Buying a law practice in Tampa Bay

• A steady flow of new work from referral sources and marketing, not only the selling lawyer's own network.
• Practice areas with repeat work, such as estate planning that leads to probate, or business clients with ongoing needs.
• Trust accounts reconciled every month, with no unexplained balances.
• Organized digital files and reliable practice management software.
• Experienced paralegals who know the clients and procedures and plan to stay.
• Fees that actually get collected, not just billed, with little owed by former clients.
• A website, reviews and listings that bring in new clients under the practice's name.
• A seller willing to stay on, introduce you to clients and referral sources, and answer questions.

• Trust account records: the monthly reconciliations the Bar's trust accounting rules require (Rule 5-1.2), each client's ledger and any shortfalls. Money in trust belongs to clients, not the practice, and problems there are serious.
• Open cases, court deadlines and statute of limitations dates, so nothing slips in the handover.
• Conflicts of interest between the seller's clients and your own, checked before closing.
• Past malpractice claims, and coverage for the seller's past work after closing.
• Contingency cases: put in writing how each fee will be split between seller and buyer.
• Where new clients come from, and whether the practice's advertising follows Bar rules.
• Who will hold the original wills and closed files, and how long files must be kept.
• Unpaid bills, and how much of what's billed clients actually pay.

• Where did your last 50 new clients come from?
• Which clients will expect to keep working with you personally?
• How long will you stay to introduce me to clients and referral sources?
• Who reconciles the trust accounts, and how often?
• Have you had any Bar grievances or malpractice claims?
• What happens to cases still open when we close?
• How many original wills and closed files do you hold?

Tampa Bay, as we draw it, runs from Citrus County south through Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, and east into Polk: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, Brooksville, Inverness, Lakeland and Winter Haven. Tampa is the business center, with Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport, the University of South Florida and MacDill Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. Financial services, insurance and health care employ many people, and the Gulf beaches of Pinellas bring tourists and seasonal residents.

Polk County sits on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando and has become a center for warehouses and distribution, alongside its older citrus and phosphate industries. To the north, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus are more suburban and rural, with many retirees. Home service companies, the building trades, medical practices and auto businesses all have a deep customer base across the region.

Hurricane Helene's storm surge in September 2024 and Hurricane Milton two weeks later both hit the region hard. Flood zones and insurance costs now matter in any deal near the water. Ask how the business came through those storms, what it claimed, and whether its building sits in a flood zone.

The labor market is deep by Florida standards, though skilled tradespeople can still be hard to find. New homes have pushed north and east into Pasco and eastern Hillsborough, and along Interstate 4 in Polk, bringing demand for services with them. Coastal Pinellas is more seasonal than inland Tampa or Lakeland. The bay itself shapes a service company's territory: crossing a bridge at rush hour can turn a short distance into a long drive, so look at where the customers actually are.