Business development
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Small Law Firms
The Practice: Do Your Referral Sources Get It?
If you’re getting the wrong referrals, it’s your fault. -
Lawyer Advertising, Media and Journalism, Small Law Firms
The Practice: Free Advertising
How can you get some free advertising for your law practice? By following these five easy steps... - Sponsored
New Report - Are Small Firms Achieving Their Legal Tech Goals?
In this new report of more than 100 professionals at small and smaller midsize law firms, iManage and Above the Law shed new light on… -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Media and Journalism, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: The Ten Rules For Writing Articles To Generate Business
What are the ten rules for writing an article that will generate legal business for the author?
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Biglaw, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: How Do You Displace A Competent Incumbent?
In-house columnist Mark Herrmann tackles a tough question: How do you replace a competent incumbent? -
Billable Hours, Money, Small Law Firms
The Practice: When Things Are Slow
Columnist Brian Tannebaum has some advice for small-firm attorneys experiencing slow months at work. -
Billable Hours, Boutique Law Firms, Money, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners
From Biglaw to Boutique: Beyond the Math
If you're currently working for a big law firm, should you start your own firm to make more money? Well, not so fast.... -
Advertising, Career Center, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center: Steps to Take in Order to Make an Effective Elevator Pitch
In the age of texts, tweets, and emails, people want their information brief, fast, and in 100 characters or less. With such constraints, many law firm lawyers feel overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to elicit business without sounding like a cattle auctioneer. While we are competing with thousands of sound bites of information on […] -
Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Lawyer Advertising, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: A Marketing Matrix
When Above the Law first covered Tom Wallerstein's "adventure in shingle hanging," he remembers someone quipping that his only business came from attorney referrals and that he didn’t have his “own” clients. The comment wasn’t true, but he still found it interesting. Is a client who pays you money somehow not “your” client, or not a “real” client, just because the client was referred to you by another attorney? That doesn’t make a lot of sense to him.... - Sponsored
How To Maximize Productivity With Westlaw Precision With CoCounsel
Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel helps legal professionals get a faster start to their research. Over time, that added productivity can lead to higher-quality research and… -
Biglaw, Blogging, Books, In-House Counsel, Law Reviews, Media and Journalism
Inside Straight: 'Recreational' Writing, In-House and Out
Complete honesty is such a dangerous thing. I’m going to give it a shot. I’m posing three questions to myself today. First, why might a lawyer at a law firm choose to write articles? Second, what topics should lawyers write about, and where should they publish the articles? Finally, why might an in-house lawyer choose […] -
Billable Hours, Boutique Law Firms, Money, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: Working for Free
When Tom Wallerstein started his firm, several mentors gave him the same advice: Don’t work for free. It’s easy to see the problem with working for free. Giving away what you’re trying to sell isn’t exactly in the business plan. Unfortunately, this sage advice can only really be learned the hard way, through experience. Even if your gut tells you that taking on that client is a bad idea, this can be surprisingly tempting to a new firm or solo practice.... -
Small Law Firms
The Practice: Enough with the Worthless Networking
There are two types of lawyers: Those that “don’t do networking,” and those that do it because it is required to establish a word of mouth practice. For those that want the word of mouth practice, and the reputation in the community as a go-to person (assuming you are a competent lawyer, and these days, that’s a big assumption), here are some things to consider.... -
Biglaw, Blogging, Continuing Legal Education / CLE, In-House Counsel, Media and Journalism, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Building A Practice -- A Case Study
How do you build a practice for a law firm? Everyone has a theory; I’ll provide a case study. In 1997, Congress was about to pass a law that would have been great for America, but horrific for business at the law firm at which I then worked. The firm thus (intelligently) created several committees […] -
Facebook, Google / Search Engines, Legal Ethics, Small Law Firms, Social Networking Websites, Technology, Twittering
The Practice: The Definitive (All You Need To Know) Guide (This Is It) To Social Media For Lawyers
Sorry to disappoint the snake-oil salesmen, but in this small post Brian Tannebaum will buck the trend, and debunk the fallacy of non-practicing lawyers who write books about social media for lawyers. Here, today my friends, he will tell you everything you need to know about the complicated and scary topic of: how to talk to people on the internet like a normal person....
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Sponsored
Mitigating M&A Cyber Risk: Pre- & Post-Acquisition Due Diligence
Why M&A cybersecurity due diligence?
Sponsored
How To Maximize Productivity With Westlaw Precision With CoCounsel
Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel helps legal professionals get a faster start to their research. Over time, that added productivity can lead to higher-quality research and…
Sponsored
New Report - Are Small Firms Achieving Their Legal Tech Goals?
In this new report of more than 100 professionals at small and smaller midsize law firms, iManage and Above the Law shed new light on…
Sponsored
Sponsored
Attention Buyer: Not All Legal AI Models Are Created Equal
Legal Gen AI – Uncover the best solution for your firm.
Sponsored
The Ethical use of Generative AI
What’s the key to empowering your legal team with the efficiency and insight of AI while protecting the integrity of their work? Read this article…
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Biglaw, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: I've Written a Brochure For You!
In this column, I’m presenting you with a gift: I’m ghost-writing for you a law firm brochure. I hereby grant all copyright interest in my brochure to you. Feel free to reproduce the following brochure, print it up, attach your firm’s logo, mail or e-mail the brochure to clients and potential clients, and wait for […] -
Associate Advice, Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
House Rules: How To Get an In-House Lawyer's Attention
In this week's edition of House Rules, in-house columnist David Mowry lets our readers know how to get his attention for all of the right (and all of the wrong) reasons.... -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Litigators
Inside Straight: Unbelievable! A Smart, New Idea!
In 25 years working at law firms, I never offered this to a client. In two years working in-house, no outside law firm ever before offered this to me. But I heard it moments ago, and I couldn’t believe how foolish I’ve been. I smiled, shook my head, hung up the phone, and popped open […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: A Tale of Two Pitches
Here's a lesson in business development. In-house columnist Mark Herrmann describes two law-firm pitches: a good one, and a not-so-good one. -
Boutique Law Firms, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Small Law Firms
Inside Straight: Getting Business By Inventing Business
I recently had lunch with a guy who had worked at a law firm, gone in-house, and later returned to a law firm. (It’s actually more than that. This guy’s bio is: assistant U.S. attorney; associate at K&E; partner at Bartlit Beck; deputy general counsel at Bank One; and now at his own small firm. […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Big-Firm Pitches
Over time (and it doesn’t take long), law firm pitches all begin to sound the same. “We save you money because we staff cases leanly. We send in the Navy SEALs, not the Fifth Fleet.” Do you really think the guy in here last week was saying, “We waste your money hand over foot. We […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues, Partner Profits
Inside Straight: How De-Equitizing Partners Can Undermine A Business Model
Last week’s Am Law 100 list revealed publicly a trend that partners at big law firms have been feeling acutely: The largest law firms have de-equitized partners in the last two years in an unprecedented way. In the words of one of the articles, “Equity partner head count alone slipped 0.9 percent last year, after […]