Law firms. Good Business

• Author: Danielle Braff
• Pages: 20-22

LAW FIRMS

Good

Business

How do firms benefit from hiring

a financial consigliere?

BY DANIELLE BRAFF

It’s a well-worn cliché that lawyers

are lousy businesspeople.

As a result, many of the larger

rms have already turned to

nancial specialists to help. More than

70% of Am Law 200 rms and over

85% of Am Law 100 rms employ a

chief nancial ofcer, according to a

study by Colliers International, a real

estate brokerage. The larger the rm’s

revenue, the more likely it is to hire a

CFO. But what about small rms or

solo practices?

“I know of no solos who employ

their own CFOs. A scattering of smaller

rms with 20 or fewer lawyers use

them, but in my experience, they gen-

erally delegate that authority to one of

the partners,” says Stephen J. Curley, a

solo practitioner from Stamford, Con-

necticut, and the chair-elect of the ABA

Solo, Small Firm & General Practice

Division.

Is it time for some of these smaller

or solo rms to consider employ-

ing a CFO?

“Lawyers tend not to be good

at business and even worse when it

comes to nancial issues,” says Michael

McCready, the managing partner of

McCready Law, a seven-lawyer rm

with ofces in Illinois and Indiana that

employs a CFO. “A CFO should be con-

sidered a necessity, not a luxury.”

Kevin Hirzel, managing member of

Hirzel Law, a 10-attorney rm with

ofces in Farmington and Traverse City,

Michigan, hired a CFO for the rst time

in fall 2020. He says the rm experi-

enced rapid growth over the last few

years, resulting in more administrative

work. He realized his sweet spot was

practicing law and marketing, while

managing the nancial aspect of the

rm wasn’t the best use of his time.

The rm hired a recruiting agency

and vetted more than 60 candidates for

the position. “We specically looked for

somebody who had a background in

business as opposed to somebody who

was a lawyer or had previous experi-

Business of Law edited by

VICTOR LI

victor.li@americanbar.org

Photo illustration by Sara Wadford/ABA Journal

ABA JOURNAL | JUNE–JULY 2021

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-B PM