Partnership Coaching for Lawyers

Who Can Benefit?

• Are disagreements impeding your ability to pursue business opportunities?

• Are your meetings unproductive?

• Are your different communication strategies annoying one another?

• Are you having second thoughts about the distribution of ownership interests?

• Do you have different visions for the future?

• Have you not spoken to each other for days (or months)?

Why Bother?

• The costs of a bad partnership can be devastating; it can tear apart friendships, families and businesses.

• Litigation is expensive, time consuming, creates bad publicity, and virtually eliminates the possibility of a peaceful resolution.

• Arbitration is almost as bad as litigation – minus the bad publicity.

• Conflict often leads to a partner underperforming, costing the company revenue.

• The status quo is draining your energy, creating anxiety and is frustrating your friends and family.

• Problems between partners can increase turn over among key staff or reduce their productivity.

• You are losing revenue from business opportunities you would be pursuing if you weren’t focusing on this problem.

• The longer you wait to address it, the worse the situation will become

What if I’m getting along fine with my partner?

All partnerships start out well, but those that last are either very, very lucky or they have clearly and specifically articulated their expectations and created contingency plans to address potential problems. Even those who have legal contracts in place often neglect to address some basic issues that can lead to bad blood down the line. Do you and your partner agree on all basic issues, such as:

• What will you do with profits?

• What happens if one of you is incapacitated or loses interest in the work?

• What happens in the event of a financial downturn?

• Under what circumstance would you add a new partner or buy out the other partner’s interest?

• How will the partnership interest be valued in the event of a buyout?

• How will you decide if your respective performance is adequate?

If you think you know the answers to these questions, that is a great start. But unless there is a signed document memorializing the agreement you still have a very high probability of problems down the line.