The Evolution of Law Firm Business Development

To Amy Shepherd, who's been at the helm of the Ballard Spahr marketing department since 2017, the big difference in marketing departments is the way they have appropriately stratified into specialties — practice areas such as corporate, litigation, IP and employment law. "Marketing used to be a few people with all-encompassing roles," she says, until the idea of business development as a focus hit the industry, and soon, "everyone wanted to be a business developer." But not everyone is.

Shepherd says she's restructured her team several times to accommodate the shifting emphases of her firm. The business development (often abbreviated B.D.) function is unique, though, and focuses on understanding and targeting the needs of new prospects, and positioning the firm and its lawyers to help bring the new work in. It's not magic; this often entails creating a process and a business pipeline to bring them in, and strategizing over the long term (months, and even years) to turn an acquaintance or contact of a lawyer into a new or expanded client. She noted the trend toward professionalizing the B.D. specialty, and in Ballard Spahr's case, that meant getting her team certified as business development coaches, in an intensive course with an outside consultant.