TRP 287: Strategic Growth for Law Firm Partners with Scott Love

[00:00:10] You're listening to The Rainmaking Podcast, hosted by high stakes headhunter, author, and professional speaker, Scott Love.

[00:00:23] Hey, this is Scott Love with The Rainmaking Podcast. Thanks for joining me today. And my special guest is me. I'm doing a solo cast, what a lot of people call. This is where I share ideas, things that I've learned that will help you. And this is one of our Tuesday lineup for those just in the legal profession. As you know, I've been working in legal recruiting for quite some time. I've been in the recruiting industry for 30 years.

[00:00:44] In my niche, I recruit corporate and finance focused partners just for big law firms nationally in major markets. I've done other placements in recent years where perhaps an IP group reaches out to me, they want to move, I can help them out. But I'm making about a thousand new friends a year, talking very deeply with partners about their career situation. Some people I get to know, they don't want to move. We're chatty, we're friendly. I'm learning about them and I'm making another friend. And I learn things.

[00:01:13] Every time I talk to someone, I learn something from them. And I've met some very successful partners that have done very well in their firms. And I wanted to share some of these ideas and lessons with you. And our topic title today is called Strategic Growth for Law Firm Partners.

[00:01:29] So there's a couple of Themes with those professionals that have done very well. They really take the growth of their practice seriously. And they've kind of gotten over the fact that, well, I don't want to be a business developer. I just want to be a good attorney, keep my head down, serve my clients and practice law. And that's totally fine in some firms.

[00:01:51] But in most traditional mid-market firms, you've got to grow a book. And if you haven't done it before, it's never too late. I'd met several partners that were just so surprised. I thought I was going to be evaluated based on my legal skills and not my business development skills. And I do think it's a balance. I think if you were to look at the trilogy of focus, you've got to have good legal skills and good legal acumen. You've got to be very deliberate and intentional about your business development.

[00:02:18] And then also your leadership skills, your team leadership skills. You might have a team of three people and you've got to have good leadership skills. Even if you're a small part of a very big group, you still can take a leadership role in that organization. It's those three things, your legal skills, business development skills, and your leadership skills. Those are the things I really think that help people reach their full potential.

[00:02:44] So the common themes of people that have done that, they're intentional and deliberate, and they look at their growth and their practice as an intellectual journey. I can't tell you how many people I talk to that listen to the show and I'm grateful that they thank me for it. I really am because they say that this helps them learn. I got this great idea from one of your guests. I got this fantastic concept. I got this good strategy from one of your guests.

[00:03:10] And I appreciate that feedback, but I think they all enjoy learning things. There is a persona that I would say it's the correct persona facing a client where you're talking to a client and they've got an M&A deal within a certain niche and your client facing persona has to be. I have all the answers. I can solve that problem. I've solved lots of problems like that. And I know what to do. I can help you. The only problem I've seen with having that persona is that it sometimes permeates other areas of their professional life.

[00:03:40] I know everything. No, that's not what you can take to the meeting of peer leadership. You need to be transparent. And in some ways, even vulnerable. You don't have to be that way with everybody all the time, but you just need to admit it to yourself that you can learn more. And when it comes to growing a book of business, go ahead and admit that you need to learn more. So those people that are successful, they read books on client development. They listen to podcasts like this. They read. And in fact, we actually created a newsletter.

[00:04:09] It's actually an online magazine called The Rainmaking Magazine. And at this point, we only charge $19 a month. Check it out. And our goal is to bring eight to ten new content pieces there every month. And that helps teach you how to grow your book of business. We have a lot of our guests that have been here on the show contributing as authors. And then beginning at the end of first quarter, we're going to start with monthly live business development book author interviews.

[00:04:35] Where for a half hour, I'm going to interview them live and it'll be an open Q&A session. So get committed to wanting to learn and grow more in the area of business development. Also, I've met a lot of people that work with a professional business development coach. If you go through our past episodes, you'll find dozens of business development coaches. And I'd recommend that you do that. Find somebody that you're going to work with that's going to help you master this area of growing your practice.

[00:05:04] Number two, these successful partners do something every week. Every week, why not reach out to five past clients or existing clients or prospective clients or even strategic referral partners? Just reach out to five of them a week. Maybe one person a day. There's your five a week. Do something every day. There was one partner who built a thriving intellectual property practice. And I asked him, I said, what do you do? What's caused you to be successful?

[00:05:30] And he says, I set a goal of having 50 meaningful conversations and connections with people every year. I said, 50? How do you get there? He says, it's one a week. 50. So when he goes to a conference, he'll be deliberate and intentional about going there and identifying who are the people he wants to meet and connecting with them at the conference. By the way, we've got some really good conference strategies in the show. Listen to some of our past recordings about how you can maximize those.

[00:05:58] But these people that are successful, they do something consistently. And number three, they are clear on their vision. I would say a good place to start is if your book is about a million to two million and you're with a middle market AMLA 100 or 200 firm, I really think that you have the potential to get to five million. If you've done it at 1.5 to two million, you can definitely get to five or six. You absolutely can do that. I meet people every day that have done that.

[00:06:27] You have to have that vision. I think that if you have a goal, I want to get my practice to X amount with a certain percentage of repeat work and get a coach, somebody that's going to help you do that, the odds are exceptionally high that you will hit that goal. However, I have also seen people where their platform is the deficit. Their platform really is the blocker to keeping them from getting their goals, from reaching their goals.

[00:06:57] I see that a lot. Partners leave law firms for one of two reasons, either leadership issues or strategy issues. By the way, another resource I've created that can help you, if you're thinking about making a move, go to this website and I'll put it in the show notes. It's called partnersonthemove.com. I just launched that. It's a work in progress. But if you go there, I actually set up a quiz where you don't need to put your email address or your name or anything. It's confidential. And there's 10 questions on there.

[00:07:26] And those questions are designed to help you think, what should I do? Should I stay with my firm? Or is there a chance there could be something better compared to where I'm at currently? And what's interesting, probably in looking at over the last 24 months, I'd say about 75% of the placements I've made have been with people where they were pretty happy when I called them. But there was some sort of goal that they didn't think they could reach in their current firm.

[00:07:54] And I suggested just have a conversation with my client, keep it to a half hour. And at the end of that 30-minute time block, ask yourself this. Does it make sense to have a 90-minute meeting with them? Or do we part as friends? And at the end of that 90-minute meeting, does it make sense to fill out a data document like a lateral partner questionnaire and go deeper? Or do we part as friends? And that way, that takes the emotional context, I'd say the stress of having to move with practice. It takes it out of the picture.

[00:08:22] And it gives you a chance to assess, does it make sense? And sometimes I even tell people, take a meeting. And if it's not for you, that's totally fine. We can still be pals. And I can keep you in mind for other things. But sometimes just having a look at another opportunity can either reinforce the fact that your firm is the one for you. You can absolutely reach those goals there. Or maybe it's time to move. Moving is difficult. It's challenging. This is what I do for a living. I never push people into doing it.

[00:08:51] I never talk them into doing it. A lot of people I talk to, I say, your best strategy is just to stay where you are and build. Because you're moving right now with where you are in your book and with certain trends and other variables, it's not going to be in your best interest to move. Even though I'd love to get the placement fee, yeah, that's great. But I'd hate to do that if it's not in someone's best interest. And my whole company mission statement is to channel the self-interest of a partner so it intersects with law firm strategy. I nerd out on this. I go deep on it.

[00:09:21] And it all is based on where you want to go in your career. And how can we help you get there? And do you have the right kind of clients and enough of clients to move? And in fact, moving to another platform, that could be the best thing in the world, not just for you, but for your clients. If you go to a firm that's really good for your clients, I promise you that's going to be really good for you. Anyways, thanks for listening. As always, this podcast is sponsored by SharePoint Legal Insights, formerly known as Leopard Solutions,

[00:09:49] turning legal intelligence into opportunity. And also by The Rainmaking Magazine. For the intellectually driven and results focused professional who wants to grow their book of business, visit therainmakingmagazine.com to chart your course to greater rainmaking success. And by the way, like I mentioned, check out the magazine. It's worth it, 19 bucks a month. That's something that I promise will at least help get you information that will help you grow your practice. Thanks for listening. And I'll catch you next time on the podcast.

[00:10:16] Thank you for listening to The Rainmaking Podcast. For more information about our recruiting services for international law firms, visit our website at attorneysearchgroup.com. To inquire about having Scott speak at your next convention, conference, sales meeting, or executive retreat, visit therainmakingpodcast.com.