The Strategic Lawyer Gets More Clients

Jill Schachner Chanen, a Legal Affairs Writer for the ABA Journal, has written an excellent article called "The Strategic Lawyer" on page 43 of the July 2005 ABA Journal.  I mention it here because you may have overlooked the marketing angle. 

The article makes the same point I do to my law firm clients: corporations are placing a premium on advisers who understand their business and the company's big picture.

According to Chanen, clients are sick of "profit-minded, specialty-touting multinational megalaw firms.  Given the high salaries firms pay lawyers, clients can no longer hire advisers who have nothing to offer besides basic legal training." Instead, they want a strategic lawyer (or accountant, consultant or other adviser), who:

• Knows how to approach a problem in light of the company's overall business strategy.
• Helps the client accomplish its business goals.
• Is one part cosigliere, one part Sun-Tzu warrior and one part Yoda.
• Shows clients how the law helps them gain a competitive position.
• Are business-centric, not law-centric.
• May say "no" to a client, but will have another suggestion to meet the business objective.
• Understands the client's business, how it operates, how it makes money, who its competitors are, what its key relationships are and what its goals for growth are.
• Understands how much risk the business accepts.
• Won't suggest filing suit if it would jeopardize an important business relationship.
• Advises clients how to set up new systems for oversight so that it can prevent litigation in the first place.
• Thinks how a matter fits into the larger policy perspective of a client, starts forging consensus and develops a team around a problem.

These strategic lawyers are known as "rainmakers."