By success, I mean the point at which they start to be able to take home a dramatic increase in profits while also reducing their workload, gaining free time to work the hours they choose and, when they choose to work, having the freedom to do the work they enjoy.

In fact, I’ve seen this happen so many times from working closely with law firm owners that it’s become a key focus of my one-on-one programs.

Up until this turning point, they had built a firm that relied on them to keep operating, even when their firms employed over 100 members.

They have clients who have worked with them (not with other team members) for many years, so they feel trapped by having to ensure they don’t lose their lifelong clients by continually doing their billable work.

Because they’ve been practising their particular niche in law for so many years, they know that no one else could ever do their work as well as them, so they don’t ever think of training anyone else to take it over or request any of the other senior members in their firm take over their heaviest billable work.

This results in them being exhausted as they work long hours to keep up with their client demands while managing others in their firm to hit their billing targets.

Also, because they’re so busy with their own billable work, they don’t have time to support or train the team members below them, and so, at some point, team members leave out of frustration because they are not getting the career progression they yearn for.

To play it safe and keep costs low, most law firm owners primarily hire juniors to take over some of the basic work regarding their cases or projects and their admin and virtual assistants to help out here and there.

This helps to some extent; however, it still doesn’t solve their ongoing struggle to handle mountains of demanding work that exhausts them day in and day out.

Then, the day they want to sell their firm, most realise their only option is to merge and be on some ‘basic payout scheme’ for the next three years as they step away from the firm they’ve spent years building.


This is because it’s nearly impossible to sell a business that still relies on its owner to operate, so they miss out on ever selling their business for a sum of money they deserve, an amount that’s a fair reward for their years of extraordinarily hard work.

It’s very sad, but this happens most of the time and, we see evidence of this because the acquisition and merger market in the legal sector is usually booming!

So what’s the solution, and what is this turning point I speak of?

This is when law firm owners successfully start to replace themselves from having to do their heavy work and, more importantly, their billable work.

Instead of trying to be overly safe and keep costs low by employing another junior or middleweight, employ a senior team member who can directly take over your usual most skilled billable work.

I’m not saying this is easy and doesn’t happen overnight.

However, I’ve seen that when law firm owners focus their time on asking around and interviewing to find the right new senior member, then work with them closely to teach them what they do and have them participate in 3-way calls with their clients, within just 6 to 12 weeks, they are usually astounded at the ability the new senior member has to win their trust, take over major parts of their most demanding work and keep their dear clients happy.


Once this happens, the law firm owner finally has their life back AND greatly increases their profits because they gain time to ensure and support (with the help of their heads of department) that everyone in their firm hits their targets.

Not only this, but after 6 to 12 months, the sale value of their firm also greatly increases because if this is done correctly, their firm no longer relies on them to operate and be highly profitable.

A client of mine initially had his firm valued by a trusted external source at $3.5 million, and after a year of working with me, employing one senior member to take over his most demanding billable work directly and two other middleweights, the same trusted external source valued the sale value of his firm by an extra $5 million, to a sale value of $8.5 million.

Yes, in just one year,

My UK clients have also experienced significant increases in the sale value of their firms by focusing on replacing themselves from having to do billable work and, several are now in powerful negotiating positions regarding selling their firms.

So this stuff works.


Today, ask yourself:

Who do I know, in or out of my firm, who I could invest 2 hours a week to train to take over some of my heaviest billable work?


Answer that, act on it, and you’ll start moving in a very rewarding direction.