What is business development?

Business development essentially refers to time spent carrying out activities that are designed to strengthen relationships with existing clients and potential clients in order to win new instructions from current clients and attract new clients to the firm.

Business development is an essential marketing tool for firms, and now more so than ever. The legal market is incredibly saturated, and clients are showing less loyalty to firms than they did decades ago. This is in part because of increasing pressure from stakeholders to reduce legal spend, and the plethora of alternative options that now exist when it comes to accessing legal services (increased competition among suppliers usually results in more buyer power). 

Note that larger clients tend to have a “panel” of law firms which they rely upon to collectively carry out their legal matters. Although some of these firms might specialise in different areas, the panel approach means law firms might need to compete for work even from existing clients. Firms must therefore clearly demonstrate how they can add more value than their competitors, which is where business development comes in.

Law firm business development activities 

The importance of business development is reflected in the fact that some firms require their lawyers to contribute a certain minimum number of business development hours throughout the year in order to qualify for a bonus, whilst others allocate business development budgets to junior lawyers to encourage them to start building relationships with lower-level employees of prospective and actual client businesses. With this in mind, below are examples of the types of business development activities that are often carried out by law firms.

Client training and updates

Firms may deliver client training sessions and publish legal and market updates and newsletters for the benefit of clients’ employees, usually for free. Bringing relevant news and legal developments to the attention of clients in this way can demonstrate that you care about them, and that you try to add value even when you’re not being paid.

Networking and building relationships

This can involve hosting social events such as dinners, drinks, sporting events and trips in order to strengthen relationships with clients’ (and prospective clients’) legal teams, and to gain an insight into their business’ needs, concerns and current/planned activities. Note that some firms produce materials to get partners up to speed before a client meeting or event, for example a hand-out summarising developments relating to the client and its industry.

Client research and pitching

This can involve trying to spot new opportunities to win work, then communicating the firm’s offering to existing and potential clients who need legal advice. In practice, this may mean creating client-facing brochures and online publications that showcase the firm’s expertise, experience and capabilities, whilst also highlighting relevant deals, successes, awards, rankings, testimonials and high-profile team members. It can also involve researching into prospective clients before a pitch, and compiling and creating materials to assist with face-to-face (or Zoom-to-Zoom) client pitches, such as hand-outs, PowerPoint slides, videos and so on. Note that some firms also create resources to help senior lawyers get up to speed with a prospective client’s industry and business before a pitch (this is something I’ve personally done in the past), as clients will likely expect the lawyers pitching to them to have a solid understanding of this stuff.

Raising the firm’s profile

To raise its profile, a firm might engage in a range of initiatives designed to increase its general brand awareness and the public perception of its expertise in the market. This can include, for example, writing award submissions, speaking at conferences, and working on press releases. It can also involve helping to research, write and publish publicly-available thought leadership articles on topical issues and developments – for example industry trends, market drivers and legal updates – to reinforce the firm’s expertise in certain areas to current and prospective clients.

Trainee contributions

Trainees might be able to get involved in a broad range of these activities, for example creating pitch documents, writing blogs, journal articles and industry updates, producing client training materials, drafting deal and case summaries, and maintaining records about key client contacts and developments. Trainees might even be invited to attend client networking events.