Selling Law Firms

Law firm transitions can be accomplished through closure or sale.  Causes include bankruptcy, death, disability, disagreements, and retirement. Regardless of cause, transitions are a complicated process that requires careful planning. Below are transition tips followed by resources for implementing them.  Contact your local bar association for help from its management advisory service.

Tips
Closing - Close bank, escrow, and other financial accounts
Communicating - Notify bar associations, clients, colleagues, insurers, and employees
Billing - Establish procedure for billing work in progress and transferring cases
Filing - Establish retention periods for retaining files
Insuring - continue malpractice insurance coverage
Liquidating - prepare  a list of assets/liabilities and plan for liquidating them
Planning - Prepare a detailed plan that sets a closing date assigns responsibility
Winding Down - suspend marketing and stop accepting new cases
Terminating - negotiate termination and/or transfer of cases; contact other lawyers about accepting cases 


Videos
ABA
SDBA

Websites
IRS
SBA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Using Client Testimonials

Feedback enables firms to evaluate client satisfaction, determine client need for additional services, and provide testimonials for firm websites. Seeking feedback shows clients that you care about them. Methods include adding a Feedback Form to firm websites, emailing surveys, inserting questionnaires with invoices, and inviting clients and staff to serve on advisory panels. For more tips, read articles about  advisory boards ,  feedback programs , client surveys , creating testimonials ,  ethical considerations,  survey techniques , questionnaires ,  responding to feedback , seeking feedback , and   survey tips  and  techniques . View samples of online questionnaires  and  feedback forms . Also see printed forms of client surveys ,  exit questionnaires , and our blog posts about managing reputations  and marketing plans . Remember to check ethical requirements of your state bar before publishing testimonials. Below are links to sample Testimonial Pages at solo and small firm websites
Read more

Designing a Contact Us Page

Contact pages are an essential part of law firm websites. They facilitate communication with prospects and clients by providing the firm's address, phone number, and a form for emailing, or texting, or live chat.  Contact pages can be linked to client relationship software to improve client intake, marketing, and case management. Consider including  a disclaimer that a contact form submission or email does not initiate an attorney-client relationship.  Improve your firm's contact page by reading articles about  client relationship software , contact disclaimers ,  designing contact pages , improving client contact , and  the importance of client contact pages . For further study, read ABA books about  Internet Marketing   and  Virtual Offices . See below for links to sample contact pages with the name of the client relationship software integrated into the page.  Examples of Contact Pages Frankl & Kominsky , Boynton Beach, FL (Captorra) Law Office of David M. Goldman , Jack
Read more

Welcoming New Clients

Make new clients welcome by providing them with a welcome kit. The kit can be posted on firm websites, physically delivered at in-person  consultations or emailed for virtual consultations. Below are tips for creating welcome kits and links to resources to help you welcome new clients.  Tips Benefits - welcome kits create favorable impressions, set expectations, and streamline the onboarding process.    Contents - include a contact page, client questionnaire, firm brochure, retention agreement, and welcome letter. Cover - put the contents in a presentation folder imprinted with the firm's name to make it memorable. Digital - create a PDF or video for the benefit of clients that consult virtually or prefer being paperless. Education - use the ki t to introduce members of the firm, billing procedures, client responsibilities, possible outcomes, and timelines.   Tools - keep clients happy by using additional tools like practice management apps and client intake forms.   Arti
Read more