By John Morrell
I admit that it’s been a while since I went to law school. I’m pretty confident, though, when I say that none of my law courses ever covered client hand-holding and new business development. I, like everyone else, was taught the areas of critical thinking, logic, research and other disciplines important to practice law. Law school never formally taught client “care and feeding” responsibilities.
Yet, as a young attorney, with help, I quickly discovered that being a good lawyer meant more than just a keen understanding of case law, statutes and procedures. Those were all things expected of anyone licensed to practice law. Early in my career, I realized that I needed to develop my own source of clients. I observed that lawyers with productive and prosperous practices were as much strategic business advisors as they were legal counsel to their clients.
Thankfully, my law firm had some terrific senior partners that took their personal time to nurture me. We did not call it then, but it is what we refer to now as, mentoring. We now know that mentoring is a very important function, particularly in professional firms. It is through mentoring that new lawyers pick up skill building and client development awareness. My mentors were exceptional human beings. They were civic leaders and they were most gracious and generous to me with their time and experience. In those days clients were also different. Clients allowed young lawyers the opportunity to run with their matters with the oversight of partners. That is how I, and many others, learned.
Thankfully, I was given a broad opportunity to learn through experience. However, today’s highly competitive legal market, combined with increasing risk and costs to clients, doesn’t afford new lawyers the same on-the-job experience opportunities. It’s for these reasons law firms should embrace professional and business development training of their associates. Firms need to execute formal programs designed to accelerate practice building and client development responsibilities for young lawyers.
We have done so at my firm. We show our attorneys – and by extension our entire firm – how to build sustainable and recurring practices through the development of meaningful relationships with clients and prospects. Frankly, law is no different from any other professional service industry. This is done by teaching attorneys the basic tenets of providing clients with value. This includes an introduction to ancillary relationships; solution selling; serving clients’ needs from their perspective; and being accountable. Our young lawyers learn that clients need action plans where outcomes are predictable and favorable. Doing so showcases the expertise and value of our lawyers and gives our clients exposure to our firm’s first-class operation and capabilities.
There are additional benefits from this investment in younger lawyers. For starters, it affords the law firm greater productivity and revenue but also talent retention increases dramatically. It is dangerous for a firm to rely solely on its senior partners to originate or control all the firm’s clients. Arming younger lawyers with skills and opportunity to cultivate relationships broadens the firm’s entire client base and revenue production and allows the younger attorney to create some level of equity in their individual practice.
Expanding these skills also helps diversify the firm’s client base. When attorneys are trained in relationship selling, they drive more business from new sources. This avoids concentrated revenue streams. This provides lawyers and the firm greater stability and growth opportunities. These are all business attributes of increasing importance as the competition among law firms for the best talent and clients continues to rise.
No longer can law firms just expect associates to figure it out on their own. Moreover, clients will not tolerate on-the-job training. That responsibility is now shared with their employer, and it’s something we’ve taken to heart at our firm. It’s also one that, when invested properly, provides exponential benefits to the lawyers individually and collectively to the firm.
John Morrell is chairman emeritus with Higgs Fletcher & Mack.