Selling a law practice in Ohio is now legal
The Ohio Bar adopted a new rule of professional conduct, Rule 1.17, that allows the sale of a law practice as of February 1, 2007. (more…)
View page
Tag Archive: Buying & Selling a Practice
View page
Selling your law practice with a covenant not to compete
Where courts have refused to uphold a covenant not to compete given by one lawyer to another in the sale of a law practice, one of the primary arguments against validating the covenant is that clients have a right to counsel of their own choosing. And, the argument continues, saying that a lawyer cannot practice law in a given area for a reasonable period of time restricts that right.
(more…)
View page
Closing a law practice
The New Hampshire Bar Association Ethics Committee, in May 2007, wrote an opinion or (my term) "white paper" as part of its ethics studies on closing a law practice.
It’s a good summary of factors to consider, though certainly not complete. And, since the date of this opinion/white paper, the Supreme Court of NH has approved a new set of Rules of Professional Conduct which include Rule 1.17 explicitly permitting the sale of a law practice in NH for the first time.
View page
Sale of law practice o.k. in New Hampshire
Rule 1.17 was adopted this month in New Hampshire, effective January 1, 2008. It’s rule 1.17 provides, as does the ABA Model Rule 1.17, that an entire law practice, or an area of a law practice, can be sold. (Thanks to Bruce Dorner for the
(more…)
View page
Law firm goodwill value “knocked” by New York Bar
New York’s DR 2-101 (22 NYCRR 1200.7) states: "… (b) A lawyer in private practice shall not practice under a trade name…"
If lawyers’ names must be used in the title of a firm, as seems to be the case under the new advertising rules in NY, any lawyer that would be interested in purchasing the law firm (permitted in New York) would either have to "retire" the selling lawyer (and keep the name in the firm "trade name" since the rule enables the name of a deceased or retired member of the firm to be retained) or change the firm name.
(more…)
View page
Selling Your Law Practice – Additional Perspective
ABA ETHICSearch just published a memorandum concerning the closing of a law practice.
In addition to mentioning our book, Selling Your Law Practice: The Profitable Exit Strategy, the author cites several articles and ethics opinions that provide a broader perspective on the topic, including the ethical responsibilities of retiring lawyers and departing lawyers
View page
Selling a law practice
Even immigration lawyer law firms are concerned about growing their practices by buying a practice.
View page
Selling a law practice for a fixed sum: Smart or not?
Question: When buying a law practice, why should I pay any price that is not calculated on a percentage of the revenue that actually is produced from that practice after I take charge? (more…)
View page
Yes, Martha, there is goodwill in a law practice!
Both Tom Collins and Ed Wesemann support my contention that law firms do have goodwill! See my book, Selling Your Law Practice: The Profitable Exit Strategy. (more…)
View page
Even “bad” law firms have goodwill
The case of Baker v Dorfman, 03 Civ 1168, as reported in the New York Law Journal of March 21, 2006, was interesting.
As I read the article, the case confirmed what I’ve been saying for years about the sale of law practices. (more…)
View page