The New Lateral Partner Has Arrived. Now What? A Business Development Playbook for the First 90 Days

Hiring a lateral partner is a significant investment for a law firm. By the time that lawyer arrives, months may have gone into recruiting, evaluating their practice, discussing clients and opportunities and determining how they fit into the firm's broader strategy. The firm has likely learned a great deal about the lateral's practice along the way, but much of that information still needs to be translated into an actual business development plan.

The first 90 days provide an important opportunity to do that. The lateral is learning a new platform, meeting colleagues and figuring out how to introduce the firm to clients and contacts, while the business development team is trying to understand where the strongest opportunities may exist. Taking a more strategic approach to this period can help the firm focus its integration efforts on the relationships, internal connections and business opportunities that are most likely to matter.

Start With the Relationships the Lateral Already Has

A lateral partner brings years of relationships with clients, executives, investors, board members, former colleagues, referral sources and other people they have encountered throughout their career. Looking beyond the traditional client list can provide a much fuller picture of that network and where there may be opportunities to reconnect or develop a relationship further.

A former client may now be at a company the firm wants to develop. An executive the lateral worked with several years ago may have moved into a general counsel role. A private equity contact may have joined another sponsor, while a former colleague may now be in-house at a priority prospect. Understanding where these people are today can help the firm identify which relationships are most relevant to the lateral's new platform.

This exercise can also help the lateral prioritize. Rather than beginning with a long list of everyone they have ever worked with, the business development team can focus on the relationships that align most closely with the lateral's practice, the firm's priorities and the types of clients and matters the lateral wants to develop.

Connect the Lateral's Network With the Firm's Relationships

Once the firm has a better picture of the lateral's network, it can compare those relationships with its own. There may be clients and prospects where the lateral already knows an executive and other lawyers at the firm have additional relationships elsewhere in the organization. The firm may also have relationships with investors, board members, portfolio companies or other people connected to companies the lateral wants to develop.

Looking at these relationships together can reveal opportunities that neither side would necessarily see on its own. A lateral may provide a new path into an existing firm prospect, while another partner may be able to help the lateral expand a relationship they have brought with them. In other cases, several lawyers may already know different people at the same organization, creating an opportunity for a more coordinated approach.

This information can also make internal introductions much more purposeful. Instead of filling the lateral's calendar with meetings based primarily on practice groups, offices or organizational structure, the firm can prioritize introductions where there is a client, prospect, industry or relationship that gives the lawyers a real reason to know one another.

Use Current Business Activity to Prioritize Outreach

The lateral's existing relationships tell the firm who they know, while current business activity can help determine where outreach may be particularly timely. A priority company may have made an acquisition, raised capital, entered a new market, changed leadership or announced another development that creates a natural reason to reconnect. A private equity sponsor may have raised a new fund, completed an investment or become active in an area where the lateral and the firm have relevant experience.

Using those developments to prioritize outreach can make the first few months more manageable and the conversations more substantive. Instead of asking the lateral to contact dozens of people because they happen to be in their network, the business development team can identify where something has changed that makes a conversation particularly relevant now.

This approach can also make the lateral's arrival announcement more useful. Joining a new firm provides a natural reason to reconnect with people, but combining that news with an understanding of what is happening in their businesses gives the lateral more to talk about than their own move.

Make Internal Introductions More Strategic

Joining a large law firm can mean meeting dozens of lawyers across practices, industries and offices in a relatively short period. Some of those introductions will naturally lead to collaboration, while others may have little connection to the lateral's practice or clients. Business development teams can help make this process more focused by identifying the colleagues whose experience, relationships and client work overlap most meaningfully with the lateral's practice.

For a lateral who represents healthcare investors, that might include lawyers working with portfolio companies or handling healthcare regulatory, financing, tax and executive compensation matters. A lateral with significant technology clients may benefit from early connections with lawyers focused on privacy, intellectual property, employment, regulatory matters and transactions. The relevant introductions will vary by practice, but the underlying idea is the same: internal meetings are more useful when there is a clear business reason for the lawyers to connect.

The lateral's target companies can provide another way to prioritize these introductions. If other lawyers at the firm already have relationships with executives at those companies, bringing those people together early can help the lateral understand the firm's existing position and identify where a coordinated approach may make sense.

Create Reasons to Continue the Conversation

The initial announcement that a partner has joined a new firm provides an obvious opportunity to contact clients and other relationships, but maintaining those conversations requires additional reasons to stay in touch. Business development teams can help by monitoring the companies and people that become priorities during the integration process and identifying developments that may warrant outreach.

A transaction, leadership change, regulatory development, industry event or other relevant news can provide a natural reason for the lateral to reconnect. Firm content and events can also be useful when they relate directly to something happening within a client's or prospect's business. In other cases, an introduction to another lawyer, executive or industry contact may provide value and help strengthen the relationship.

Planning for this kind of follow-up during the integration process can help prevent the initial burst of activity from disappearing after the first several weeks. It also gives the lateral more opportunities to introduce the firm's broader capabilities in the context of issues that actually matter to their contacts.

Build a Business Development Plan Around the Strongest Opportunities

By the end of the first few months, the firm will usually know much more about which relationships and opportunities deserve continued attention. That information can be turned into a manageable business development plan covering priority clients and prospects, important relationships, relevant internal lawyers, upcoming events or content opportunities and specific next steps.

The plan will continue to evolve as the lateral learns more about the firm and the business development team learns more about their practice. Some relationships that initially appeared promising may become less important, while conversations during the integration process may uncover opportunities that weren't apparent when the lateral arrived.

Keeping the plan focused on a realistic number of priorities can also make it easier to maintain momentum. The purpose is not to document every possible relationship or cross-practice connection, but to identify the opportunities where the lateral and the firm's combined relationships, capabilities and market knowledge create the strongest potential for business development.

How Gatsby Can Support Lateral Integration

Lateral integration requires business development teams to understand companies, people, relationships and business developments at the same time, and much of that information continues to change after the lateral joins. Contacts move between companies, clients announce transactions, prospects hire new executives and companies pursue new strategies, all of which can affect which relationships deserve attention.

Gatsby Intel can support the research involved in understanding the companies and people connected to a new lateral, particularly as the team evaluates clients, prospects and other important relationships. Gatsby Aware can then help teams stay current on the organizations that become priorities during the integration process, making it easier to identify developments that may provide a relevant reason for outreach or follow-up.

The business development team adds the context that technology alone cannot provide, including an understanding of the firm's internal relationships, the lateral's history with a contact, the firm's strategic priorities and the dynamics surrounding a particular client. Combining that institutional knowledge with current external intelligence can help the team prioritize opportunities and make the integration process more focused.

Turning Integration Into Long-Term Business Development

The first 90 days matter because they can establish how the lateral approaches business development at the new firm long after the formal onboarding process ends. A lateral who understands which colleagues are relevant to their clients, where the firm already has relationships and how the broader platform can support their practice is in a much stronger position to use that platform effectively.

The firm also gains a better understanding of the lateral's network and where it intersects with existing clients, prospects and strategic priorities. As those relationships develop and new information emerges, the initial integration plan can evolve into an ongoing business development strategy rather than ending when the introductory meetings are complete.

That longer-term approach can help the firm get more from the investment it has made in the lateral while giving the new partner a clearer path for growing their practice. The most effective integration efforts connect people and information around real business opportunities and then continue building on those connections well beyond the lateral's first few months.