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Career Journal: Messaging New Marketing Concepts

By Michael DeCosta
September 26, 2013

We have all heard the business clich's with which lawyers have historically revealed their true attitudes toward business development and marketing of their services. Not too long ago, law firms took a dismissive stance toward business development. If the pipeline of new work slowed, the prevailing wisdom was, “This too shall pass.” I have heard their arrogance, first-hand. They joke, “We may aggressively stare at the phone and hope it rings,” or “We'll pick up on the second ring instead of the third.” That's about as far as many lawyers ventured to develop new business.

In recent memory, some firms actually had standing committees tasked with deciding which new clients to accept. And this was not a “conflicts check” procedure; it reflected the hubris of law firms that they could hand-pick their clients. Who could blame them? The United States, as the single largest legal market in the world, offered up a tremendous volume of legal matters to feed the masses.

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