To succeed at many law firms, attorneys need to promote their skill set — and land new clients.
Firms expect, and regularly reward, attorneys for delivering regular work: A recent survey from Major, Lindsey & Africa and ALM Legal Intelligence found that the majority of attorneys–65 percent–said that bringing in business had the biggest effect on compensation at their firm.
Industry events can yield a number of networking opportunities. However, trying to find, approach and build a rapport with a dozen or so potential new clients in a room of strangers isn’t easy — even for the most outgoing attorney.
Time is money (particularly if your firm works on a billable hours system), and you want to get the most bang for your networking buck when you invest a few hours, or days, in an event.
How can you maximize your networking experience? Consider the following suggestions:
Look for a variety of events. Attend local legal industry educational events — and ones held in other cities that can expose you to new markets.
Come prepared. Take care of the basics beforehand: Bring more business cards than you think you need and make sure your website is updated before the event.
If an attendee list is published ahead of time, scan it for any companies or organizations you might be able to work with so you know who to look for. (The CLLA, for example, distributes a list to attendees before and after the event, to help attorneys identify the key people they’d like to talk to.)
Sign up for non-networking conference events. Cocktail hours and lunches aren’t the only times you can make new business contacts.
Strike up casual conversations at hospitality break snack lines. Ask out-of-town attendees if it’s their first time in your city and suggest a restaurant to check out. Ask the person next to you if they’ve ever worked in a certain practice area as you exit an educational session. Once you subtly guide the conversation to involve what you both do for a living, offer your services, if ever needed; give the person your card — and follow up after the event to say how much you enjoyed meeting them.
Sign up for any structured networking events as soon as you hear about them. Organized one-on-one speed networking and other similar events are often some of the most popular offerings at regional and national conferences. They also often require separate registration, in addition to the general conference or meeting registration.
Organizations don’t want to underestimate attendance and overbook the space they’ve allotted. The Commercial Law League of America (CLLA) has tried having attendees sign up the day of the event — but we now require attendees to send a separate e-mail to sign up for the Agency and Attorney One-On-One Networking Event and Women in Collections Networking Tea that are scheduled for our upcoming convention. There’s no extra cost to attend either event; but the advanced notice helps us estimate seating needs and ensure that everyone gets the most out of the experience.
After you register for the main conference, check to see if you also need to do anything else to save a spot. Space often fills up quickly at individual networking events –- and you don’t want to miss out on these key opportunities to meet new clients.
Many association conferences and meetings now offer a mix of more casual networking opportunities — like lunches — and more structured networking events that involve games or other introduction-related activities to help attendees meet each other.
This year, the non-profit Commercial Law League — which has connected commercial credit, bankruptcy and finance professionals through networking, education and legislative advocacy since 1895 — restructured its April 11-13 Chicago Convention to include nightly cocktail hours and meet-and-greet events designed to directly introduce attendees. It’s a new way of thinking; and it’s one we think our convention attendees will find immensely helpful.
Our Chicago Convention, which will be held at the Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago April 11-13, also offers attorneys a variety of educational sessions (including 16+ hours of CLE) on topics like complex commercial litigation, TCPA and FDCPA regulations, and commercial transactions and collections work under the expansion of same-sex marriage and civil unions -– plus a keynote from former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and litigator-based public speaking bootcamp.
For more information, visit http://www.clla.org/events/default.cfm?action=event_details&event=275.
Since 1895, the CLLA has connected experienced attorneys with credit grantors, lending institutions and other members of the commercial credit, bankruptcy and general finance industries, providing new business opportunities through networking, education, legislative advocacy and highly effective specialized legal services. Marketing Director Erin Brereton, who wrote this post, has more than 15 years experience working with associations, corporations, small businesses and nonprofits. She also has written for more than 50 publications, including the Chicago Tribune, Legal Management magazine, Commercial Law World magazine, Wealth magazine, Life & Style Weekly, CommonSenseMedia.org and Discovery magazine. For more information on the CLLA, visit www.CLLA.org.
