Closing Your Law Practice

[testtaker]

Sometimes the posts here start out as one thing and turn into another. I am wondering if one of the moderators can take the relevant posts about closing down a law practice from "Offers, Interviews, Turn-Downs...logistics" and place them here. Then we can continue the discussion in this thread.

Some may think this is putting the cart before the horse, but according to many experienced ALJs posting here, SSA will not give much lead time between the offer and the training. It is therefore important to have some kind of plan sketched out in case you are one of the lucky ones to get an offer.

Good luck to all of you!

[Pixie]

I wish we could move the posts to a different thread, but I don't think that ProBoards offers that option. Pix.

You will need to move quickly if the offer comes. In the past the normal lead time was 3 1/2 weeks. One of the last classes was broken into two classes off of the same register--similar to what I think they will do here--and the second class had a lot of notice. The first class not so much. Pix.

[testtaker]

Thanks Pix. I've gone and copied all the relevant posts regarding CLOSING YOUR LAW PRACTICE. Please keep your posts relevant to this topic. Thanks.

wentwest said:

When I "got the call" they gave me less than 2 weeks to close up a private practice. Do not assume rational, considerate behavior.

cincinnatus said:

Re those of you transitioning from private practice in miniscule time, you've just received your first installment in the continual harassment package of being an alj. Also, unless you're in a small minority, divorce yourself from the thought of no longer paying active bar dues as a "judge".

odarite said:

I had to close down my solo private practice in practically no time, so here is what I learned about how to handle this:

1. Before you are even called for an interview (a little late for the OMHA folks, but oh, well) consider who you believe would be good to take over your practice (pending cases) and who might be interested in doing so. Make your short list.

2. Decide what you want out of the transition. Are there cases where you feel you have done enough to share in the fee? What would be an appropriate basis? What do you want to receive for your hard goods? How long do you want them to promise thy will keep you staff on for the transition? 1 month? 3 months? 6? Read your state ethics rules and code of professional responsibility so you know what you need to do.

3. Then, if you are called for an interview, invite your short listees to lunch (one at a time, please). Tell them there is a possibility you may be moving on from private practice and if you do would they be interested in taking over your cases, hiring your staff, and buying your equipment/furnishings/whatever. Get an idea of what basis they would be interested in, but don’t bother trying to get anyone to commit to anything. There is many a slip….Make your even shorter list, and rank order them.

4. If you get the call, work your shorter list. Call the first person on your list and see if you can strike a deal. Give them only a short time to decide, as if you cannot reach a deal you need to move on to the next candidate. You may end up choosing to split things up. Attorney A wants to take over your cases and you can agree on the fee split on the cases that have progressed far enough to warrant that, attorney B will make an offer to your staff and Attorney C, it turns out has always coveted your reception desk. Who knew?

5. Write to each of your clients: I am leaving private practice, I have arranged for Attorney A to take over my cases as I feel s/he can handle my cases well. Of course, you are free to retain another attorney if you wish. I enclose a form for you to sign and return to me: Option 1 is please turn my file over to attorney A, option 2 is please have my file available for me to pick up within the next 7 days. [You may want to vet this with your bar ethics committee to be sure you are complying with local rules.]

6. Write to your former clients if you are storing any files from closed cases: I am withdrawing from private practice and will no longer be able to store your files. Please come to pick your file up, or pay the postage for me to ship it to you. Any files not collected within 20 from the date of this letter will be shredded.

7. Write letters or motions, as may be appropriate to the case withdrawing from all your cases, file with courts in compliance with local rules. For Social Security cases, either state you waive a fee or assign your right to collect a fee to attorney X if a deal has been done with your successor.

lee said:

As a veteran of closing a private practice with only 2 weeks' notice (fortunately I had partners I could hand things off to), I have only one thing to add to Odarite's comprehensive list. Be sure that your legal malpractice insurance has "tail" coverage. One of my colleagues was sued for legal malpractice about 1 1/2 years after accepting an appointment as an ALJ with a state agency, and then discovered that having dropped his malpractice insurance when he left private practice, he had no coverage for that claim. Another colleague continued to pay for malpractice coverage, because she did not know that it had "tail" coverage, and thus wasted a significant amount of money.

peejay said:

Also, with regard to closed files, some states (at least one, California) requires that they be retained for a certain length of time. Be sure to follow whatever those requirements are, and don't just shred files if clients don't respond.

workdrone said:

Amen to that. Double check your state bar rules for client file retention requirements. I had a friend that got in trouble because he shredded too quickly.

cybear said:

I teach twice annually at my State Bar's Ethics School and usually get surprised looks when I remind my audience of our five year file retention requirement. Thank God I'm paperless. That's at least one problem over which I won't have to lose sleep.

odarite said:

On file retention: if you are leaving your jurisdiction, this may be a serious issue for you. Your local bar may have a solution for those files that cannot be destroyed. Again, this is something you should investigate now that you have made the register, just in case you need the information. Scrambling for this once you have received an offer is unlikely to work out well for you.

workdrone said:

Cybear's post about being paperless reminded me that there are litigation prep services out there that will digitialize documents for a fee (usually scanned into PDF or a format of your choice). It might be better to pay the money upfront and travel with a couple DVD discs in tow then to find long term storage for a large number of boxes.

workdrone said:

privateatty said:

Please let us know who the large companies are that digitize. I have boxes going back ten years and the storage fees are killing me....

I'm in the public sector now so I don't have any company I can recommend from personal knowledge. But I'd suggest checking your state bar magazine/referral services or calling some friends who are in private practice that use litigation document management firms.

Just google "reprographics" or "document imagining & scanning" and you'll probably find a bunch of firms. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell the quality without checking some references first. Good luck!

emphyrio said:

privateatty said:

Please let us know who the large companies are that digitize. I have boxes going back ten years and the storage fees are killing me....

When I was with the government, I generally had a good experience with Ikon, and I'm pretty sure they're nation-wide. Their website is www.ikon.com.

[jagghagg]

I wonder how much time they give current federal employees since they have to move them. (I've been moved by the federal government before - it takes more than 3 weeks for them to get all that together.) Really tight for single people or working couples because there is no one to work the HHG (home and household goods) move. So if they say the first class is going to be “on duty” by the Spring of ’08, and you start reverse engineering it, you get (a) interviews in January; (b) offers in the first week of February; (c) quit your day job two weeks later; (d) head off to your new city for Phase I training with your “mentor” ALJ – and, btw, find a place to live while you are there because you have to have those HHG shipped SOMEWHERE; (e) come back to move your HHG and then (f) head to Baltimore for a month of class. <<<Whew>>> Gives me angst just to think about it.

[morgullord]

I surveyed judges in my office who were federal employees at the time they became ALJs; three weeks seemed to be the most commonly given answer.

My advice is to start assuming you will have two weeks notice and use reverse-planning to try to accomplish everything.

As a former infantry officer and JAG officer, I learned how to go from endless waiting mode to panic mode in a flash.

[deadwood]

When I was hired by SSA, I was a partner in a small firm. I was offered the job on a Friday and was asked to report the following Monday.

The fact that I had to re-locate halfway across the U.S. or re-allocate approximately 150 cases was initially irrelevant to SSA. I say initially because they eventually gave me a few weeks to wrap up things.

[testtaker]

Folks from "When Will Offers Commence" asked about this thread. I'm just posting so it appears back on page 1 of the board. The topic appears more relevant at this stage of the game.

[wentwest]

As I recall there was very little time between the offer and the date I had to report to training. While I was lucky to have partners, I found it very difficult to close out a practice. I made a deal with SSA that I would go to training and then take 6 weeks leave without pay so I could go home and take care of business before reporting for duty far from home. As I recall, it was a negotiation between me and the Regional Chief ALJ. I immediately stopped doing any hearings (I had been representing claimants for SSA) and we took steps to get my name off stationery and signs and so forth, but it took quite a while to write summaries for each file and to pass on the responsibilities of each case. We arrived at a sliding scale of fee allocation depending on what stage of representation the case was at. The logistics of packing up a family and moving to a far away place in the middle of winter took a lot of time too, as you can imagine. Then travelling, setting up in a new city, getting kids in school, registering cars, furniture, etc. 6 weeks was very short. I was glad to start working for SSA; it was far easier than all that winding up and moving.

[testtaker]

thought I'd revive this for us soon-to-be newbies.

[float]

Bump.

[privateatty]

Thanks, testtaker for finding this.

[alj]

Actually, it was Float who found it this time and gave it a bump.

As I remember, I had exactly 3 1/2 weeks to get things wrapped up. When I got the call, I was a little over 2 weeks into a major and complex case. I just shook my head and said not now, not now. We managed to finish the case after another 3 weeks, and I only had a few days to say my goodbyes and head off to Falls Church for training.

Cases like that, although we got a favorable verdict, make me thankful I took the leap and accepted the appointment.

[privateatty]

May 16, 2009 14:21:02 GMT -5 alj said:

Actually, it was Float who found it this time and gave it a bump.

As I remember, I had exactly 3 1/2 weeks to get things wrapped up. When I got the call, I was a little over 2 weeks into a major and complex case. I just shook my head and said not now, not now. We managed to finish the case after another 3 weeks, and I only had a few days to say my goodbyes and head off to Falls Church for training.

Cases like that, although we got a favorable verdict, make me thankful I took the leap and accepted the appointment.

Yes, alj, it was float. Thank you float and alj.