From financial chaos to a real business.
A structural read on the firm first, then the rebuild. Revenue, owner compensation, and operating discipline all moved meaningfully in the years that followed.
Read the full case →Focused engagement · Discovery stage
Operations Audit
for Law Firms.
You think you have ten problems. You probably have three, but you can't tell which three. The audit names the three, ranks them, and tells you what to fix first.
Why this engagement
Before you rebuild, see the building.
Most firm owners I talk to don't need another opinion. They need a structured look at every part of the business, billing, intake, staffing, technology, KPIs, owner compensation, by someone who has run that machinery before and can tell them which parts are actually breaking versus which parts are just loud.
The Operations Audit is the lowest-commitment way to get that look. It's the Discovery stage of the method, the assessment that has to come before any structural rebuild. You walk away with a written report and a prioritized recommendation set you can run yourself, hand to staff, or bring me back to execute.
No sales pitch baked into the report. If three of the recommendations are "fix this on your own, here's how, " that's what it says.
The Engagement
What the audit actually covers.
Six structured areas of review. One synthesis. One written report with priority order.
01
Billing & Collections Review
How invoices go out, how money comes in, where the lockup is, and what AR is actually recoverable versus what's already gone.
02
Intake & Lead Flow Review
Where marketing-paid leads are landing, where they're falling through cracks, and what the conversion math actually looks like end-to-end.
03
Staffing & Accountability Review
Who is doing what, who is supposed to be doing what, where the gaps are, and where the firm is paying for redundancy or missing roles.
04
Technology & Systems Review
Practice management software, document management, calendaring, payments, how the stack is configured versus how it's actually being used.
05
KPI & Financial Visibility Review
What the firm is measuring, what it should be measuring, and the law-firm-specific KPIs the owner actually needs on a dashboard to make decisions.
06
Owner Compensation Snapshot
A read on whether the owner is being paid like the owner of a real business, or last in line behind everything else.
07
Written, Prioritized Report
A single written document with findings across all six areas, ranked by impact and urgency. Includes a recommended sequence, what to fix first, what can wait, and what to leave alone. Delivered with a working session to walk through it.
What this isn't
Not in this engagement.
The audit is an assessment, not the rebuild. These items are deliberately out of scope.
- × Implementation of the recommendations
- × SOP authoring or workflow build-outs
- × Staff coaching or performance management
- × Software migrations or vendor procurement
- × Accounting, tax, or legal advice
- × Ongoing operational ownership
The Shape
How the engagement actually runs.
An Operations Audit runs roughly four to six weeks end-to-end. We open with a scoping call to confirm areas of focus, NDA in place before any access begins. Then a structured information request, financials, practice management exports, a roster, vendor list, current SOPs if any exist.
Weekly cadence after that. Working sessions with the owner and key staff. Direct review of the systems and data, not a survey. I want to see what's actually happening, not what the staff thinks is happening.
The engagement closes with the written report and a walkthrough session. You leave with a document you can act on, and a clear answer to whether the next step is the rebuild yourself, a focused engagement on one area, or a full Fractional COO retainer.
Fit
Best for firms that…
- · Know something is off but can't name the three things that matter most.
- · Want a structured outside read before committing to a deeper engagement.
- · Are willing to give an outside operator real access to the books, the calendar, and the staff.
Where the audit leads
Two firms. Two different rebuilds.
Each began with a structural look at what was actually broken. (Per Liz's primary-source case study record, 2026.)
"No longer trapped in survival mode."
Same starting point, an honest assessment of what was actually broken. Different firm, different recommendations, same posture.
Read the full case →Most owners don't have a ten-problem firm. They have a three-problem firm with seven loud symptoms. The audit's job is to tell you which three.
How is an Operations Audit different from a retainer engagement?
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An Operations Audit is a scoped, focused engagement with a clear end date and a written deliverable. A retainer is ongoing operational ownership. Many firms start with the audit and decide afterward whether to bring me back as the operator.
What do I actually walk away with?
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A written report with prioritized findings across billing, intake, staffing, technology, KPIs, and owner compensation. Recommendations are sequenced by impact and urgency so you know exactly what to fix first.
Can I run the recommendations myself afterward?
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Yes. The report is yours. Many owners run the recommendations themselves and never come back. That's a successful engagement, not a lost sale.
Is the audit confidential?
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Always. I sign an NDA before access begins, and the audit report and any underlying notes stay with you.
Begin
Ready to know what's actually broken?
Schedule a thirty-minute call. We'll talk about your firm and whether the Operations Audit is the right place to start.
Already know you need ongoing operational leadership?
See the Fractional COO retainer →