The Importance of Being a Great Lawyer and a Great Networker
By Teresa Warren
When it comes to lawyers, the old saying “it’s not what you know but rather who you know” can be double edged. You won’t get far in the legal profession if you are not well educated and skilled at your craft. However, if you don’t know people, building your practice will be difficult.
Being a great lawyer should always be your goal, but with the legal industry being relationship driven, building and maintaining good relationships should be at the heart of your marketing efforts. Since the 1980s when law firm marketing surveys began, referrals from clients and contacts remain one of the top ways lawyers get new business. Writing articles, giving presentations, tweeting and other marketing tactics help to reinforce your visibility and an understanding of what you do. However, the foundation of your business development efforts should be your network and the high-quality work you provide.
Networking takes time, and with only 24 hours in a day, how do San Diego lawyers find ways to network on a regular basis?
Randy Kay, a partner with Jones Day, starts his day with networking. “I go to a Starbucks in Carmel Valley between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. You are guaranteed to see clients, prospects, other lawyers, colleagues and even judges,” says Kay, an IP litigator. “A stop at Starbucks is a quick way to run into a lot of people in your network. If you have the time, sit down with your morning coffee, and then you will reconnect with even more people before heading to work. Conversations at Starbucks lead to receiving calls from clients with new projects and matters.”
Before there was email and social media, lawyers built their practices primarily by engaging with people, and this “old fashioned” approach is still the best way to get business in the 21st century.
Suzanne Varco, founder of the Environmental Law Group, agrees that one-on-one is the best way to network. “Get out of your office and build relationships face-to-face,” says Varco. “Referrals come from those who trust you, and if you don’t build a solid base on which someone can place their trust, you will not get those referrals.”
In-person networking is what Lisa Martens, a partner at Sheppard Mullin, also prefers.
“While emails and phone calls are a great way to stay in touch (and stay ‘top of mind’) in between meetings, there is no substitute for the connection you make when you spend an hour or two with someone learning more about them personally, as well as their business needs. Everyone needs to eat, so I like to arrange lunches, happy hours or dinners whenever schedules permit, but even a quick meeting over coffee allows me to build stronger relationships.”
One of biggest marketing mistakes lawyers can make is to meet people, but not take the time to get to know people, or grow the relationships and ultimately gain their trust so they will give you work. Meeting someone once at an event probably isn’t enough to see business come through the door. You must invest the time to build relationships with your network to see successful results.
Ashely Gosal, in-house legal counsel at Bosa Development, says, “Don’t just network to meet people – network to learn from those people.”
Knowing what the individuals in your network need, what skills they possess and how you can help them is vital. Helping someone in your network not only makes you a better person but also is a great way to get help — aka referrals – to come back to you.
Gosal’s advice about learning from your network goes beyond a business development perspective. Networking can help expand your legal expertise and your knowledge base overall. “You can always learn something from someone — so by networking and meeting more people, you expand your potential to learn,” she states.
Will every person in your network become a client? No. However, as Varco points out, “I’ve built many relationships through networking that have never provided a direct business contact. However, so many cases come to me indirectly from someone who asked someone else who knew me. So, I credit almost all of my business to the building of strong relationships in the community through networking. Those planted seeds have bloomed far and wide.”
Networking, as beneficial as it is, is not a replacement for quality legal work, but the two go well hand-in-hand. Marketing and business development efforts can never replace sound legal skills, but they are ways to stay in touch with your network and will help a broader base of individuals discover just how awesome you are.
For young lawyers, it is never too early in your career to start building a network. Stay in touch with law school friends and professors. Find community events that interest you and are attracting your contemporaries so you can meet others who are also growing their careers. Find ways to follow up and keep in contact. Go to Starbucks!
“The legal community is much smaller than you think, and referrals can come from a wide range of sources,” says Martens. “Over the years, I’ve found that doing excellent work for existing clients, while also staying in touch with former clients and colleagues, other outside counsel and even opposing counsel, has led to many unexpected referrals to new clients.”
As Martens notes, finding the balance between doing exceptional legal work and building your network is key. A strong network, built on the foundation of strong skills, is what you should strive to create and maintain.
As Gosal states, “As much as ‘who you know’ is important, ‘what you know’ will ultimately be your most valuable asset — and one that no one can ever take away from you.”
Teresa Warren is founder and president of TW2 Marketing.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 issue of San Diego Lawyer.