Using Succession Planning as a Risk Management Tool

Tom Lenfestey is the Managing Member of The Law Practice Exchange, LLC as well as a practicing North Carolina attorney and licensed CPA. Tom’s years in the legal world focused on transition and succession planning for other professions including creating, advising and implementing strategic business and estate plans for those clients. In doing so, he came to recognize the lack of knowledge, attention and options that were provided in the legal profession to attorneys for their own practices, specifically in the realm of succession planning and other transition or exit opportunities.

Tom has been appointed and serves on the Transitioning Lawyers Commission with the North Carolina Bar Association and has provided numerous educational events to attorneys hosted by state and local bar associations, legal insurers and law related professional organizations on the topics of succession planning, selling your law practice, valuing a law practice and others related to lawyer transitions. In addition, Tom has been interviewed or published in a number of legal publications in regard to transition planning for lawyers and law firms.

Tom is the author of the book Designing a Succession Plan for Your Law Practice and numerous other articles and resources about selling, buying and valuation of law firms.

Camille Stell serves as President and CEO of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services. She is a frequent author and speaker on the topics of ethics and professionalism, succession planning, marketing and business development and law firm trends of the future.

She works with lawyers and law firms in business development and marketing coaching, strategic planning and succession planning. She has facilitated law firm retreats and coaching sessions for law firms of all sizes whether small North Carolina firms, regional firms, as well as global law firms. She has facilitated ABA Women Rainmaker workshops for hundreds of women attorneys in North and South Carolina. She has facilitated “Future of the Profession” workshops for a consortium of law firm recruiting professionals and law school career service office professionals. She is an organizer of the newly created Legal Innovators Meetup in the Triangle.

Camille is a frequent speaker at law school campuses across the state. She facilitates Strengthsfinders workshops as well as speaks on topics such as strategic networking for job search, professional etiquette, inter-generational communication skills, the future of law and starting your own law firm.

Camille has thirty years of experience in the legal industry including law firm experience as a paralegal and as a recruiting and marketing professional. In her capacity as a marketing professional, Camille was responsible for building the profile of the Triangle offices of K & L Gates (formerly Kennedy Covington), coaching attorneys, developing marketing strategy and client targeting plans for the office as well as individual practice groups.

She is a graduate of Meredith College and the Meredith College Paralegal Program and recently completed a term on the Meredith College Alumnae Board. She is a past member of the North Carolina Bar Association Transitioning Lawyer Commission, a past Chair of the Law Practice Management Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, a past member of the North Carolina State Bar Ethics Subcommittee studying Avvo, as well as past Chair of the Legal Marketing Association Raleigh City Group. She has served as officer and director of local, state and national paralegal associations.

She has served on the editorial board of Legal Assistant Today magazine, Women’s Edge magazine, Carolina Paralegal News and as the Supplements Editor for North Carolina Lawyers Weekly.

In 2011, Camille was recognized by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly as a member of the inaugural class of “Leaders in the Law.” In 2016, Camille was recognized by the Triangle Business Journal as a “Women in Business” award winner. In 2018, she was named as a member of the inaugural Pro Bono Resource Center Advisory Board.