Purchase price for sale of law practice

In discussing the value of his law practice, my client mentioned the figure given to him by his financial planner, a number designed to assure his standard of living. This was the number he wants for the purchase price of his practice.  I suggested that the two numbers were unrelated … and that the value of the practice may be more or less than the number his financial planner wanted for his style of life.

This caused us to return to the reason he wants to sell his practice and the time frame for achieving a sale. The more urgent is the desire to sell, the lower will be the price; the less urgency, the greater will be the price. Neither number has much to do with what it will take to reach and maintain your desired standard of living. Such a number may impact your decision to complete a transaction, but really has nothing to do with an objective valuation of the practice.

Categorized in: Buying & Selling a Practice, Management