TASK: review my replies to the checklist below and use them to draft a memo that I can send to my law dean. The memo should highlight the most important takeaways and how they can be applied to my organization CONTEXT: I am a law professor that recently hosted and attend a LinkedIn Live event on the topic of Building, Buying & Selling a Law Practice CHECKLIST & REPLIES: What were the main topics covered at the event? - How to build your first practice as a new lawyer – from practical to strategy planning - How to prepare to sell your firm – from valuation and transition as a non-owner - How to by a law firm – due diligence and financing What were the most interesting or surprising insights you gained? - That buying a law firm is attainable for lawyers who even have student debt. The nature of how these transactions can be structured alleviates the need for a big upfront payment - Ethically, there are few restrictions on selling a law practice - Most aging lawyers have no succession plan/options or retirement plan Were there any notable speakers or sessions that stood out to you? What did you learn from them? - Tom Lenfestey who is a CPA, lawyer, and law firm business broker (he is creating a marketplace for firms to be bought and sold – works with buyers/sellers on making a match, doing the deal, and managing most deal transition/integration - Carol Elefant who is an energy lawyer by practice but has been a leading voice/advocate for “going solo” for decades. She has written books and 100s of articles/blogs on this topic. Myshingle.com is her home for this topic Were there any key trends or developments discussed? How do they impact your industry or work? - Aging lawyers simply don’t make succession/retirement plans - The modern legal era has made it quite affordable to start a law practice – Carol shared an budget to start a virtual firm that was under $2000! - Many existing law practices have not been modernized and represent significant value to a buyer who wants to improve upon things in order to grow the firm - Deregulation of the legal profession (opening to non-lawyer ownership, allowing outside capital, and loosening unauthorized practice of law restrictions) is gaining momentum. While some states have taken a hard stance against this, more are actively exploring this topic Did you have any interesting conversations or make any valuable connections with other attendees? What did you learn from them? Did you attend any workshops or training sessions? What skills did you develop or improve? Did you learn any new tools, techniques, or best practices that you can apply to your work? - Tom shared that the typical way to value a law firm is based on a number of factors but not based on firm revenue, rather the equivalent of SDE – sellers’ discretionary earnings. - Buying a law firm can be done with an SBA loan - Professional liability insurance for new lawyers is highly affordable – in the low 100’s per year Were there any key challenges or obstacles discussed? How can you address them in your work? - Key challenges is fear and ignorance. Law schools typically are not talking about the role of entrepreneurship or business ownership of law firms. So students are forced into the traditional pathways of “get a job” “any job.” By sharing more on the business of law and how to build and buy a practice, we are more inclusive and helpful to students - Tom referenced being a “generational mediator” – that is he often has to help manage the relationship between a Baby Boomer selling lawyer and a GenX or Millennial buyer. Each has their own language and POV on the world and how a firm can be led and managed. It is a delicate balance to avoid offending the selling lawyer while allowing the buying lawyer to feel like they can make the changes they want. Did you take any notes or capture any resources (e.g. handouts, presentations) that you can refer back to later? There is a video of the entire conversation on LinkedIn. It was a LinkedIn Live event. How can you apply what you learned to your work or organization? What are the next steps? I am a law professor and I am the one that hosted this event. I plan to transcribe the video as well as cut it into short “key talking point” snippets. I will then use both content types to share out to law students, use a teaching material in future classes, and share out on social media for the broader legal market to consume.