From Invisible to In-Demand: Jumpstarting Your Marketing
A version of this article was originally published in Legal intelligencer here on October 27th, 2025
Business development can feel daunting for young lawyers — but it doesn’t have to. Start now for success in the future.
This month’s column is for my young associates out there. I see you putting in your daily billable hours (and then some). You’re building your legal knowledge, honing your skills in your practice area and earning the trust of partners, who are giving you more responsibility on more-complex matters all the time.
Then, one day, you hear a phrase that makes your stomach churn: “You should be thinking about bringing in clients.”
Maybe it’s a comment in passing while you’re working on a matter together. Or maybe it’s during your annual review or a conversation about the partnership track.
Either way, it can feel as if the rules somehow changed while you had your head down, focused on your client work.
The skills that earned you praise — and better assignments — up until now suddenly aren’t enough to ensure your future at your firm.
You’re expected to develop business. But no one has ever really explained how. And when are you supposed to find time for business development on top of all the client work?
Panic sets in. Is this one of those “tree planting” situations? Was the best time to start business development years ago, and now you’re stuck with the second-best time?
Well, yes. The earlier you adopt the mindset and habits you need for business development, the more natural — and less intimidating — it eventually becomes. But the good news is that you’re not as far behind as you think. You likely have some of the foundation for successful business development in place already. And you don’t need to devote huge amounts of time or make major changes to see measurable success.
Mindset shift: Business development is client service
A common misconception about business development is that it’s pitching and selling — yourself and your firm. And sometimes pitches and proposals are required to land the work. But, at its core, business development is client service. It’s understanding the clients you want to serve and learning their goals and objectives, as well as the challenges they face, and becoming known as a trusted resource to help them solve their problems and achieve their goals.
It’s building relationships, visibility and trust.
This requires a mindset shift from task-oriented practitioner to trusted adviser — becoming someone who offers value beyond just the legal work they do on a matter.
Fortunately, as an associate working with partners on their client matters, you already have a wealth of information and the opportunity to practice this mindset shift immediately. Ask yourself questions like the following: What types of clients are we serving? How do they benefit from the work we do? What are their goals, what challenges to those goals do they face, and how are we helping them solve their problems? What value can I bring to the process?
This shift in thinking is attractive to both clients and the partners who trust you to work with those clients. When you demonstrate that you understand both the law as it applies to the matter at hand and in the context of the client’s bigger-picture business or personal objectives and concerns, you become the associate partners want on their matters — and, eventually, in their client meetings, proposals and pitches.
Build your foundation inside your firm
As a newer associate, you probably perceived business development as a future task, reserved for partners with extensive networks and long lists of clients. But those partners were once young associates, just like you, and most of them would be eager to talk about how they built their practices.
Build your relationships inside your firm beyond the ones you have with the partners on whose matters you work. Partners, senior associates, colleagues in other practice areas, and members of the marketing, business development, and career and professional development departments are all part of your professional network. Be curious about their work. Ask how they — and the firm — develop clients. These conversations will teach you about marketing and business development strategy, and they will help keep you top of mind with the partners who assign new work and those who handle marketing and business development opportunities.
Providing value over and above your client work builds your visibility and credibility. Volunteer to help with thought leadership and marketing content such as blogs, alerts and newsletters; presentations; and/or firm and client events. If that feels time-consuming and overwhelming with all the client work you have to do, start small. Coauthor a client alert with a partner; offer to present on a new law, regulation or court decision at the next practice group meeting; or draft a quick summary or set of key takeaways that can be circulated internally and that others can use in client calls. Consistent value-add efforts such as these, over time, will help you stand out in a sea of busy associates focused on client work.
Cultivate your professional network
It’s never too early to cultivate a professional community. Join college and law school alumni groups, bar associations, and industry- and practice-specific organizations. Attend programs and events and, if you have time, volunteer for a committee or two. You don’t have to be everywhere all the time. Prioritize what appeals to you and makes sense for your practice area, and make an effort to show up there regularly. Keep an eye on other groups and dip in occasionally where it makes sense.
Don’t forget the power and efficiency of virtual networking. LinkedIn is the No. 1 networking site for law and business. It’s also a powerful research and content platform that colleagues and clients use for intelligence gathering and to keep up to date on business and legal trends, issues and developments. Spending even a small amount of time daily engaging on LinkedIn — commenting on and sharing others’ posts, highlighting firm updates and successes, and posting original content — builds visibility, credibility and authentic relationships.
Networking — live or virtual — is not about amassing a list of prospects you can pitch for work. It’s about showing up, listening and engaging, and becoming part of conversations and communities.
Help others help you
You’ve worked hard to build relationships across your firm, become a go-to resource with partners and peers for insights on developments in your practice area, and demonstrate the value-add mindset with clients. You’re about to be rewarded with an opportunity to be included in a pitch, proposal or big client meeting that just came up.
But your firm bio is the same one you’ve had since you were a junior associate.
If you’re lucky, you’ll be given the chance to scramble to get it updated. If not, you’ll be passed over for the associate with the pitch-deck-ready bio — and you may never even know about it.
Bios are one of your most essential marketing and business development tools. Make it easy on people who can help you succeed in business development and avoid the panic scramble. Review your bio (and your LinkedIn profile) regularly. Keep them up to date and ready to go.
Build the business development habit
Successful business development requires consistency, not intensity. You don’t have to carve out five hours a week. Even 15-30 focused minutes a day can make a difference.
Consider a cadence like this:
Daily: Spend time on LinkedIn, reading, responding and engaging.
Weekly: Reach out to a specific person you’d like to build a relationship with, internal or external, to congratulate them on a success, share an interesting article or ask a question.
Monthly: Attend an event or contribute to a piece of content or thought leadership.
Quarterly: Review and update your bio and LinkedIn profile.
Annually: Review your progress and rebalance your priorities.
Keep track of your efforts. Creating a simple spreadsheet or even running notes on your phone or computer about who you’ve connected with, potential trends and topics of interest, and follow-up you want to remember to do can help you keep your forward momentum and get you back on track when you hit challenges.
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