How Midsize Law Firms Can Compete for Bigger Clients With Smarter Business Development
Midsize law firms have a lot to offer clients. They often provide sophisticated legal counsel, direct access to experienced partners and the kind of personal attention that can be harder to maintain at larger firms.
But when it comes to business development, many midsize firms face a familiar challenge. They're competing against firms with larger marketing budgets, dedicated research teams, established client development programs and more resources to pursue new business.
That can make it difficult to identify promising prospects, maintain relationships and consistently generate new opportunities, especially when attorneys are balancing business development with demanding client work.
The good news is that midsize firms have several advantages they can build on, including strong personal relationships, deep industry knowledge and the ability to respond quickly to client needs.
With a more focused approach to business development and better access to relevant client intelligence, these firms can compete effectively for sophisticated work and build stronger pipelines without significantly increasing overhead.
Why Business Development Can Be Challenging for Midsize Firms
At many midsize law firms, business development is still largely driven by individual attorneys and their personal networks.
Partners develop relationships, attend industry events, participate in professional organizations and pursue opportunities as they arise. Marketing and business development professionals support these efforts, often while managing a wide range of other responsibilities.
This approach can generate meaningful business, but it also creates challenges.
Important client and prospect information may be spread across individual inboxes, spreadsheets, CRM systems and attorneys' personal contacts. Relationships may be concentrated with a few partners, making it difficult for the broader firm to identify opportunities. And busy attorneys may struggle to maintain consistent outreach when client demands increase.
For firms with lean business development teams, manually researching prospects, monitoring client developments and coordinating outreach can consume significant time.
These challenges become more important as firms pursue larger clients, expand into new markets or compete for work that has traditionally gone to larger firms.
The opportunity is to build a more coordinated business development approach that makes better use of existing relationships, information and resources.
Six Ways Midsize Law Firms Can Strengthen Their Business Development Efforts
1. Focus on the Clients and Industries Where the Firm Has an Advantage
One of the most important decisions a midsize law firm can make is where to concentrate its business development efforts.
Trying to pursue every potential client or industry can stretch limited resources and make it harder to develop a recognizable market position.
Start by reviewing the firm's strongest client relationships, most profitable practice areas and industries where its attorneys have meaningful experience.
Which clients have generated recurring work? Where has the firm successfully competed against larger firms? Which industries offer opportunities for additional legal services?
For example, a midsize firm with significant experience representing healthcare companies may find opportunities among growing healthcare businesses, private equity-backed companies and organizations navigating regulatory changes.
A firm with a strong commercial litigation practice may be particularly well positioned to represent middle-market companies facing complex business disputes.
Understanding these strengths can help firms develop more targeted prospect lists, relevant thought leadership and business development initiatives that align with their capabilities.
2. Make Better Use of Existing Relationships
Midsize firms often have extensive professional networks, but they may lack visibility into how those relationships connect across the organization.
An attorney in one practice group may know a general counsel at a prospective client. Another partner may have worked with that company's leadership earlier in their career. A former client contact may have moved to an organization that fits the firm's growth priorities.
These connections can create opportunities for introductions and new business conversations.
The challenge is identifying them.
Relationship mapping can help firms understand who knows whom, where relationships are strongest and which attorneys may be best positioned to initiate outreach.
It can also support collaboration across practice groups by helping attorneys identify opportunities to introduce colleagues with relevant experience.
For midsize firms, making better use of existing relationships can be one of the most efficient ways to strengthen business development efforts.
3. Identify Opportunities Through Client and Prospect Developments
Business development opportunities often emerge when something changes within a company.
A business announces an acquisition, enters a new market, hires a general counsel or raises capital. A private equity firm acquires a portfolio company. A corporate executive moves into a leadership position at another organization.
These developments can create legal needs and provide attorneys with relevant reasons to reconnect.
For example, a company expanding into a new state may need employment, regulatory or real estate advice. A private equity-backed business pursuing acquisitions may require transactional counsel or assistance with post-acquisition integration.
The difficulty for many midsize firms is monitoring these developments consistently.
Attorneys may follow a handful of important clients, while business development teams conduct research when preparing for meetings or pitches. But without a coordinated process, relevant developments can be missed.
Access to timely information about clients and prospects can help firms recognize opportunities earlier and connect those developments with their attorneys' experience.
4. Turn Individual Relationships Into Firmwide Opportunities
At many midsize firms, client relationships are closely tied to individual partners.
These relationships are valuable, but they can also limit the firm's ability to identify additional opportunities when information isn't shared across practice groups.
A corporate attorney may have a longstanding relationship with a client that also has employment, litigation or intellectual property needs. Another partner may have experience that would be valuable to the same organization.
Creating opportunities for attorneys to share relevant client information can help expand these relationships.
Regular client team discussions, coordinated relationship reviews and better visibility into client activities can help identify where additional services may be useful.
This approach also helps firms develop broader relationships with client organizations.
When multiple attorneys understand a client's business and maintain relationships with different decision makers, the firm may be better positioned to support evolving legal needs.
5. Make Business Development Easier for Busy Attorneys
One of the biggest obstacles to consistent business development is time.
Attorneys understand the importance of developing relationships, but client matters, deadlines and internal responsibilities often take priority.
For midsize firms with limited business development resources, finding ways to make outreach more manageable can have a meaningful impact.
Business development professionals can help by providing attorneys with targeted information about clients and prospects, identifying relevant developments and preparing background materials for meetings.
For example, an attorney may receive an update that a former client contact has joined a new company, along with information about the organization's business and potential legal needs.
That information gives the attorney a timely reason to reconnect without requiring extensive independent research.
Similarly, a partner preparing for a meeting with a prospective client may benefit from a concise briefing that identifies recent company developments, relevant relationships and areas where the firm's experience aligns with the company's business.
The easier it is for attorneys to identify meaningful opportunities, the more likely they are to make business development part of their regular activities.
6. Build a More Consistent Pipeline With Limited Resources
Many midsize firms have a strong network of clients and contacts but lack a consistent process for tracking potential opportunities.
Prospective clients may be discussed during partner meetings, conference follow-up may happen inconsistently and valuable introductions may never develop into additional conversations.
A more structured approach can help firms maintain momentum.
Start by identifying a manageable number of priority prospects that align with the firm's strengths.
Assign responsibility for developing each relationship, identify relevant connections and establish appropriate follow-up activities.
Business development teams can help monitor progress, share useful intelligence and keep opportunities visible.
It's also important to evaluate which activities are producing results.
Which industries are generating the most interest? Which relationships are leading to introductions? What types of outreach result in meetings or new matters?
Tracking these developments can help firms make better decisions about how to allocate their limited business development resources.
How Technology Can Help Midsize Firms Compete More Effectively
Technology is becoming increasingly important in law firm business development, particularly for firms that want to grow without significantly expanding their internal teams.
Midsize firms often have access to valuable client and prospect information, but that information may be scattered across different systems or held by individual attorneys.
Bringing relevant information together can help firms develop a more complete picture of their relationships and opportunities.
For example, a business development professional researching a prospective client may benefit from knowing which attorneys have existing connections to the organization, whether its leadership has recently changed and what business developments may create legal needs.
Having access to this information can reduce the time spent on manual research and help attorneys make more informed decisions about outreach.
It can also support greater coordination across practice groups, offices and client teams.
For midsize firms, the value of technology often comes down to making existing resources more effective.
How Gatsby Supports Midsize Law Firm Growth
Gatsby helps law firms make better use of client and relationship intelligence to identify opportunities and support business development.
Gatsby Intel helps firms gain greater visibility into client and contact relationships, making it easier to identify potential connections and business development opportunities.
Gatsby Aware helps firms stay informed about developments involving clients and prospects, providing relevant information that can support timely outreach.
Together, these capabilities can help midsize firms take a more coordinated approach to business development without requiring extensive manual research.
For attorneys, access to relevant intelligence can make it easier to identify prospects, prepare for conversations and maintain relationships.
For business development professionals, it can help prioritize opportunities, support targeted outreach and make more efficient use of limited resources.
And for firm leadership, better visibility into relationships and opportunities can support more informed decisions about growth priorities.
Building a Stronger Competitive Position
Midsize law firms have meaningful opportunities to compete for sophisticated clients and grow their practices.
Their close client relationships, experienced attorneys and industry knowledge can be important differentiators, particularly when combined with a focused business development strategy.
By identifying the right prospects, making better use of existing relationships, staying informed about relevant developments and maintaining consistent outreach, midsize firms can create more opportunities for new business.
Technology can help make these efforts more manageable by providing attorneys and business development teams with the information they need to recognize opportunities and act on them.
As competition for legal work continues, firms that combine strong relationships with better business development intelligence will be well positioned to pursue new clients, expand existing relationships and support sustainable growth.
Learn how Gatsby can help your midsize law firm identify opportunities, strengthen relationships and build a more effective business development pipeline.