Upgrade: Book of Business
Clients represent the energy source for all law firms.
Over the course of their careers, SALFs have developed books of business that often include hundreds, if not thousands, of clients, plus trusted referral sources.
As compared to typically slow-paced organic growth, succeeding to a SALF’s book of business presents the following business development upgrade: instant client growth.
Upgrade: Lawyer and Nonlawyer Staff
GLFs constantly want and need talented lawyers and nonlawyer staff who ideally already have experience within a GLF’s practice areas.
When succeeding to a SALF, GLFs immediately upgrade their workforce by welcoming key employee lawyers and support staff who often possess years of experience within a GLF’s practice areas (see “like-kind” growth, below) and do not need significant, new training, i.e., they can hit the proverbial ground running when they join a GLF as part of a law firm purchase, merger, or other form of association between a SALF and a GLF.
In addition to upgrading a GLF’s workforce, welcoming SALF lawyers and nonlawyer staff results in the following two wins: (1) a win by a GLF to meet the workforce capacity needs that succeeding to a SALF’s book of business presents; and (2) a win for a SALF’s key employee lawyers and support staff who benefit by maintaining job security, as well as keeping their team together.
Upgrade: Subject Matter Knowledge
Growth by acquisition in the legal industry particularly benefits “like-kind” growth, i.e., succeeding to a SALF whose practice areas match the practice areas of a GLF.
Like-kind growth presents the following two subject matter knowledge upgrades to GLFs: (1) an internal upgrade based upon SALF lawyers (and their support staff, too) offering experience, template forms, and often an expansion of subject matter depth; and (2) an external upgrade that benefits a GLF’s goodwill and branding by adding lawyers who have often established themselves as subject matter knowledge authorities, exemplified by articles, local/national bar association leadership, achievement awards, and digital thought leadership via publishing subject matter content to social media.
Adding SALF attorneys with decades of subject matter knowledge also upgrades business development opportunities for a GLF, such as the following “winningest” type meeting with a prospective client: a combination of a SALF attorney and a younger GLF attorney, where the senior attorney assures a potential client about his “been there, done that” experience, while the younger GLF attorney assures the potential client about her ability to continue representing the client for years to come.
Upgrade: Digital Value
During the post-2020 digital era, SALFs present the following three digital value upgrades to GLFs: (1) access to hundreds, and even thousands, of 5-star Google and other platform reviews, which offer the social proof that potential clients seek as they research lawyers and law firms to retain — based upon their books of business that often include thousands of satisfied clients, SALFs offer a treasure chest of potential 5-star reviews that GLFs want and need; (2) content for multichannel digital marketing by converting the subject matter knowledge of SALF attorneys to digital content for posts to multiple social media outlets (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and YouTube), as well as content for digital thought leadership (e.g., podcasts, e-newsletters, and webinars); and (3) a boost to the goodwill of a GLF’s website by adding the bios of SALF lawyers, as well as succeeding to a SALF’s website, including its backlinks and Google Analytics data regarding its web pages that attract the most attention.
Mutual Benefits
Post-2020, GLFs want and need more clients, talented lawyers, and support staff who already possess subject matter knowledge in a GLF’s practice areas, as well as access to sources of digital content to bolster a GLF’s marketing efforts in today’s digital era. SALFs offer upgrades to all of those wants and needs while also meeting the growing need among SALF owners to fulfill succession planning for the firms that they have developed over the course of their careers.