms to Growing Law Firms, they often continue practicing for a number of months, and sometimes even years.   In addition to the financial benefits that Senior Attorneys experience by selling their law firms, Poock shares the following benefits that Senior Attorney Match clients enjoy when they continue practicing at the Growing Law Firms that they join prior to partially and then fully retiring:   (1) The freedom of no longer managing “the office,” including not having to make payroll every two weeks and not needing to pay a rent check every month, and instead.   (2) Benefiting by having access to a “deeper bench” of attorneys who can capably represent their clients.   (3) The ability and flexibility to spend more time outside of the office, including taking multi-week and sometimes, multi-month vacations.   While practicing at the Growing Law Firms that they join, Senior Attorneys also benefit greatly by utilizing the following MVP-level skills and achievements that they have developed during the course of their careers:   (1) Subject Matter Knowledge;   (2) Good Will among their community and sometimes regionally, nationally, and even, internationally; and   (3) Client development skills.   And, as a bonus MVP-level opportunity, digital savvy Growing Law Firms present opportunities for Senior Attorneys to convert their Subject Matter knowledge in multiple practice areas to Digital Content, including Digital Content for (a) E-newsletters; (b) Podcasts; (c) YouTube videos; and (d) Posts to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, and more.

In Ep. 56, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. explains why the mid-2020s present the right time for Senior Attorneys to sell their law firms.   As Poock states, “[F]or Senior Attorneys that are considering selling their law firms, we need to recognize that post-2020 clients are searching online for lawyers to hire. As a result, if you're not investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing with a significant investment in Google for clients to find you when they're searching Google . . . you're just not going to generate as many clients as you did in yester-year. . . And, as your Book of Business does not replenish as much as yester-year, your Book of Business is going to become less valuable to a Growing Law Firm if you're not presenting as many clients as you could when your Book of Business is as filled with clients and referral sources as it is now in the mid-2020s, as compared to later in this decade and into the 2030s.”   Poock also distinguishes between today's digital marketing disruption to business development in the legal industry to the following 3 digital disruptions outside of law: (1) Uber to taxis; (2) Netflix to Blockbuster; and (3) Amazon to Sears.   Unlike Uber that did not need taxi cars or taxi medallions, Netflix that made VHS cassettes and DVDs obsolete, and Amazon, which proved that consumers can conveniently shop for everything and anything online rather than visiting a big box store, today's Growing Law Firms still need the following from Senior Attorney-led firms:   (a) Their well-established Books of Business because Growing Law Firms always need new clients;   (b) Their experienced workforce (lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants) to do the sophisticated work that law firms produce on behalf of their clients; and   (c) The treasure chests of digital content that attorneys at Senior Attorney-led firms offer by converting their decades of subject matter knowledge into posts for Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to attract the online attention of today's would-be clients who search Google and social media for lawyers and law firms to retain, as compared to the pre-Google Word of Mouth Era.   Poock also explains that today's 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry coincides with the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker.   “We want to make it very clear to Senior Attorneys, in particular, who may not be adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing, that you are on notice that the Age of the Vanishing Rainmaker has begun, and that the writing is on the wall that you are not going to develop as many new clients as you did in yester-year.”

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.

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.”

During Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock's Post: 3 Law Firm Sale Trends in 2025 The 3 law firm sale trends in 2025 are as follows: Trend No 1. for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Growing Law Firms will continue purchasing Senior Attorney-led Firms because they offer the following 3 resources that Growing Law Firms Need: (a) Clients; (b) An experienced workforce; and (c) Digital content. Trend No. 2 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law firms that invest in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing will experience the following short and long-term benefits: (a) Continued business development expansion by attracting the attention of today's post-2020 clients who search for lawyers and law firms online; and (b) Increased Brand Equity value as the ROI from investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing. Trend No. 3 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law Firm Sales 2.0 has arrived! The consideration in Law Firm Sales 2.0 consists of the following 2 payments: (a) The same earnout payment terms as Law Firm Sales 1.0; plus (b) An upfront payment, attributable to a selling law firm's Brand Equity and Digital Value, as evidenced by data analytics upon which a purchasing firm, as well as a bank, may rely when determining the upfront payment component of Law Firm Sales 2.0.

During Ep. 20 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock's Post: 3 Law Firm Sale Trends in 2025 The 3 law firm sale trends in 2025 are as follows: Trend No 1. for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Growing Law Firms will continue purchasing Senior Attorney-led Firms because Growing Law Firms need the following 3 resources that Senior Attorney-led firms have: (a) Access to new clients from Books of Business developed over the course of decades; (b) An experienced workforce, consisting of lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants; and (c) Treasure chests of digital content available from subject matter knowledge gained in multiple practice areas. Trend No. 2 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law firms that invest in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing will experience the following two-fold benefits: (a) Continued business development expansion, and its accompanying increase in annual revenues, by attracting the attention of today's post-2020 clients who search for lawyers and law firms digitally, as compared to the pre-Google Word of Mouth Era; and (b) A transition in law firm value from the good will attributable to particular Rainmaker attorneys to Brand Equity value as the ROI from investing in Multi-Channel Digital Marketing. Trend No. 3 for Law Firm Sales in 2025: Law Firm Sales 2.0 has arrived! The distinction between Law Firm Sales 1.0 and 2.0 is as follows: The consideration in Law Firm Sales 1.0 depends entirely upon earnout payments in which selling law firms receive a percentage of revenues attributable to collections from the defined Book of Business of a selling law firm, payable over a negotiated period of time. Stated differently, Law Firm Sales 1.0 involves 100% seller financing due to the risk that a selling law firm's Book of Business will not generate similar client revenues for a purchasing law firm, post-sale. By contrast, the consideration in Law Firm Sales 2.0 consists of the following 2 payments: (a) The same earnout payment terms as Law Firm Sales 1.0; plus (b) An upfront payment, attributable to a selling law firm's Brand Equity and Digital Value, as evidenced by data analytics upon which a purchasing firm, as well as a bank, may rely when determining the upfront payment component of Law Firm Sales 2.0.

During Ep. 19 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares the following Poock's Post: Lessons Learned in 2024 for Law Firm Sales The 4 lessons learned that Poock shares include: (1) Growing Law Firms continue recognizing the value of growth by acquisition because Senior Attorney-led firms offer: (a) Instant client growth; (b) Experienced lawyers and support staff; and (c) Treasure chests of subject matter knowledge to convert to Digital Content to gain the attention of would-be clients who search for lawyers and law firms online today, as compared to yester-year's Word-of-Mouth era. (2) Trust Transfer works to transfer the trust of Senior Attorneys to lawyers at Growing Law Firms that they join via the following 3 methods: (a) In-person; (b) Via Zoom; and (c) Via social media. (3) Key employee lawyers at Senior Attorney-led firms do not want to purchase their boss' law firms and can't afford to either. (4) The writing is on the wall that those Senior Attorney-led firms that do not adopt multi-channel digital marketing for business development will not replenish their all-important Books of Business similar to yester-year, thereby leading to less value for 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 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.”

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.

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

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:   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.   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.   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.   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.    

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:   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.   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.   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 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.

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.”

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Episode 8 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock's Post:” The Importance to Senior Attorneys of the Vanishing Rainmaker.   As Poock states, “The age of the Rainmaker is actually vanishing.”   As Poock explains, “Post-2020, we're often saying that Uncle Google has become America's greatest referral source, or really, to say it differently, Uncle Google has become the collective Rainmaker for law firms because clients today are not so much seeking out the card, the business cards of lawyers who they want to hire. They're going straight to Google, and they are searching for lawyers on Google without the need for that Rainmaker attorney to be handing the card to that would-be client.”   Poock also shares the following: “What we are seeing in the marketplace is that for those Senior Attorney led firms that are not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing and attracting clients digitally to their law firms, that their Books of Business are not replenishing as much as they did in yester-year.   And, that means that they are generating less clients, and also, their Referral Sources, who are typically similarly aged as Senior Attorneys, well, their Referral Sources are retiring, and those retiring Referral Sources, unfortunately, aren't sending business to them as they did in yester-year, which means that their Books of Business, that is, Senior Attorneys, what we're seeing in the mid-2020s is their Books of Business are just not replenishing as much as they did in yester-year.”

Episode 8 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 3 questions: (1) What are examples of important items to update before selling a law practice? (2) How long does it take to sell a law practice? and (3) What is a “Random Tuesday?” in the context of valuing a law firm?

Episode 8 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 3 questions: (1) What are examples of important items to update before selling a law practice? (2) How long does it take to sell a law practice? and (3) What is a “Random Tuesday?” in the context of valuing a law firm? In Segment 2, “Poock's Post” addresses: The Importance to Senior Attorneys of the Vanishing Rainmaker  

Episode 7 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:” Why More Growing Law Firms Should Pursue Growth by Acquisition.   As Poock states: “[O]ur overall message here is that as Growing Law Firms are considering how they can continue to grow their firms, they really should be considering more and more that the Books of Business that Senior Attorneys provide - presents an amazing, under-utilized opportunity to grow your firm, to grow by acquisition.”   “When it comes to the business development opportunities that Senior Attorney-led firms present,” Poock states, “we like to say that they offer windmills of energy. They really power business development for Growing Law Firms because that Client List and Referral Source List. . . powers and generates new clients. . . [A]lso, the Goodwill of Senior Attorneys and other attorneys at their firm; the Subject Matter Knowledge; and that Digital Value really presents a very powerful way for Growing Law Firms to continue growing, that is, growth by acquisition.”

Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes David L. Cohen, Esq. of David L. Cohen, P.C. to discuss David's thoughts and insights from the perspective of a potential purchaser of a Senior Attorney's practice.   A particular opportunity that Poock and Cohen discuss relates to a “player-manager” analogy, namely, the value that a solo attorney acquirer presents to a Senior Attorney-led firm, where solo attorneys present the following dual value:   The lawyer skillset to succeed to representing a Senior Attorney's clients;   Small business owner experience to succeed to operating and growing a Senior Attorney-led firm.

Episode 7 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) When a lawyer sells a practice to another firm, who is entitled to the uncollected receivables for previously billed work? (2) How do the parties in law firm sales typically deal with ongoing ethical obligations such as client file retention, original records, and roles like trustee appointments? (3) How should a lawyer handle malpractice risk in succession planning? and (4) How do you envision the market for law firm sales in the mid-2020s?

Episode 7 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) When a lawyer sells a practice to another firm, who is entitled to the uncollected receivables for previously billed work? (2) How do the parties in law firm sales typically deal with ongoing ethical obligations such as client file retention, original records, and roles like trustee appointments? (3) How should a lawyer handle malpractice risk in succession planning? and (4) How do you envision the market for law firm sales in the mid-2020s?   In Segment 2, Poock welcomes David L. Cohen, Esq. of David L. Cohen, P.C. to discuss: (1) What excites you about succeeding to a Senior Attorney's practice? and (2) How do you foresee growth by acquisition by a solo attorney?   And, in Segment 3, “Poock's Post” addresses: Why More Growing Law Firms Should Pursue Growth by Acquisition.

Episode 6 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:” The Risk to Law Firm Value in the 2020's When Senior Attorneys Do Not Adopt Digital Marketing – And, 2 Solutions As Poock explains: “Today's Senior Attorneys, that is, attorneys that have practiced more than 30 years - they developed their Books of Business by and large, pre-Google, and they did it what we call the “hard way.” That “hard way” consisted of: In-Person Networking (ex. handing out thousands of business cards at networking events) Non-Digital Thought Leadership (egs. writing articles & speaking at CLE's) Event Sponsorship (ex. placing ads in event ad books) Pre-Y2K Advertising (egs. Yellow Pages; newspaper ads; radio; TV) Poock also points out the following: “What we're consistently seeing is that Senior Attorneys that maintain their Status Quo, that is, attorneys who are aged today between 55 and 75 and maintain their Status Quo in terms of how they market for new business, or really how they are not marketing for new business by not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing - their revenues are going down.” Poock offers the following 2 solutions for Senior Attorneys to consider to address those revenues going down: Join a Growing Law Firm: As Poock explains, Senior Attorneys have what growing law firms want and need, namely: (1) Instant client growth; (2) Lawyer and non-lawyer staff; (3) Cumulative expertise in multiple practice areas; and (3) Untapped digital content for Growing Law Firms to develop and distribute among a Senior Attorney's Book of Business and clients of a Growing Law Firm; or Do It Yourself (DIY): Per this solution, Senior Attorneys can adopt the following 5-pronged approach to market for new clients in today's 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry: (1) Invest in Google (egs. pay-per-click and SEO); (2) Increase a Senior Attorney's social media presence (egs. LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, X, Instagram, and more); (3) Optimize a Senior Attorney's website, together with increasing Google reviews; (4) Establishing an audio and video presence (egs. podcasts, YouTube videos, and even TikTok posts); and (5) Old School networking (egs. attend in-person networking & place in-print ads). “[T]he reality of Senior Attorneys shifting towards adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing - in our experience is pretty low,” Poock states. Poock further explains that the lower revenues that Senior Attorney-led firms experience short-term as a result of not adopting Multi-Channel Digital Marketing in the mid-2020s will have following unintended future consequence: Lower values when Senior Attorneys later sell their firms due to their Books of Business having less clients and referral sources than yester-year. As Poock states, “So, as Senior Attorneys are thinking about how the value of their firms is going to go in the 2020s, if you maintain that Status Quo, your revenues short-term could go down, and the value of your practice could go down. For those Senior Attorneys that join Growing Law Firms, their revenues, while they continue to practice, are going to go up. That is our experience, and you're going to get higher value on that all important Book of Business that is the key component to the sale of your law practice.”

Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes Attorney Christine Morgan who joined a growing law firm in 2020. During their conversation, Morgan and Poock discuss: Attorney Morgan's methodical approach to succession planning for her practice. The importance of joining a law firm with a “Deep Bench” that will continue representing Attorney Morgan's clients after she retires. Attorney Morgan's experience with “Trust Transfer,” including how she has transferred the trust of her longtime clients to a particular attorney at the growing law firm that she joined in 2020. How Attorney Morgan's work-life Balance has changed since joining a Growing Law Firm Attorney Morgan's advice for Senior Attorneys considering selling a law practice

Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) From a buyer's perspective, should I purchase a firm to deepen our Subject Matter Knowledge in a particular practice area? (2) What is the importance of Firm Culture in law firm sales? (3) How do you value a Contingency Fee Practice? and (4) If I join a Growing Law Firm, won't I suddenly have a boss? Hell, no!

In this Part 1 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 for the Personal Injury Law industry:   Trend #1: Law Firm Sales 1.0 will continue in 2024 As Poock explains, we foresee the continuation of Law Firm Sales 1.0 in 2024. “The key feature of Law Firm Sales 1.0 is that the payment terms are based upon earnout terms, as compared to significant consideration paid at a closing table because the buyers are typically more prepared to pay earnout terms [based upon the] personal goodwill nature of the Book of Business that Senior Attorneys are selling,” Poock states. Poock also points out the following 2 warnings for Senior Attorneys who will pursue Law Firm Sales 1.0 type sales in the mid-2020s: Warning #1: Would-be Internal Successors do not want to purchase the small business law firms that their Senior Attorney bosses have developed for the following 4 reasons: (i) Today's Senior Attorneys hired their now would-be Internal Successors as key employees, and they want to remain employees; (ii) They went to law school and not business school; (iii) They cannot afford to purchase a small business law firm; and (iv) They assume that their Senior Attorney bosses will never retire. Warning #2: In today's 3.0 Digital Era for the Legal Industry, those Senior Attorneys who do not keep pace with digital marketing to attract new clients will not replenish their Books of Business as much as they did in yester-year, which means that their practices will not offer as much value to Growing Law Firm buyers later in the 2020s.   Trend #2: Law Firms Sales 2.0 Will Gain Momentum in 2024 As Poock explains, “A huge differentiator between Law Firm Sales 1.0 and Law Firm Sales 2.0 is the introduction of fixed pricing. That is, we're not just selling in Law Firm Sales 2.0 the Goodwill of a Senior Attorney's practice. What is also for sale is the Digital Value and the Brand Awareness that law firms continue to develop.” As Poock also points out, “[W]hen law firms have the data analytics to support . . . Brand Equity, they are going to be receiving fixed prices at closings that not only will buyers be prepared to pay, but banks will be lending on. And, we're going to see this more and more throughout the mid-2020s.”   Poock concludes this episode with the following prediction for the Personal Injury Law industry for 2024 and throughout the mid-2020s:   “If you are a Personal Injury law firm and if you have developed significant Digital Value and Brand Awareness, our prediction is that we are going to see significant 8-figure and maybe even 9-figure sales, let alone, 7-figure sales on Personal Injury law firms because buyers are going to be very interested in that Brand Equity that that these types of firms continue to develop, and banks will lend on them as well, as well as the introduction, interestingly, in the mid-2020s of the growth - the introduction and growth of Alternative Business Structures.”

Episode 6 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) From a buyer's perspective, should I purchase a firm to deepen our Subject Matter Knowledge in a particular practice area? (2) What is the importance of Firm Culture in law firm sales? (3) How do you value a Contingency Fee Practice? and (4) If I join a Growing Law Firm, won't I suddenly have a boss? Hell, no! In Segment 2, Poock welcomes Attorney Christine Morgan to discuss her experience after joining a growing law firm in 2020. And, in Segment 3., “Poock's Post” addresses: The Risk to Law Firm Value in the 2020's When Senior Attorneys Do Not Adopt Digital Marketing – And, 2 Solutions

Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., welcomes Attorney Paul Tetzel of Boston based Tetzel Law, which acquired a Senior Attorney lead Personal Injury Law firm in early 2020. During their conversation, Tetzel and Poock discuss: How welcoming 2 Senior Attorney PI attorneys to Tetzel Law has benefited the practice   Tetzel's advice for Senior Attorney PI attorneys considering selling their law practices?   Tetzel's answer to the following question: “Would You Purchase Another Law Firm?”

In the Top 3 Lessons learned in 2023, Senior Attorney Match's Jeremy E. Poock, Esq. shares “The Top 3 Lessons Learned in 2023:” Lesson #1: Internal Successors Want a Job & Not a Business: The #1 lesson learned in law firm sales in 2023 is: Internal Successors do not want to purchase their boss' law firm.  Instead, Growing Law Firms want and need Senior Attorneys and their lawyer and non-lawyer staffs, together with the client list, cumulative expertise, and marketing value that Senior Attorneys present. Lesson #2: Trust Transfer Works: Trust Transfer fulfills the dual functions of: (1) Transferring the trust of Senior Attorneys' longtime clients to lawyers at the Growing Law Firms that Senior Attorneys join; and (2) Ensuring compensation to Senior Attorneys, which typically derives from fee sharing upon revenues attributable to a Senior Attorney's Book of Business.   Lesson #3: The Books of Businesses for Senior Attorneys Do Not Replenish as Much as Yester-Year: For those Senior Attorneys who do not adopt Multi-Channel Digital Marketing to generate new clients in the 2020s, their all-important Books of Business will not replenish as much as during yester-year's Pre-Google Word-of-Mouth Era.

Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) If I plan to sell my law practice within the next 1-2 years, what do you recommend? (2) What are typical financial terms in law firm sales? (3) Should I consider selling to a growing law firm that wants to add my practice area to its practice? and (4) I am worried that if I ask my Internal Successor to purchase my practice, she will look for another job. What do you recommend that I do?

Episode 5 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 3 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 4 questions: (1) If I plan to sell my law practice within the next 1-2 years, what do you recommend? (2) What are typical financial terms in law firm sales? (3) Should I consider selling to a growing law firm that wants to add my practice area to its practice? and (4) I am worried that if I ask my Internal Successor to purchase my practice, she will look for another job. What do you recommend that I do? In Segment 2, Poock welcomes Attorney Paul Tetzel of Tetzel Law, which acquired a Senior Attorney lead Personal Injury Law firm in early 2020. And, in Segment 3., “Poock's Post” addresses why Books of Business are not evergreen.

Episode 5 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 Book of Business is Not Evergreen. As Poock explains, the Book of Business is the most important asset that Senior Attorneys and Senior Attorney led firms have when they're selling their law practices. The Books of Business for today's Senior Attorneys are absolutely not evergreen for the following reason: If Senior Attorneys do not generate clients via Digital Marketing in today's Post-2020 3.0 Digital Era for the legal industry, they will not replenish their Books of Business similar to yester-year's Pre-Google 1.0 Word-of-Mouth Era. And, if a Senior Attorney's Book of Business has less clients than yester-year, the practice does not offer as much value to a purchaser. As Poock states, “[T]he overall point for today's Poock's Post . . . is that if you're starting to see that you are not generating as many clients as you did pre-[2020], or even as you did in the pre-Google world . . . because your firm is based upon Word-of-Mouth, we highly recommend that now is the right time to consider selling because your practice is worth more now than it very well could be tomorrow, next month, next year.”

Episode 4 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 2, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., presents the following “Poock's Post:” Why Growing Law Firms Need to Invest Money & Time Post-Sale. As Poock explains, Growing Law Firms need to invest time and money post-sale because the benefits of a “Listening Tour,” followed by adapting and adopting, leads to Senior Attorneys and lawyers at a Growing Law Firm (1) Working together; and (2) Benefiting from the “Trust Transfer” of long-time clients and referral sources of a Senior Attorney to attorneys at the Growing Law Firm. As Poock also points out, if Growing Law Firms do not invest that time and money, “both sides will not realize the tremendous opportunity that growth by acquisition presents to Growing Law Firms.”

Episode 4 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1., host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 6 questions: (1) How long does it to sell a law firm? (2) What Are the Payment Terms in Law Firm Sales? (3) What Are the Expectations of a Seller Post-Sale? (4) What Are Examples of Post-Sale Headaches That a Buyer and Seller Should Know in Advance? (5) What is the ROI on a Law Firm's Value by Introducing a Trade Name? and (6) If I was going to buy a law firm, I would want to know: Is their client list up to date?

Episode 4 of the Ask the Law Firm Seller Show includes 2 segments. In Segment 1, host, Jeremy E. Poock, Esq., answers the following 6 questions: (1) How long does it to sell a law firm? (2) What Are the Payment Terms in Law Firm Sales? (3) What Are the Expectations of a Seller Post-Sale? (4) What Are Examples of Post-Sale Headaches That a Buyer and Seller Should Know in Advance? (5) What is the ROI on a Law Firm's Value by Introducing a Trade Name? and (6) If I was going to buy a law firm, I would want to know: Is their client list up to date? In Segment 2, “Poock's Post” addresses the following: Why Growing Law Firms Need to Invest Money & Time Post-Sale

Episode 3 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:” When is the Right Time to Sell a Law Practice? Poock points out the following indicators for when attorneys should know that now is the right time to sell: (1) Upon realizing that a would-be Internal Successor is really not ever going to purchase your law firm; (2) Recognizing that Growth by Acquisition has arrived to the legal industry; (3) Personal reasons such as wanting to spend more time outside of the office post-Covid; (4) You're not generating as much business as yester-year; and (5) Disinterest to renew a multi-year office lease. Poock also describes the importance of Synergy Value when selling a law practice to a Growing Law Firm.