Business plan for legal practices procedure

Business plan for legal practices procedure

LAW 9000 – Legal Best Practice

Clause 5.4.3 Business Plan

1. Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidelines on how to prepare a business plan. The legal

practice aims to make the contents of its plan match its purpose.

2. Scope

The procedure applies to the establishing, approval and maintenance of the legal practice business

plan. 

3. Persons affected

All professional and support staff.

4. Policy

It is [Practice Name]’s policy to have an up to date business plan which sets measurable goals that

cover financial, people, marketing and client service objectives.

5. Definitions

Our business plan includes all of the following:

Strategic plan - identifies and targets internal goals

Marketing plan - targets changes in perception and branding by our clients and the larger

community

Operational plan - describes the goals of our practice

Training plan - identifies training resource needs, skill set requirements, practice area

capabilities, recruitment and retention strategies and expansion plans

Project plans - describe the goals of a particular project and address the project’s place within

the practice’s larger strategic goals

Risk management plan – a plan that impose management tools to reduce the risks of an

event or activity to an acceptable level.

6. Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the management team to ensure that the business plan has been established

and is up to date.

7. Procedure

Issue Date: Author: Val Antoff Review Date: Approved by: Val Antoff

2Business plan for legal practices procedure

a) The business plan is formally established and approved by the management team after the

completion of an exhaustive market research.

b) As a minimum the plan should include the following components.

i) Executive Summary - a summary of the key points

Objectives

Mission Statement

ii) Practice Description

History of our practice [or start-up plan for a new practice]

Ownership details

Practice areas in percentages

Company location/s

iii) Management Team

Organisational structure

Description of the management team members with summaries of

background and experience

Identified gaps in the management team

iv) Products and services

Description of the services that the practice provides

Description of client benefits

[This section should align with our Mission Statement and Engagement

Policy]

v) Market Analysis

Description of the practice’s market - who are our clients

Target audience strategy

Clients’ needs

Clients distribution

Market growth trends

Competitors

vi) Strategic plan and implementation

[Perform a SWOT analysis before drafting this section of the business plan]

Competitive advantage

Marketing plan

Sales Strategy

Sales forecast

Include management responsibilities with dates (milestones) and budgets

Training plan - identify training resource needs, skill set requirements,

practice area capabilities, recruitment and retention strategies

Personnel Plan 

Include action plans that cover issues associated with resources, clients,

finances and technology

Issue Date: Author: Val Antoff Review Date: Approved by: Val Antoff

3Business plan for legal practices procedure

[Ensure that there are measurable goals that cover people, marketing and

client service objectives]

vii) Web Plan Summary

Discussion of website including development costs, operations, sales and

marketing strategies

viii)Financial Analysis

Important assumptions - e.g. interest rate and tax rate

Projected Profit and Loss tables

Projected Cash Flow tables

Gross and net fees and break even analysis

Projected balance sheet

Profitability

Pricing structure

Disbursements, WIP, and debtors, Overdraft (where relevant). Must be

aligned with the practice’s financial budget.

[Ensure that there are measurable goals that cover financial objectives. The

practice’s billings and credit policy shall reflect the business plan.]

c) The business plan is reviewed by the management team annually on the second Wednesday

of July each year.

d) The business plan is updated following review.

e) Any parts of the plan that the management team has deemed to be of sensitive nature are

marked "Sensitive Information".

f) Any parts of the business plan that have not been marked "Sensitive Information" are

published on the Intranet and communicated to all staff by email.

g) The plan is password protected and stored in a secure location on the internal network. 

8. Essential controls

An approved business plan is established and maintained.

9. Quality Measure

a) The business plan will be reviewed by the management team annually for accuracy and

reliability of business expectation at our quality management system annual review meeting.

b) The key performance indicators for our QMS processes are used to determine the

effectiveness of business plan.

10.References to LAW 9000 – Legal Best Practice standard

clause 4.2 Documentation requirements

clause 5.3.1 Engagement policy

clause 5.4.2 Quality management system planning

Issue Date: Author: Val Antoff Review Date: Approved by: Val Antoff

4Business plan for legal practices procedure

clause 5.4.5 Financial systems

clause 5.6 Management review

clause 6.1 Provision of resources

clause 8.4 Analysis of data

Quality Management for Legal Practices Blog

Issue Date: Author: Val Antoff Review Date: Approved by: Val Antoff