Competitive Assessment

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

Working Timekeeper Productivity(TKPR Graphs, TKPR Profit, TKPR Comp Models) - Billable Hours, Billable Value, Amount Billed, Amount Collected & Average Rate

Write-off Reports

Any Expectations - Hours, Billings, Collections

Top Client Fees Billed/Collected(Concentration of Risk) - Sorted on Working Timekeeper & Originating Attorney - Amount Billed & Amount Collected

Top Client Fees Billed/Collected(Concentration of Risk) - Sorted on Practice Area - Amount Billed & Amount Collected

Working Timekeeper by Client(Workload Distribution) - Billable Hours, Amount Billed & Amount Collected

Originating Attorney by Client(Competitive Comp & Workload Distribution) - Billable Hours, Amount Billed & Amount Collected Extended Services(Marketing plan, Client Profitability, Partner Compensation Analysis, Associate Performance)

Income Statements, Balance Sheets, General Ledger Asset and Expense Accounts(Income Statement Ratio Analysis, IS Breakout, Cost Per Hour) Current AR and Work In Progress (WIP) Aging - For concentration of risk analysis

Operating Agreement with Amendments and Description of Partner Compensation Plan

Application Hardware & Vendor List(Airtable Form)(Cost Per Seat Estimate)

Firm Marketing Budget - 3 Years

Business Development Sources - Sources of New Business - New Client List and Acquisition Source

Client Acquisition Budget

Client Retention Budget

Estimated Time Spent by Lawyer on each Marketing Activity https://www.performlaw.com/knowledge/metrics-to-improve-law-firm-marketing-effectiveness

List of open files with open dates

List of closed with open and closed dates

List of cases by managing lawyer

Payroll by Position

Analysis of Overhead by Position

Allocate Secretary & Staff to Respective Attorneys

Assessment of the firm's commitment to an attorney planning process.

Strategic vision (based on years of experience and position in the firm), Administrative Activity, Bar Professional and Civic, Marketing, Pro Bono, Recruiting, Skill Development, Solicit Feedback - Scope of the questionnaire is at the assessment level. We are not creating a plan in this step.

We are seeking a description of hours spent and activity types in these areas. See the knowledge base - I think we can list the most common activity types whether they do them and how much time they spend on them. For example, bar association participation - participant, committee service, leadership, etc.

Individual lawyer questionnaires and firm management questionnairre.

Use grading scale to indicate basic, intermediate or advanced awareness in these key areas. Look for institutional advantages or disadvantages.

Here is some additional Information

Review any formulas or written documents: Compare the overall comp ranges for attorney pay to best practices. For example, 30-40% collections. Percent base salary to total comp, at risk compensation (fee sharing)

Are bonus plans too hard too easy? Are they achievable?

Is there a benefit for business development or managing clients or cases?

Comment on incentives and disincentives

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

An assessment of marketing planning on individual attorney and firm-level including strategic & financial goals, mission and brand definition, target audience definition, activity plans, and frequencies

The support system includes all the elements of the firm's marketing system designed to help its members and attorneys engage in marketing activities.

Policies are used as guidelines for the organization and its members to plan and implement their activities.

This part of the analysis focuses on the firm's online profile. We review the website, Google rankings, blog quality, social media presence and capability to develop content, as well as the lead flow

We distribute and collect survey from attorneys to assess their contact management activities with respect to prospects. clients and referral sources.

Analysis of marketing-related costs

Analysis of pay-off indicators

Mandatory retirement age
Transition plans and timing
Qualifying for a transition plan

inserting these types of policies into an operating agreement before actual retirements begin removes the difficulty of opening a dialogue with a senior partner at what may feel like an arbitrary time. For example, a firm may approach a senior partner about retiring when he is 65, which may offend him if he is planning to work several more years.

Return of capital timing and amount
Payout of AR and WIP interests, if applicable

The capital a retiring partner may have invested in the law firm typically consists of fixed capital and undistributed earnings. As undistributed earnings have been previously taxed or subject to tax in the current period, most firms pay undistributed earnings on an expedited basis. Depending upon the amount of fixed capital, the payout period can extend for several months or even years.
When the return of capital also includes an amount for a retiring partner's interest in Accounts Receivable and Work in Progress, a valuation process and payment schedule are necessary.

Post-retirement liability obligations

Lease and debt guarantee policy upon retirement
Contingent liability agreement (if necessary)

Some obligations, especially those to third parties, may need special handling by the remaining partners. For example, a large bank loan that is personally guaranteed by all equity partners will require a release of guarantee for the retiring partner. Loan agreements that require a retiring partner's net worth as collateral are particularly challenging.

New partner equity policy
Lateral partner equity policy
Capital requirements tied to ownership

An orderly process for transferring equity interests among members is beneficial and supportive of firm longevity and growth. When ownership impacts compensation, transferring equity among members is more difficult. Concentrated ownership interests can make admitting new partners harder.

Compensation policies
Partnership admission policies

Many firms include their compensation system as an exhibit to their operating agreements. We recommend including definitions and examples of formula based systems. Thoroughly documenting subjective pay systems where possible is also recommended.

Documenting compensation policies and including them in the firm’s operating agreement can promote stability and maximum predictability.

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

Employee List(TKPR Profitability, Compensation Analysis, Overhead Analysis, Staffing Ratios, Historical Payroll) - Salary, Bonus History, Raise History, Position, Hire & Termination Date, Benefits Data, Secretarial/Staff Allocation Contract Labor

Tools: Marketing Support Apps.

Process: Is there evidence of a planning process? If so, is it adequate? Is there a budgeting process?

People: Support resources, activity measurement, the things people do - is the execution adequate - activity benchmarks

1-page presentation of client service metrics. Identify potential areas of improvement and the benefit economically to the firm and client of speeding up or slowing down the process.

Checklist presentation of the key transition areas with comments. Perhaps a graphical presentation