Law Firm Marketing and Business Development

The global COVID-19 pandemic forced lawyers — individuals whose relationships formerly depended upon firm handshakes and looking their clients directly in the eye — to build client trust through a tiny camera lens. Here's a Q&A with GCs to discuss what matters most to their companies when hiring outside counsel.

As firms and their clients continue to navigate ongoing business challenges in 2021, BD and marketing professionals first need to understand how mature their efforts are in specific areas. Then, they can look at what the successful firms are doing differently, so they can position themselves to join those ranks.

Responses from GCs on what matters most to their companies when hiring outside counsel.

While acquiring the skills necessary to develop business is certainly a life-long journey, here are five critical elements to consider from the outset.

Although we understood how important in-person listening was before the pandemic, the background listening was something we used to take for granted. Here are five ways to practice active listening and remain engaged when we can't be in a physical environment.

Partnerships are relationships, ideally relationships built on trust and a common goal. Successful partnerships require all parties working together — working together to service a client fully, generate revenue and to build a business. This requires openness and coordination.

Many attorneys don't actually know how to scale business and require guidance in order to develop and exercise that muscle. This is precisely why law firms should invest in their associates' business development efforts from the start.

A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic caused once-in-a-lifetime expense reductions that could forever alter the business of law. After those cost savings fueled double-digit profit growth for many firms in 2020, don't be surprised if Big Law leaders try to make some of those gains stick.