LinkedIn engagement is an underappreciated building block in your client relationship. Corporate counsel treat every comment, like and celebration as a valued touchpoint.

This high quality connection adds to the foundational strength you already have — and serves as a credible first touchpoint for others. This makes the case — and is a compelling reason to invest in getting partners to actively support firm posts.

And — more than ½ of clients visit LinkedIn 2 to 3 times a day — it swamps website visits and searches.

These LinkedIn touchpoints generate enough connections to drive inbound leads and conversations. Active partners report more inbound opportunities since they elected to support firm LinkedIn activity.

Please join me in congratulating the following firms in leading all others in likes and celebrations per partner for the first quarter of 2023 — an especially active time.

We showcase the top firms in each size cohort below:

Cleary Gottlieb
Clifford Chance
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Paul, Weiss

Sidley
Skadden
Sullivan & Cromwell
Weil

Cadwalader
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Debevoise & Plimpton
Fragomen

Haynes and Boone
Lowenstein Sandler
Milbank
Schulte Roth & Zabel

Boies Schiller Flexner
Brown Rudnick
Day Pitney
Greenspoon Marder
Herrick Feinstein

Hughes Hubbard & Reed
Kobre & Kim
Saul Ewing
Stroock

The overwhelming majority of the firms above are top performers in the BTI Client Service A-Team 2023: The Survey of Client Service Performance for Law Firms. Law firms with the best client service also enjoy more touchpoints with clients. This is one more way to up your client service game.

A few suggestions for getting partners to support posts from your firm’s LinkedIn page:

• Post the number of likes and comments monthly or weekly on an internal site — including history. This creates awareness and excitement in the process of watching and enlisting support
• Publish the names of the top LinkedIn engagers monthly or quarterly
• Ask all partners to suggest one topic for a firm LinkedIn post to get them involved — and learn about each other
• Offer a prize to the attorney, practice group, and office for the most likes and meaningful comments — try mixing this up and offer prizes for law school alumni groups

LinkedIn is still relatively new and novel to attorneys — but not so for clients. The attorneys making it a habit now can establish an overwhelming lead in gaining followers and connected relationships — a powerful setup for the next and much more difficult world of business development and client service to come.

Jump Ahead of the LinkedIn Business Development Curve

Only one source provides law firms with unique insights into exactly where they stand along key LinkedIn performance metrics including:

• LinkedIn Followers
• LinkedIn Followers per Partner
• Active Engagement Percentage Rates
• Engagement Touchpoints and Activities
• Engagement Touchpoints and Activities per Partner
• Monthly Posting Cadence
• Where you stand compared to law firms in your size cohort

Unleash Your Law Firm’s LinkedIn Potential

The BTI Benchmarking Law Firm LinkedIn Performance 2023: Unleashing the Power of LinkedIn is your gateway to this invaluable data, the most successful strategies, and the secret sauce to securing attorney support and engagement with your firm’s online presence. Don’t just keep up — jump ahead of the curve!

Ready to transform your law firm’s LinkedIn game? Click here to grab your copy of the report and embark on a journey to LinkedIn success.

Stay ahead, stay engaged, and stay successful on LinkedIn!

You disappear from the reliable and trusted list the minute you fall behind client expectations. There is little leeway here.

You have 2 ways to fall behind:

1. 1. You can do less or invest your time elsewhere — this is more often an unintended behavior than a decision
   2. Clients start moving ahead faster or differently — the real risk

And clients are changing things up. They are moving faster than they have in years. The increased challenge looks like this:

• • 21% corporate counsel experienced a 27% increase in the demands of their job from just 12 months ago
  • Almost half (44%) say their role is 16% more demanding than a year ago
  • 18% experience an 8% increase in the demands of their role
  • 17% say they don’t see much change in the demands placed on them

This adds up to 81% of corporate counsel expecting their outside counsel to stay ahead of them. These new demands redefine business development basics including:

• • Shortening response times
  • Heightened need for the current status of matters
  • More emphasis on approach when hiring and less on win rates and deal values
  • Having one partner accountable for everything at the client
  • Knowing what your clients’ needs are because they are avoiding pitches and proposals

They still have time to meet with you. They will tell you what they are doing and where they are headed — if you ask. But you need to make your questions more succinct, practical, and focused than ever before.

This dovetails with the Q4 business development hacks we discussed 3 weeks ago. This only underlines the urgency and gravitas of jumping in and getting ahead. The laws of physics tell us it’s harder to get ahead than to stay ahead. Do it right and you only have to jump ahead once.

From toxic wastelands to well-oiled machines, the legal workplace is a diverse ecosystem.

Trust can be a rare commodity and cooperation a distant dream. But fear not, only 10.1% of law firms have descended into this abyss.

On the bright side, 12.1% of firms operate as well-oiled machines, where the attorneys are in sync, ideas flow freely, and client relationships thrive.

BTI research, based on more than 1,000 responses to our workplace and attorney satisfaction survey, reveals 4 distinct cultures:

The Toxic Workplace

Trust is scarce. Attorneys keep their distance. Partners work together only if they have to — the same goes for associates — they don’t trust each other to help with work or share stresses and experiences. Partners resent firm interference with their clients. Fortunately, only 10.1% of firms receive this distinction from their attorneys.

The Well-Oiled Machine

At the other end of the spectrum — 12.1% excel with seamless collaboration and information sharing. Partners are in synch — so associates feel in synch.

You find ongoing information sharing about client, legal, and workplace issues — all serving to build attorney knowledge bases they can use in client work and business development. Attorneys offer up thoughts and ideas routinely — it’s part of the DNA.

The Machine

The largest group at 47.5% leans towards working together — but often needs a catalyst to make it happen. These catalysts include transactional work, large litigation, a partner seeking another out, pitches, and large client defections.

This group of firms has the building blocks to become a well-oiled machine.

The Siloed

30.3% report uneven cooperation. There is little in the way of active sharing between practice groups. Some attorneys in this cohort report being envious of the groups with more sharing than their own.

The Well-Oiled Machines enjoy the highest workplace satisfaction. BTI research suggests they enjoy fundamentally stronger client relationships as well. This is a clear benefit of idea sharing finding its way to clients.

All firms can boost workplace culture and sharing of ideas by implementing at least one of the following strategies:

Anonymous Attorney Survey

Give attorneys a voice. And give leadership feedback. Learn what and why your attorneys really think about the firm. Uncover unseen strengths and weaknesses. This is one of the few tools proven to immediately boost even the best workplace culture upon delivery — and again when you present the results.

This survey adds enduring value when leadership takes action on the weaknesses and leverages the strengths. N.B. — if it is not anonymous you won’t get the insight.

Formal Idea Sharing Sessions

Promote better ideas and stronger bonds. The more discussion the better the bonds. We recommend:

Idea circles — smaller formal groups to exchange ideas on what they see and hear. Meet in short sessions of 30 minutes or less. Discuss one or two ideas. Rotate the people who bring questions or ideas for the group to discuss.

Informal idea sharing — send an email once a month to all attorneys asking for the top issues in the market, in law, or other meaty topics. Limit response to three bullet points and share the list with all attorneys.

Client-issue Discussion Forums

Create small groups to discuss one client. Discuss all aspects of the client — from legal issues to business development to news. Discuss how to solve problems, develop new business and services, and what everyone knows about a specific client.

These sessions always reveal new insights, build bonds within the forum, and provide potent discussion topics with clients.

Leadership Partner in Charge of Workplace Development

Put a respected and influential partner in charge of developing the workplace. While every attorney is responsible — this leadership partner is accountable. Give this effort a budget and goals.

Some of these practices were the hallmark of a good law firm back in the day — when law firms were small, and the partners fit in one conference room. Large firms can embrace what was and add new elements to leverage their size and collective skills and knowledgebase. This will be part of the next wave of critical success factors in successfully developing the next generation law firm.

Unpredictable replaced uncertain. Unexpected litigation is rampant. Novel and complex claims are driving a new stream of litigation. All this creates a host of new business development opportunities.

And this is the tip of the iceberg. Our brand new research with more than 280 corporate counsel reveals the key trends underpinning another year of litigation growth. The top 8 are:

1. Litigation spending on outside counsel is growing again in 2024 for the 4th year
2. The caseload is growing for the 4th year in a row — but spending is growing faster
3. 87% of clients plan to increase or hold spending steady in 2024
4. 6 segments within 8 industries are especially robust
5. Complex and high-stakes matters see the biggest growth in cases
6. Client interest in settling surges — but without sacrificing aggressive defense
7. Clients are no longer searching far and wide for the perfect law firms
8. Clients are more open to hiring new law firms than they have been in years

Clients are spending their way through the unpredictable — and are ready to meet whatever the world throws at them with robust and increased budgets.

Only the BTI Litigation Outlook 2024 maps out exactly where the spending is and isn’t — enabling you to target your business development efforts to the best and most robust opportunities.

Clients Share Law Firm Preferences and Powerhouses for Litigation — By Name  

Learn the law firms clients think are best positioned to get the new work — by name and litigation segment — and the most feared law firms.

Discover the new business development tactics working in the uncertain economy and how clients are spending their litigation dollars in 2024 for 8 segments and 18 industries.

The Most Overlooked Market in Years

Too many law firms are convinced 2024 will be a bust. They will lose out to the firms seizing the opportunity. Learn exactly where clients are spending and who they are likely to spend it with.

Order your copy of the BTI Litigation Outlook 2024: Navigating Litigation Spending in the New Unpredictable World here.

More than half of clients are increasing their litigation budgets despite what the pundits say about next year. Learn where and how they will spend it. Order today.

Decoding legal sales is one of the holy grails. Combine savvy business development skills with legal prowess and you just unlocked a path to outsized success.

Brand new research with more than 250 corporate counsel reveals clear preferences about who they want to deal with and what facilitates new law firm revenue.

Dedicated Business Development and Client Service Executives

Clients love their dedicated client relationship manager. You can call them any one of:

• Dedicated Business Development Executives (BDE)
• Client Service Executives (CSE)
• Client Relationship Manager (CRM)
• Client Executive (CE)

And there are likely to be more titles floating around. But — clients know who they are what they do and almost all are almost universally loved.

These individuals — who don’t practice law — watch over a set of specific client needs and run interference on key aspects of the relationship. This is all they do — make life easier for the client and the partners in their firm.

Corporate counsel report 4 common denominators among these professionals:

• Serious caring — it shows and the caring is obvious to clients
• Listening — a dedicated ear combined with empathy and problem-solving
• Institutional knowledge — clients tell us their client relationship manager quickly becomes a walking encyclopedia of their preferences, priorities, needs, and sensitivities
• Streamlining — saving time and money for all involved

The client connection between these client relationship managers is robust. I can’t endorse these professionals enough.

You will find over 50 of these individuals in the top 10 law firms in The BTI Client Service 30. Some with more than others, but just one makes a difference.

Dedicated Sales Executives

Dedicated Sales Executives (DSE) are tasked with finding new clients and bringing them into the firm — or just finding new clients. DSEs are on the bleeding edge of law firm business development strategy. Here is what they are up against:

• 44% of clients report being approached by dedicated law firm sales professionals
• 56% have not
• 9% of all corporate counsel — whether approached or not — are open to it

The 91% who are not enthusiastic share the following.

“Sales is an understood subtext of networking. There’s no reason to add this to the mix.”
– Associate General Counsel, Large Healthcare Company

This quote above says so much about business development and training for attorneys.

“Not encouraging this – if they don’t practice law they won’t understand.”
– Deputy General Counsel, Global Food and Agriculture Company

“I prefer to meet people who I will be working with.”
– M&A Counsel, Leading Semi-Conductor Company

Law firms may or may not be ready for dedicated sales professionals. Few clients are.

Law firms are compelled to find a place for business development in their core strategy. You will find DSEs scoring big successes — and they will continue to do so. But they will be few and far between. The few successes are backed by deep insights the DSE brings — about either the person or potential client company on whom they are calling.

The DSE faces competition from:

• Corporate counsel peer referrals
• Compelling LinkedIn posts
• Thought leadership from law firms
• Clients’ existing networks
• Informal networking groups
• Client relationship managers

Few things beat the caring, listening, and knowledge the client relationship managers deliver.

And — you can gain this current knowledge with clients every day. This offers the perfect setup for developing business with existing clients.

We are in a world where clients are more open to hiring new law firms than they have been for decades. Harvesting and building knowledge is part of the successful business development roadmap. Advantage client relationship manager.

We are in the midst of the largest transformation in the legal world, and we are only one year into it — two more years are imminent.

This unprecedented shift heralds a substantial change in the direction, strategies, and role of business professionals — and the ethos adopted by law firms. It demands new perspectives and approaches to all the tested paths coming before.

BTI research reveals that 40% of law firm leaders have assumed their role in the last three years. It takes two years for a law firm leader to get their sea legs. The first wave of change is just setting in. As the emerging leaders find their footing, they are making decisions about:

These are all strategic issues. The decisions around the direction and approach to each of these defines the law firm’s path — implementation will drive success.

Back to the Sea Legs

Most new leaders from the last 2 years are still getting their sea legs. This presents a rare opportunity for law firms to make an impact. I recommend:

• • Ask new leaders about their priorities and thoughts on the issues above — and others
  • Engage with your ideas and strategies
  • Share your fully informed opinion about the issues in your domain
  • Evangelize for the issues around which you have real passion — and let the passion show
  • Make a compelling case — passion and numbers are equally important

Additionally, we expect 15 to 20% of current law firm leaders to step down in the next 2 years (the 2^nd unseen change). Expect more transformation to come.

The future is unfurling its canvas — new law firm leaders can paint it with bold strokes of visionary strategy and leadership. Transformation is not for the meek.