Written by Matt Church, Commercial Director at Carbon Law Partners.
One of the assumptions I come across most in the legal industry is that building a practice is simply a product of experience. The theory seems sensible enough… become technically brilliant, build a strong reputation, look after your clients and the growth of your practice will follow.
But when you look deeper, that isn’t always the case.
We all know lawyers with great technical ability whose practices have remained largely the same for years, whilst others expand their client base, strengthen their market presence and develop business throughout their careers. The difference isn’t always work ethic or legal expertise – it’s how individuals choose to invest their time and energy.
For many successful lawyers, success often makes future growth more difficult. As practices develop, client demands increase, workloads expand and diaries increasingly fill up. While this is generally a sign that things are going well, it can also create an unexpected problem. The activity that aids future growth gradually gives way to the demands of in-flight work.
Client development is put on the back burner until things become quieter. Industry events are declined because there simply isn’t enough time. Conversations with contacts become reactive rather than proactive. Opportunities to write, speak or be visible in the market are pushed down the priority list. Before long, the focus becomes centred on servicing today’s workload rather than creating tomorrow’s opportunity.
In my experience, this is often the point at which growth begins to slow.
Lawyers with the most successful practices recognise that business development is not something that sits separately to the day job. They understand that building a practice needs continual investment, even when workload is high. It’s tempting to view networking, relationship building and profile raising as stuff that can wait, but the reality is these are the very activities that sustain long term growth.
The challenge, of course, is that the ROI here isn’t immediate. A relationship developed today may not generate work for months. An introduction made this year may not become commercially valuable until much later. Because the impact is difficult to measure short term, it becomes easy to deprioritise.
Also, the most successful lawyers rarely try to build their practices alone.
Lawyers who continue to grow are comfortable seeking introductions, asking for advice and leveraging the connections of the people around them.
This shouldn’t be mistaken for dependency. Quite the opposite. It reflects an understanding that relationships are the most valuable assets any professional possesses. Time and again I’ve seen opportunities come through trusted introductions, referrals and recommendations that would never have materialised through individual effort alone.
Ultimately, I don’t believe lawyers plateau because they lose ambition or ability. More often, they become trapped by the demands of the practice they have already built and not capitalising on the network around them.
The lawyers who continue to grow seem to avoid this trap. They find ways to keep investing in the future while continuing to deliver in the present. They remain visible, maintain relationships, utilise their networks and create opportunities long before they actually need them.
That is easier said than done, but I suspect it explains far more about long-term growth than legal ability ever will.
