The team at iBoss have increasingly become involved in projects that extend beyond their planning and advisory services. One recent example of this arose when we were approached by a Partner in charge of a specialist division within a prominent Law Firm. His employers offered him the opportunity to hive out his division, which was achieving annual billings of circa £4m, as it was decided that the service offering was one that the Law Firm, for strategic reasons, wanted to exit.
The Partner was keen to explore the opportunity but first wanted to ensure that this was a viable business opportunity. He also wanted to understand what terms could be agreed and what funding would be required for the new proposed Legal Firm. In order to be able to do this he engaged iBoss to prepare a Business Plan and Financial Forecasts. Once prepared, he discussed with two of the directors of iBoss how best to negotiate and structure a deal that would be acceptable to both parties. Fortunately with a willing buyer and willing seller the focus on the deal was not purely based on financial considerations but how a smooth transition of live client cases could be handled.
Once the Heads of Terms had been agreed the biggest challenge the Partner faced was how to set up the new business at the same time as he continued to run the existing division. In this respect the iBoss directors experience was such that they were able to become actively involved in setting up the new business, whilst the Partner continued his commitments to his existing firm.
Setting up a new solicitor’s practice has many challenges, not least of which is obtaining an offer of Professional Indemnity Insurance [PII], which is a pre-requirement, of applying for Solicitors Regulatory Authority [SRA] and SRA approval, which in turn is a pre-requirement of opening a bank account for a new solicitors practice. Both parties were keen to conclude a deal as quickly as possible, whilst the ‘regulatory’ matters were being dealt with and a plan was agreed to start the process of putting in the new place the infrastructure that would be required to ensure a smooth transition of clients cases.
Whilst one iBoss director focused on the ‘PII, SRA and funding requirements, the other iBoss director project managed the move to new office premises, IT software and hardware requirements, existing employee transfers, new staff recruitment and contractual requirements etc.
Consequently, once the PII, SRA approval and bank account where opened a successful completion of the ‘hive out’ was achieved very shortly afterwards. The practice was able now to ensure that no client was impacted by the agreement and a smooth transition was achieved to the delight of the both exiting Partner and the Law Firm.
This was an unusual project in so far as it required a number of component parts being put together but not necessarily in what would be regarded as the normal order. The focus was to make the opportunity work for the exiting Partner who was very excited about running his own business and he was very pleased with the outcome.
If you have a project whether straightforward or one that may require a more ‘out of the box’ approach, then the team at iBoss would be happy to have an initial discussion on a no fee/no obligation basis.
For more details of this project, contact Phil Jones on 07876 503830 or e-mail him at phil@theiboss.co.uk . For information on the full range of services that we offer visit our web site at www.theiboss.co.uk or give us a call on 0800 093 5240.
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