Do your lawyers underestimate the value of client development skills?

I am continually amazed when hearing about law firm partners who willingly spend weeks or months preparing for a trial or deal closing yet, when faced with a significant pitch opportunity to develop business with an existing client, they go into the presentation without adequate advance preparation. Usually, that lack of preparation shows in the final results, with sophisticated clients choosing those law firms that have put in substantial effort to clearly demonstrate why they should be selected over others.

Unfortunately, this is a lesson that is often learned the hard way for those lawyers who were not as prepared as they should have been. To reduce these instances as much as possible, our firm has developed an internal professional development programme to help provide lawyers with tangible research and presentation skills and build durable client relationships for the future.

I recently conducted the first part of this programme for selected K&L Gates associates, who participated via videoconference from dozens of our offices around the world. The primary purpose of the multi-session workshop was to build practical client development and presentation skills, with the programme culminating in a role-playing scenario in which randomly-selected teams of associates made pitches to mock client panels of firm partners.

Originally conceived in 2007 as a joint effort between our marketing and professional development departments, this programme has gone through numerous iterations since its inception, having evolved over the years based on direct feedback from participants (many have since been promoted to partner).

The concept was initially developed based on my recollection of the countless team-based projects that I endured during my days at business school. Aside from the unique challenges presented by working in a couple of somewhat dysfunctional teams (balanced by many more productive and functional teams), I wholeheartedly believe that these business school experiences helped to develop my presentation skills, while at the same time honing my ability to work comfortably in a group. I found it rather surprising that law school students often had limited experiences of a similar nature to draw upon.

One of my goals of the programme was to remove some of the mystique attached to the pitch process, taking associates out of their comfort zones and thereby enabling them to feel more confident about getting involved in active client development efforts as early as possible in their careers, rather than waiting until they are made partner to begin such activities. Our associates consistently seem to benefit from the exercise of gathering research as a team, working together in a collaborative fashion across offices and practices, and ultimately making a presentation to partners, who provide feedback on their efforts.

It is generally the final presentation itself that generates the most enthusiasm from participants, who often feel a bit stymied about what goes into a typical pitch. By pushing lawyers to answer general questions about our firm and to learn about practice areas outside of their own, we have also been able to build critical cross-selling skills, which should pay dividends for individual participants and the firm alike.

I believe that these programmes can be quite useful for associates, but the skill building and overall lessons learned also apply equally to partners. At the end of the day, the process of making an effective pitch comes down to rigorous preparation. That preparation comes in the form of: industry or company research conducted in advance of the meeting; selection of the most appropriate lawyer team; concise delivery of the message; and perceived and actual chemistry between team members and clients. The benefits of these types of client development training programmes should not be taken lightly by firm leaders.

Jeff Berardi is the chief marketing officer at international law firm K&L Gates (www.klgates.com)