withdrawal

February 1, 2020

How a Law Firm Can Protect Itself From the ‘Grab and Go’?

Law firms should recognize that lawyer resignations and the loss of clients are inevitable in the modern law practice due to prohibitions on agreements that restrict competition.
Law firms can protect the interests of clients and the firm by adopting best practices that govern lawyer resignations.
Law firms should recognize the investments made in the firm’s intellectual property and adopt policies that limit misappropriation.

Law firms must survive in a world in which key employees are free to leave at any time and to take as much of the firm’s business with them as they can. Many lawyers, motivated by the financial incentives that are part of their separation, believe that there are no rules limiting their solicitation of clients, copying of key documents and compensation for their old firm. This view may be mistaken, but sorting it out after the resignation or withdrawal is expensive, time-consuming football-1717630_1280-1024x682 and threatens to draw off the time and attention of key managers.

The grab and go is the unexpected resignation without notice combined with the immediate unilateral solicitation of clients. Its corollary is the law firm lockout, in which a lawyer that has indicated his or her intention to leave is locked out of the firm and cut off from clients while the clients are intensely solicited by the firm.

Best Practices to Manage Lawer Resignations

Here is a list of some of 10 policies that a law firm should have in place before a key lawyer decides to move his or her practice. But first, the reality check. Lawyers will leave and lawyers will take clients. Not only that, but lawyers have a right to leave and take clients. The only issue on the table is managing the process.

Law firms, the individual lawyers that work there and the clients that we serve are better served by articulating a clear set of rules beforehand, by adopting key internal policies and by recognizing that resignation need not equate with conflict. Lawyers and their former law firms should remember that life goes on after the departure. But when one side tries to gain an unfair advantage over the other, however, life gets complicated and messy. Continue reading

June 28, 2019

Dividing Fees in a Law Firm Business Divorce

by Jay R. McDaniel, Esq.

Business divorce disputes among lawyers will often require the division of contingent fees realized after the parties have separated their business interests.
An agreement between lawyers in a firm to divide fees in the event of their separation cannot function as a restriction on a lawyers right to practice and to compete with a former firm, but otherwise is generally enforceable.
Courts also use principles of quantum merit — ‘as much as he deserves – to allocate contingent fees between lawyers who once practiced togther.

The division of fees, in particular contingent fees earned after a firm is dissolved or the resignation of a rainmaker, are the catalyst for business divorce disputes in law firm breakups. These disputes involve some key issues: business-861325_1280-1024x768

Is there an agreement in place covering the division of fees?
If there is an agreement, is it enforceable?
If there is no agreement, how will a court divide the fees?

Agreements to Divide Fees

Lawyers practicing together in a firm frequently make agreements on how fees will be divided after the withdrawal of a lawyer. These agreements may be part of the firm’s partnership, operating agreement or corporation bylaws, or embodied in an employment contract or separation agreement. These types of agreements are generally, but not always, enforceable.

Getting the client’s consent to such a division is also a good practice and, in at least one jurisdiction, may be required.

November 9, 2016

Consent to Amended LLC Certificate is Dissociation

by Jay R. McDaniel, Esq.

We often think of the dissociation of a member from a limited liability company as a matter of expulsion. The majority typically wants to expel a problematic minority member from the LLC.

But one can also dissociate themselves by resigning as member, or, under the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (RULLC), by giving notice of their express will to withdraw as a member. This lawsuit tells us that there are no specific words required; the intent to quit if expressed to the LLC, will be sufficient.

Dissociation by Express Will of Member

Law firms should recognize that lawyer resignations and the loss of clients are inevitable in the modern law practice due to prohibitions on agreements that restrict competition.

Law firms can protect the interests of clients and the firm by adopting best practices that govern lawyer resignations.

Law firms should recognize the investments made in the firm’s intellectual property and adopt policies that limit misappropriation.

Best Practices to Manage Lawer Resignations

Business divorce disputes among lawyers will often require the division of contingent fees realized after the parties have separated their business interests.

An agreement between lawyers in a firm to divide fees in the event of their separation cannot function as a restriction on a lawyers right to practice and to compete with a former firm, but otherwise is generally enforceable.

Courts also use principles of quantum merit — ‘as much as he deserves – to allocate contingent fees between lawyers who once practiced togther.

Agreements to Divide Fees

Dissociation by Express Will of Member