Submission Requirements for Partners Seeking “Close Personal Relationship” Designation
Close Personal Relationship (“CPC”) Designation under Section 7 of the CM Partner Handbook is defined as: “an individual in whom a Partner has invested significant time, money and effort, specifically for the purpose of cross-selling with this individual and/or marketing not only the Partner’s practice, but also the Firm as a whole (or substantial part) and/or other specific Partners’ practices and capabilities. In other words, it is not the depth of the personal relationship with the individual, but the specific investment in selling the individual on Culhane Meadows and its specific other Partners. For example, your college roommate “might” not qualify as a Close Personal Contact if you have made no effort to cultivate and maintain the relationship in several decades.”
1. Interested Partner initiates the vetting process by sending an e-mail to all Partners informing them that CPC status is contemplated being sought from the Advisory Committee (the “AC”) for the proposed CPC named in such e-mail, with a copy of such e-mail to the AC, and requesting that each Partner voice any objections to the granting of such designation by return e-mail within five (5) business days of the date of such original e-mail.
2. After such five (5) business days have expired, and assuming that the interested Partner decides to continue, the interested Partner then submits a formal application to the AC that addresses the following factors:
- Name of proposed CPC;
- Affiliated entity(ies) of proposed CPC;
- Other CM Partners known to the interested Partner (the “Applicant”) to have a relationship with the proposed CPC and/or affiliated entity(ies);
- List of those Partners who have objected to the Applicant’s request (per Item 1 above);
- List of facts demonstrating the Applicant’s specific intent to grow CM business through the proposed CPC (with Applicant to supply copies of relevant supporting communications/documentation/other backup):
- Estimated length of time Applicant worked with the Proposed CPC to develop CM business, g., a 10-year relationship (could precede Applicant’s joining CM, but there is no safe-harbor in this regard); past history of client referrals, etc.;
- Expenses (g., travel, entertainment, marketing materials, etc.) personally incurred by Applicant in such efforts;
- Cooperative marketing materials that may have been created with the proposed CPC;
- Joint meetings with other CM Partners, including specific dates and Partners involved and the relevant topics covered during each such meeting;
- Consistency/frequency of Applicant’s efforts to develop CM business through the Proposed CPC, e., provide the number and type of contacts and dates of same with the proposed CPC;
- Existing or confirmed prospective clients referred to CM by the proposed CPC; and
- Other considerations which the Applicant would like the Advisory Committee to consider, g., a description of how the proposed CPC fits into the Applicant’s business plan.
3. There is no set limit on the amount of time that the Advisory Committee may consider such application, and it may ask for input from any party that it chooses in making its determination.
4. Should the application be rejected by the Advisory Committee, it will notify the Applicant by e-mail with its reasoning for such rejection.
5. Should the AC tentatively decide to grant the requested CPC status, the Advisory Committee will then do the following:
- The AC will inform the Applicant by e-mail of such tentative approval;
- The AC will inform all Partners via e-mail that absent any objection, communicated within five (5) business days, the requested status will be granted to the proposed CPC; and
- If no objections are received and/or approved by the Advisory Committee, then it shall so notify the Applicant and the Executive Committee that such status has been granted and will add such designation to the master list of CPCs resident on the DMS.
Updated 3/31/2015