Bridging the Gap Between Law Practice Expertise and Business Development

Not long ago, legal acumen alone was enough to win clients. Not anymore. In today's hypercompetitive legal market, client loyalty has plummeted from 76% to 53% in just five years and will be as little as 37% in 5 years' time. Firms can't rely on relationships or credentials alone-clients expect strategic insight, industry fluency, and proactive business guidance from their outside counsel.

Over my 25+ years guiding professional services marketing and business development-most recently as CMO at a global AmLaw 30 law firm-I've seen this transformation firsthand. Attorneys who once succeeded on the strength of their legal brilliance now find themselves in unfamiliar territory, struggling to meet the demands of a new client dynamic.

The Evolution of Client Demands

When I first started working with law firms, the ability to apply technical knowledge to creatively solve clients' legal challenges was the primary differentiator. Today, it's merely table stakes. Clients increasingly demand that their outside counsel understand their business operations, competitive environment, and strategic priorities. I've witnessed countless pitch meetings where business fluency-not legal expertise-was the deciding factor in winning major engagements.

The shift in how clients select legal partners has been just as profound. Relationship-driven models that once sustained firms are becoming less effective. Selection processes today are often led by procurement professionals and involve multiple stakeholders, including operations leaders and C-level executives. I've helped prepare partners for pitch meetings where each participant had distinct priorities-and where traditional rapport was no longer enough.

I've also worked with seasoned rainmakers who were shocked to see long-standing clients move to competitive bids or reassign work to new firms. These weren't isolated incidents. The erosion of client loyalty, documented in research by DCM Insights, reflects a broader market trend that's fundamentally reshaping how firms compete and grow.

Time and Attention: The Modern Attorney's Dilemma

These expanded expectations create the "impossible equation" for many attorneys: meet ever-growing billable targets while maintaining proactive business development activity.

In practice, I've seen BD fall by the wayside when client demands surge. Without structured systems, most partners struggle to maintain consistency. Their efforts become reactive-limited to quiet periods between deadlines-rather than the kind of ongoing, relationship-driven engagement that drives sustained growth.

Beyond time constraints, another challenge is visibility. In large firms especially, I've watched attorneys miss cross-practice opportunities simply because they lacked insight into their colleagues' capabilities or existing client relationships. Without firmwide transparency, collaboration stalls, and opportunities for deeper client value go unrealized.

The pressure to be both a practice expert and a relationship builder is relentless. And without support, most attorneys find that one inevitably comes at the cost of the other.

Activating Your Practice: Strategies for Success

Over time, I've seen a particular group of high-performing attorneys take a different path. These professionals-what we call Activators-approach business development with the same discipline they apply to their legal work. They've built sustainable BD habits into their routines and made growth part of their professional identity.

Research by DCM Insights reveals how these Activators work differently:

• 90% reserve dedicated weekly time for BD
• 73% engage clients with new opportunities before a need is expressed, compared to just 36% of non-Activators

Activators understand their clients' businesses and markets as deeply as their legal issues. They follow developments in key industries, connect the dots across market events, and reach out with relevant insights and recommendations before clients ask. And they do this proactively and consistently-week in and week out.

Here are the practical strategies I've seen work best:

• Reserve protected time blocks for business development activities
• Create systems for tracking outreach and follow-ups
• Build industry-specific knowledge in client verticals
• Share relevant market insights regularly
• Build relationships across levels and departments in client organizations
• Connect clients to colleagues who can offer additional value

These are not one-off tactics-they're part of a proactive BD rhythm that drives long-term client engagement and growth.

Technology that Boosts Activator Success

The technology challenge is what drew me to Intapp after years in law firm leadership-I saw the critical need for solutions that could enable Activator behaviors at scale.

DealCloud Activator creates a personalized BD structure without adding to the mental load. The platform reflects real-world attorney workflows-embedding relationship management into existing processes so BD activities feel like a natural extension of client work rather than an additional burden.

The platform significantly reduces administrative burden through zero-entry data capture and automated reminders or "nudges." Instead of manually tracking client interactions (which I rarely saw attorneys maintain consistently), the system automatically captures engagement data and provides timely prompts for follow-up activities with an attorney's highest priority contacts. These nudges help reinforce positive BD habits while ensuring important relationships don't fall through the cracks.

DealCloud Activator delivers these nudges, relevant business intelligence, and client insights at precisely the right time. By surfacing information when it's most useful-before client meetings, after significant developments, or when opportunities emerge-the platform helps attorneys maintain meaningful client engagement without constant manual monitoring.

Perhaps most valuable is how the technology makes cross-practice collaboration easier through targeted information sharing. This addresses a persistent challenge I encountered in every firm where I worked-creating visibility into expertise across the firm and facilitating smooth introductions between colleagues and clients. This capability enables attorneys to provide more comprehensive service while strengthening client relationships.

The Competitive Advantage of Bridging the Gap

The future belongs to firms that successfully bridge the gap between practice expertise and business development-where attorneys can deliver both technical excellence and strategic insight.

In my two decades of law firm marketing and BD leadership, I've seen the most successful attorneys find a rhythm that works for them, supported by effective BD teams, systems, and processes that make business development sustainable alongside demanding legal work. Today's technology solutions can amplify these efforts, making it easier than ever to develop and maintain Activator behaviors that drive growth.

By embracing both the Activator mindset and the technology that supports it, attorneys can transform the impossible equation of competing priorities into a sustainable approach for professional success-one where practice expertise and business development reinforce rather than compete with each other.

To learn more about how attorneys can adopt Activator behaviors and the technology that supports them, download our comprehensive white paper, read our first blog in this series exploring what keeps law firm leaders up at night, and explore how Intapp DealCloud Activator can help transform your practice.

Research conducted by DCM Insights, sponsored by Intapp, and published in the Harvard Business Review.