Retainer engagement · ongoing
Financial visibility, cash flow management, and profitability oversight for law firms whose owners are profitable on paper but stressed about money.
Verbatim from firm owners and the lawyers who interview them. Not paraphrased. Not softened.
"My money is in prison."
, Everett, on Lawyerist
"I have collected just under forty thousand dollars, and I have about eighty-five thousand dollars in receivables."
, Reddit attorney, r/LawFirm
"I have not paid myself yet because I am keeping the money in the operating account."
, Reddit attorney, r/LawFirm
"Cash flow was a constant struggle. Accounts receivable were not being collected consistently."
, Owner of a divorce firm Liz worked with
"Half my clients call me from a ledge. They don't know their numbers."
, Hoechlin, Maximum Lawyer
A Fractional CFO engagement is financial ownership. Interpretation of your numbers. Structure for your cash flow. Visibility into whether the firm is actually doing what you think it's doing. Below is the scope.
Financial statement review. Monthly P&L review. Balance sheet and cash flow analysis. Trend analysis across quarters.
Forecasting. Short- and long-term cash flow projection. Operating expense review. The gap between book profit and bank balance, named and worked.
Law-firm-specific KPIs. Realization, utilization, and collection tracking. Revenue per attorney. Payroll ratios.
Billing system review. Collections process discipline. Retainer and replenishment recommendations. The money you've already earned, actually collected.
Payroll structure analysis. Profitability impact. Staffing-cost recommendations. The hires that are pulling the firm up vs. the ones that aren't.
Forecasting. Growth and expansion planning. Scaling-cost analysis. What the firm can actually afford to do next.
Trust workflow review. Compliance system recommendations. Coordination with your CPA and bar-rules compliance posture.
Review of QuickBooks, Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther financial workflows. Integration recommendations. Not a forced migration, better use of what you already pay for.
Regular financial review meetings. Ongoing availability between meetings by phone and email, you don't wait a week to talk through a cash decision.
If you need any of these, you need a different professional. I'll help you find one.
A Fractional CFO retainer is ongoing. Monthly is the standard meeting cadence with you and key staff, typically your bookkeeper, and your CPA when tax season approaches. Some firms add a quarterly deep-dive review for planning and forecasting.
I coordinate directly with your bookkeeper and CPA. I don't replace either of them. The roles are clear, bookkeeper records, CPA files taxes, CFO interprets numbers and structures cash flow for business decisions.
Engagements are scoped per-firm based on size, stage, and the depth of work needed. We define scope and cadence on our first call.
Both anonymized. Numbers are theirs. (Per Liz's primary-source case study record, 2026.)
Profit is not greed. Profit is oxygen for your firm.
Most firm owners I meet are profitable on the P&L and broke in the bank. They can't tell you why. The bookkeeper recorded the transactions, the CPA filed the return, and somewhere in between the firm became unmanageable as a business.
The CFO seat is the interpreter seat. I take the numbers your bookkeeper has already produced and tell you what they mean. What to do about cash flow. Where the billing is leaking. Whether you can afford that next hire. Whether you should be paying yourself a real salary yet (you usually should).
Profit is oxygen. The CFO seat is the seat that makes sure the firm has enough to breathe.
Bookkeepers record what happened. CPAs prepare tax filings. A Fractional CFO interprets what the numbers mean for your business decisions and builds the systems that keep cash flow working. Different roles, different cadence, different value. All three working together is the right configuration.
No. I coordinate directly with your CPA. Different roles, different cadence. Your CPA stays your CPA.
Typically firms doing five-hundred-thousand or more in annual revenue. Below that, the engagement that usually makes more sense is a focused Cash Flow & Collections engagement plus the Strategic Partner retainer.
Monthly is standard for the financial review meeting. Some firms add a quarterly deep-dive review for planning and forecasting. Between meetings, I'm available by phone and email.
Yes, remotely. CFO work is naturally suited to remote engagement, most of the work is on shared financial systems and scheduled review calls.
Schedule a thirty-minute call. We'll talk about your numbers, and whether the CFO engagement is the right fit.
When you call, you get me.