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Swimming Lessons For Baby Sharks: Practical Advice For New Lawyers

Unless you have a relative who is general counsel of a major enterprise and the nepotistic stars have aligned for you, building your own client base can take sustained effort – and patience.

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Q: I am a junior associate at a large firm. I think I need to focus on developing business, but I don’t know where to start. Any suggestions?

A: Yes. Unless you have a relative who is general counsel of a major enterprise and the nepotistic stars have aligned for you, building your own client base can take sustained effort – and patience.

But developing business has become more critical for new lawyers in recent years. And despite the challenges of cultivating clients, there are many benefits. Having your own clients increases your value to the firm and your job security. And at some point, you have to build business to advance in your career.

The process of developing business can help you create the kind of practice that works best for you. You can focus your efforts on clients you would enjoy working with and doing the kind of work you prefer.

But where to start? Here are some tips help you develop business while staying on top of your other work:

  1. Clarify the firm’s expectations. A firm’s business development goals and expectations for junior associates can be nebulous. Clarify what the firm expects at your level and in your area of practice. Start by reflecting on why you decided you should develop business. Senior lawyers and professional development professionals can also help demystify expectations. Work with them to develop an action plan. If business development plays a role in your evaluation, discuss goals and specific actions as part of your next review. Other associates’ networking activities may also give you a sense of the norm.

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  1. Define your goals. Deciding where to start can be easier if you know where you want to end up. Identify some modest goals and think about the best ways to achieve those goals.
  2. Manage your own expectations. Making connections is a process of building trust. It takes time. Manage your expectations, and don’t set yourself up for disappointment by setting unrealistic goals. Over the long-term, results matter. When you are getting started, just make regular progress to expand your network.
  3. Develop your expertise. Developing your substantive legal expertise is a critical prerequisite to developing business. Legal expertise enables you to provide value to clients. As a new associate, expanding your legal knowledge is a key business development activity. It is hard to convince potential clients that you can solve problems you don’t understand.
  4. Learn about your clients. Learning about your clients and their industries also helps you provide more value. Many firms recommend that new associates read key industry publications. You can also set up Google or other news alerts about your clients. If you understand a client’s business, the client is more likely to give you new business. The client is also more likely to refer others.
  5. Provide excellent client service. People who have worked with you are likely to be your best sources for referrals – if they have had a good experience. Acknowledging messages immediately and keeping clients informed generates goodwill. Try to under-promise and over-deliver. Make sure you understand the client’s definition of value and a positive outcome. And if the benefit of your work is not obvious to the client, be sure to explain how you helped.
  1. Raise your visibility. As you gain expertise, raise your visibility by giving presentations and contributing to your firm’s blogs. You can expand the reach of your blog posts through your own social media accounts. Just remember to follow firm social media policies.
  2. Ask about training. Ask the firm if there are resources or courses you should consider to enhance your business development skills. The firm may suggest training or may decide that other activities are more appropriate at your level. Regardless of the answer, the firm will appreciate the question.
  3. Be mindful of internal clients. At the outset of your career at a large firm, the senior lawyers are your primary clients. Your business development activities cannot give senior lawyers the impression that you are trying to poach their clients. Nothing good can come of that.
  4. Make business development a habit. Try to set aside a specific time each day for business development. Commit to using that time only for business development. Even if you send just one business development email a day, by the end of the year, you have sent hundreds. Making business development a habit makes it easier. Technology can also help. For example, LinkedIn allows you to set periodic reminders to stay in touch with your connections.
  5.  Shift your mindset. Business development can seem awkward. Shifting your mindset can make easier. If you are asking someone to buy your services, you may recoil at the notion of bragging about yourself and imposing yourself on others. Instead, take the approach of being eager to learn about the other person’s challenges andeager to help solve those challenges. That should feel more comfortable – and be more fruitful.

Good luck!

Grover E. Cleveland is a Seattle lawyer, speaker and author of Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks: The Essential Guide to Thriving as a New Lawyer (West 2010). Grover specializes in programs to help millennial lawyers successfully transition from law school to practice, helping them provide more value and avoid common mistakes. He is a former partner at Foster Pepper PLLC, one of the Northwest’s larger firms. His clients included the Seattle Seahawks and other entities owned by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. Grover is a frequent presenter on lawyer career success for millennial lawyers at leading law firms and schools nationwide. Some of the questions in this column come from those programs. Readers may submit questions here or follow him on Twitter @Babysharklaw. He is not related to the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.

A second edition of Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks will be published this fall. Submit anecdotes to be considered for inclusion here.

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