Terrell Turner, CEO, TLTurner Group

Terrell Turner, CEO of TLTurner Group, shared the firm’s journey in deciding to focus on supporting law firms with their finance and accounting needs. In an interview with Invest:, He explained how this specialization evolved over time, highlighted the common challenges law firms face, and detailed how TLTurner Group is leveraging automation and AI to deliver impactful solutions for its clients.

How is TLTurner Group’s service portfolio tailored to meet the needs of the clients it serves?

Our accounting and CFO services are the core of that. As part of our CFO services, we help law firms understand the financial side of their organizations. Lawyers cannot serve their clients through legal support when they are uncertain about the finance side of their business. We have realized that finance is not taught in law school, so we spend time building out resources and educational material to help lawyers become more confident on that front. We can also train a law firm’s in-house staff, and often partner with various bar associations throughout the country. Sometimes we ghostwrite content for bar associations, do presentations, and write articles and white papers to break down these concepts.

Additionally, besides the core lawyer audience that we serve, I also help business owners in general. A lot of people who start a business do not have an accounting or finance background. We focus on making those areas simpler so they can be more confident in their decisions.

How did the firm tap into the opportunities offered by Greater Charlotte’s legal sector?

I started the TLTurner Group on April 1, 2020, as everything was shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that point, whoever would pay us would be our client. After about a year, we realized it helps to have more clarity about who you serve. A key piece of advice that we received from six accounting firms and fractional CFOs in Charlotte was to pick an audience that we wanted to focus on. That makes it much easier to develop processes, resources, and tools to serve that audience well.

After interviewing some law firms and doing some consulting work with them, I realized their business model is like an accounting firm’s. We understand their needs and they understand they have a need, so we can fill that gap. It also made sense from a financial standpoint because law firms had enough margin to hire us. After looking at those factors, we realized that was a market we could focus on. 

That shift also benefited our team’s mental health and well-being, as they no longer had to mentally switch from industry to industry. This allowed them to focus, increase efficiency, and develop greater confidence in their work. 

What are some of the most common financial challenges that law firms face, and how does TLTurner Group address these issues? 

The top financial challenge is awareness of what is going on with the firm’s money. Business owners manage many different things, so it can be challenging to keep up and have clarity when it comes to the firm’s finances. Once we help them get that clarity and translate the numbers into something they understand, we often find that cash flow is a big challenge. Once we identify the root cause of those cash flow problems, we map out a strategy to solve the problem. 

We also develop tools to highlight potential issues for our clients. For example, we recently created a financial health score calculator. By inputting key numbers from their financial statements, the calculator identifies weaknesses and gaps. Based on these insights, we can develop a targeted strategy to address the issues and help them move forward.”

How does TLTurner Group help its clients navigate those challenges through its offering?

Once we map a strategy for a client, we may focus on providing a service such as accounting to free up the legal team to focus on client cases. We also educate their team or help them develop the right processes so they can meet the compliance requirements of the state bar  and ensure they can provide optimal legal support. Additionally, if they need financing, we support their capital acquisition process. 

How does TLTurner Group leverage technology and automation to improve the financial management of law firms?

A lot of the problems that law firms face can be solved with access to the right data, so we use automation to help create reports. Once we create dashboards and can pull data from their accounting system, we add formulas to consistently feed the data they need on a weekly or monthly basis. The goal is really to get them to a point where that reporting frees them up to go work with more clients. We are a completely remote operation, so we use technology to automate a lot of the reporting and sharing of data.

We also use AI a lot. Our staff outside of the United States can use AI to become a little bit more educated about some of the nuances in different geographies. Additionally, we do a lot of internal training where we use apps like Loom and Zoom to create a digital version of our training manual. That allows us to get new staff up to speed a lot faster.

What are the characteristics that make Charlotte a good place to build a company?

One of the things that we were looking forward to when we moved to Charlotte was being in a city where the environment was right for growth and business. Many people in Charlotte are focused on not just growing themselves, but also contributing to the growth ecosystem across sectors.  Charlotte is a great place for anyone trying to pursue endeavors in business because it is an environment where growth and support of each other is natural.

There is a lot of emotional, financial, and social investment coming into Charlotte. You need those things to create a healthy business and entrepreneurial ecosystem. There are many nonprofits addressing social issues here. There is also plenty of innovation in the business and entrepreneurial sector and a lot of cooperation by larger corporations that support entrepreneurs and nonprofits. Those factors mean a good circular investment that makes Greater Charlotte more advanced compared to other cities. It is a unique place with a chemistry for growth that other cities lack.

There is also a good partnership between the local government and the business sector. There is an overlap where the government recognizes that the city will do well if the business, nonprofit, and arts and entertainment communities do well. Such collaboration between sectors promotes a healthy city that continues to grow strategically.

What are the strategic goals for expansion and growth of TLTurner Group over the next few years?

We want to continue specializing in our work with more law firms. We also want to evolve some of the tools that we have created into a software solution that is easier to use. Our goal is to go beyond being a service provider by transforming key services into software that delivers a greater, more scalable impact.

Many of the strategies we use to help law firms better understand their finances can also benefit other businesses. Our vision is to create a version of the software that adapts to various industries and addresses their unique challenges. Part of this involves integrating our pro bono work with non-law firms, as many issues overlap despite differences in context and industry. We aim to develop a tool that effectively solves the problems of our core law firm clients while also meeting the needs of other industries.