Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

This lawyer has tons of business.  A corporation's "'go to lawyer' knows how to think like a businessperson, and he understands the business side's legal needs.  Most importantly: He's considered a part of the executive team," writes Daniel J. DiLucchio on p. 61 of the June 2006 issue of Corporate Counsel magazine.

A go-to lawyer is a lawyer whom corporate business executives want to work with -- and send a lot of billable work.  An excellent business development technique is to become a go-to lawyer.  Here's the advice of DiLucchio, who is a principal with Altman Weil, Inc. in Newtown Square, PA:

• Go-to lawyers, over time, can bond with executives in ways that lead to being considered a part of the business team.
• Go-to lawyers keep up with the law, convey a firm grasp of their legal specialty and can communicate in a practical way.
• They grasp the company's strategic issues -- by knowing the client's competitors and how they affect the company.
• Go-to lawyers are business thinkers -- they don't just know the law, they know what to with it.
• They "put some skin in the game" and share risks with the client. They give clients an idea of what the chances of success are.
• Go-to lawyers have "a strong work ethic and sense of urgency."

In contrast are the loser lawyers, the "naysayers."  These marketing failures:

• Find that the easiest and safest answer to a client question is to say "no."
• Haven't learned much about the company or the business environment
• Requests go into his firm, but nothing comes back out.
• Doesn't return phone calls.
• Let their legal skills go stale.

Which raises the question: What kind of lawyer are you? A go-to lawyer?