Business development: what’s all the fuss about?

Reading time: five minutes

As a lawyer, you must implement business development (BD) strategies.

BD is as much a part of modern lawyering as drafting contracts and coordinating conference calls.

With tech-savvy clients demanding more legal services for their money, competition for work is on the rise. Having said that, BD requires an entirely different set of skills to fee-earning work and lots of practice.

Business development in a nutshell

Simply put, BD is the “creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets and relationships”.

In the context of a law firm, it usually takes the form of creating and maintaining client relationships (ie, finding new clients and holding on to existing ones). This is achieved through building networks (eg, during networking events or on LinkedIn) and contacts  and trying to ensure that when someone needs legal advice, it’s your firm that they think of first.

There are two central aspects of commercial awareness, these are:

• being aware of your client’s business needs and advising accordingly; and
• recognising that the law firm is itself a business, which has its own specific commercial drivers and motivations.

What does business development involve?

In terms of practical application, BD may involve pitching to potential clients for a particular piece of work. While this is likely to be spearheaded by a firm’s partners and associates, trainees will be involved with preparing and researching the pitch and may be encouraged to attend.

BD also covers the need to capitalise on inter-office relations, such as meeting with and getting to know your colleagues, so that if a client comes to them with a legal issue that is beyond their remit, they will refer them on to you.

In fact, cross-selling within a firm is one of the best ways to build a business and to ensure you become the go-to trusted adviser for all a client’s legal needs.

Most firms that we speak to get their trainees involved in BD from the get-go, encouraging them to attend and even host client events, as well as take part in the numerous junior professional networking events that are held regularly around the country.

Writing articles, presenting papers or speeches, or even managing the firm’s social media presence is another great way to get involved with BD at the junior level.

Business development: straight from the horse’s mouth

Here are just a few extracts from our Meet the Lawyer section, with views from a range of lawyers at different types of firms and at different stages of their careers who talk about their involvement with BD and why it’s important:

• Gary Elliot, partner and training principal, Addleshaw Goddard: I believe [BD is] an essential part of every lawyer's role, some will naturally be better at it than others, but everyone has a responsibility to develop business and promote the firm.”
• Shanice McAnuff, associate, Ashurst LLP: “I have worked on client pitches since I was a trainee and now that I am an associate, I arrange meetings with technology businesses I know to see what Ashurst can do for them. Even at a junior level, I’m involved in engaging with potential clients and finding out how we can help them with their digital strategies.”
• Yassin Salla, associate, Clifford Chance: “I have been involved in drafting a key piece called Guide to Financial Regulation in Africa. It’s about exactly what the title suggests, with a focus on the largest GDP African countries. I worked on it for several months, so having it all come together, going to print, receiving my copy, distributing it to clients and having it be well received has been an incredibly rewarding experience. Outside of that, I sit on the REACH (Race Equality and Celebrating Heritage) network, which is the firm’s network for advancing race, equality and the celebration of different heritages.”
• John W Rife III, partner, Debevoise Plimpton LLP: “[BD is] an incredibly important part of my job and also the wider private equity industry. It is made easier by the fact that I am working with people who also appreciate the importance of both personal and institutional relationships.”
• Lucia Bizikova, associate, DLA Piper LLP: “[BD] is one of the aspects of life as a lawyer that trainees often forget about. There are lots of business development opportunities at DLA Piper, and many of them are run by some of our networking groups. This includes the Leadership Alliance for Women, the Mosaic network which focuses on diversity and inclusion, or Iris, which is the firm’s LGBTQ+ network. Pro bono is also a very important part of what we do and how we develop our practice.”

Early awareness of this crucial part of running a successful law firm will help you to stand out from the crowds of other would-be trainees who are not as commercially aware.

You may not know it, but you are probably already building relationships that may be professionally useful in later life. The other students that you’re at university with, your tutors and lecturers, your family and friends – these connections are all a rich source of future referrals.

As with most things networking-related, the earlier you start and the more of it you do, the easier it becomes. Attending law fairs, firm presentations and open evenings, and chatting to firm reps, is all part of the process and an essential way to develop key soft skills.

Undoubtedly, BD will form an important part of your legal career – start working out now how to engage with it effectively!

If you’re interested in finding out more on BD:

• read this LCN Says: ‘Why being interested in business development is vital for every candidate’; and
• check out this opportunity – Law Business Research is currently recruiting for a Business development associate via LCN Law Jobs.

Christianah Babajide (she/her) is the content coordinator at LawCareers.Net.