Jorn Vermeulen is the founder and CEO of KLERQ, an experience management platform for law firms. He began his legal career at Baker McKenzie in Amsterdam in 2012 and, from 2015, worked with independent firms that relied more heavily on external referral networks. Bennet van den Broek is a Solutions Manager at KLERQ, where he helps translate law firms’ commercial needs into practical systems. Jorn’s work is driven by first-hand experience of conference preparation and follow-up, which takes two to three months, while Bennet’s contribution focused on combining internal and external data so firms can structure and act on referral opportunities.

Overview

The session explored why international referrals should be managed as a strategic revenue stream rather than an informal collection of personal contacts. Bennet explained that firms can combine their own relationship, financial and matter data with publicly available information to create a more complete map of potential referral partners. This allows firms to identify suitable contacts by jurisdiction, practice area, ranking, size and likely attendance at industry events, while retaining human judgement about compatibility, client service standards and shared values.

Major conferences such as the International Bar Association annual meeting illustrated the practical value of this approach. Attendance represents a significant investment in fees, travel and non-billable partner time, yet many firms still prepare inconsistently. Data and AI can turn a broad delegate universe into a focused shortlist, record who met whom and why, integrate schedules with Outlook and prepare relevant pitch materials. Jorn stressed that technology can indicate potential matches, but the firm must still decide whether a relationship is right.

Follow-up emerged as the decisive gap. Lawyers often return from conferences to urgent client work and billing pressures, leaving introductions and opportunities unpursued. Capturing meeting notes, next steps and internal connections enables business development teams to send tailored materials, invite contacts to relevant events and build relationships over time instead of restarting the same exercise each year. Jorn cited a Belgian firm whose international work rose from approximately €300,000 to €1.6 million over three years following a more deliberate referral-building programme. Bennet added that, as firms retain more meeting and relationship data, their systems should become progressively smarter and more productive. The wider message was that automation can remove administrative friction, but trust, relevance and thoughtful connection remain the real sources of value.

Key Takeaways

• Treat referral relationships as firm-wide assets by recording their history, value and next steps rather than leaving knowledge with individual partners.
• Combine internal data with credible external information to prioritise firms by jurisdiction, expertise, ranking and strategic fit.
• Prepare for conferences with clear targets and relevant context so that expensive partner time produces purposeful conversations.
• Judge referral partners on client service standards, shared values and compatibility, not technical credentials alone.
• Build follow-up into the workflow immediately after meetings; otherwise, promising introductions can easily be lost to billable work.
• Use AI and automation to reduce administration while preserving the human judgement and trust on which successful referrals depend.