What do clients look for when choosing a law firm? Well, clients won’t necessarily care about all the things that matter to the firm’s employees. For example, a client probably won’t choose a firm because of its approach to training junior lawyers, as long as the firm’s output is up to scratch. A client may care little about the firm’s internal culture, provided that the firm’s lawyers treat that client’s representatives with courtesy and respect. Some clients might also not really care about the firm’s specific corporate social responsibility initiatives, as long as the firm doesn’t have a poor reputation. And so on.

Instead, you need to think about the characteristics that will convince a prospective client that a firm is well positioned to meet its legal needs, that the two organisations could work together effectively, and that the client will receive value for money. Such characteristics might relate to, for example, a firm’s capabilities, reputation, relevant prior experience, fee structures and value-added services, approach to building and maintaining client relationships, and values.

When working on the following insights, I drew on my extensive experience advising law firms on their business development strategies and pitches, whilst also seeking guidance and feedback from a number of partners (and ex-partners) from leading law firms who have often worked on client pitches in practice. 

On that note, I would like to sincerely thank the following legends for their incredibly helpful advice and reflections:

• Ben Staveley (ex-partner at Freshfields): check out his brilliant book designed to help lawyers improve their professional writing and drafting.
• Laura Brunnen (ex-partner at Fried Frank, Reed Smith and KWM): check out Laura's fantastic community for women in M&A.
• Alex McPherson (Ignition Law founder and partner): check out Ignition Law for more information on the great work carried out by the firm for the start-up and scale-up community.
• Christopher Stoakes (ex-Head of Knowledge and Learning at Hogan Lovells): check out his fantastic books focused on commercial awareness and legal careers.

Note that we cover how law firms maintain a competitive advantage in a video series that forms part of our The business of law firms course.