The American Bar Association, through the efforts of the General Practice Section, followed with a similar rule, Model Rule 1.17. The latest state to adopt such a provision is Oregon. Such a program would give the selling attorney an incentive to help the buying attorney keep the clients with the practice. Of course, there are some practices that will not be salable. For example, a practice could be run in such a personal way that, no matter how competent, the buying attorney would not be able to keep the clients without the continuing involvement of the selling attorney.
Lawyers are in the market for existing law practices for a number of reasons.
Some are disenchanted veterans of large firms who decide they would prefer practicing on their own. They view sole practice as a way to retrieve the personal touch that is missing from their client contacts. Another reason lawyers leave large firms is that many firms have become unstable. They have slowed or stopped recruiting new lawyers and have, in many cases, already terminated the attorneys who did not bring in a lot of new business. Given that sort of work environment, many attorneys would rather go out on their own than stick around and wonder when the ax is going to fall.