Industry

Law Firms

Law firms, regardless of their size and areas of specialization, often face complex issues that demand technical knowledge, expert advice, experience and insight.
Legal Industry
Tailored Services

Consulting for Legal Industry

For over 25 years, hundreds of law firms have turned to Armanino to guide them through the complex issues facing this mature industry. Now more than ever before, in this time of disruptive transformation, law firms need guidance from experts who understand their unique needs.

Strategic Challenges

Full Spectrum of Advisory Services

Armanino is the only firm in the Western U.S. with a combined consulting and accounting practice that is exclusively dedicated to serving the business needs of law firms. From “bet the firm” strategic guidance, to tax compliance services that understand the specialized tax rules that apply only to law firms, Armanino’s Law Firm Services team provides best-in-class service from the boardroom to the back office.

Our approach is customized for each client; nothing is off the shelf. Whether your firm is transitioning from one generation to the next, or evaluating a software platform, Armanino has the team, the experience, and the solutions to help. Our experienced team provides a full spectrum of advisory services including:

Performance and Operations

  • Profitability Analysis & Benchmarking
  • Operating Process Improvement
  • Temporary CFO/Controllership
  • Cybersecurity
  • Law Firm Performance Management with Adaptive Insights

Mergers and Acquisitions

  • Due Diligence Analysis
  • Post-Merger Integration Support

Health Check

In today’s ever more competitive legal market, many law firms face challenges in day-to-day operations that prevent them from growing or having a strategic focus on the future. These challenges are multifaceted and may include: general counsel pricing pressures, industry consolidation, commoditization of certain practice areas, retirement of rainmaking partners, cybersecurity threats, generational culture differences and partner compensation issues.

Armanino’s analytical approach offers an informed perspective to help you overcome these hurdles. We perform leadership interviews, profitability analysis and external market analysis with information gleaned from your peer firms via our law firm benchmarking survey. We examine the various aspects of your firm, including interviewing your partners, to gain a true understanding of your culture, operations and strategy.

Our specialists use this information to perform a fact-based diagnostic assessment of your unique situation. We then produce an evaluation with quantitative benchmarks for compensation, technology, rates and demographics. Our recommendations will help your firm build an improved framework to implement growth-oriented change.

Our specialists have worked with hundreds of law firms of varying sizes and needs. They provide not only an accurate report of your monthly transactions, but also analysis and keen insights to help drive further growth and profitability for your firm. And we design your solution to best meet your needs.

Our full outsourcing solution includes: subledger transaction entry, journal entries, general ledger processing, billing and e-billing, work-in-progress and accounts receivable management, financial statements, bank reconciliations, tax reporting, and fractional controller and CFO services. Or, if you prefer to keep some functions in-house, you can take advantage of our limited outsourcing solution and select from a subset of these services.

Tax & Assurance

Ready to Handle Any Tax or Accounting Issue Your Firm Faces

We understand that law firms are different from most businesses, from the proper treatment of client advances to the specialized rules of trust accounting.
Law Firms Tax Services
Law Firm Tax Services
Tax Planning and Preparation, Multi-State and International Taxes
Law Firms Assurance Services
Assurance Services
Financial Statement Reviews & Compilations, Internal Control / Operations Reviews, Back Office Assistance
Tax - What Law Firms Need to Consider

White Paper

Tax - What Law Firms Need to Consider

All partnerships should opt out of the CPAR (centralized partnership audit regime) to account for new tax rules.

Read the Free White Paper

This monthly subscription-based service is accessible 24/7 and comes at a fraction of the cost and time needed to train or add staff to perform the same analysis in-house.

We offer multiple levels of support, providing you with the financial reporting, attorney utilization, inventory review and profitability analysis that will give you a new way to visualize and analyze your firm’s data.

Learn More About AALF

Law Firm Survey
Benchmarking for Law Firms
Preeminent Resource for Benchmarking Information
The Armanino Law Firm Services team produces the Law Firm Compensation, Billing Rate & Benefits Survey, an annual comprehensive survey of law firms in major metropolitan regions across the Western United States. The survey includes detailed compensation and operational benchmark data by size of firm, location and practice area on over 100 different positions within law firms. The survey also includes data on billing rates, billable hours, employee benefits, leverage, costs per lawyer, net income per partner and more.
View Sample Survey
Experts
Jeff Laufman - Tax | Armanino
Partner
Jeff works with law firms and attorneys to maximize profits, minimize taxes and increase operational efficiencies.

Woodland Hills, CA
Dominic Rovano - Tax | Armanino
Partner
Dominic help clients with their financial reporting requirements by providing tax, assurance and advisory services.

New York, NY
Resources
Legal Industry News & Insights
Regulatory and Industry News Alerts from Armanino
Article
Firms need to build solid controls for their trust accounting to meet the program's new requirements.

February 01, 2023
Law Firm Uncovers $136K in Potential Overcharges with Lease Audit
Case Study
After rent charges spiked, our experts identified landlord cost allocation errors and related overcharges.

April 07, 2022
Law Firm Cuts Manual Accounting Tasks, Improves Processes and Employee Retention With New Tech Stack
Case Study
Here’s how digital transformation helped the firm focus on its core business, reduce expenses and secure its future.

April 04, 2022
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