About Us

Bill provides consulting services in the areas of strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions, business valuation, succession planning and financial management.  He has worked with several hundred law firms during his career. He has extensive experience identifying merger candidates, negotiating deal terms and resolving business or tax issues precipitated by a merger. He has testified as an expert on the valuation of law firms and has helped law firms negotiate buy-outs with retiring partners. He also assists financially distressed law firms to restructure their operations and reduce operating expenses and has turned around several AmLaw 200 law firms that were experiencing a fiscal crisis.

Bill has over 25 years experience in the legal profession. He has served as Director of Administration and Chief Financial Officer for two AmLaw 200 law firms for a total of nine years. He began his career at Price Waterhouse as an accountant and consultant specializing in financial planning and control and spent over a decade as a principal with Altman Weil, Inc.

He has written law office management articles published by the American Bar Association’s Law Practice, ALA Legal Management, Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms, Of Counsel and other publications for the legal profession.  He has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York, National Law Journal, Law.com, Law360 and many other legal publications and blogs. He served on the Editorial Board for Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms. He has lectured extensively on management issues pertaining to the legal profession, including presentations for the ABA, local bar associations, various chapters of the Association of Legal Administrators and several ALA national conferences.

Bill is a former member of the Pennsylvania and American Institutes of Certified Public Accountants.  He is past Vice Chair of Finance of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association, and a Past President of the Association of Legal Administrators, Philadelphia Chapter. Bill has achieved the designation of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA).  He completed a program at the Harvard Business School on Professional Services Firms and another at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on Mergers & Acquisitions.  He is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College. 

Publications Written by William F. Brennan

“An Overview of Law Firm Valuation for Family Lawyers”; Chapter 28 – pages 28-1 through 28-24; Valuing Professional Practices and Licenses; published by Wolters Kluwer and edited by Ronald L. Brown.

“A Primer on Law Firm Mergers” American Bar Association’s Legal Economics monthly publication in August, 1992 (now known as the ABA Law Firm Management section).

“Two Techniques to Dramatically Improve a Law Firm's Net Profit”; published by ABA Law Practice Management Section; April 2008.

Many articles on law firm management topics were written and published while a principal of Altman Weil, Inc. during the period 2001 – 2012.

Weekly column in the Lawyers Digest regarding law firm management issues from 1991 – 1992.

Public speaking engagements by William F. Brennan:

Speaker at the Chester County Bar Association on “Maximizing the Value of Your Law Practice” on May 1, 2013.

Panelist at the 2012 national conference held by NELA (National Employment Lawyers Association) for partners in employment law firms on “Planning for Your Retirement”.

Speech at the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) Regional Conference held in Kansas City, Missouri in 2011 entitled “Profitability in the New Environment”.

Numerous webinars presented while a principal of Altman Weil, Inc., including a co-presentation with Ward Bower on Law Firm Mergers & Acquisitions in 2011.

Speech to the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) Atlanta Chapter on May 21, 2008 on “Budgeting and Financial Management”.

Speech to the Toronto Law Office Management Association (TLOMA) on March 20, 2008 entitled “Benchmarking to Increase Profitability”.

Speech to the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) New York City Chapter on October 4, 2007 entitled “Financial Management Best Practices”.

“Mergers & Acquisitions” presentation for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) on July 29, 2005.

“Partner Compensation Systems” at the New York City Legal Expo in January 2005.

“Mergers & Acquisitions – Key Financial Considerations” at the ALA’s Law Firm Management Conference on November 18, 2004.

“Hands-on Training in Advanced Financial Management” at the ALA Regions 1 & 2 Annual Educational Conference on November 6, 2004.

Taught a course entitled “Sophisticated Financial Management” at the Association of Legal Administrators national conference limited to experienced law firm Chief Financial Officers on May 16, 2004.

 “Practical Tips to Increase Profits by $25,000 Per Lawyer” for the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) South Carolina Chapter on April 22, 2004.

“Cutting Costs – Boosting Profits: Expense Reduction Strategies for Law Firms” on March 18, 2004.

“Benchmarking Personal Injury Practices” for the Delaware County Trial Lawyers Association on May 6, 2004.

“Compensation Trends for Law Firm Staff” presented as a telephone conference/seminar for the Institute of Management & Administration (IOMA) on November 17, 2003.

 “Improving Your Practice & Profitability” presented at the annual Chester County Bar Association conference in 2003.

“Benchmarking” presentation made at the annual ALA national conference in 2002.

Many speeches regarding law firm management issues (such as how to increase profitability, how to reduce write-downs and write-offs, collecting receivables, and trends in the legal profession) to regional and local chapters of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) and on behalf of various law firm vendors, including Network Alternatives, Inc.; NBI Systems, Inc. and others, during the period 1991 – 2003.

Taught a series of courses entitled “Applying a Win/Win Approach to Collecting Receivables” on behalf of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) in 1992-1993 for the following local bar associations: Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, Lehigh and Luzerne.

Numerous speeches were given as the President of the Association of Legal Administrators’ (ALA) Philadelphia Chapter during the period 1987 – 1988.

Numerous speeches were given to partners of various law firms about trends in the legal profession in conjunction with their annual strategic planning retreats during the period 1991 - 2014.