I Want to Take My Practice To Another Firm – How do I Find an Opportunity?

If you had a budding legal practice that you wanted to take with you to a new firm, would you know where to look for willing new partners?

Many senior associates and junior partners have a lingering feeling that they might be waiting a long time for that invitation to apply for partnership or claim enough equity to make the effort worthwhile. With that comes a sense that there might be options out there, but an acceptance that you have no Earthly idea where to start looking for a lateral move into partnership at a new firm.

In this article, we’ll discuss a few things to consider and places to look for those kinds of opportunities that you probably won’t find on Seek.

What Do you Have to Offer?

Before you even begin hunting, you need to know what you have.

First, figure out what reliable revenue your clients are going to bring in. Don’t include revenue clients you think are likely to stay with your existing firm of course – the question is what top line revenue are you bringing to a new partnership.

You should probably also consider outliers in your revenue calculations – did one client have a massive fee-earning matter in the last 12 months that’s unlikely to repeat itself? If so, at least put a question mark next to it when figuring out your reliable, repeatable revenue stream.

Do you have a strong team working with you that might be prepared to move? If you are running a well oiled machine then consider which of your current team might come to a new firm if the conditions were right. Do you NEED these people or are they just desirable to make the transition a bit smoother?  Consider this for both professional staff and support staff.

And finally what is it that you actually do, and is that what you want to be doing? If you’re in a practice area that really only exists in large firms and you’re considering a move to a smaller firm, is that practice area realistic or do you need to take the opportunity to rebadge your work a little?

Once you have this basic information you should have a reasonable idea of what you have to offer.

What’s the Prime Opportunity for You?

Once you know what you have to offer, the next question is: what do you want?

In part this might involve asking why you’re considering leaving in the first place. Is it just because of a greater financial opportunity or are there other attributes in your current firm that aren’t working well.

This is a hard question to answer and we encourage you to take your time over it. A successful practice is not always a simple profit equation, and often comes down to a more fundamental issue: how do you feel about going to work each day and what do you think of your other Partners?

So as part of this, picture what your ideal work day looks like. Fancy offices or simple? Suburbs or city? Niche area or general? Big office with lots of staff or just a team of close-knit folks working together?

It’s also important to consider which practice areas are going to be most complementary to yours. Which kinds of clients (both yours and theirs) can be cross-sold on new or different services? Do some areas give you better internal referrals than others? Will some existing areas be effectively competitive with yours and are you OK with that?

This should give you a great idea of the best opportunities for you. While you might not find an exact fit, at least you can weigh up how close something gets to this ideal.

Know the Market

Some market research is the obvious way to start getting your head around what might be out there.

Of course, papers and media to some extent will give you a good feel for industries, geographic areas and practice areas that are in high demand around the place. Sometimes you’ll find helpful commentary in salary surveys also.

But the best way to find out what’s happening around your field is to ask people. Catch up with other practitioners, recruiters and industry experts and just ask them what’s going on.

You’d be surprised how much you can learn, and what opportunities might get a casual mention if you keep your ears open for a few weeks or months in a series of discussions with people.

Don’t Just Look for Ads

While some partnership roles are advertised, many are opportunistic.

What do we mean by that? While some partnerships might not be actively looking to take on a new partner, they might be open to doing so if the right person with the right practice mix and culture fit came along.

While this is a self-interested thing to say, your best resource here is going to be recruiters.

Why?

Because we spend vast amounts of time talking to people who run law firms. Our job is to know what their goals are, what they’re looking for, and what they might be interested in.

So just because someone hasn’t put an ad out seeking “A New Partner to Lead X” they might have shared with us a desire to add that practice area in the future. If you happen to be in that area, then we’re probably going to mention it if we think that what you’re offering is good for what they’re seeking.

Recruiters are your best way to access the “hidden market” when it comes to senior lateral moves.

Ready to Start?

Already honed in on your clients, revenue and staff? Already know what you’re looking for, but just haven’t found it yet?

Or do you need help getting ready?

Either way – give us a call and let’s explore what’s possible.