LATERAL LINK

A lateral partner questionnaire serves several purposes:

1. to collect concrete information;
2. to obtain representations on conduct; and
3. to ask and obtain answers on wide ranging and open ended questions to avoid surprises.

When developing your questionnaire, make sure you strike a balance. You want to get the important information but you don’t want to be insulting or act like the Sanhedrin inquisitors. A good partner prospect won’t be offended - they may be momentarily annoyed but we have all had to become accustomed to conflicts questionnaires, travel expense reports and all of the other paper of professional life. It is true that although these completed questionnaires can be quite useful, they also run the risk of just being too darned much work for both sides. On the other hand – these questionnaires can be a great device for getting to the bottom of illusory promises about business to come. Knowing the nature of one’s contacts with a client and the nature of marketing efforts to date can tell a firm a lot about whether this partner is real or illusory. Let’s get started…

Collect 5 years of baseline data on the following issues:

To the extent that the firm is looking as much forward as backward - many firms now require lateral entrants to provide a comprehensive memorandum or outline on their business development plans for the next 12-36 months. Some firms ask lawyers to simply write a memo, others require completion of detailed chart which might appear something like the following:

Client by Client Data:

To the extent that the firm is looking as much forward as backward - many firms now require lateral entrants to provide a comprehensive memorandum or outline on their business development plans for the next 12-36 months. Some firms ask lawyers to simply write a memo. Others require completion of detailed chart which might appear something like the following:

Data to be collected from external sources:

1. Credit check
2. Confirm law school (and college) degrees.  Original transcripts should be required. Every one knows of examples of doctored transcripts - so getting an original from the school makes sense.
3. Bar Issues - check admission and whether the candidate is in good standing. A confirming letter should be obtained in states where on line information is not available. Don’t just rely on bar cards or a photo of a bar card - I could make one for $5 on a laser printer.
4. Last 3 years tax returns or letter from CPA firm or transcripts from IRS and IDOR on all tax obligations being current.

Timing of the questionnaire:

Obviously timing is an important issue - you don’t want to get to this comprehensive a level until discussions are mutually serious. The lateral prospect will be understandably reluctant to volunteer this road map into his business development plan until it seems reasonably likely that both parties are willing to proceed to detailed discussions.

How to make it easy on the firm and the applicant:

Make it a form that can be completed electronically or a document that can be filled in by hand.  50% of lateral partners are not computer literate – so be flexible here and just do what works. Spend time designing the questionnaire so it looks easy but is comprehensive enough to get the information you want.

Review by an independent partner:

Completion of the questionnaire and a review of its contents should be supervised by a partner outside the department in which the lawyer would be located.  This reduces the pressure to rush things along.  The partner should be at the management level of the firm and one willing to take on tough issues and to know when an issue is not really troubling. The reviewing partner should also meet 1:1 with the lateral prospect to discuss any issues raised by the external information and the questionnaire.  More importantly - just as applicants are vetted in the Executive Branch - to ask the applicant the blunderbuss question - “is there any fact, issue, or life experience which if we read about it tomorrow on the front page of the New York Times would cause any embarrassment, liability, difficulty, etc. for you, our firm, or its clients?” And that question must be asked of every applicant and it must be asked with care. It is not likely to produce a confession worthy of media attention but it is a good way to make certain that nothing has been overlooked.