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Thank you and farewell!

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Let me start with the big news: this is the final post you’ll be receiving from me. I’ve been working with lawyers on business development for nearly 20 years, and it’s time for a new adventure. Next month, I’ll be moving to 40 acres just west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and everything within me tells me it’s time for a new season. I’ll be raising chickens, planting vegetables, perhaps even raising some Highland cows or alpacas. I’ve also been reading up on restoring land, squeezing out weeds and encouraging growth of the native grasses without using pesticides, and I’d love to do that so we can leave the land better than we found it. This isn’t the life I envisioned when I graduated from law school thirty years ago, but it’s the life I’ve been working toward for many years.

Professionally, I’m shifting fully to writing creative nonfiction, working on a book about how midlife women can access the clarity and fierceness needed to make seemingly impossible changes and break the rules that don’t make sense for them. It’s based on what I’ve learned in the last decade or so as I made huge life changes that culminated in moving from the life I expected and planned in Atlanta to the life I most wanted in Wyoming. I’ll also be continuing to work with The Purple Sherpa, the nonprofit I founded to support people who are caring for family members living with dementia. A friend recently congratulated me on my retirement, but I see this change as a new movement in the symphony of life, not a coda.

Working with so many lawyers over the years has been deeply rewarding, and I’ve loved almost every minute of it. But my goals have changed, so the things I’m doing have to change as well.

The relationship between where we want to be in the future and what we do now to get there is at the foundation of a successful life—and successful business development. Let’s look at what that may mean for you.

What do you want from your practice? From your life? Although many business development recommendations skip these questions, I think they’re critical so that you can build a business development plan that will meet your objectives, not just one that will grow your practice. Let’s take a few examples so you see why I hold this position.

Every lawyer in private practice must focus on business development, and…

  • If you’re a law firm associate who wants to make partner at a large law firm, you’ll want to focus first on internal networking so that you’re building strong relationships with more senior lawyers. You’ll also work at business development because you know that BD success or potential is generally required for election to partnership. When you reach a stage to be bringing in your own business, internal networking will continue to be a key part of your BD plan. Of course, because partnership is rarely a foregone conclusion, you’ll also network with lawyers at other firms where you might want to be partner so that you have alternative and perhaps more attractive paths toward your goal.
  • If you’re an associate who wants to move to a smaller firm in the reasonably near future, you’ll want to emphasize networking with lawyers in smaller firms as well as with “bring in the business” work. When you land at your new firm, you’ll continue networking with other lawyers to some degree, but it will no longer be a primary part of your plans.Note that a similar principle applies if you’re a sole practitioner or working in a smaller firm and want to move to a larger firm. While you’ll spend the bulk of your time on business development activities, you’ll incorporate networking with lawyers in the kinds of firm you’d like to join.
  • If you’re an associate who wants to go solo, you’ll focus on business development work such as building your professional profile and networking with potential clients and referral sources as well as doing the work necessary to be a good citizen of your law firm (business development for the firm, internal networking, etc.) until it’s time for you to make your move.
  • If you have no desire to remain in private practice, you’ll do the “good firm citizen” work while you investigate your desired next position and meet people who can help you get there.


Knowing why you want to engage in business development is critical to make sure you reach your goals. Can you imagine being an associate who focused exclusively on internal networking, who decided that a boutique firm would be a better fit, who faced a difficult transition because for a lack of strong relationships with lawyers at boutique firms or portable business?  It happens, and it’s an ugly place to be. Recovery is possible, but thinking ahead would avoid that problem.

I’ll leave these questions with you:

  • What do you want from your practice? What kind of setting do you want to practice in? What role do you want to hold? What’s required to reach that objective?
  • What kind of attorney do you want to be? How do you want to focus your practice? What kinds of clients do you want? How do you want to work with them?
  • How do you want to spend your life? In practice, and if so, how? In some other kind of business, and if so, how (if at all) is it connected to your current practice? What do you need to do to get from here to there? If your goal is retirement, what financial security do you need to feel comfortable retiring, and how can you create that?
  • What’s your timeline? While the best time to get started on a goal is always right now, your timeline may dictate what steps you take.For example, if you’re in practice and you need to bring in business ASAP (you’re short on work and none will be assigned to you by other lawyers or you’re facing a partnership decision in a year or two), you need to be meeting with the people who are most likely to retain you or refer business to you. If you want to retire from practice in the next five years and withdraw from a firm or sell your practice, you need to think about a succession plan, which may shift how you work to bring in new business. If you want to shift to a new substantive focus for your practice, you’ll start by focusing most of your time on building your knowledge and platform in the new area plus building contacts relevant to that practice, and over time the balance of your time will shift toward building your network in that new area.
  • Based on your responses to these questions, what needs to change in your BD plan?

The happiest lawyers I have worked with have a clear objective for their professional and personal life and are working toward that. The most unhappy are those who are taking the next logical step based on what’s happening now without consciously deciding that they want to be where that step and the next and the next will take them. Circumstances and desires change, but if you don’t know what you want from your life, you can work hard and be productive toward an outcome you’d never choose. Don’t let that happen to you.

Finally, thank you for your years (many, many years for some of you!) of being on the BD journey with me. Earning a place in your inbox is a privilege I’ve never taken for granted. Please feel free to reach out if I can ever be of help. My email and website will remain active, and I’d love to hear from you.

Happy holidays, and here’s to a terrific new year!

What’s their “why”?

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I’ve written over and over about the importance of knowing why you want to build your own book of business. Why gets to the root of your motivation. It will carry you through the difficult times when business development work seems like too much on top of your billable and other responsibilities. It will give you the reason to persist even when your effort isn’t yielding the results you’d hoped. Most importantly, it gives you a way to measure whether what you’re doing is moving you toward satisfaction or away from it. If it’s been a while since you’ve given this some thought, I’d encourage you to spend some time with your why soon.

But today, let’s focus on the why your client or potential client holds. Their why matters on two levels:

  • Level One: the substantive purpose (what they hope to accomplish through the work you’ll be doing) For example, if you’re a litigator and your client or potential client is contemplating filing a breach of contract claim against a supplier, the substantive why is addressing an issue (quality, cost, etc.) that arguably violates the terms of the agreement. If a criminal defendant is considering hiring you, their fervent desire is for you to show that they aren’t criminally liable for their actions.  This is the kind of why we learned about in law school, it’s the why that determines the strategy we use to approach a matter, and it’s the kind of why that we focus on day in and day out.
  • Level two: the motivation that underlies the matter, which may speak to a larger strategy or an emotion For example, the breach of contract claim might be lodged to clarify rights and responsibilities in an ongoing relationship, it might be lodged to terminate a relationship, or it might be designed to seek recompense for problems in a relationship that’s irretrievably broken. The criminal defendant might want simply to avoid liability, or they might have taken the steps they did because they want to test the validity of the underlying law.

The secondary why often plays the stronger role in business development. Why is this business development client/potential client approaching you to discuss this matter? What do they hope to accomplish through the representation?

When you understand the motivation behind the contemplated action (or the desired secondary outcome in the case of a litigation defendant whose first goal is obviously to avoid liability), you’re better positioned to demonstrate that you understand your client/potential client. You’ll be able to present your relevant experience and to discuss the approach you might take considering the underlying motivation. You can slant the conversation toward the underlying desire. Sometimes the desire won’t be attainable or shouldn’t be pursued (revenge fantasies, for example), but when you demonstrate you understand the business development client/potential client’s motivation, you let them know they’ve been heard and that you’ll work toward their objectives as best you can.

The why also comes into play when a potential client expresses reservations about the cost of hiring you. When you understand their motivation underlying the matter, in addition to explaining your methods of cost containment, you can connect the motivation to the cost of the desired outcome. Budget is often an issue for a routine matter, but if the motivation underlying a matter is particularly critical, you can use that to explain why the costs are as they are. (To be clear, I’m not suggesting a premium for a matter that’s particularly important; this is simply a method to help explain the budget you might propose.)

Finding your client’s/potential client’s why is as simple as asking questions. What would you like to take away from this transaction? What matters most to you about this? Why would you or wouldn’t you consider settlement, if we can find common ground? In negotiating this deal, is there anything you must have or can’t agree to give up?

Both business development and successful representations require you to understand your client’s motivation. Start laying the groundwork when you meet new business development contacts. As you’re learning about them and (where appropriate) their business, ask questions that will help you to understand their values, their emotional temperature, and the reason they do the things they do. The more you know, the better you’ll be able to position yourself for BD, and the better you’ll be able to represent and/or manage your clients and their matters.

On Credible Visibility

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Are you visible to your referral sources and potential clients?

Are you credibly visible to them?

We all know that in order to land business, you must be known to those who will send you work, either directly or indirectly. That much is obvious. And so in business development we talk about strategies to help us become visible to referral sources and potential clients, such as:

  • Networking
  • Staying in touch with contacts
  • Writing articles
  • Speaking at conferences and CLE meetings
  • Teaching (formally or informally)
  • Blogging/using Substack
  • Podcasting or being a podcast guest

Let’s narrow that field a bit today to ask the critical question: are the business development strategies you’re using to be visible doing so in a way that builds your credibility?

Again with the obvious: you won’t gain anything that’s likely to lead to business if you do these activities with the wrong group of people. If you represent employers on labor and employment issues, you probably won’t get much out of attending a solo entrepreneurs’ networking group. They don’t have employees, and employment law is likely not relevant to them. Sure, you might run into someone who could refer business to you or you might hit it off with someone who will send you business years down the line, but that’s luck, not strategy. Effective business development requires strategy.

When you spend time in the right circles, whether in person, online, or via your writing, you build credible visibility as part of your business development strategy. You become visible in ways that are connected to your practice, ways that will help people recognize you as someone active and knowledgeable in your area of law.

Here are some ways to make sure you’re working in the right business development circles:

  1. Unless you represent lawyers, don’t spend your time with networking with or speaking or writing to them and call it business development work. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve spoken with a lawyer who said they were active with the local bar for business development, I’d have a nice pot of cash. If I had a dollar for every time a lawyer told me that strategy had delivered as they’d hoped, my pot would be close to empty. Yes, you might occasionally get a referral due to a conflict, but that too is luck rather than a business development strategy.Networking with or speaking or writing to your competitors rarely pays off as a business development strategy.
  2. Focus on attending conferences and networking groups populated by people who either (a) work in the same industry or (b) address the same issues you do from another angle. For example, if you represent dentists, you’ll want to move in their circles. If you do IP work for start-ups, you’ll want to network with investors. When you focus on these two ways of defining what’s a right audience for you, you’ll be able to define a good-sized circle of referral sources and clients who share an interest in your area of legal interest. And, of course, as an integral part of your business development strategy, you may consider writing and speaking to these same audiences.
  3. If you’re in a larger firm, try cross-selling. I prefer to think of cross-selling as cross-servicing, since the effort should not be designed simply to sell something to a colleague’s client but rather to identify other legal needs the client has that are not currently being addressed. Focusing on service rather than selling aligns you with the client and removes an “ick” factor that some lawyers feel when contemplating this activity. By engaging with another lawyer who’s addressing different legal issues and helping to spot ways you can help, then following up with your colleague and, if appropriate, with the client to continue to deliver useful information, you can better support both your colleague and the client while working to bring in new business. (Note that success with this business development strategy often depends in large part on firm culture—but that’s a topic for another day.)
  4. Look for unique ways to reach the right people. If you’re active and building credibility through the usual channels (as discussed above), think about new ways to reach out. Could you publish an article in your college alumni magazine or join a targeted alumni group that will include many people who are potential clients or referral sources? Could you join a board of directors for a nonprofit that has some connection to your practice and meet other directors who would be useful business development contacts? Think out of the box but stick to the “relevant to my practice” parameter.

Be sure to distinguish your efforts to build credible visibility from your efforts to develop relationships in your business development strategy. Credible visibility requires you to be centering your attention on issues relevant to your practice while connecting in some way to the audiences who may send you business, directly or indirectly. Building relationships for business development purposes will include business discussions (otherwise, you’re just becoming friends—which is great but not a path to bringing in new business); it will also bring in conversations designed for you to get to know, like, and trust one another.

When you’re having well-focused conversations (spoken or written) about legal issues relevant to your practice with the rights audiences, you’ll raise your professional profile. Your contacts, potential referral sources, and potential and prospective clients will be more likely to know about you and to view you as someone knowledgeable about the issues they need addressed.

Are you credibly visible in your market? If not, lay your plans to shift that using these business development guidelines and suggestions, and get to it. It’s never too early to start. You can make substantial inroads on this in Q4. The wind is at your back.

Take a Fresh Look at Your Business Development Efforts

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If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any time, you know I often urge you to review your business development plan and your BD progress. The reason is simple: it’s easy to focus on what’s right in front of you (whether that’s a success or a failure) and therefore easy to let other activities or results slide off your radar. That’s always a mistake. Even if you were to attain the practice and client roster of your dreams in the proverbial sweep of a magic wand, no one can afford to rest on success, and no one who wants to move forward professionally can let failure derail their efforts.

Let’s take a fresh look at your business development efforts this month, through the lens of appreciative inquiry. Lawyers are trained problem solvers, which means that we often look first for problems. And there’s nothing wrong with that: spotting the problem is obviously the first step to solving it, so checking on what isn’t working is an important part of your review.

It’s at least as important to look at what’s right in your business development plan. You’ll spot your obvious successes and the instances in which it appears success is right at hand. That’s easy.

Let’s look at an example.

Sarah is a midlevel associate IP litigator who focuses on the life sciences industry. Like many lawyers, she came to me with a list of business development activities and goals, but no coordinated plan. We designed a plan and put some meat on her goals by adding a time frame and measurables, and she got busy.

Over time, Sarah experienced a variety of successful outcomes. She’d wanted to raise her professional platform, and she did so through several writing opportunities. She attended a seminar attended by in-house counsel and was able to start building relationships with several people working in-house in life sciences companies. A law school classmate had invited her to events attended by other lawyers (both in-house and outside) and she was growing her network substantially.

She also had some less positive outcomes, including attending other affinity group meetings with zero life sciences company attendance, working to grow relationships but not being successful in getting follow-up conversations or meetings scheduled, and taking part in some unsuccessful pitches.

My client consulting relationships start with a seven-month engagement, and we always conduct a green/yellow/red light analysis at the end of the seven months to ask what the lawyer should continue doing, continue but evaluate again soon, and stop doing. You can probably make a good guess at those lists based on what I’ve shared about her activities.

I asked Sarah to take a deeper look at her business development activity. Beyond the wins, losses, and lack of movement already identified, what’s going right? After some discussion, Sarah came up with several things that were going right and logical next steps:

  • Sarah had a business development-focused conversation as a part of her year-end review, along with an offer for regular BD discussions with her team leader, and Sarah devised a non-intrusive way to keep the team leader up-to-date about her BD efforts;
  • She noticed that a partner in her firm had been including Sarah in client meetings and helping her to build relationships with senior-level client representatives, so she decided to be proactive in asking for client introductions;
  • She reflected on a difficult experience on a matter that left her feeling that a senior associate lacked confidence in her and asked, What else might be going on here? Sarah identified three alternate reasons for what happened that allowed her to consider whether the events were actually about her, how she could follow up to determine whether her feelings were grounded, and how she might approach the senior associate in the future;
  • She discovered that conversations she’d had with several contacts revealed interest in a particular legal topic, so she explored writing an article about that topic and was able to secure a tentative agreement to publish her piece in a journal that would reach her ideal clients both internally and externally; and
  • She realized that through her networking, she’s started to develop business relationships with several people who might serve as referral sources, so she planned to have conversations with them about referrals that could run in both directions.

Without appreciative inquiry, Sarah likely wouldn’t have noticed or addressed these events in the same way, and she would have missed valuable information and opportunities that support her business development work.

Now, it’s your turn: beyond the obvious, what’s going right with your business development efforts?  What does that inquiry reveal about next steps you might take to shift a “going right” activity to a full-fledged win?

Freshen Up for Successful Business Development in 2023

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Happy New Year! You probably spent some of the last days of 2022 or the first of 2023 working on your business development plan, right? If not, hop to it! A current plan will coordinate your BD actions so that everything you do is working in a cohesive way toward a strategy you’ve defined. It’ll keep you on track and avoid wasting time on efforts that aren’t aligned with your objectives. (Not sure where to start? Check out these free Rainmaker resources.)

But did you do your New Year’s freshening up for your business development strategy? The beginning of the year (along with the beginning of the school year, in the fall) is a natural time to look at work you’ve done previously to make sure it’s current. Some suggestions:

  1. Update your LinkedIn profile. This LinkedIn for Lawyers article has a good list of items to consider. Also, be sure that you’ve updated your credentials including professional history, publications, certifications, etc. Ask yourself what a client seeking a lawyer in your practice area would find important and use that answer to guide the information you highlight in your summary as well as other parts of your profile. Start with identifying what you do, not solely your role within your firm, as your headline.
  2. Review your firm bio sketch. How well does its content mirror what you’ve shared on LinkedIn, and vice-versa? While the two profiles should not be copies of one another, the information and the tone should be consistent. This is also a good time to make sure that your sketch is indeed up to date.
  3. Review and update your contact list. Ideally, you’ve been maintaining your contact list throughout the year, but check it now. The list should include up-to-date contact information, an indication of each person’s relevance for business development purposes (A list, B list, or C list), and perhaps personal information that will help you build a deeper professional relationship.
  4. Schedule the conferences you plan to attend this year. Successful conference attendance requires advance preparation; knowing which conference(s) you plan to attend is step one. Schedule the conferences that fit your Business Development strategy and make a note three months before each conference to make a final decision on attendance and to begin preparations. You may be able to get some mileage even from conferences you don’t attend: see items 3 and 4 on the article linked above for pre-conference tips that you can adapt.

Completing these steps will ensure that your Business Development foundation is solid as you prepare for a successful year of growing your profile, your platform, and your book of business.