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The firm game

Practice to Enterprise

You are the only attorney at a small personal injury practice: 34 open cases, $60,000 in the bank, and every case runs across your desk. Grow it into an enterprise in ten years or less.

  1. Each turn is one quarter. Set your marketing, hire your team and choose what to build, then run it.
  2. Fees arrive about 9 months after a case is signed. What you do this year pays next year.
  3. Run out of cash, or burn yourself out, and the game is over.
How the game works
  1. Enterprise $3M in feesThe firm runs as a system. It grows without routing everything through you.
  2. Company $1.25M in feesDefined phases, an owner for every task, and reports that show how the firm runs.
  3. Business $500k in feesA team forms around the work, and cases stop depending on one person.
  4. Practice You start hereOne attorney, and every case runs across one desk.

Practice to Enterprise

  1. Practice
  2. Business
  3. Company
  4. Enterprise

Year 1 · Q1

Cash
$60k
Fees, 12 months
$0
Open cases
34
Your week
0h
Burnout
0%
Reputation
62

Your cases

Every dot is an open case

    Next level: Business

    0 of 4

      Your system

      0 of 10 built

        Your journey

        Fees over the last 12 months, from day one to year 10

        Marketing each month

        $0
        0% of fees
        • Hold steady: 8 to 12%
        • Grow: 15 to 20%
        • Push: 20 to 30%

        Cases you sign this quarter start paying in about 9 months.

        $0
        Build time
        None
        Your week
        0h

        How the game works

        Real planning numbers, simplified

        The game runs on typical planning figures for a personal injury firm. Every open case is tracked on its own as it moves through six phases, and your people, systems and marketing decide how fast it moves and what it pays. Move the sliders to play with your own numbers.

        The numbers behind the game, and your own

        • $30,000 Average gross settlement, inside the typical range of $25,000 to $35,000, with a 33% fee. Values vary from case to case, and some clients leave before their case settles.
          $30,000
          33%
        • About 9 months From signing a case to collecting the fee. Medical treatment sets most of that pace, and stalls add to it.
          9 months
        • $1,500 to $3,500 What it typically costs to sign a case. About $1,500 on a modest budget, and about 16% more each time spend doubles.
          $1,500
        • 75 open cases About what one case manager carries at $6,000 a month. An associate attorney covers about 85.
          75
          $6,000
        • 8 to 30%Of fees reinvested in marketing: 8 to 12% to hold steady, 15 to 20% to grow, 20 to 30% to push.
        • 10 systemsAcross five layers: data, workflows, case management, reporting and planning. Each one changes how the firm runs. They are the game, so they cannot be changed.

        Where you start

        34
        $60,000

        Your game

        Fee per case
        $9,900
        Fees, last 12 months
        About $390k
        Costs a month
        About $19k
        Cash covers
        About 3 months

        Level goals: Business $500k, Company $1.25M, Enterprise $3M in fees over 12 months.

          Changes apply to your next game. Goals scale with the fee per case, so every level asks for about the same number of cases. Games with your own numbers are marked Custom numbers and do not count toward your best time.

          The systems in the game are the ones we build

          Client update cadences, phase ownership, required fields and automations, firm health reports, pipeline projections, capacity plans and marketing models. In the game they take a click. In a real firm they take careful work, and they compound the same way.

          Want to see your own numbers?

          The marketing simulator runs a similar model on your firm's own figures: what you can afford to spend, and how many cases you need.

          Open the marketing simulator Get in touch

          The report card

          Every firm gets a grade

          When the game ends, you get a report card: the money year by year, what you took home after paying everyone, and a grade from A+ to F. Open it any time during a game with the Report card button to see how the firm is doing so far.

          1. Return on the investmentWhat the firm made you, against what the practice paid you at the start30%
          2. GrowthHow far the firm grew, and how fast25%
          3. ClientsUpdates on time, reputation, and clients who left15%
          4. CashThe thinnest cushion, and any time on the credit line10%
          5. Your timeThe hours you worked, and how close you came to burning out10%
          6. SystemsHow much of the firm runs on something other than you10%

          Burn out and the grade stops at D+. Run out of cash and it is an F.

          Play for your grade
          Report cardEnterprise in 4 years and 1 quarter
          Fees collected
          $6.09M
          Expenses
          $4.18M
          Profit for the owner
          $1.91M
          $1M$2MYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 5*
          • ReturnB+
          • GrowthA+
          • ClientsA
          • CashC
          • Your timeB+
          • SystemsA+
          A sample game: the firm from our homepage, played with one sensible plan. It took home $687k and kept $1.22M more cash in the firm.

          Questions

          About the game

          Still curious? Ask us.

          What is Practice to Enterprise?

          A free game you play in your browser. You run a small personal injury firm one quarter at a time: set the marketing budget, hire the team, choose which systems to build, and try to grow a one-attorney practice into an enterprise in ten years or less.

          How long does a game take?

          A game runs up to 40 quarters, or ten years, one quarter per turn. Plan on 20 to 40 minutes for a full game. Fast play shortens the animations, and your firm is saved in this browser, so you can stop and come back to it.

          Are the numbers realistic?

          They are typical planning figures, simplified: a $30,000 average settlement with a one-third fee, fees that arrive about nine months after a case is signed, and a cost per signed case that starts near $1,500 and rises as spending grows. They are not data from any firm or case. Real firms vary.

          Can I play with my own firm's numbers?

          Yes. Under How the game works, move the sliders for your average settlement, fee, time to fee, cost per signed case, case manager load and cost, starting cases and cash. Your next game uses them. Games with your own numbers are marked Custom numbers and do not count toward your best time.

          How is the report card graded?

          On six subjects: return on the investment (30%), growth (25%), clients (15%), cash (10%), your time (10%) and systems (10%). The return compares what the firm made you, counting your pay, year-end payouts and the cash it kept, with what the practice you started with paid you each year. During a game, growth and systems are graded on the pace so far.

          What are the systems in the game?

          Ten systems in five layers: a client update cadence and a records process (case management), phase ownership and a demand process (workflows), required fields and automations (data), a firm health report and a pipeline projection (reporting), and a capacity plan, a marketing model and decision rights (planning). They are the kinds of systems Injury Enterprise builds for personal injury firms.

          Is anything I enter stored or shared?

          The game runs entirely in your browser. Your saved game, best time and custom numbers stay in this browser's storage, and the game does not send them anywhere.

          Is this legal, financial or business advice?

          No. It is a simplified simulation for fun and learning, built on generic figures. Injury Enterprise is not a law firm. For decisions about your own firm, talk with your own advisors.

          A simplified simulation for fun and learning. It uses generic planning figures, not data from any firm or case, and it is not legal, financial or business advice. Real firms vary. Injury Enterprise is not a law firm.