What type succession planning would be better?

Question

If there are 7 lawyers wanting to open a firm.

--Sole Proprietor

--General

--LLP

--Corporate LLC

What advice can a CFP give for the following?

a.) Access Corporation option

--Liability/risk

--Control

b.) Succession

--Quit

--Retire

--Sell

--Die

Answer 1

As any lawyer would point out, there isn't _nearly_ enough information in your question, to answer it properly.

For one thing, organizational form may be largely dictated by relative equity interests; not all the lawyers may be equal investors, or equity participants, or desire equal managing responsibility. Next, the station in life of the participants might need to be taken into account. If 2 of the lawyers are well known public figures, their names may have considerable "letterhead value" and co-mingling them with junior partners would not be advisable for the firm, nor for succession planning purposes. Finally, more law firms are being organized not as permanent endeavors, but as a business projects, particularly in the area of international law. So, the line of work or practice may strongly impact succession planning, i.e. there may be an intentional windup of the firm at a designated point in the future, when the goals of the business have been achieved.