“Our office manager was running partner K-1s, associate W-2s, and four-office multi-state payroll from spreadsheets. VertiSource took it over in a week. Our open enrollment now actually happens on time.”
HR that scales with your practice.
Billable-hour tracking, partner draws, K-1 integration, and benefits that compete with the firm down the hall. Built for law, accounting, consulting, and agency teams from 5 to 500.
$0K+
Typical exposure for partner-vs-employee misclassification across a 20-person firm
0%
Of K-1 and W-2 reconciliations completed clean on the bench
Same-day
Lateral-hire onboarding turnaround on the HR bench
Your Professional Services HR realities, paired with how our specialists handle each.
Multi-State & Remote Workforce
ACA tracking for variable-hour billable staff
Our compliance engine tracks every measurement and stability period across paralegals and analysts, flags eligibility shifts before they become violations, and files 1095-Cs automatically.
100% of 1095-Cs delivered before the IRS deadline. Zero penalty assessments across three full filing years.
What you're exposed to IRS Letter 226J assesses up to $2,970/employee/month for 4980H(a) violations. A 150-professional firm: up to $5.3M/year of exposure.
In practice "Variable-hour associates are a 226J landmine. I watch the measurement-period ledger every week." Benefits Director, ACA + 401(k)
Executive & Equity Compensation
Multi-office payroll across tax jurisdictions
Each office runs as its own cost center with local, state, and federal tax deposits handled automatically. Practice-group reporting and consolidated views with zero manual reconciliation.
100% of federal, state, and local tax deposits filed on time across every office. All 50 states supported.
What you're exposed to State penalty for unregistered employment averages $5K–$50K per state per year. A 4-office firm missing one registration = $150K+ exposure.
In practice "New state, new office? I've done it in an afternoon. Most shops quote six weeks." Dave Harris, Accounting Lead
Lateral Hire Onboarding
Lateral hire onboarding in under 15 minutes
Mobile I-9, electronic W-4, direct deposit, and benefits enrollment run in one polished workflow. Your new associate's first impression matches the firm you're trying to be.
15-minute digital onboarding per hire. Benefits enrollment, I-9, state tax forms, and direct deposit complete before day one.
What you're exposed to A rough lateral onboarding signals to a partner-track hire that your operations aren't firm-grade. Lost laterals cost $500K–$2M in origination + ramp + book-of-business impact.
In practice "Your first 30 days with us. I run it. Personally. Every handoff, every question." Jena Glazier, Client Success Manager
Rapid Hiring & Contractor Conversion
Practice-group scaling and merger integration
One hire or fifty run on the same workflow with parallel multi-state registration, benefits enrollment, and contractor-to-W2 conversion. No headcount added to your operations team.
Batch intake of 10, 20, or 50 hires in hours. Merger integration without a single internal HR addition.
What you're exposed to Manual contractor-to-W-2 conversion on 20 staff burns 80+ operations hours and delays benefits coverage by weeks. IRS classification audit exposure compounds with every day on 1099.
In practice "Classification is where firms bleed. I run the audit before DOL does." HR Advisor, Wage-Hour + Classification
Partner/Shareholder Payroll
Partner draws, guaranteed payments, and W-2 staff in one platform
Partner K-1 distributions, guaranteed payments, and W-2 employee payroll run on a single engine with entity-specific tax reporting. Clean K-1s and clean W-2s every cycle.
Every partner draw, guaranteed payment, and W-2 run reconciled against the cap table and the partnership agreement.
What you're exposed to Partner-vs-employee misclassification triggers back payroll tax + SECA penalty + partnership-tax amendment. On a 20-partner firm: $500K+ exposure is typical.
In practice "Partner K-1 and associate W-2 reconciliation is where firms trip. I own both books." Dave Harris, Accounting Lead
Retention Through Premium Benefits
Big-firm benefits at a boutique firm price point
We shop medical, dental, and 401(k) plans across all carriers, building packages that close the gap with Am Law 200 firms. Your offer letter competes with firms ten times your size.
100% of medical, dental, vision, life, and 401(k) match administered, with carriers shopped on your behalf for competitive rates our carrier relationships earn. The national carriers any Am Law 200 firm uses.
What you're exposed to Losing a senior associate to a benefits-richer firm costs $200K–$500K in replacement + ramp + transferred-business risk. A benefits-driven churn event on a 15-associate firm = ~10% of annual payroll burned.
In practice "Open enrollment isn't a scramble for the teams I run. Scheduled meeting, not a fire." Benefits Director, ACA + 401(k)
We work with professional services firms like yours
From solo practitioners adding their first W-2 staff to multi-office firms with partner draws, equity structures, and multi-state practice footprints, our PEO is built for the classification and partner-comp realities of professional services.
Boutique Practices & Solo Firms
Solo practitioners, small firms, and boutique agencies managing their first W-2 hires, benefits package, and classification decisions. Clean K-1 for the principal, clean W-2 for the staff, clean compliance trail for everyone.
Growing Multi-Office Firms
Firms with multiple offices, multi-state practice, and mixed partner/associate compensation. Multi-state payroll, full-market benefits shopping, 401(k) match, professional liability coordination, and clean K-1 + W-2 reconciliation.
Multi-Office Firms & Agencies
Established firms with partner-track associates, of-counsel arrangements, and distributed practice groups. Enterprise-level payroll, benefits administration across multiple plans, and the HR partner that scales with your practice growth.
Full Professional Services HR compliance landscape
Every regulation we handle on your behalf. Tap to expand.
Multi-State & Remote Workforce Compliance
Variable-hour employees shift between full-time and part-time status constantly. Tracking measurement periods, stability periods, and 1095-C filing for hundreds of billable staff is a compliance minefield.
How we solve this →
Executive & Equity Compensation Administration
Partners, associates, and staff each have different compensation structures: equity draws, profit-sharing, ISOs, guaranteed payments, and K-1 reporting. Managing these alongside standard W-2 payroll across multiple offices and states is operationally overwhelming.
How we solve this →
Professional Liability & Benefits Packages
Firms compete for top talent against larger practices offering premium benefits. Without competitive health plans, retirement options, and professional development budgets, your best people leave for firms that offer them.
How we solve this →
Rapid Hiring & Contractor-to-Employee Conversion
Converting contractors to W-2 employees, onboarding lateral hires from competing firms, and ramping project-based staff. Velocity matters as much as compliance when a lateral hire brings their book of business.
How we solve this →
Partner/Shareholder Payroll Complexity
Partners classified as employees vs. Equity holders, associates misclassified as exempt, and of-counsel arrangements that blur the line between 1099 and W-2. One misclassification = IRS + DOL cascade.
How we solve this →Professional services HR questions, answered
The most common questions we get from managing partners, firm administrators, and operations directors at law firms, accounting firms, and consulting practices.
Yes. PEO co-employment applies to your W-2 employees. Associates, paralegals, administrative staff. Your partners stay on K-1 partnership distributions, unaffected by the PEO relationship. We handle W-2 payroll and benefits on the employee side while preserving clean K-1 structure for partners.
Our payroll processes guaranteed payments under IRC §707(c), regular partner draws, and W-2 employee payroll on a single engine. K-1s reconcile at year-end automatically. Partner advances and tax distributions are tracked against the partnership agreement.
Of-counsel arrangements are notoriously ambiguous between 1099 and W-2. We run a classification audit against each arrangement. Factor-by-factor against IRS Form SS-8 criteria, and document the determination in a memo you can hand to counsel if questioned. Clean classification trail, defensible under audit.
Yes. Multi-state practice, multi-office payroll, and multi-jurisdiction professional licensing all handled on one platform. When you open an office in a new state, we handle the new registrations, benefits plan extension, and state tax setup. Typically a week of work compressed to a couple of conversations.
Our benefits team shops all carriers for your 20-person firm, and brings back real quotes side by side. Medical, dental, vision, life, 401(k) match all administered in-house. A 20-person boutique can put a benefits package on the table that competes with an Am Law 200 firm. That's the retention lever.
Let's talk about your firm's HR needs.
Whether you run a 10-person boutique or a 200-professional multi-office firm, we will show you exactly how we handle K-1 partner payroll, W-2 staff payroll, multi-state compliance, and firm-grade benefits. In one conversation.
Talk to a Professional Services Specialist → 855-565-8747