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The business plan

You’re a lawyer, not a businessman, right? Wrong. Business plans are essential for senior Associates and Partners, especially those looking to move their practice to another law firm. But don’t worry – your business plan needn’t be complicated or verbose. More often than not it’s simply a unique and concise analysis of clients, types of work and fees generated.

The most basic ones are just a list of clients and likely fee generation, but most law firms will want more detail, covering how your current practice will be migrated, its integration into the new firm and its further expansion and development. That’s because the new firm will probably be investing considerable time and funding in you, so wants as much reassurance as possible.

The way you pitch your business plan has a big impact on the direction of your legal career too. Don’t over or undersell yourself and your current clients and contacts; instead be realistic, positive and remember that how you answer a question’s as important as the content of your answer.

Expect the interviewer to talk about your clients, contacts and legal experience. As many clients instruct their preferred solicitors based on a good working relationship, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t follow you if you ask them (although you should sound out some of your better clients before the interview). But even if you’ve never committed to a transportable client base (or can’t, if you work for large institutional clients who only instruct law firms on selected panels), you may find opportunities where there’s a succession issue or a shortage of particular skills.

Structuring your Business Plan

A good Business Plan has four main sections as below, preceded by an introduction where you should set out the proposition. Summarise the main points of your Plan, and include your personal view of the market.

BASE – your current situation

This section gives the recruiting firm the information they need to make a commercial decision, so it’s crucial to get it right. Include two years’ previous client partner billings across all disciplines, with details of who they are, the fees for each client and the legal services they use.

Outline your contact level within each client (Chief Executive, Finance Director, Head of Legal, etc) and the nature of your relationship – how long you’ve worked together, who else they instruct in the practice and the strength of your relationship from family friend or relative to rugby club contact.

Also highlight any new clients you’ve brought on in the last two to three years, and how much of your time is spent in marketing and client development. Don’t forget to include your current charge-out rate too – make sure the law firm you’re moving to can charge the same rates, and if not what implications that might have.

OBJECTIVE – what you want to achieve

Use this section to make it clear why you’re moving your practice, and what potential synergies there are with the recruiting firm – for example, any cross-selling opportunities it might produce.

METHOD – how you’ll migrate your client base

Here you’ll need to show how you’ll bring your clients across to the recruiting firm – when you’ll talk to them, any hurdles you might face (such as panel reviews or conflicts) and so on. Grade them according the strength of your relationship and outline any current caseload or ongoing matters you’ll want to bring with you.

Also detail how you expect your current firm to respond; will they put you on long garden leave, could they service your clients if you left, could they easily recruit to replace you? Most importantly, will they enforce any restrictive covenants, and what are the implications? Ask the recruiting firm their opinion on these, as every firm takes a different approach.
 
This section should also show how you expect your business to grow. Spell out what support you think you’ll need, who you think are potential target clients and give examples of what you intend to do. Your targets should be realistic and achievable; make sure you allow between two to six months to get used to the new systems and market yourself internally too. Remember that to grow revenue significantly, you might well need to recruit a legal assistant – in fact, Partners often bring their team with them, which can help you persuade clients to move. If you need to recruit externally though, think about what level of assistant would be ideal.

A SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a crude but effective and well-understood tool you might find useful. If you use it, think about how your clients are likely to develop and what happens if your key clients are taken over. How might you replace the work if it went elsewhere?

MEASUREMENT – how you’ll measure your success

What are your fee predictions for the first three years? That’s what you’ll need to show here, in the form of turnover (fees generated) and which clients it’s going to come from, if possible also broken down by discipline. The figures you show must follow on from your previous billing record and client information in the first two sections of your plan – underestimate your clients and you may not get the remuneration package you deserve, overestimate and you’ll come under increased pressure.

The key is to present your figures with confidence, giving the recruiting firm enough information to make a commercial decision – after all, they’ll want to grow your practice and build a sustainable business unit. For this reason, most firms will undertake their own due diligence on your client base at the end of the process, with any offer usually subject to references from your clients.

Finally, give your clients reasonable time and space (just because their contract’s with a law firm doesn’t mean it’s been well-drafted!). If you have a reasonable relationship with your current employer, you might be able to make life easier by negotiating to take some clients with you – if not, you may have to lie low for a while after resigning. Generally though, if a client wants to work with you, they will.

REMEMBER…

• this is a plan, and so is subject to change
• give the recruiting firm enough information for them to make a commercial decision on whether it’s worth the investment
• how your Plan’s presented is crucial – prepare it in detail before your first interview, and deliver your figures with confidence and don’t caveat your position
• give them the facts without being ambiguous or sitting on the fence
• remember, in essence you’re asking them to invest in your ability to deliver