We’ve Spent 30 Years Protecting Attorneys​

Nearly 30 years ago, I started my career at a legal recruiting firm where I was once instructed to describe an AmLaw 10 firm as "lifestyle oriented." It wasn't. Apparently, having a lifestyle and having time to actually live life were two different things.

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I quickly realized I had a problem with that business model, so I started Shelton & Steele. Law firms paid our recruiting fees, but we made it clear that we protected the candidate. If an opportunity wasn't right for someone, we said so. Good law firms were fine with that because they didn't want someone talked into the wrong job. They wanted the right lawyers to join and stay.

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More than 20 years ago, we brought the same philosophy into law firm M&A. BigLaw had experienced attorneys, accountants and consultants helping them acquire firms. The smaller firm founder might have spent 30 years building a terrific law firm but had never sold one before.

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So we leveled the playing field. The acquiring firm paid us, but we protected the smaller firm. We brought in attorneys, accountants and consultants to help founders understand the transaction, negotiate intelligently and decide whether the deal actually made sense. BigLaw was fine with that too. They cared about getting good firms and good transactions across the finish line.

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Now we've brought that model into the Legal MSO world.

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Law Firm Side Legal MSO Advisors

Private equity firms and Legal MSOs come to the table with investment professionals, transaction attorneys, accountants, tax advisors and consultants. We think law firm founders should have sophisticated people on their side too.

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We've evaluated more than 70 Legal MSOs and investors (and turned down over 60 of them), giving us market intelligence about their investment philosophies, deal structures, operating models and approaches to law firm partnerships. We help founders identify potential partners, understand the differences among them and evaluate far more than the headline valuation.

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Depending upon the transaction, we also bring in experienced transactional attorneys, Legal MSO ethics counsel, accountants, tax advisors, valuation professionals and management consultants. We attend important meetings with our founders and conduct private debriefings afterward to surface concerns, unanswered questions and issues that may require further investigation.

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We Don't Tell Founders What To Do

We're not here to convince founders to sell their firms or accept MSO investment. Our job is to give them the market intelligence and professional resources they need to make those decisions themselves.

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That includes helping founders understand valuation, rollover equity, earnouts, governance, compensation, autonomy, taxes, capital commitments and the other provisions that can make two apparently similar offers very different transactions. Sometimes that knowledge helps a founder negotiate a better deal. Sometimes it leads to a different MSO. Sometimes it tells them they should walk away.

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Most importantly, founders don't have to become private equity experts overnight. They simply need sophisticated people on their side who understand the market and know what questions to ask.

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They Have an Army of Advisors. So Should You.

Legal MSOs may be new, but our role isn't. For nearly 30 years, we've been paid by one side while making it clear that our responsibility is to protect the interests of the less experienced party.

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Today, that means giving law firm founders the market intelligence, attorneys, accountants and consultants they need to negotiate with confidence and decide whether a Legal MSO transaction is right for them.

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Law firms don't pay our success fees.

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                   Schedule a call with us​

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