Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

As the economy contracts, law firm clients have laid off more than 600,000 employees -- in January alone.  Law firms are feeling the ripple effect.  In just two days in February -- Black Thursday and Friday the 13th -- 1,100 legal professionals lost their jobs or received buyout offers.  According to industry experts, this is just the start.

As books of business continue to shrink, what is a fearful lawyer to do?  This article is based on a Feb. 10 presentation on this subject to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, made by relationship development coach Cindy Rold.

Does this economic cloud have a silver lining?  More time for business development!

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At many law firms, there is a significant knowledge and experience gap between the "finder" generation of senior partners and the "minder and grinder" generations of junior partners and senior associates.  Who will fill the gap when the rainmakers retire?  In the April 2007 article, business development consultant Mark Maraia of Maraia & Associates discusses training young lawyers to become the next generation of rainmakers.

Mind the gap:  Train today's young lawyers to become tomorrow's rainmakers

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At one time, a law firm associate who wanted to make partner simply had to do good work and stick around for five to seven years.  Today, the path to partnership is much more complicated.  An associate who wants to make partner must know how to develop -- and keep -- a good book of business.  In this September 2007 article, Michael Smith, a strategic business counselor with SBC & Associates, discusses the skills that young lawyers can use to develop business.

Associate today; partner tomorrow:  Business development skills for young lawyers

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The financial health of most law firms relies on the efforts of a few rainmakers -- lawyers who are able to keep the new-business pipeline flowing while their colleagues focus on the practice of law.  Who will make the rain fall at these firms when it comes time for the traditional rainmakers to retire or move on?  In this April 2006 article, Mark Maraia and John Mitchell discuss the creation of a formal structure to pass rainmaking skills from one generation of lawyers to the next.

Rainmakers:  Law firms must look to the next generation

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