The Business Plan

Perhaps you are looking to write a new chapter in your career as you consider a move to another firm. As you go forward and talk with new firms, some will want you to fill out their LPQ. As a partner-level legal recruiter, I’ve seen dozens of LPQ’s (Lateral Partner Questionnaire…also known as the long painful questionnaire) from partners who are ready to move their practice to another law firm. 

This important document serves as a combination of a gating inflection point, business development roadmap, and crystal ball for the future of a partner’s success within a firm. Each firm usually has its own LPQ although many firms ask for the same information but just in different formats. 

But one of the most important aspects of this document is another stand-alone document known as the Business Plan. A detailed LPQ and a tight business plan will serve you well as you turn the page and begin speaking with other firms, and both will be necessary tools to help you execute once you transition over.

I believe that this is a required annual exercise as well and that you should refer to your plan at least once monthly.  In early November, start thinking about the next year and update your plan.  Throughout the year, as you set your monthly goals, print it out and write on it by hand of any changes or adjustments, and then revise it accordingly.  The plan is a guide and a benchmark for you.  Sure, you carry around all that information in your head.  You KNOW who your clients are.  But the magic happens in the planning phase, so take the time to write it all out.

Regarding the business plan, what is an ideal structure and format a partner should consider when writing one? Is there such a thing as a good plan and a bad plan? Nina Campbell, one of the leading interior designers in the world, says that there is no such thing as bad design. Everyone has their own style. This same concept applies to business plans. There is no such thing as a bad business plan. The fact that you have one makes your plan a good business plan.

But let me help you increase the odds of success by giving you some insight into business plans that I’ve seen which result in strong offers from leading law firms. Remember that at the end of the process of interviewing with a law firm, the potential lateral partner has been vetted through various inflection points along the way, and usually the people who wear the green eyeshades and work in the basement are the ones who usually end up taking away the punchbowl at the party. The people who manage the money are the ones who have the greatest ability to kill the deal. If the potential placement doesn’t result in a highly probable net positive in terms of money, then it’s not likely to go forward. 

Thinking along this line, your business plan is written to three different audience members: the people who control the money, the people who will help you along the way, and yourself. 

Let me elaborate:

1) The money people: Those who are involved in financial decisions are the most important observers of your business plan. If they don’t think it’s going to fly, then it probably won’t. Or at least it won’t in their firm. This is counterintuitive, but trust them more than yourself. These are usually CFO’s, COO’s, and other law firm leaders who are directly involved in pulling the levers on the economics machine that makes law firms function. Money in, and money out. They want to make sure they are making a bet that has a highly probable likelihood of a favorable outcome. If they sense that you are not worth a bet, then you may want to revise your plan as to what will give these people a greater comfort that you are worth the investment or consider looking at firms that can make it all work out for everyone. We are striving for a triple win: a win for you, for the firm, and most importantly for your clients.

2) Future collaborators: This category includes those leaders and staff in the law firm who are involved in integrating you into the firm, those partners who will be introducing you to their clients for future matters, and those partners to whom you will be introducing your clients for future matters. 

3) Yourself: This document is as much a guide for you to follow as it is a document to give support to your credibility. Don’t discard it the day you receive an offer. Keep it front and center and even beyond the plan create a checklist with action items and due dates once you get more granular.

About the Plan

The plan should have four sections:

1. DEFINITION OF FOCUS:

What is your niche focus: define your area of practice and elaborate on the various aspects of it. Yes, this is obvious to you, so it may feel silly to put something so obvious on paper. But be as clear as you can on the categories that are included with this plan, such the type, size, and location of your clients, the different areas of work that you do. This also could be stated as an EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, where you write several paragraphs on a high level of what you intend to accomplish. I think it is also important to state the financial goals you have in front of you in terms of revenue that you can create by accomplishing the plan. 

2. UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

Describe your personal uniqueness and how that translates into getting work. What is unique about you? It can be career experiences, deep expertise, previous career history, educational qualifications, the publicity you have received, notoriety you have established, connections you’ve made, and even attributes you possess. What is unique about you that gives you an unfair competitive advantage over all the other people who wish to steal your clients away from you? 

3. SWEET SPOT FOCUS AREAS

In this section you are going to describe in detail your ideal type of client: Out of all the clients you have served, what is the one type of client that is most important to you? You elaborated on the various menu options of services you offer in your Definition of Focus section, but narrow it down here to the type of client in which you make the greatest contribution which also translates into potential opportunities. You may do general corporate transactional work, but if you could get an emerging private equity company focusing on branded life sciences in Japan and Taiwan, then your world would be perfect.

4. ACTION STEPS

What action steps are you going to take for them to hear about you? What action steps are you going to take so that you can harvest new opportunities from your new firm? What action steps are you going to take so that your new colleagues can see you as a solution to their client’s problems? What action steps are you going to take so that you can “get the call” from new prospects? Spend the most time on this section. 

Here are a few ideas from other business plans I have seen:

- Discuss the integration of respective practices. Which practice areas in a new firm can yield the most profitable opportunities? Mention even simple items such as “Schedule meetings and lunches in the NY, Dallas, and Los Angles offices with real estate finance partners of my new firm.”

-  Which trade associations could yield visibility? Name them. Even name the people you are going to speak with. “Contact John Smith with the International Clown Marketing Association to speak at the trademark conference in October.”

- Also mention what other visibility actions you can take with each specific trade association. Ideas include speaking at conferences, speaking at regional meetings, speaking at monthly meetings. (go into this kind of detail and include dates and cities if you have them. It helps you when you execute, and it also gives the money people an idea of a marketing budget and the ROI you’ll bring from establishing yourself as a credentialed expert in your field). Other marketing ideas include writing white papers, conducting surveys, sitting on panels, serving as a master of ceremonies, and delivering webinars or audio programs. 

A structured format to include what I’ve written also may be developed this way. You may want to follow the exercise I’ve written above just to put ideas on paper, and then develop a formalized business plan by following this format:

1. Executive Summary

2. Practice Overview

     a. Individual Profile

     b. Industry Expertise

     c. Geographic Expertise

3. Objectives

     a. Individual Objectives

     b. Target Firm Profile

     c. Client Development Objectives

     d. Practice Development Objectives

     e. Other Practice Objectives (getting published, sitting on boards)

4. Opportunities

     a. Industry Opportunities

          i. Break down into specific industries here

     b. Industry SWOT Analysis: You may even wish to add another paragraph of SWOT analysis by industry. Perhaps create a chart with each industry listed by row and a column for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

     c. Geographic Opportunities

5. Marketing Strategy

     a. Objective 

     b. External Marketing Activities

          i. Client Facing Initiatives

          ii. Industry Facing Initiatives

          iii. Internal Marketing Activities

A final thought: You may look at this data as something that is an onerous task, however, once you start the process, you will find that it gives you comfort to the idea of moving your practice. In fact, this process may put a spring in your step as you can see potential opportunities unfold in front of you on paper. It may also validate your potential to yourself, which is going to be helpful as you are brought into a room of strangers who are eager to pick apart your grand ideas and try to shoot holes in them. This inner confidence will serve you well as you embark on this journey, and this hopefully will translate into success as you move your practice and start on a new chapter. 

(c) 2026 Scott Love