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If you have lawyers working for you and you’re ready to retire, the first succession plan option to consider is an associate buyout. Here’s what you need to know about this popular choice.
Being a successful law practice owner requires a skillset entirely different from that of a good working attorney. Before passing the baton to one of your associates, you must ask yourself the following:
Your answers to these questions will likely fall within one of the following categories:
If your answer is akin to, “Are you kidding me?!”, there is no need to think any more about an insider deal. Many insider deals are partially funded from the firm’s future profits to make it feasible for successors to pay the retiring lawyer. There will be no future profits for funding if the successor mismanages the firm. That means it’s time for Plan B: find a third-party successor.
If your answer is more along the lines of, “I think there’s a good chance,” what makes you so confident that the lawyer has the “right stuff”? Have you objectively evaluated the situation and your associate? Do you have any blind spots?
If you work with Roy Ginsburg to gain that objective evaluation and Roy confirms your judgment, he’ll then provide you with the parameters of how to price and structure the buyout for a successful transition.
A good place to start is to obtain an appraisal. That will provide an outsider’s judgment of the practice’s value.
Keep in mind that irrespective of the firm’s appraised value, the marketplace itself will usually then impact the actual selling price. How? Most insiders do a completely different calculation than an appraiser. They will ask themselves how much it would cost to start their own law firm. They will then compare that cost with any proposal.
Smart insiders certainly recognize the benefits of staying put, but also realize that those advantages are worth only so much. When selling, don’t be surprised when an insider makes a counterproposal based on this reasoning.
There is no single way to structure a buyout. Perhaps the two most important variables that impact a deal’s structure are what the buyer can afford (along with whatever financing may be needed) and how soon the retiring owner wants to relinquish control.
Some buyouts can last as long as ten years. Others can be as short as one year. Most are somewhere in between.
An associate buyout can be an excellent exit strategy. It rewards an employee’s loyalty, your clients obtain uninterrupted service, and you get extra cash for your years of sweat equity. Everybody wins!
Roy Ginsburg is an experienced law firm succession coach as well as a seasoned attorney in his own right. With more than three decades in the legal field in his tool belt, he’ll be sure to provide you with the insights you need to make the right choice as to how to exit the legal profession profitably. Call Roy today at (612) 524-5837 or send Roy an email to learn more.
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