When is the right time to sell to, or merge with another law firm?

Very. We have able and willing future owners in every department.
Pretty good. We have able and willing future owners in most departments.
Reasonably, although one or two areas of practice are a worry if we have a serious illness or early retirement.
Not well, although we have one or two internal candidates, we are very exposed to the risk of illnesses and retirements.
Badly. There is nobody capable or willing to step into ownership.

Most non fee-earning responsibilities (including COLP and COFA) are conducted by paid staff so partners focus purely on client work.
We have good admin support so only a small percentage of partners spend more than a day per week on these.
We have decent admin support but partners are COLP and COFA.
There is limited support and partners spend too much time dealing with these.
Partners have to deal with all compliance, regulatory and management issues.

Reduce – another year of zero claims and gold standard regulatory and cyber policies.
Remain around the same. Another year of no claims and Lexcel achieved.
A small increase. Possibly some notifications this year.
An uncomfortable increase. Possibly a new claim this year.
A potentially crippling increase. Possibly several claims and notifications.

Very. Financial performance has been strong and we have retained every year.
Reasonably. We’ve had strong years in recent times with a good pipeline but most profit was paid to partners.
Unsure. While we performed reasonably well last year, signs for the future are uncertain and capital accounts are larger than they should be.
Pretty pessimistic. No growth in recent years and most of the turnover is delivered by partners so the profit margin is a false measure.
Not at all. Performance has been iffy and we have lost key people that have not been replaced.

Absolutely. We rarely struggle to attract the people required and our clients are well served at all times.
Sometimes. Larger firms often outbid us in recruitment and try to attract our staff.
It is difficult because we cannot match salaries elsewhere and we fear some clients are not as tied to the firm as they once were.
We struggle because of our low profile and reputation being well away from the market. When people leave, they often take clients.
We cannot recruit at the rate we need to replace staff and clients are voicing concerns.

1. When is the right time to sell to, or merge with another law firm?
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