How Midsize Law Firms Can Build a More Effective Business Development Program With a Lean Team
Midsize law firms often reach a point where their business development needs become more complex than their existing resources can comfortably support. The firm may have expanded into new offices, added practices, recruited lateral partners or established relationships with larger institutional clients. At the same time, its marketing and business development department may consist of a relatively small group of professionals responsible for supporting dozens or hundreds of lawyers.
These firms need to balance a wide range of priorities, including pitches, client development, events, sponsorships, content marketing, lateral integration and prospect research. Partners may have ambitious growth goals, but the time and resources available to support those goals are limited. As a result, business development teams need to make decisions about which initiatives warrant attention, which lawyers need support and where the firm has the greatest opportunities to generate new work.
Building an effective business development program in this environment requires clear priorities, consistent processes and a practical approach to using the firm's existing relationships and resources. Technology, including AI-powered company research and business intelligence, can help make these efforts more manageable.
Here are eight ways midsize law firms can develop a more coordinated business development program while making effective use of a lean team.
1. Establish Clear Business Development Priorities
A midsize law firm's business development department may receive requests from partners across multiple practices and offices, each with different objectives. One practice wants to sponsor an industry conference, another wants to pursue a new market and several individual lawyers need assistance preparing pitches or developing client relationships.
Without clear priorities, the team can spend much of its time responding to requests without making sufficient progress on the firm's broader growth objectives.
A useful starting point is identifying the practices, industries, geographic markets and client relationships that represent the firm's most important opportunities. This requires conversations with firm leadership, practice group leaders and individual partners about where they want to grow and which clients or prospects are most relevant to those plans.
For example, a 150-lawyer firm with corporate, employment, litigation and healthcare practices might identify healthcare services companies and privately held businesses as priority growth areas. The business development team can then coordinate research, content, events and outreach around those audiences.
This approach also makes it easier to evaluate new requests. A proposed sponsorship or marketing initiative can be assessed based on whether it supports an established priority, reaches the right audience and offers realistic opportunities for relationship development.
2. Develop Focused Prospect Lists for Priority Practices
Once the firm has identified its growth priorities, the next step is determining which companies and organizations it wants to pursue. A broad list of potential clients can be useful for market research, but individual lawyers need a manageable number of prospects they can realistically develop relationships with.
Business development professionals can work with practice leaders to identify companies based on industry, size, geography, ownership, recent transactions and other characteristics relevant to the firm's experience.
For example, a midsize firm interested in growing its healthcare practice might focus on independently owned healthcare services companies expanding throughout the Northeast. The team could research physician practice groups, outpatient care providers, behavioral health organizations and other businesses that fit the firm's target profile.
Gatsby Intel can support this process by providing company research that helps the team understand prospective clients, their leadership and relevant business developments.
Once the initial list has been developed, the team can narrow it based on existing relationships, potential legal needs and the likelihood of securing an introduction. Each priority prospect can then be assigned to a lawyer or small group of lawyers responsible for developing the relationship.
3. Make Better Use of Existing Client Relationships
For many midsize firms, opportunities for growth may already exist within their current client base. A client that works primarily with the corporate group may also have employment, litigation, regulatory or intellectual property needs that other lawyers at the firm could address.
The challenge is understanding the client's broader business and coordinating conversations among the lawyers who serve the account.
A practical client development program can begin with a small number of important institutional clients. The business development team can work with relationship partners to review the services currently provided, identify other decision makers within the organization and discuss the client's business priorities.
Company research can help inform these conversations. If a client is making acquisitions, expanding into new markets or adding senior executives, those developments may create opportunities for additional legal services.
The team can also establish regular client planning meetings involving lawyers from relevant practices. These meetings can focus on recent developments, relationship coverage, potential introductions and specific follow-up activities.
For a lean business development department, concentrating on a manageable group of important clients can make the program easier to coordinate and evaluate.
4. Give Lawyers More Consistent Business Development Support
Midsize firms may have partners who receive substantial business development assistance while other lawyers receive support primarily when they request it. This can make it difficult to develop a consistent approach to prospecting, meeting preparation and relationship management across the firm.
Creating a few repeatable services can help the business development team support more lawyers without treating every assignment as an entirely new project.
For example, the department could establish standard processes for preparing prospect research briefings, reviewing client developments, supporting conference attendance and developing individual business development plans.
A lawyer preparing for an important prospect meeting could receive a concise company profile that includes recent business activity, executive information, existing firm relationships and suggested discussion topics.
Gatsby Intel can help streamline the external research involved in these briefings, allowing business development professionals to focus on evaluating the information and working with lawyers on the appropriate strategy.
This approach can be especially helpful for partners who are actively developing business but do not have dedicated business development support.
5. Coordinate Business Development Across Offices and Practices
As midsize firms expand, their lawyers may develop relationships with the same organizations without realizing that colleagues in other offices or practices have relevant connections.
A corporate partner in New York may be pursuing a company whose general counsel previously worked with a litigation partner in Boston. An employment lawyer may have a relationship with an executive at a business that the healthcare practice has identified as a priority prospect.
These connections can support introductions, coordinated outreach and opportunities to expand existing relationships, but firms need a process for identifying and sharing the information.
Business development professionals can help by reviewing priority prospect lists across practices, consulting the firm's CRM and relationship records and speaking with lawyers about relevant contacts.
The team can also organize periodic meetings among practices serving similar industries or client groups. These conversations can help lawyers share information about market developments, client needs and potential opportunities for collaboration.
For midsize firms with relatively lean teams, creating stronger connections among lawyers can help the firm make better use of relationships it has already developed.
6. Make Events and Sponsorships Part of a Larger Business Development Plan
Conferences, client events and sponsorships can represent a substantial portion of a midsize firm's marketing budget. The business development value of these activities depends on how closely they align with the firm's priorities and what lawyers do before and after participating.
Before committing to an event, the team can evaluate the audience, identify existing clients and priority prospects who may attend and determine which lawyers have relevant relationships.
If the firm is sponsoring a healthcare industry conference, for example, the business development team can research participating companies, identify executives the lawyers want to meet and coordinate outreach before the event.
Gatsby Intel can support research into priority attendees and their organizations, helping lawyers prepare for more informed conversations.
Following the event, the team can help lawyers develop personalized follow-up plans, arrange additional meetings and identify opportunities to continue the relationships.
Firms can also create their own smaller programs designed around specific client groups or industries. A private dinner for healthcare executives, a roundtable for general counsel or a discussion involving private equity sponsors and portfolio company leaders may provide opportunities for more focused relationship development.
These activities can be particularly valuable when they bring together people who share business interests and give the firm's lawyers opportunities to develop relationships over time.
7. Use Business Intelligence to Identify Timely Opportunities
A business development plan provides direction, but firms also need to respond to developments affecting their clients and prospects.
Companies may announce acquisitions, leadership changes, financing transactions, geographic expansion or other activities that create opportunities for relevant legal advice.
For a lean business development team, monitoring these developments across numerous clients and prospects can require substantial time.
Gatsby Aware can help firms stay informed about developments involving priority accounts, while Gatsby Intel can provide additional research when a particular company or opportunity warrants closer attention.
For example, if a priority prospect announces plans to acquire several businesses, the business development team can research the company, review existing firm relationships and identify lawyers with relevant transactional or industry experience.
The team can then coordinate with the appropriate partner to determine whether there is a reason to reach out, arrange an introduction or share useful information.
Establishing a regular process for reviewing relevant developments can help firms respond more consistently without requiring business development professionals to conduct extensive manual research every day.
8. Measure Activities That Support Relationships and New Business
Midsize law firms need a practical way to evaluate whether their business development efforts are producing results. This can be challenging when activities involve relationship building that may take months or years to generate new matters.
Rather than measuring success primarily through the number of events held, articles published or pitches completed, firms can also examine the business development activity that follows.
Useful measures include:
- Meetings with priority clients and prospects
- New introductions to relevant decision makers
- Opportunities identified within existing client relationships
- Cross-practice referrals and introductions
- New matters originating from targeted business development efforts
- Progress with priority prospect accounts
- Follow-up activity after conferences and events
- Time saved on research and meeting preparation
The business development team can review these measures with practice leaders periodically to understand which initiatives are producing useful conversations and where additional attention may be needed.
For example, a firm may discover that small industry roundtables are generating more substantive follow-up meetings than larger sponsorships. That information can help leadership make more informed decisions about future investments.
The purpose of measurement is to understand which activities are helping the firm build relationships, develop opportunities and make progress toward its growth objectives.
How Gatsby Can Support a Lean Business Development Team
Gatsby helps law firms gather and use company intelligence to support prospecting, client development and other business development activities.
Gatsby Intel provides on-demand research into companies and individuals, helping lawyers and business development professionals prepare for meetings, understand prospective clients and evaluate potential opportunities.
Gatsby Aware supports ongoing monitoring of priority accounts, helping firms stay informed about developments affecting clients and prospects without requiring extensive manual research.
For midsize firms, these capabilities can support several aspects of a coordinated business development program, including developing prospect lists, preparing client briefings, identifying relevant company developments and supporting more personalized outreach.
The information can be combined with the firm's existing relationship knowledge, CRM records and matter experience to help business development professionals determine which opportunities warrant attention and which lawyers are best positioned to pursue them.
A 90-Day Plan for Building a More Focused Business Development Program
Midsize firms can begin improving their business development processes without introducing a large number of new initiatives at once. A 90-day plan can help establish priorities, test a more coordinated approach and evaluate what is working.
Days 1–30: Establish Priorities and Identify Opportunities
Meet with firm leadership and selected practice group leaders to identify two or three priority growth areas. Develop a focused list of existing clients and prospective clients associated with those priorities, review relevant relationships and identify lawyers responsible for each account.
Use Gatsby Intel to support company research and establish ongoing monitoring for selected accounts through Gatsby Aware.
Days 31–60: Coordinate Outreach and Client Development
Work with participating lawyers to develop specific business development activities for their priority accounts. These may include client meetings, prospect introductions, relevant content, conference outreach or small client events.
Prepare research briefings, coordinate introductions and establish a process for recording activities and follow-up responsibilities.
Days 61–90: Review Progress and Refine the Program
Meet with participating lawyers to review progress, including meetings held, introductions made, opportunities identified and follow-up activities completed.
Evaluate whether the research and monitoring processes are helping the team support lawyers more efficiently. Identify which activities are generating useful conversations and determine whether the program can be expanded to additional practices or client groups.
Building a Business Development Program That Can Grow With the Firm
As midsize law firms expand their practices, offices and client relationships, their business development programs need to become more coordinated. Establishing clear priorities, creating repeatable processes and making better use of company intelligence can help relatively lean teams provide consistent support while focusing their time on the firm's most important growth opportunities.
By combining targeted prospecting, client development, relationship coordination and timely business intelligence, midsize firms can develop programs that support their lawyers' business development efforts and evolve as the organization grows.
About Gatsby
Gatsby helps law firms turn company intelligence into business development opportunities. Through on-demand research and ongoing account monitoring, Gatsby gives lawyers and business development teams information they can use to understand clients and prospects, prepare for important conversations and identify opportunities for growth.
Learn more at https://trygatsby.ai.