Article 6/6: External Purchasers and Mergers: What Buyers Want to See Before They Commit
External sales and mergers can be powerful succession solutions for law firms, especially where there is no obvious internal successor. They can provide scale, continuity for clients, broader career options…
Continue readingArticle 5/6: Choosing an Internal Equity Transfer Model: Goodwill Firm or Lockstep Firm?
When a law firm chooses internal succession, it must decide how ownership will move from one generation to the next. The model matters because it affects affordability, retirement outcomes, partner…
Continue readingArticle 4/6: Developing Internal Successors Without Undermining the Current Owners
Internal succession is often the most attractive option for a law firm, but it is rarely the easiest. It promises continuity for clients, staff, culture, and brand. It can also…
Continue readingArticle 3/6: Making Your Law Firm More Saleable Before Succession
Value and saleability are related, but they are not the same. A law firm may be profitable and still be difficult to sell if it relies too heavily on one…
Continue readingArticle 2/6:What Is Your Legal Practice Worth? A Practical Guide to Goodwill and Net Assets
Valuing a law firm can be uncomfortable because it turns years of effort, client relationships, reputation, and goodwill into a commercial calculation. Yet a credible valuation is essential for any…
Continue readingArticle 1/6: Succession Planning for Law Firms: Why the Best Exits Start Years Before the Sale
A successful succession plan is not a last-minute transaction. For law firm owners, it is a staged business project that needs to begin well before retirement, merger discussions, or an…
Continue readingIs Now a Good Time to Sell or Merge my Practice
Generational change in the legal profession of Australia and New Zealand has led to discussion around the value of a legal practice – is there any, or is it just…
Continue readingA Tale of Two Sales
The merger and acquisition market of law firms in Australia appears to have gathered pace this calendar year. Already I have undertaken 11 valuations – with five of these being…
Continue readingBuying, Selling or Merging With Other law Firms in 2021
View full article here – Buying, selling or merging with other law firms in 2021. By Jerome Doraisamy for Lawyers Weekly together with Sue-Ella Prodonovich of Prodonovich Advisory, Riana Steyn of Bartier Perry…
Continue readingAre SMEs well placed to scoop senior talent right now?
View full article here – Are SMEs well placed to scoop senior talent right now? By Jerome Doraisamy for Lawyers Weekly together with Sue-Ella Prodonovich of Prodonovich Advisory, Mary Digiglio of Swaab…
Continue readingFirm Mergers in the Midst of a Global Pandemic
Listen to the full episode with Sam Coupland for Lawyers Weekly Oversupply of lawyers means firm mergers will continue amid COVID-19 There was a “huge appetite” for mergers pre-pandemic, and the age of…
Continue readingSetting, Measuring and Coaching High Performance
Anecdotally, 2019 was a solid year for most practices throughout Australia and New Zealand. It has been a long time since I have heard a partner tell me they don’t…
Continue readingProfit-Sharing in Smaller Partnerships
In my most recent article, I looked at some alternative options for profit-sharing among law-firm partners. All of the options I described can be found in mid-sized and large firms….
Continue readingA Merger of Unequals
As the merger activity in Australia and New Zealand continues to gather pace we are seeing a variety of deals being struck in order to get a result. Before any…
Continue readingSplitting the Pie: Some Thoughts on Profit Sharing Among Partners
According to the great David Maister, “Profit-sharing arrangements between partners are among the most difficult set of issues in professional service firm management”. The way partners share profit goes right to…
Continue readingSharing Profit and Millennial Partners
The millennial generation, born from 1981 to 1996 (or thereabouts), now 23 to 38 years of age (or thereabouts), are THE succession plan for most law firm partnerships. I wonder…
Continue readingPlanning for the New Year: An Approach for Small Firms
This is an article that contains a methodology that I first published in 2000. Nineteen years on, during a time of change, we often forget the basics, those things that…
Continue readingLaw Firm Mergers: Why and How?
In March this year, I wrote an article citing the large number of mergers in the Australian and New Zealand market. Some of these mergers were quite public but most flew…
Continue readingCharacteristics of Winning Small Firms
It was my recent pleasure to attend the annual conference of a group of affiliated small firms that I have known for about 25 years. Every now and then they…
Continue readingDo Financial Incentives Work in Law Firms?
Incentives are complex and, according to Wikipedia, omnipotent: ”The study of incentive structures is central to the study of all economic activities (both in terms of individual decision making and in…
Continue reading