Business Development for law firms

A Business Development Coordinator’s Insider Perspective

Ecco un articolo scritto appositamente per questo blog da Melania Wenstrup. Melania lavora a Washington, coordina le attività di sviluppo del business di un studio legale internazionale di 509 avvocati. La sua lingua madre è l’inglese ma avendo vissuto fino ai 18 anni a Napoli parla perfettamente anche l’italiano. Poi ha lasciato l’Italia per intraprendere gli studi universitari negli Stati Uniti. Sono contenta che voglia condividere qui la sua esperienza perché credo che possa dare un contributo utile a capire meglio in cosa consiste l’attività di business development per gli studi legali. [n.d.r.]

[Leggi la versione italiana]

As a Business Development Coordinator at Blank Rome, a prominent international law firm servicing the global interest of our clients, I work with a team of 30 professionals to support the business development efforts of 509 attorneys. The firm is one of America’s fastest growing law firms and we have the largest admiralty and maritime practice in the U.S.

I enjoy the effective and vibrant marketing culture here at the firm. My role serves as a business development liaison providing firm-wide support to the development of targeted pitches and presentations, including responses to RFPs, prospect research and cross-selling of services across the firm. I help to identify specific business development opportunities by maintaining strong knowledge of the markets, including business trends and competitive landscape. Working closely with our attorneys, I oversee the drafting of customized business proposals that speak to our client’s interests and concerns.

In general terms, our overall objective is to provide our attorneys with the right tools that enable them to expand client portfolios, strengthen relationships with existing clients and make new contacts that might develop into a business opportunity. On the job, my goal is to differentiate our firm and add value to the business development process. I do this in various ways. Sometimes it is simply taking the time to understand our client, the industry it serves, their goals and the issues impacting our client’s business, I then match our experience to our client’s needs. Other times, I work with my team to develop and analyze business development strategies for various practice groups and industry focus groups.

Technology has a huge impact on the effectiveness and responsiveness of our team. I am currently working with a firm-wide team on a powerful new knowledge aggregation interface that will pull vital information for business development and branding materials from such diverse data sources as our billing system, our CRM, web site and other expert databases that we currently maintain as stand-alones.

Article written by Melania Wenstrup, contact: Wenstrup@BlankRome.com. Ms. Wenstrup graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business Management and Business Law. She has also attended the University of Maastricht, Netherlands, where she focused her studies on relationship marketing.