Small Law Firms

Tips For Getting Paying Clients From Speaking Engagements

Here are some tips and tricks that may increase the likelihood of your getting a client from a speaking engagement.

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Gary J. Ross

Gary J. Ross

One thing I didn’t like about Biglaw, as an associate at least, was the limited opportunities it afforded to speak and write. They always just wanted me to bill. Anything anyone might have told me about the firm being in favor of speaking opportunities for associates quickly became irrelevant, kind of like when someone includes a running picture on Tinder and then says, “Yeah, that was a few years ago.” Sometimes at in-house CLEs, I would even get pulled out of the audience. I’d be in a room full of people, and a partner would come in and get me. It was like getting called into the principal’s office. Bill, bill, bill. Do everything else on your own time, which in Biglaw means no time.

Of course, once you make the leap to SmallLaw, you can do whatever you want to do. You can spend all day playing video games if you can figure out how to make ends meet doing it. Or texting. And you can definitely speak at events, at least once you get the ball rolling. One speaking opportunity leads to another, and then pretty soon organizations you’ve never heard of are calling you, asking you to speak at their events.

Though I’m not particularly good at it, I do try to regularly speak at events. It helps to be reminded of what people are actually interested in, and I usually find out during the Q&A what areas I need to brush up on. (I’ll stammer through an answer, and then look it up immediately afterwards.) It’s also not a small thing to be able to list regular speaking engagements on your website bio.

Individually, most speaking opportunities will not directly lead to paying clients, but there are some considerations you can keep in mind to increase the likelihood of a getting a client from a speaking engagement. Here are just five:

  • The audience. I get most of my referrals from other attorneys, but since a lot of my firm’s work centers on venture capital and startups, obviously if I had the chance to talk to a roomful of general counsels at venture capital firms, it would be tremendous. (Assuming I do okay, of course.) This is why a lot of conferences will charge for speaking opportunities. There are plenty of free speaking opportunities, for CLEs (in fact, many CLE providers will pay you) and at public libraries. But the odds of heavy hitters attending those events are slim. The best conferences and seminars know what they have, and won’t give it away for free unless you’re a big draw. (For some reason, I’m not considered a big draw.) It is worth seriously considering paying to speak in front of an audience that is mostly made up of your target clients, as opposed to speaking at a CLE or another venue and hoping there are one or two people listening that you would be interested in having as a client.
  • Mention clients frequently. When you’re speaking about things that are allowed under the law or that are affected by recent changes to the law, drop in references to clients. “One thing that we’ve done is use this securities registration exemption alongside this other exemption, and it’s really worked out well for people.” Something like that, so you don’t come across as an academic who never actually does the stuff. Prospective clients want to hear you’ve done this before.
  • Tell war stories. Not the entire time. But if you drop in a long-ish story or two about your practice, if will emphasize to the audience that you’re not a spring chicken and that you do in fact do this for a living. This would be something separate from the above. It can even be a story about something bad that happened to a client of yours, because then people will know you’ve already learned your lessons on someone else’s dime. No one wants to pay to be the guinea pig. Though if you have any stories about your clients getting killed or publicly shamed because of something you did, keep those to yourself (or the local watering hole).
  • Mention your starving children. Remember Subliminal Man from Saturday Night Live? Just whisper “kids gotta eat” a few times.
  • Leave time for Q&A. In any type of law, much of your representation, at least that the client will experience, is your answering their questions. This is better illustrated by — wait for it — your answering questions, rather than going through a PowerPoint or giving a speech. If you can artfully answer questions from the audience, it will leave an impression. In my experience, the people who ask questions during the Q&A are the ones who end up becoming clients, so you really have to make sure to leave time for questions. Admittedly, this is difficult to do if you’re a panelist and at the mercy of the moderator. But if it’s a “fireside chat” event, you can tactfully say, “Can we take a few questions from the audience?” if you start to sense the time is running short.

You can never be certain of what will leave a positive impression with people. You could get up in front of the audience and start stammering and stuttering and some person in the back may think to herself, “Finally! A lawyer who isn’t arrogant. I gotta get that guy’s number.”

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Good luck.

Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and securities matters for startups, large and small businesses, private equity funds, and investors in each, and also has a number of non-profit clients. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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