Session on 28th March 2025

In last week’s Platforum9 session, Rachel Kennedy, a lawyer turned business development professional with over 15 years of experience across UK and US law firms, shared valuable insights on converting professional contacts into paying clients. Drawing from her unique perspective straddling both legal practice and business development, Kennedy offered practical strategies for lawyers to systematically approach this critical but often challenging aspect of legal practice.

Building Trust as the Foundation

Kennedy emphasised that at the core of client conversion is trust-building, a process that takes time but can be approached strategically. “It’s about trust and trusting the brand and the product,” Kennedy explained. “You have to think about the person that you’re selling yourself to, the situation they’re in, who they report to, who makes the decisions, and why are they going to trust you.”

This trust doesn’t happen overnight, but Kennedy identified several key components:

“Be transparent when you answer questions. Be open and honest. Be upfront with things like fees and risks and issues,” she advised. “Trust is about reliability as well. Don’t be flaky with your communications. Don’t turn up late. Don’t not turn up at all.”

Beyond these fundamentals, Kennedy highlighted the critical importance of the human element in professional relationships. “You have to build rapport. You have to take time to have that human connection because people are more likely to trust you if they feel that they know you and you know them and you’ve understood what their goals are.”

Providing Value Before Expecting Return

A significant theme throughout Kennedy’s session was the importance of providing value to your network without immediate expectation of return – what many BD professionals call “non-billable relationship building.”

“You need to provide value to your network, and that value will sometimes be part of your time that’s not billable,” Kennedy noted, acknowledging the tension this creates with billable hour targets. “I think the relationship side of things, because it doesn’t produce immediate return on investment, they often don’t look at it and don’t spend time on it, but you need to spend time on this.”

Kennedy suggested several practical ways lawyers can provide value:

“Share information that you’ve heard about a particular sector with your network. It can be insights, articles, resources. Sharing stuff without hard selling is really helpful to others,” she explained. “It helps build that trust that you need to build, and it shows that you can add value to those relationships. It also helps you generally on positioning yourself as an expert.”

Additional value-adding tactics include hosting webinars, speaking at events, sending checklists or legal updates, and even pointing out relevant information outside your practice area. “I saw this in the news, it’s going to have an impact on your business. It’s not my wheelhouse, but I know someone who might be able to help you with it,” Kennedy offered as an example. This approach demonstrates holistic thinking about the client’s needs while building credibility without overt selling.

Overcoming the Sales Hurdle

When it comes to the actual “sales” conversation – often a sticking point for lawyers – Kennedy was refreshingly direct: “I think sales shouldn’t be a dirty word within law firms. You are selling your legal expertise. You’re selling yourself, you’re selling your team, you’re selling your firm.”

Her advice for this critical phase:

“Have a clear idea what your proposition is to that particular person. Know exactly what problems of theirs that you’re likely to solve, and how you’re going to make their life easier,” Kennedy advised. “Speak to your pricing team internally to see if you can have imaginative pricing structures. Know what your credentials are in the space.”

Most importantly, Kennedy emphasised the need to demonstrate that you’ve truly listened to the client’s concerns: “Show that you have been listening to what their issues might be and how you’ll be able to support them.”

Systematic Approaches for Time-Pressed Lawyers

Recognising the inherent tension between business development and billable hour requirements, Kennedy offered practical strategies for making BD a sustainable part of a lawyer’s practice.

“What I say to trainees and associates is that it takes practice. You just have to push yourself out of the comfort zone and realise that this is part of the role,” Kennedy said. For those who thrive with structure, she recommended creating personal business development plans: “These are the 50 people I know. This is how I know them. This is where they work. This is their kids’ names, this is their pet’s names… How have I interacted with them and how am I going to interact with them?”

She shared an example of a partner who dedicates 45 minutes every Friday morning to contact relationship-building – creating a ritual that becomes habitual. “You actually have to put a plan and structure around it yourself, and then it just becomes second nature for you doing it,” she explained.

Tailoring Approaches to Individual Lawyers

Kennedy acknowledged that not all lawyers will approach business development the same way, particularly introverts who may find networking challenging.

“I would say prepare, prepare, prepare for whatever you need to do,” Kennedy advised for more introverted lawyers. “I prep questions, I have my elevator pitch, and I set myself little goals. It could be something like, I’m going to take five business cards from people and then I’m going to do the follow up the next day.”

She emphasised that authenticity matters more than forcing oneself into uncomfortable situations: “Find what you want to do and what’s comfortable with you because essentially you need to come across as genuine. If you’re putting yourself in a position which is a high stress position, you’re not going to come across as genuine.”

Looking Beyond New Clients

An important insight from the discussion was the value of looking for opportunities within existing client relationships. As one participant noted, large client organisations often contain numerous potential work streams that remain untapped.

Kennedy agreed: “I always say to the juniors who are working on deals and are interfacing on a day-to-day basis with clients, have you actually linked in with them yet? Have you added them to the mailing list? Have you invited them to any events that we are having coming up?”

For those concerned about hierarchy, she suggested alternative approaches: “I know you are too senior for me to connect with, but do you have a junior at my level that would be good to be a peer-to-peer network that I could chat to?”

The Long Game of Relationship Development

Perhaps most importantly, Kennedy emphasised that client development is a long-term process that requires consistency and persistence.

“It does take a long time and it takes years and years to convert some contacts, which can be soul destroying, but you’ve just got to keep going,” she noted. At the same time, she advised knowing when to pause efforts: “If you keep getting ‘no’ or if there’s a lack of engagement, then stop the engagement and move on and maybe touch back in a year.”

As legal markets become increasingly competitive, Kennedy’s systematic yet human-centered approach to relationship development offers lawyers at all levels a roadmap for converting their professional networks into client relationships – building both their practices and their firms in the process.