Exhibit 5 Answer Five Questions to Identify and Find New Clients

• Library: Building Rainmakers: The Definitive Guide to Business Development for Lawyers (ABA) (2016 Ed.)

Exhibit 5 Answer Five Questions to Identify and Find New Clients

By Merrilyn Astin Tarlton

Partner/Catalyst at Attorney at Work blog, founding member of the Legal Marketing Association

When you finish up a big case or put the final signatures on a long-time-closing contract, things can get slow around your office. You might begin feeling a little panicky. It's dangerously easy at that point to slip into thinking you'd take any old legal work you could lay your hands on—just to keep the cash flowing. And sure enough, that's what you do—jump on your horse and gallop off in all directions looking for work. And, sure enough, you bring in "any old legal work."

Now let's back up: What if instead of panicking, you spent your quieter times bringing in work that you'd love doing? And, since you are expending all that business development effort anyway, what if you made your marketing tasks pay off over the long-term as well as this month? Yeah, that's what we thought, too. So this article is dedicated to the proposition that you actually can draw a bead on exactly the kind of work you want to do.

There Are Just Five Simple Questions to Answer

Sit down with pencil and pad, and let's quickly figure out the equation to get you started off right. Take the following questions in order, and answer them thoughtfully. In some instances, you may need to pause and do a bit of research.

(1) What kind of work would you really like to do? Perhaps you took a wrong...