#139: What Business Development Should Look Like for BigLaw Junior Associates

Business development in BigLaw begins much earlier than most associates thinkm but not in the way you might imagine or that your firm is suggesting. Junior lawyers are often told to focus on doing excellent work, meeting deadlines, and learning how to become strong lawyers, while client relationships and business development seem like responsibilities reserved for partners and senior associates. But long before lawyers are expected to bring in revenue, they need to learn how to build professional relationships. The partners with significant practices today did not suddenly develop networks when they became senior. Many of their most important relationships accumulated over years or decades and began when everyone involved was still relatively junior.

I explain in this episode how associates can start developing those relationships without trying to act like rainmakers before their time. BigLaw provides access to conferences, client receptions, trade association meetings, fundraisers, pro bono events, and other settings where you can meet people you would not otherwise encounter. The goal is not to collect as many business cards as possible or immediately turn every conversation into a business opportunity - no matter what your law firm may be suggesting about how you immediately start building your network. What is really important at this stage is to learn relationship skills: how to meet people, ask questions, listen carefully, and notice when you genuinely connect with someone. I also walk through what to do after that conversation, including when to connect on LinkedIn, when a brief email makes sense, how quickly to follow up, what not to send, and how remembering a personal detail can be more effective than sending another client alert. I also explain when you should keep a partner informed about a new contact and why you should not judge the value of a relationship solely by whether that person could someday become a client. These may seem intuitive or they may seem like steps you have to thoughtfully consider in a hierarchal law firm environement. You don't want to overstep but you also want to learn how to develop relationships in a natural way that doesn't make you feel like you're instantly selling (you shouldn't be) or just shaking a hand and then moving on (you don't to just be doing that either). Developing the right habits for what it means to form relationships early makes business development more natural and gives you years to become more comfortable in buidling relationships before the pressure to generate work becomes truly critical.

At a Glance

01:20 Why client relationships can feel inaccessible to junior BigLaw associates

02:19 Why "keep your head down and do good work" is incomplete career advice

02:38 Why developing business and developing relationships are different skills

03:02 How a casual conference conversation can become the beginning of a professional relationship even when an ask for work may be years away.

04:11 Why junior lawyers often hesitate to follow up after meeting someone

04:32 Why doing nothing because you are afraid of appearing presumptuous is the real mistake

04:51 Why business development begins years before anyone expects you to bring in revenue

05:23 How relationships that begin when lawyers are junior can become important decades later

05:54 Why access to conferences, receptions, and industry events is one of BigLaw's overlooked advantages for relationship potential