Law firm merger is popular because, among other things, it can help a firm grab greater market share, enter new markets, bolster capabilities, or address succession challenges. These results or outcomes can compel a firm to pursue merger enthusiastically. Unfortunately, mergers don’t always guaranty success and in some cases can undermine a firm’s stability. To
merger
Negotiating a Law Firm Merger-Have You Prepared for the Inevitable Attrition?
Merger is a tactic that never ceases to be popular with law firms. Among other things, a merger can create excitement, offer greater financial opportunity, provide a rescue, or promise a firm and its people a more promising future. As merger activity unfolds, a law firm leader may soon feel initial enthusiasm damped by unwanted…
Five Thoughts That Shouldn’t Drive Your Law Firm Merger
Law firm mergers can accomplish a great deal, so it is no wonder they are popular. The number of mergers consummated each year is steady if not growing. Strategically designed and executed law firm mergers can boost combined firms to places otherwise difficult to achieve in the time frames desired.
Even though many mergers make…
Being a Law Firm Merger Target-Five Inquiries First Time Players Need to Make
Some law firms seem to be full-time participants in law firm merger activity. As new markets are entered and competitors gobbled up, the voracious law firms bring to their transactions a wealth of experience their counterparts often lack. If your law firm is thinking about merger for the first time, will a lack of experience…
The Non-negotiable Must-Haves in Law Firm Merger
Two. That’s the number of essential conditions that any law firm merger participant should never eschew. No doubt there are other vital elements to achieving merger success, but two are so vital that their absence can doom the law firm merger of your dreams. These decisive factors, the ones merger parties must insist upon for…
Is a Law Firm Merger on the Horizon? – Four Phases Every Law Firm Experiences
As every new year begins, the idea of law firm merger grabs the attention of more than a few law firm leaders. Although the pandemic impacted the number of law firm mergers closed in 2020, all indications for 2021 suggests a strong merger season. It is no wonder as a well-constructed merger is an effective…
Law Firm Growth — Avoiding the Most Common Mistake
“When a law firm embarks on a plan to grow, ultimate success … [directly relates to] leadership’s ability to make the right decisions while navigating the high seas of growth.”
from Decisions That Matter: Tales of Law Firm Leadership in Moments of Consequence
It is not unusual to hear “Growth” as the response when law…
Approaching Law Firm Merger with Discipline-Five Key Elements
As more law firm mergers are announced, the idea of pursuing a merger crosses many a law firm leader’s mind. The idea of grabbing greater market share, entering distant markets, bolstering capabilities, or addressing succession can spur thoughts of combination. Those potential results or outcomes can seem compelling and cause a firm to jump into…
Dealing with the Bad Law Firm Merger–Annulment, Divorce or Staying Together for the Kids?
The typical press release announcing a law firm merger extolls the excitement, the opportunity to have one plus one equal three, and the great fit of culture, practices and people. It’s perfect until it is not. In fact, by some measures more than half of all law firm mergers fail. When the realization sets in that your law firm merger is a bad one and not the combination of your dreams, what can you do?
Besides whistling past the graveyard, you’ve got to do something. And while a solution stimulated by panic is not recommended, prompt action is advisable. As action plan options go, the following three options generally are presented and often are considered:Continue Reading Dealing with the Bad Law Firm Merger–Annulment, Divorce or Staying Together for the Kids?
Four Ways a Strategically Designed Merger Can Strengthen Your Law Firm and Make it More Competitive
Despite the seemingly “good” year that 2018 was for many law firms, experience tells us that ”good” can be a relative thing. While 2018 performance data compares favorably to the data from the prior years following the Great Recession, all is not completely rosy. Today’s law firms face more competition than ever as market share is shrinking, and the industry is being disrupted in multiple ways.
The recently released Thomson Reuters State of the Legal Market 2019report provides some industry information about how the 2018 results should be viewed. The report concludes that despite good results last year, a robust round of “high-fives” should be tempered. As Thomson Reutersnotes, shared competitive industry information, technological advances, client control of legal service use and terms, greater competition among law firms and other resources, have all greatly altered the legal services market. This change in landscape has, among other things, stimulated a war for talent, causing valuable lawyers with valuable clients to move from one firm to the next in free-agency run wild.Continue Reading Four Ways a Strategically Designed Merger Can Strengthen Your Law Firm and Make it More Competitive