Three Steps to Building & Maintaining a Strong Network
| Publication year | 2020 |
| Author | By Christopher Walters |
By Christopher Walters
Chris Walters is a business litigation attorney. He was a partner at an international law firm before starting his own firm in 2014. He represents business owners in contract/business disputes and has extensive experience with business divorces (disputes within a company between partners/shareholders).
There are several different ways to develop business. Some lawyers use advertising like billboards and advertisements in magazines. Other lawyers use the internet with Facebook ads, pay per click, and search engine optimization. There are definitely benefits to these methods, including that it does not require a lot of time by the attorney (although it may be costly) and if done correctly, it can make the phone ring. The question is whether or not those potential clients are the right clients for your particular firm. I have personally chosen to develop business by establishing and nurturing a network of contacts. Overall, this requires more attorney time than some of the other methods (I need to personally attend and interact with my colleagues), but I have found that while the referrals are not high volume, they are often more appropriate for my practice and firm.
I am a business litigation attorney, with previous experience as a partner at a large, international law firm before I began my solo practice six years ago. I position myself as an alternative to the larger (more expensive) law firms and my goal is not a high-volume practice but to instead attract fewer clients with larger litigation matters (twenty new clients per year). All of these affect my networking efforts.
My networking model has three steps:
1. Establish Relationships with Trusted Advisors
Who are the people that would know of litigation issues for local companies and would be asked for a referral to a litigation attorney?
2. Educate Trusted Advisors
What are the best cases/clients for my firm? Why should they recommend my firm to their clients/ contacts?3. Maintain Constant Contact
How can my law firm stay "top of mind", ensuring that each trusted advisor thinks of me when learning of an appropriate client/case to refer?
To begin, you need to identify the categories of trusted advisors who are a good fit for your practice. This depends on what your practice is and what type of clients you are looking for. Are you hired by consumers so that every person is a potential client that may need your legal services? What is your realistic revenue goal for the clients: how large of matters are you looking for?1
Once you have identified the type of clients you are seeking, you can then determine who is the trusted advisor to such clients. When this potential client discovers that they have the need for services you provide, who do they ask for a referral? For example, in my practice, when a San Diego company is sued for a million dollars, who does the CEO ask for a litigator referral? These are the type of people that I want to meet and that allows them to be in a position to send me quality...
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