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Is BD’s time finally here? A lot of the right people think so.

We’re talking budgets and strategic intent. Internationally recognized consultant Patrick McKenna and I joined forces to ask 200 top law firm leaders about Business Development.

The results mark a clear shift on the BD front, as we see in the following results:

We asked top firm leaders how important igniting business development among the partners is:

• Exceptionally Important – 50%
• Important – 35%
• Not Important – 15%

This is one of the strongest BD signals law firm leaders have ever sent.

1/2 of law firm leaders say it’s exceptionally important – bordering on essential. They want strategies and tactics to fire BD up. Another 35% see it as important.

When leadership views BD as essential, CMOs access a rare asset: institutional urgency. This compels CMOs to take advantage of what amounts to a strategic mandate to drive business development and growth. These include:

Promise Crystal Clear Results

Recommend programs with crystal clear, easily understood results – how much business will each program generate – and when. If you don’t have a number and a date, it’s not crystal clear.

BD Specific Time Codes

Set up time codes to track specific BD initiatives – and set up a revenue development plan behind each charge code, use it to share origination credit to all who worked on the effort.

Prepare a Practice Specific BD Swat Team

Each practice selects 5 to 10 major clients (or target clients) with detailed plans, dates, tactics, and budgets to develop new business. Have each practice submit its list of targets to the managing partner for approval.

We recommend Marketing and BD staff work adjacent to practice leaders to ensure this plan is developed and implemented.

Report implementation results at every practice group meeting, if there isn’t enough time – cut something from the agenda to show BD is essential.

Business Development Executives

Hire as many dedicated client relationship managers/business development executives as you can. These professionals are proven to unlock revenues dwarfing their salaries – at both large firms and small.

Mandates like this are rare. This survey delivers one. Firms are not looking for incremental improvements – the 50% majority is signaling a need for radical acceleration.

CMOs – this is your singular chance to grab hold of the momentum and take center stge. Your ideas and the BD budget now stand squarely in the spotlight.

Strike while the light is still bright and shining.

Ambition and Anxiety. Law firm leaders collectively reflect both.

This is precisely why internationally recognized consultant Patrick McKenna and I teamed up for our 6^th survey of law firm leaders. We asked a broad spectrum of questions, including what will happen in 2026.

Use these insights to help learn:

• What to expect in the market
• How your budget requests will be received
• Implications for your strategy

Specifically, we asked law firm leaders to lay odds on 9 key events and outcomes happening in 2026:

Law firms will face an externally caused existential threat in 2026 – 39%

More leaders see the threats as having largely receded – most think they have the resilience to weather whatever storm arises.

We will see the largest M&A transaction in history – 44%

Leaders are split – signaling real uncertainty about whether dealmakers can overcome volatility, valuation gaps, and geopolitics to set a new record.

Rates will continue their upward spiral – 72%

Almost 3 of 4 see rates spiraling up – sensing strong demand for high-stakes work.

There will be a blockbuster law firm merger involving 2 mega firms – 55%  

More than half of leaders expect a merger to reshape the Am Law 20 – and while they won’t name names – this is a good barometer for measuring consolidation pressure at the top.

There will be a recession in 2026 – 40%

Far from consensus – but look for these leaders to be tighter with budgets and cautious about expansion.

The credit markets will see a severe hiccup, causing a market shock – 35%

Likely an opportunity for law firms if it happens – but bad for the economy.

Lateral hiring will hit record highs – 49%

The leaders split the difference on this one; the divide captures the wildly uneven momentum across the market.

Partner dissatisfaction will reach an all-time peak – 40%

They expect partner frustration to boil over. Credit changing law firm structures, growing ranks of income partners, and more centralized decision-making.

A new global crisis will cause litigation to surge – 28%

Geopolitical risk remains a tinderbox – but most leaders think it will be contained. Interesting place for optimism.

The Story Isn’t in the Predictions – It’s in the Resilience

We asked how successful 2026 would be – and here’s the real prediction punch line:

• 37% expect a killer year – outstanding growth and profits
• 47% look for a good year – good profits and growth
• 16% are planning for a decent year – an upward move in growth and profits

Every single leader expects at least a decent year. It’s either remarkable optimism or a clear signal of how confident firms have become in navigating volatility – and how aggressively they plan to pursue the opportunities it creates.

Make your own forecast for 2026 – get the BTI Practice Outlook 2026 and BTI Litigation Outlook 2026 – your roadmaps to where spending will grow, which practices command premium rates and which industries are set to generate the highest-value opportunities.

And download a full copy of the Law Firm Leaders report: The 2026 ‘Burning Issues’ Confronting Firm Leaders here.

Ropes & Gray has more than its share of early-mover firsts under its belt. They were among the first to build out a private equity practice. They helped enable specialized ETFs.

Ropes is one of the first to build a team of high-performing client development executives – marketing pros who focus solely on understanding clients and the relationship partners serving these clients.

These CDEs are client-facing – BTI hears about how good they are in our independent research. It has become a precision process driving growth and profits.

Now the firm is offering 400 hours to 1Ls to learn GenAI and receive billable-hour credit. Associates are loving it – and a growing group of clients will love what they think it enables.

BTI completed a flash survey of associates across all firms last week, and here’s how they weigh in:

40.3% think it is an amazing idea – they think the firm will expand the program to other associates – and they believe they are early enough in their careers to become GenAI native – offering long-term career advantage.

23.2% think it an excellent idea – they want to learn and take advantage of it – but worry the time spent on GenAI will hurt their ability to deliver their workload

A total of 63.5% gave this a resounding thumbs up. They are wondering if their firms will offer a similar program – and which firms might move next.

4.9% say it’s terrible – a time sink and will get them in trouble one way or another.

Ropes & Gray may have boosted its position as a destination firm for new grads – and likely associate-level laterals. 61% of clients are expecting their law firms to use GenAI in a helpful and productive manner. The Ropes move tells clients they are making it native to their culture.

Law firms remain polarized about GenAI and the race hasn’t even made it to the first turn. The firms making the visible bets get the coverage – and are betting the clients and associates will follow.

This is as much of a market positioning move as an innovation move. Ropes is making a statement. The clients wanting law firms to know GenAI and how to use it will see it for what it is – and expect it.

Love it. Hate it. Dismiss it. Ponder it. Everyone has an opinion on the role of Gen AI.

Given the polarizing nature of the topic – who better to ask to comment on the future of the legal industry than ChatGPT? I asked ChatGPT to write a letter as a big law leader in 2057 back to the attorneys of today. I worked in a few prompts to add in the less obvious issues and trends.

By: The Managing Partner, 2057 Edition

Letter to the Firm 

Colleagues,

The firm we lead today is the product of decades of steady transformation. The foundations of our profession remain — reasoning, advocacy, and trust — but everything around them has changed. We practice law in an environment where technology, transparency, and risk are constant companions.

I want to reflect on the forces that now define who we are and how we work, and what they tell us about the next chapter ahead.

1. 1. The Firm Moves as a Living System

Our structure has become adaptive. We no longer operate through static departments or traditional hierarchies. Teams now form in response to client demand, data, and expertise — and dissolve when their purpose is complete.

Each matter draws from a global network of professionals, AI systems, and client contributors. The organization senses, learns, and reallocates resources almost organically — more like a living system than a fixed institution.

1. 2. We No Longer Sell Time — We Deliver Traction

Our value is measured not in hours, but in momentum: how quickly we help clients move from uncertainty to action.

Every engagement begins with a shared traction plan — a transparent framework for how our work will advance the client’s strategic position. The measure of success is not duration, but forward motion.

1. 3. AI Is Our Constant Partner

Artificial intelligence performs most of the analysis, drafting, and risk modeling once handled manually. But it hasn’t replaced us — it has elevated our role.

We provide interpretation, synthesis, and judgment. We ask the questions the data can’t. The most successful lawyers today are those who can integrate machine precision with human insight to see what others miss.

1. 4. Clients Work Inside the Firm — and We Inside Theirs

Our closest clients are now fully embedded in our digital and physical environments. Their data, systems, and personnel interface directly with ours.

The result is a continuous cycle of shared visibility and accountability. Decisions are faster, communication is clearer, and risk is managed collectively. The line between “inside” and “outside” counsel has become obsolete.

1. 5. Rainmaking Has Become Riskmaking

The traditional rainmaker — once known for relationships and persuasion — now builds value through foresight. These lawyers identify emerging risks before they are visible, design legal and regulatory pathways, and create strategic options for clients under pressure.

Business development has become a discipline of anticipation, not advocacy.

1. 6. The Emergence of Shared Risk Pools

One of the most significant developments of the past decade is the rise of client–firm risk pools — shared platforms where firms and clients jointly insure against large-scale disruptions, litigation surges, and regulatory shocks.

Each participant contributes data and capital; returns are based on risk mitigation and prevention rather than reaction. These pools have strengthened relationships, aligned incentives, and reshaped how both sides think about accountability.

We now succeed not just when we defend a client, but when we help prevent the risk from materializing at all.

1. 7. Reputation Is Quantified and Visible

Our market reputation now exists as a real-time performance graph. Every client interaction, collaboration, and public action updates a shared reputation index visible to the market.

Transparency has become the natural state of the profession. It demands consistency, but it also rewards it. Firms with integrity and reliability at their core have never been stronger.

1. 8. Trust Has Become Predictive

Trust is now a measurable performance indicator. Clients model our reliability and responsiveness through data drawn from years of collaboration.

We monitor a “predictive trust index,” which forecasts confidence in outcomes and continuity. This data reinforces a simple truth: reputation may be quantified, but trust must still be earned, day after day.

What Lies Ahead

Looking forward, several developments are already shaping the decade to come:

• • Autonomous arbitration networks will handle standardized commercial disputes.
  • Quantum-enabled compliance engines will monitor entire regulatory frameworks in real time.
  • Neural collaboration tools will link teams across languages and continents instantly.
  • Integrated risk ecosystems — combining legal, financial, and data governance functions — will become the new model for client service.

The profession remains grounded in its purpose: to bring clarity, judgment, and fairness to complexity. What has changed is the scale and speed at which we must deliver it.

We are no longer defined by what we control, but by what we connect — ideas, technology, and above all, people.

Thank you for the discipline, adaptability, and integrity that continue to make this firm worthy of the trust placed in us.

With respect from the future,
Frances the Future Leader
Managing Partner
Bright, Future, Bigger & Wise
2057

Please share your thoughts with me here.

Uncertainty permeates almost every conversation – and it takes more than two hands to count the opportunities it creates for law firms. Shifting tides are an understatement – because these tides carry opportunity for those who dare to paddle into them.

Our new survey of legal spending shows just how far the balance of power has swung toward risk – and how client spending follows it.

Virtually every client decision – hire, strategy, settlement, or delay – is now a high-stakes move. Risk is no longer background noise; it’s the battlefield itself. Corporate counsel are making decisions under fire, where hesitation costs millions and missteps can move markets.

This shift explains everything else – rising rates, fiercer fights, demand for strategic counsel, and the premium on strategy and creativity.

The firms winning now aren’t the ones with the most lawyers – they’re the ones who can bring clarity and courage – and speed.

BTI’s exclusive research reveals the reason why the only certainty is an increase in outside counsel spending. Here’s what’s driving it:

1. Relentless contention. Legal issues have become cage matches. Clients are stuck in “no-lose” mode – they have to win to get what they want. Both sides walk in with the same mindset, so every dispute grows tougher, longer and more combustible.

2. Exponential risk. Every decision now moves real money – sometimes billions. One wrong call can hit revenue, tank a stock price or kill a key line of business.

3. Boardroom exposure. Risk has gone C-suite. Directors and CEOs now want visibility – and accountability – on every major matter.

4. Compressed patience. Clients have less time and less tolerance as consequences rise. They turn to outside counsel for instant clarity and decisive action.

5. Unstoppable complexity. Regulation, geopolitics and AI collide to create an unrelenting legal maze – one too fluid to navigate without outside help.

Together, these forces make risk the new growth currency.

The market is moving fast, but not blindly. Firms decoding client risk – and acting before clients even articulate it – will own 2026. Everyone else will be fighting the tide.

Gain immediate access to this rare opportunity in BTI’s Practice Outlook 2026 now – the gold standard for spotting every market twist, client shift and rate premium before they hit. Order your copy here.

We’re witnessing a rare phenomenon.

Clients face an unprecedented collision of:

• Business urgency
• Legal strategies directly impacting and enabling client growth strategies
• Regulatory upheaval
• Investor pressure
• Complex litigation
• Uncharted M&A

(And yes – peak workloads, too.)

High-risk, high-impact matters are multiplying. “Bet-the-company” work now comes in more forms, from more places – and carries more consequences.

Clients are expanding their definition of risk. And they’re turning to outside counsel for the speed, foresight, and the strategic muscle they need to move fast and get it right.

Legal issues no longer live in silos. They bleed into growth strategies, boardroom decisions, investor scrutiny, and brand reputation – raising the stakes across the board.

61% of clients are increasing their outside counsel spend to record highs. This isn’t a trend – it’s a signal.

2026 will be the most opportunity-rich and competitive legal market in more than a decade.

Target Acute Need and Premium Rate Opportunities: The Single Most Popular (and Useful) Chart in the Legal Spending World

Our most popular and powerful chart to help target your business development. Clients have more acute needs – and they are industry-specific. For example:

BTI Practice Outlook 2026 reveals:

• Where client spending will surge – for 12 practices and 15 industries including:
  • 9 urgent needs in Consumer Goods
  • 9 urgent needs in Food/AgTech
  • 10 acute needs in Healthcare
  • 13 acute needs in High Tech
  • 12 acute needs in Pharma
  • 10 acute in Manufacturing
• Which practices command super-premium rates
• And which industries will deliver the highest-value growth opportunities

All based on 300+ in-depth interviews with top legal decision makers.

The takeaway?
When legal and business pressures collide, clients don’t just want help. They want law firms in the foxhole with them.

The firms who show up – and lead – will get the business.

→ Order your copy of BTI Practice Outlook 2026 now

Get the data, insight and strategic direction to grow in a world where legal issues and business issues are no longer separate – they are joined at the hip to drive one of the most opportunity-rich markets in years. [Click here to buy the full report.]

Some stressors strike like lightning – sharp, quick, and gone. Bringing one impact. But the dangerous stressors are the ones hitting all sides simultaneously – with multiple impacts.

Our new research with more than 350 corporate counsel reveals a new, insidious source of stress – one that now eclipses chaotic regulations, volatile litigation, and even sensitive M&A.

1 in 4 corporate counsel point to the unrealistic expectations placed on them by top management. This is up from virtually nothing over the last 5 years – including the pandemic years.

This shift signals deep and growing pressure inside corporate legal departments. It’s not about workload alone – it’s about identity, control, and consequence. Unrealistic expectations:

• Defy the nature of high performers
• Threaten identity and competence
• Create a sense of lost control
• Trigger fear of unwanted consequences
• Strain relationships with senior management

These pressures compound – quietly shaping careers and driving decisions in ways few outside counsel recognize.

Outside Counsel Are Best Positioned to Help

Outside counsel are uniquely positioned to help reduce this stress – especially when they engage on the issues at the center of these expectations. Start by:

• Asking about the expectations clients are under – then listen deeply
• Helping put those expectations in perspective
• Connecting clients with peers facing similar pressures
• Offering practical, realistic steps to meet leadership demands

Few things are more valuable to clients than reducing stress.

The attorneys who help lighten this load will earn something rare and lasting – enduring trust for an entire career.