Internal Networking Tips (Especially For Lawyers New To a Firm)
Every lawyer must be able to bring in at least enough work to support his or her own practice. Of course, with rare exceptions, no one springs into business development fully formed. It’s a process that takes both time to perform and time for the results to appear. Successful BD requires effort and skill. Every lawyer […]
Failing To See Options
Let’s start today’s newsletter with a little joke. During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director how she decides whether a patient should be institutionalized. “Well,” said the Director, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or […]
New Lawyer Skill Focus: How To Deliver Bad News
This is one of the most challenging communications issues that new lawyers face — really, that any of us face. Something has gone wrong, there’s an adverse ruling, or someone made a mistake. How do you deliver that news?Whether you need to inform the client or a more senior lawyer, the process is largely the […]
Representing An Unrealistic Client
One of the most challenging client relations issues that lawyers face is representing an unrealistic client. It’s easy to see how a client can fall into what is, objectively, an unrealistic expectation about his situation. After all, many clients (corporate and individual) are deeply invested in their matter, and many clients (especially individuals) are likely to have few legal […]
Identify The Problem, Define The Solution.
When you aren’t achieving the results you want to see from your business development activity, you almost certainly have one of three problems. Identify the problem, make a thoughtful shift, and you will likely see your results change. (The difficulty, of course, is in knowing what change to make, but that’s another topic for another day.) So, what are the […]
Tend Relationships To Grow Your Practice
While discussing business development plans, I often tell my clients that rainmaking is all about relationships. I also tell clients that good relationships, personal or professional, should be nurtured – even that low-level employee of a corporate client may prove to be a valuable contact one day. This past weekend confirmed that for me. Clients sometimes […]
Two Sides Of Business Development Disaster
Two levels of activity can undermine your business development efforts: doing too much and doing too little. Think I just won the obvious award? Stick with me for a minute. It’s no secret that doing too little business development activity means you won’t build the kind of practice you want. If you want word about you […]