Case Study Corporate Law

							Corporate           Business Development
 Ladders            for Law Firms




            Corporate Ladders           119 Donnybrook Drive   201 825 Submitted
                                                            Case Study8296 office   by: Corporate Ladders
            info@corporateladders.com   Allendale, NJ 07401    201 818 8673 fax
Business Development for Law Firms

    According to a report by Hildebrandt International Inc. and the Law Firm Group of Citigroup Private Bank,
    it is expected that US law firm growth will drop by half in 2008 after six years of double-digit growth. The
    report also predicts industry revenue growth of 6 to 8 percent and net income growth of 3 to 5 percent.
    Business development within law firms is becoming critical for continued growth as competition for
    professionals with the proven ability to satisfy clients and bring in new business continues to escalate.

    One of New Jersey’s top law firms with a range of services in over 20 different practice areas had already
    taken proactive steps to enhance their business development skills but lacked the focus and expertise
    to fully implement this effort. The firm chose to engage Corporate Ladders to review their business
    development function and goals to develop a customized program of training and coaching to enable
    attorneys to feel more comfortable and better equipped to efficiently and professionally identify, develop
    and close new business opportunities with existing and new clients.




Contents
    The Objective ............................................................................................. 2
    The Background ......................................................................................... 2
    The Approach ............................................................................................. 2-3
    The Players ................................................................................................ 4
    The Results ................................................................................................ 4
    Final Outcome ............................................................................................ 4




                                                       Corporate Ladders              119 Donnybrook Drive       201 825 8296 office
                                                       info@corporateladders.com      Allendale, NJ 07401        201 818 8673 fax
The Objective
    To assess the firm’s business development goals and culture, Corporate Ladders reviewed the existing
    business development processes, the firm’s organizational structure, culture, marketing support initiatives
    and strategic plan. We also identified what was needed for a customized professional services training
    and coaching program. The client worked with us to identify attorneys with aptitudes for professional sales
    success and potential for increased responsibilities within the firm. The identified attorneys required skill-
    based training and education in professional business development processes and selling conversations.
    Our program included the individual coaching necessary to encourage comfortable and personal style
    development in building trust-based relationships. They also had to find ways to balance the time required
    for sales/marketing-related activities with the demands of professional legal service delivery. The Objective
    became clear: develop a customized training and coaching program to efficiently implement a professional
    service sales process anchored on trust-based sales conversations during all stages of the marketing and
    sales process.




The Background
    The law firm is headquartered in Morristown, NJ with offices in New York City and Brick, NJ. The firm
    has over 220 employees, including more than 85 attorneys, 32 of whom are principals. The firm initially
    built its reputation on litigation and trial skills but in recent years has expanded its practice to include
    regulatory law, bankruptcy, commercial real estate, corporate law, governmental affairs, land use, mergers
    and acquisitions, securities law, labor law and dispute resolution. They have 21 distinct practice areas and
    serve some of the country’s largest and most reputable companies.



The Approach
    Corporate Ladders prepared and delivered a three Step Solution for the client as follows:

        Step One – Research and Situation Analysis
        Step Two – Program Development
        Step Three – Program Implementation/Group and Individual




                                               Corporate Ladders           119 Donnybrook Drive   201 825 8296 office
                                               info@corporateladders.com   Allendale, NJ 07401    201 818 8673 fax
Step One – Research & Situation Analysis
    Corporate Ladders spent significant time researching, reviewing and evaluating the current business
    development activities, expectations and support systems already in place at the law firm. This included
    discussions with marketing, the firm’s Business Development Committee, managing partners and practice
    heads. All aspects of the current situation were thoroughly reviewed and evaluated in light of the increased
    competition facing legal firms and a need for all attorneys to engage in business development activities.

    Upon completion of the initial evaluation, Corporate Ladders presented our findings to the Partner
    responsible for the Business Development Committee along with recommendations for a customized
    program tailored to the identified need to reinforce a “sales” culture within the firm while providing
    attorneys with the understanding, skills, process and personal system to feel comfortable “selling” to clients
    rather than just “servicing” them as in most law firms.




Step Two – Program Development
    The client agreed with the assessment of the limitations of their current business development capabilities
    and gave Corporate Ladders the approval to develop the training program necessary to introduce and build
    the business development skills of their staff.

    This step included both internal and external research to support and build upon the proven sales training
    and professional coaching resources within Corporate Ladders. The client identified an initial group of
    eight attorneys to participate in a Pilot Program. The program was developed with benchmarks and
    measurements in place to assess progress towards desired outcomes. Corporate Ladders interviewed each
    of the Pilot Program participants and reviewed their personal business development intentions, plans and
    obstacles.



Step Three – Program Implementation/Group & Individual
    Once the program was developed and all components were in place, Corporate Ladders began program
    implementation. The first initiative was to deliver a Business Development Seminar for Legal Professionals,
    specifically created to meet the client’s immediate business development needs. This seminar was held over
    a two-day period with eight attorneys attending and completing the seminar. Individual feedback supported
    by statistical measurement was all positive and each of the attorneys involved was eager to move forward
    to the next step which involved one-on-one coaching to reinforce learned processes, develop personal
    business development plans and facilitate behavior outside their previous “comfort zones.”

    Specific areas covered during the follow up coaching sessions included:
       • Focusing on ways to make time available for business development.
       • Learning to embrace marketing and business development activities.
       • Why this is a critical element of their career development within the firm.
       • Developing a systematic approach to selling.
       • Making the most of large group networking events.
       • Ways to bridge personal and social contacts to business-related conversations.

    As with any new skill, time was spent in developing the necessary comfort level and confidence in the
    area of developing new business and feeling good about it.


                                               Corporate Ladders           119 Donnybrook Drive   201 825 8296 office
                                               info@corporateladders.com   Allendale, NJ 07401    201 818 8673 fax
The Players
    The program was developed and delivered under the leadership and project management of Corporate
    Ladders along with the law firm’s internal marketing and business development staff. In addition to
    the eight attorneys directly involved in the initial program delivery, Corporate Ladders also met with
    practice heads and upper management to discuss the program, benefits to the organization and
    potential impact on business that a corporate-wide business development strategy would have on the
    firm’s business going forward.



The Results
    Attorneys that went through the Corporate Ladders program have increased their “comfort” level with
    Business/Client development expectations and “know how.” They have also made personal commitments
    to “making time” for marketing and business development activities and have created personal business
    development plans with actionable and measurable marketing and sales activities. The law firm now has a
    practical program in place to reinforce its focus on business development and equip its legal professionals
    with skills, processes, personal systems and on-going support to efficiently and comfortably uncover and
    close new business opportunities.



Final Outcome
    The impact of the initial group of eight attorneys has been so positive that the program was endorsed
    by the firm’s Partners and is now being rolled out to additional attorneys throughout the firm. The client
    plans to put all attorneys in the firm through this program and Corporate Ladders will continue to develop
    and deliver additional program components and ongoing coaching to further develop the new business
    development culture and results within the firm. Comments from Program Participants:

       • “ ‘I felt like a rock star’ at a professional conference following a pre-conference dinner I (program
          participant) hosted. Rich’s tips, worksheets and two presentations inspired me to put more time and
          effort into both credentializing myself and looking for sales opportunities.”

       • “The program has forced me to focus on my marketing efforts. Since commencing the program, I
          have reached out to at least eight contacts and had lunch with three of them to discuss potential
          sources of business.” One of the introductions was credited to the Corporate Ladders coaching.

       • “My general impressions are that Arends did a good job de-mystifying selling and gave (me) concrete
          suggestions on how to sell.”

       • “The program has helped me…to differentiate between the concepts of ‘marketing’ and ‘selling’. As a
          result I am able to better focus my efforts…I found Rich’s insights on how to improve the quality of
          your network will increase the likelihood of deriving benefits from it.”




                                              Corporate Ladders           119 Donnybrook Drive   201 825 8296 office
                                              info@corporateladders.com   Allendale, NJ 07401    201 818 8673 fax