#490 Should You Sell Your Immigration Practice? Inside Law Firm M&A with Roman Zelichenko, J.D.

On this episode of The Immigration Lawyer's Toolbox® Podcast, host John Khosravi sits down with returning guest Roman Zelichenko, J.D. to unpack what's really happening in the growing wave of immigration law firm M&A: how firms are actually valued, why some attorneys inflate their revenue numbers with filing fees, the difference between a true acquisition and a "merger" that's really more of a hire, why clean books can make or break a deal, and what private equity's track record in dentistry, HVAC, and plumbing suggests about where legal consolidation is headed. Whether you're thinking about selling, buying, merging, or just want to run your firm like it's sellable, this episode is full of practical insight on the business side of immigration law.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Opening

00:33 Intro

04:24 How hard is it for practitioners to value and sell their firm?

04:53 B2B/corporate vs. B2C firms: why recurring revenue is valued higher

05:30 The filing-fees-in-revenue trick that inflates valuations

06:36 What sellers actually want: fair price vs. emotional attachment

07:54 How clean (or messy) books affect due diligence

09:43 Bookkeepers, GMI Rocket, and staying on top of your numbers

11:29 Mergers vs. acquisitions: when a "merger" is really a hire

13:12 Larger firm mergers and fade-out deal structures

13:52 New fee memos, attorney burnout, and the push toward litigation

16:13 Consolidation, specialists, and the rise of AI-native law firms

19:00 Lessons from private equity roll-ups in dentistry, HVAC, and plumbing

20:17 Community page & Constellation SEO/marketing sponsor break

21:20 Back to the show: will the free market self-correct?

21:33 Envoy Global: an example of PE-backed immigration firms done right

24:19 Scaling without sacrificing service quality

26:15 The M&A trend among solo and small firm owners who want out

29:01 Creative deal structures, equity, and the "Built to Sell" mindset

33:13 Why QuickBooks and clean numbers drive better marketing and growth decisions

36:26 Outro

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