Team Building: Growth by Acquisition as a Hiring Strategy

It’s almost always hard to find good attorneys.  That’s especially true in certain practice areas – family law, for example.  Some firms try to hire, and fail – or, they never bring on a candidate in the first place, because they never come across a good fit.  It’s rough out there. 

 

But, hiring isn’t the only way to add staff. 



While very few attorneys actually engage this strategy, growth by acquisition is a possibility, as well, for even solo and small firms.  Because, yes – one way to acquire staff, is to acquire a business (that could include both lawyers and administrative staff).  There are plenty of solo and small firm lawyers out there with a waning desire to manage a business – they’d rather take a paycheck, potentially with some upside, to work for someone else.  Not only that, but law firms are relatively cheap to acquire, usually selling for 1x gross annual revenue – and, that’s if the attorney whose firm you’re looking to acquire even asks for an acquisition fee (some don’t/won’t). 

 

See, this is a potentially more appealing option than you might have thought, at first. 

 

Now, it does take some work, to acquire a law firm, including finding acquisition targets – but, these are lawyers you’re looking for.  Attorneys are great at networking with other attorneys!  Of course, this is not all that dissimilar from the hiring process – locate the target, make the offer, sign the contract. 

 

And - grow, baby, grow! 

 

. . . 

 

If you want to talk about new strategies for building your business, reach out to us! 

Through a unique partnership between the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar and Jared Correia’s Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, Maine attorneys have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discounted rate. 

To get started, visit Red Cave’s landing page for Maine attorneys, and start running your law practice like a business.

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