Teach Me to Network

[Anonymous]

I'm an introverted, female law partner in a boutique regulatory firm. I became partner based solely on my skills at doing good work, making existing clients like me, and finding ways to be helpful to these clients without being overbearing.

Late last week, I was told in no uncertain terms to go get new clients for the firm, as one of our big projects is drying up. I have three kids under 5 and little free time. I've never networked a minute in my life (unless you call trying to be a nice person to those you encounter networking) and just don't have contacts with the people who make the hiring and firing decisions.

Where do I start? Do I just go ask random people to lunch and pitch them? Would that even work? I'm so not cut out for this, since I would feel terrible "poaching" someone who already has counsel...

[Anonymous]

Talking to people is the first step. A fellow dance mom turned out to be a department head for a major corporation and is now a client.

[Anonymous]

Can you reach out to former clients, trade associations, conferences? If you are regulatory, does your firm have any kind of technical assistance presence in the industry? For example, doing a very general training (lunch or breakfast presentation) on how to interpret a regulatory change and inviting potential clients or impacted organizations? You could write a blog post for a trade/member association website, present at a conference, provide some prominent pro bono support?
All of these would involve contact with organizations who might need your expertise, word of mouth, and building relationships with people who know a lot of people in their industry.

[Anonymous]

The first step is assessing your current network. Make a list of all of the people with whom you've had positive working relationships. People who have seen your great work product, have worked with you in the past, people who could vouch for your professionalism and expertise, etc. This can be former in-house counsel at clients, co-counsel, former colleagues who have moved on, former classmates at law school, etc. Now, go through the list and make sure that you have up-to-date employment info on all of them. Has Betty moved from law firm X to in-house counsel at company Z? Has Geoff moved from former client A to trade association B? Find out.

The next step is reaching out to your current network. Prioritize the list made in step 1 according to (1) how well they know you, and (2) how likely to lead to business. Reach out and say you noticed their new position at X and wanted to meet with them to discuss how you could help them do Y. Or that you wanted to touch base with them since it's been awhile since you did A for them. Or whatever. The point is to reconnect, remind them that you're around, available, and kickass, and hopefully get your name into their mind so the next time something comes up they think, "Oh, Larla is an expert in that. I should give her a call."

The third step is to grow your network. You have to do this constantly. Your firm should help you with this, but the idea is to raise your profile and meet people. Give talks at conferences, write papers in business journals (not law journals, which are rarely read by clients, but business journals), go to industry events, etc. You need to be constantly growing your network because you never know where the next client will come from.

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine wrote a book on the topic OP on Amazon and asked a lot of us to review it. Here's the link -

Originate: Business Development For Lawyers, (click here to read: http://bit.ly/23iuCMP).