Business Development Gripes

In-house columnist Mark Herrmann discusses some of the gripes that big firm lawyers have about developing business.

dartboard pen inside straightI’ve heard ’em all.

Over coffee; over beers; by email; from folks looking for new jobs.

I’ve heard all of the gripes that big firm lawyers have about developing business.

Here are a few I like:

“I’m trying to sell my firm’s capacity to do internal investigations here in London. But we don’t have any heavy-hitters at our offices back in the United States. We don’t have any guys who had important positions at the Department of Justice, for example. How the heck can I sell our capacity to do internal investigations when we’re competing against firms that have those sorts of credentials?”

Good question.

I’ll let you know if I hear of any open in-house jobs.

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(Alternatively: “What are you thinking? If you want to be important, then make yourself important. Write articles! Give talks! Write a book! If you want to attract business, start doing something to attract business. Don’t wait for your firm to hire someone who’s going to turn you into a star. It doesn’t work that way.”)

There’s a corollary to the branch office in London that can’t sell the big offices back in the States:

“We can’t sell the mother ship because there aren’t any hotshot lawyers there. But the mother ship doesn’t sell us, either. We’re just a small branch office, and no one thinks to say that we could do a great investigation here in London. So we’re starved for business.”

Like I said: I’ll let you know if I hear of any in-house jobs.

Or this one:

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“How can I sell myself? All I’ve ever done in my life is work here at Bigg & Mediocre. We’ve got other guys who have done real stuff: We have former judges, former assistant U.S. attorneys, guys who worked at the SEC, folks from the Department of Justice. I understand why people would want to hire those guys; why would anyone want to hire me?”

This one’s a little easier, although it depends on how your firm feels about origination credit.

For firms (which I think are relatively few) that give origination credit to only one lawyer, this is a tricky situation. You simply can’t invite the guy with credentials to attend the beauty contest with you.

But at firms that are more flexible with origination credit — credit can be shared between lawyers, or the firm doesn’t directly track origination credit — it’s a little easier. You get the first nibble with the client, and then you invite the credentialed guy to seal the deal.

You might have to share origination credit, but then you weren’t going to land the matter without the other person’s help anyway, so there’s a certain logic to being forced to share.

(And, of course, you could always make yourself important by speaking and writing and developing a reputation. I admit that’s hard, but wallowing in self-pity ain’t a barrel of laughs, either.)

How about this one:

“My firm’s so damn big that everyone’s already a client. Any time I get a call from a potential client, either my firm already represents them (so I don’t get client origination credit) or my firm is adverse to them (so the client can’t retain me because of conflicts). There’s no room to build a practice.”

This person solved his (or her) dilemma the obvious way: The person moved from the huge firm to a smaller one and then started to bring in the business that he (or she) had previously been losing.

And, of course, the increasingly common complaint:

“I’ve never brought in very much business, but the firm didn’t used to care. I stayed busy doing great client work to support my other partners, and the firm treated me with respect.

“That’s changed now. Only people who attract business stay in the ranks of equity partner. Those of us who simply do great work are demoted to income partner, or counsel, or thrown out of the firm entirely. What’s the justice in that?”

Who said the world was just? (Actually, for the more cold-hearted among my readers: That is justice. Why should people who can’t attract business be kept in the equity ranks?)

The truth is that firms need both lawyers who attract business and lawyers who do great work. Those aren’t necessarily the same people, but they’re equally responsible for the firm’s well-being. It’s only when the folks who control a lot of business end up running your firm (which happens pretty frequently) that the firm loses perspective.

But I’m afraid I can’t help with that. It’s a cold, hard world.


Mark Herrmann is Vice President and Deputy General Counsel – Litigation and Employment at Aon, the world’s leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital and management consulting. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.