Legal professionals need to stick together. And today, more than ever, need to live by the adage, “A rising tide lifts all ships.” With this in mind, let’s talk about women in law and drive home some points that will encourage even the youngest of associates to see the golden path before them.
It’s well documented that in the history of law, women are having unprecedented success. Statistics from sources like the ABA might appease some, but, for me, I’m seeing firsthand every day the massive shifts in my coaching practice. The business development classes I teach for lawyers are 40% to 50% women. In years past, it hovered closer to 10% to 20%. Many of my female clients are managing their own firms, making equity partner, and bringing in more business than many men do. And in my humble opinion, the best is yet to come.
Let’s start out by looking at the positive shifts in the legal landscape. In data found in a 2023 ABA study, we see some interesting trends.
- Women now significantly outnumber men in U.S. law schools, and the gap is widening.
- More women are in corporate “power roles” than ever before.
- Law firms are more interested in hiring and promoting women than in years past.
- More women are running firms and making equity, which has narrowed the pay gap for many women.
This positive overview doesn’t mean the world is perfect for women right now. There’s still significant compensation inequality at the top for women, not to mention the additional pressures of life choices that often include caretaking for children and/or parents. That all being said, the No. 1 way for women to succeed in their private-practice law career is by developing that all mighty book of business. In my experience coaching women lawyers for the past 16 years, the keys to success fall into three primary areas of focus. Here are three critical tips to implement that have proven effective with the women I’ve coached to dramatically grow their law practices.
Stop ‘Winging It’ And Start Planning For It!
Many lawyers are out there just doing what they “think” they should be doing and hoping that business will come from their efforts. The key is to develop a solid plan that cuts right to the bone. Wasting time is the same as wasting money. Every hour spent doing the wrong things, with the wrong people, the wrong way, will keep you from accomplishing your business goals. A good step before writing a plan is to begin taking stock of your clients, referral sources, and closest personal contacts. Always focus on the low-hanging fruit first. Here’s my ranking of business opportunities from easiest to obtain to hardest to acquire:
- Getting more business from your existing clients.
- Cross-marketing your clients with additional services.
- Obtaining quality introductions from your existing clients.
- Leveraging your strongest relationships for direct business opportunities or quality introductions.
- Developing strategic partnerships with good referral sources.
- Attending conferences where prospective clients and referral sources are.
- Attending/joining local networking groups to meet new referral sources or to develop new business.
Based on your experience doing business development and how strong your network is, you may be able to work the top of the list. Others may have to begin from the bottom up. Whatever the case, create a list of people to contact and set aside time every week to proactively reach out to meet with them.
Get Out Of The ‘Friend Zone’ And Ask For What You Want
Think of it this way, it’s not what you ask for but rather how you ask for it. While creating a plan to reconnect with key clients and contacts is a great start, without the right attitude and approach to business development, it might all be for naught. For me, the easiest way to get my head wrapped around this seemingly difficult issue is to believe that I’m the best at what I do. I derive this confidence based on my past successes and results with my clients. My success, therefore, drives me to want to help more and more attorneys to succeed.
For example, I know that when I work with an intelligent, motivated, and coachable attorney, no one can get an attorney better results. Can you say that about your work as an attorney? If you know you’re great at what you do, it’s easier for you to buy into the idea that your GC friends, CEO neighbor, or past law firm partner who went in-house would truly benefit from working with you. If this is not the case, keep working on your lawyering skills!
Once you have the belief in yourself, it’s time to craft some language to make the “ask” without ego or pandering like a cheap dime-store salesman (gross). For many women attorneys who are stuck in the friend zone, you should try saying something like, “You know Sarah, I love meeting with you at these conferences and truly appreciate our friendship. I am curious as to why we’ve never discussed working together. Have you ever considered this?” Or, “You know Sarah, I love meeting with you at these conferences and truly appreciate our friendship. While I would never want to jeopardize our relationship, I know I would be of great value to you and your company. Would you be open to discussing a way for us to work together?”
At the end of the day, what’s the worst that could happen? If your friend has a great reason why you can’t work together, well, now you know, and you can move on. If your friend loves the idea, you will be kicking yourself for not bringing this up years ago. One of the best things I’ve learned in business development is that knowing is always better than hoping or wondering. Sounds simple, but most business developers live in hope that things will happen. To me, hoping is like dreaming. It rarely leads to real results.
Ask Yourself, ‘Did I Have The Day Or Did The Day Have Me?’
Is balance really achievable for successful women in law? Can you develop your book, gain a leadership role at your firm, and take care of your personal commitments without going nuts?
In my experience, this is only achievable to the lucky or the women who master the skill of time management. Like with business development, time management is a learned skill. In fact, I was incredibly disorganized when I started my business over 20 years ago. My desk was a disaster, I was always putting off important tasks, and I could never seem to get anything done on time. After my first year, I realized that this wasn’t sustainable and decided to begin studying the art of time management. After six months I had cleaned up my clutter, eliminated time-wasting activities and crafted my week for efficiency. Today, it’s all about leveraging technology, automation, and virtual assistants to clear my path to freedom and balance my time. Here are three things I did that made all the difference.
For me, the first step was cleaning up all of my messes. I went through my two offices and my emails to throw out, file away, or take action on everything in front of me. This purging took over eight hours, but once completed it felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted off of my shoulders. Without doing this first, it would have been very challenging to continue my progress.
Once the purging was done, I went to the second step: looking at my workday in 15-minute increments to better understand what I did all day and what I needed to change or remove from my life. This exercise will blow your mind. We are distracted most of the day doing unproductive and menial tasks. Ask yourself:
- What should I be doing or not doing?
- Is this mission critical or something I can — and need — to put off?
- Am I doing this efficiently?
- Is this task below my pay grade?
- Is there someone else that can do this?
- Can this be done earlier or later in the day or over the weekend?
The key here is to write down your entire day to better identify wasted time, poorly executed efforts, and tasks that can be delegated. This is a great lead into the last piece of the puzzle.
The last step is to automate and delegate EVERYTHING!! There are so many great options here, and they’re evolving all the time. A few easy-to-execute examples include: auto-schedulers for appointments, CRMs (client relationship management tools) for tracking, and using my trusty Remarkable 2 paper tablet (look it up). This may be a humble brag, but I’ve been paper free for the past three years and that makes me super organized. And no more rifling through piles of sticky notes (you know who you are)! Seriously though, ask around and pay attention to emerging technologies; they make a world of difference.
It’s the power of delegation. And not just at the office. Delegate laundry, shopping, kid-schlepping or whatever you can so as to make your life easier and more productive. At the office, delegate any and all tasks and work that are below your pay grade. Stop making copies, doing paralegal work, and other paid-by-the-hour tasks that aren’t the best use of your brilliance (and, quite frankly, can be done better and more efficiently by others). I’m not saying this is easy, but making these changes will be critical to your short- and long-term success.
Many of the women that I’ve worked with start out with realistic concerns regarding building a big book of business and the effect it will have on their personal lives. Ultimately, there will always be sacrifices that are necessary in order to achieve the freedom and control that comes with a million-dollar or higher book of business. However, in the end, business development is still the best path forward to securing one’s future as a private practice lawyer. The women I engage with are positive and optimistic that with the right training, coaching, and mentoring, they will make it to the promised land. It’s been the greatest honor in my life to work in this amazing industry. I am hopeful that women will continue to step forward to crush it as the newest faction of top rainmakers.
Steve Fretzin is a bestselling author, host of the BE THAT LAWYER Podcast, and business development coach exclusively for attorneys. Steve has committed his career to helping lawyers learn key growth skills not currently taught in law school. His clients soon become top rainmakers and credit Steve’s program and coaching for their success. He can be reached directly by email at [email protected]. Or you can easily find him on his website at www.fretzin.com or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin/.
#Women #Law #Crushing
