Divorce Attorney - Forming Law Partnerships

It can be really difficult to figure out how it is that a divorce attorney should structure his or her law firm to include other years you would like to be law partners with and also make sure that this system is fair for everyone and provides advantages for the firm, potential and current clients, as well as to the individual lawyers. Obviously, you will likely not simply add more lawyers as a way of increasing the size of firm without getting some sort of advantage by doing this in return. Indeed, there can be many advantages, but these may likely need to be explored somewhat further.

It is kind of ironic for a divorce attorney to enter into an agreement whereby he or she is co-owning a law practice or working in partnership with another lawyer in practice because essentially this is like forming a marriage. In other words, you will likely need to have defined exactly what is the terms and conditions of the agreement will be. This means that you will need to have a good understanding of exactly how job responsibilities will be divided and compensation will be allocated. Obviously, like a marriage, give everyone is working for the benefit of all such rules are likely not entirely necessary. But in the event of a disagreement or otherwise, it can be good to have such rules serve as a default fallback for the firm.

Another thing to consider when forming the legal terms of the agreement is what will each divorce attorney receive or what will be the consequence of a breakup of the firm. This can be a really difficult thing to consider because firms spend a lot of energy and time and money trying to get established within the market that they are pursuing in and so often it is important that the firm keeps its name or guard lists of whether or those lawyers are still with the firm. And so the question often is or could be who will keep the firm name in the event breakup of the people owning their firm or the LLC that is operating as the firm.

While these can be some really tough things to consider, this is not mean that a divorce attorney should simply ignore them hoping that everything will turn out well because all the lawyers like each other and desire to work with each other and treat each other fairly. It would seem almost silly not to consider what would be the result in the event of a breakup of the law practice. This is because so much time and energy (often years of a lawyer's career) are put into the energy and building of the practice.

Another consideration is the legal structure of the law firm. Each state likely has its own rules concerning the differences between various types of business entities. It is now common to see law firms structured as LLCs as well as a number of different types of other business entities. Considering this type of business entity can be important when considering the liability of the various members or partners of the firm.

Will Beaumont is a lawyer in New Orleans. This article is informational, not legal advice.