Law firm guide
Business development for lawyers who serve companies works best as a weekly system: a target list tied to your practice, a map of who can introduce you, fixed hours on the calendar, and a log of what every touch produced.
Book a demoLast updated September 28, 2026
The short answer
Business development for lawyers who serve companies works as a weekly habit. Keep a short list of companies with a moment that creates work in your practice, map who can introduce you, block the same hours every week, default to a truthful written first touch, and log every origination. Clean finds those companies, the reason for each, and who can introduce you.
When business development stalls, the cause is usually plain: there is no list, so billable work fills the week and BD becomes whatever happens at the next event. Start with a short list of companies you want as clients, tied to one practice and one or two industries whose economics you already understand.
Every company needs a written reason, and the strongest reasons are moments that create legal work in your practice. A company wins a large contract and takes on subcontracts and compliance terms. It agrees to buy another company, and diligence follows. It signs a long lease, starts importing under its own name, or moves into a new state. If you cannot write the reason in one sentence, the company comes off the list.
Two filters before a name goes live: run conflicts, because a company on the other side of a deal your firm is on stays off the list, and leave out current clients, who belong in cross-selling. Conflicts matter after the first meeting too. Under ABA Model Rule 1.18, a company that consults you about a possible engagement is a prospective client, and you cannot use or reveal what it tells you even if you are never hired. If that information could significantly harm the company, it can also bar you and your firm from the other side of the same or a substantially related matter unless consent or screening applies.
Then put the plan on one page, using the template below. The next steps, from list to first conversation, are in how to get corporate clients as a lawyer.
A one-page business development plan template (the example column is invented)
| Line | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Practice and industries | One practice, one or two industries | Commercial real estate for food and beverage companies |
| Target list | Companies, each with a one-line reason | A regional bakery group buys a site for a new distribution center |
| Who hires, who introduces | The person who hires outside counsel, and your warm path | The CEO (no in-house lawyer); a tax partner here sits on a board with them |
| Referral partners | Two or three advisors you will meet on a schedule | One accounting firm, one commercial bank |
| Content and events | One alert or talk a month, one association | A quarterly alert on site deals; the state food industry association's legal committee |
| Weekly blocks | Fixed times and the output of each | The sample week below |
A relationship map answers two questions for each company: who hires outside counsel there, and who you know who knows them. Where there is an in-house legal team, the first answer is usually the general counsel or chief legal officer; where there is not, the CEO or the owner. The general counsel guide covers what that person does and weighs.
For the second question, look across the whole firm, not only your own contacts: partners in other practices, clients who sit on boards or association committees, former colleagues who went in-house, and the accountants and bankers you already work with. One real introduction beats a stack of polished letters.
Ask only for an introduction. Let the introducer describe you in their own words, and do not script what they say about the company's legal matter. ABA Formal Opinion 501 says recommendations by third parties who are not employed, retained or similarly associated with you, and whose communications are not directed to make specific statements to particular potential clients for you, do not generally count as solicitation. Keep any thank-you nominal. More on warm paths in warm introductions: who can introduce you.
Business development compounds only if it happens every week, busy weeks included. Put fixed blocks on the calendar, treat them like client meetings, and give each one an output you can check off. The sample week below comes to just under four hours; adjust the times to your role and what your firm expects.
Associates can weight the week toward writing, internal relationships and pitch prep. Partners can weight it toward introductions, client teams and referral partners. BD staff can research the list and draft materials, but they should not make live contact you could not make yourself: under Formal Opinion 501, you can in some circumstances be responsible for live solicitation others carry out for you. The same opinion says failing to train the people you employ or retain on Rule 7.3's limits may itself violate Rules 5.3 and 8.4(a), so train them.
A sample week of lawyer business development (adjust the times to your role)
| Block | Activity | Time | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday morning | Review the target list. Add companies with a new moment and send new names to conflicts. | 30 min | Names cleared or dropped, each with a reason |
| Tuesday | Ask one contact for an introduction. Send one truthful written first touch to a company that has cleared conflicts, following your state's rules. | 45 min | One introduction request and one first touch, logged |
| Wednesday | Write or update one client alert, article or talk outline for your target industry. | 60 min | One draft, checked for client names and confidential details |
| Thursday | An industry association meeting, a committee call, or coffee with a referral partner. | 60 min | Who you met and one follow-up you owe |
| Friday afternoon | One cross-selling conversation with a partner in another practice. Update the origination log. | 30 min | Log current, next steps dated |
Bar events are good for referrals from other lawyers, but the people who hire you for business work spend their time elsewhere: the trade association for the industry you target, the regional group for CFOs and controllers, the chamber committee on the issue you handle. Pick one or two and go every time. Repeat attendance is what turns a name tag into a relationship.
Show up with a role: a committee seat, a small roundtable, a short talk on a legal change that affects members. In a 2025 survey of nearly 100 law firm marketing and business development leaders by the Legal Marketing Association and Above the Law, attending trade shows ranked second on the list of least useful business development tactics, while in-person speaking ranked third among the most important marketing activities. It is one small survey of marketers' views, but the point is practical: be on the program, not only on the floor.
Keep event conversations on the business. ABA Model Rule 7.3(b) bars soliciting professional employment by live contact when a significant motive is pecuniary gain, unless an exception applies, and the business-purposes exception is narrow and missing in some states. The comment to Florida's solicitation rule lets a lawyer start a routine exchange of contact information at business events if the lawyer does not raise a specific legal matter, but not by going to a meeting to reach someone the lawyer knows has a specific legal problem. It also says a speaker does not form a professional relationship with attendees just by speaking, so a talk does not open the door to live solicitation. If a company is on your list because of a moment, do not work the room to raise it: swap cards, learn the business, and follow up in writing under your state's rules.
The advisors in the room when a company buys, borrows or expands make natural referral partners: the outside accountant, the commercial banker, the M&A advisor, the insurance broker, and lawyers at firms whose practices do not overlap with yours. Formal Opinion 501 notes that many legal consumers get information about lawyers from acquaintances and other professionals, and it treats a banker passing a lawyer's name to customers as a permissible word-of-mouth referral when the lawyer does not direct what the banker says. As with introducers, do not script what they tell particular prospects. Meet on a schedule, and send work their way only when it is right for your client.
The limits are specific. ABA Model Rule 7.2(b) bars giving anything of value for recommending your services. The exceptions include reasonable advertising costs, reciprocal referral agreements with another lawyer or a nonlawyer professional that are not exclusive and that clients are told about, and nominal gifts that are neither intended nor reasonably expected as payment for referrals. The comments add that reciprocal arrangements must not interfere with your professional judgment and should not run indefinitely. Paying a vendor to find prospects for you is a separate question under the Rule 7.2 comments, covered in law firm prospecting for business-client firms.
You cannot share legal fees with an accountant or banker (Rule 5.4(a)). A fee split with a lawyer at another firm must meet Rule 1.5(e): the split tracks the work or both lawyers take joint responsibility, the client agrees to the arrangement and each lawyer's share with the agreement confirmed in writing, and the total fee is reasonable. States vary, so check yours.
Write what helps a general counsel brief the CEO. A useful client alert names a change (a new rule, a court decision, a shift in enforcement), says which companies it touches, and ends with the two or three decisions a legal team now faces. Keep it short, date it, and write for your target industry rather than for other lawyers.
Confidentiality is the trap. ABA Model Rule 1.6 bars revealing information relating to a representation unless the client gives informed consent or another exception applies, and Formal Opinion 480 makes clear the duty covers blogs and other public commentary even when the information is already public. Dressing a matter up as a hypothetical does not help if readers could work out who the client is. Get consent before mentioning a client, matter or deal detail, and never write about a target company as if you already know its legal problems.
Rule 7.1 applies too: past results presented so they create unjustified expectations, or unsubstantiated comparisons with other firms, can mislead even when every fact is true. Claim to be a certified specialist only if an organization approved by a state authority or accredited by the ABA certified you, and you name it (Rule 7.2(c)). Firm-level channels and budgets belong in the law firm marketing plan for business clients.
Many moments on your target list touch more than one practice. An acquisition brings deal work and often real estate, employment and financing questions; the M&A business development guide walks through them. Cross-selling works when it is specific: bring a colleague to a client meeting for a stated reason, not a capabilities tour. Settle any shared origination credit in writing before the meeting, so the conversation stays about the client.
Track everything in one log, a spreadsheet or the firm's CRM. It shows which reasons turn into conversations, and it is your record when origination credit is decided. Firms define origination credit differently, so read your firm's policy before a matter opens. Over time the log becomes the record behind a portable book of business; the habits that feed it are in how to become a rainmaker. Fields worth keeping:
Fields for a lawyer's business development and origination log
| Field | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Company and reason | The moment, its date, the practice it touches | Tells you which reasons work |
| Who hires outside counsel | Name and role: general counsel, CEO or owner | Points the first touch at the right person |
| Warm path | Who can introduce you, and whether they agreed | Tells you what to ask for next |
| Conflicts | Date cleared and who cleared it | Shows you checked before reaching out |
| Touches | Date, channel, what you sent | Keeps follow-up honest |
| Declined | Date they asked not to be contacted | Rule 7.3(c): no further solicitation |
| Outcome | Matter opened, originating lawyer, cross-referrals | Your origination record |
A summary of the ABA Model Rules and three state versions as of September 2026. It is not legal or ethics advice. Your state's rules control, so check them and ask ethics counsel when in doubt.
Clean does the research at the top of this system: which companies go on the list, and why. You tell it who to look for by industry, company size, region and the kind of matter you want, and who to leave out, such as current clients. Clean finds companies at moments that create legal work (a large contract won, a real estate deal or new site, new import activity, a new license or registration, an acquisition) and gives you the reason, the practice area it touches and the person who hires outside counsel.
For the relationship map, Clean shows who in your team's network can introduce you. Each reason comes with the records behind it, so the partner who will reach out can check it first. Clean does not use intent data and does not send messages for you: your lawyers run conflicts, decide who to contact and write the first touch. See how Clean works, or book a demo from the law firms page to see companies in your market with a moment that creates work in your practice, and who to reach.
Business development for lawyers is the work of turning relationships and moments at companies into new matters. For a lawyer who serves businesses, it means a short target list tied to one practice, knowing who hires outside counsel and who can introduce you, writing and speaking in your clients' industries, bringing in colleagues from other practices, and logging what each touch produced.
There is no standard figure; it depends on your role and what your firm expects. Consistency matters more than volume. A few fixed blocks every week, each with a named output such as one introduction request or one draft client alert, beat a burst of activity once a quarter. The sample week in this guide runs just under four hours.
Generally no. ABA Model Rule 7.2(b) bars giving anything of value for recommending a lawyer's services. Exceptions include reasonable advertising costs, non-exclusive reciprocal referral agreements that clients are told about, and nominal thank-you gifts that are not promised in advance or tied to future referrals. Fee splits with other firms must meet Rule 1.5(e), and legal fees cannot be shared with nonlawyers. Check your state's version.
Go where the people who hire outside counsel spend time: the trade association for your clients' industry, regional groups for finance and operations leaders, and committees tied to the issues you handle. Bar events still help with referrals from other lawyers. Take a committee or panel role, and keep conversations on the business rather than a specific legal matter.
One page is enough: the practice and one or two target industries, a short list of companies with a written reason for each, who hires outside counsel there and who can introduce you, the referral partners you will invest in, planned articles or talks, fixed weekly time blocks, and a log of touches, declines, matters opened and origination.
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