AI is reshaping what it takes to be a successful rainmaker… and that is good news for lawyers.
In an AI-enabled world, business executives and in-house legal counsel want more than legal expertise from their lawyers. They want proactive legal strategists with real-time insight to advise them on how to make money, save money and stay out of trouble.
As AI becomes more reliable, legal ‘experts for hire’ risk being commoditized. But lawyers who can apply judgment, critical thinking, and insight into client problems will be the ones winning higher-value work that generates premium rates.
That’s good news for lawyers. Our research shows that what clients want most in the age of AI are aptitudes that most lawyers already possess. The key is to understand what those strengths are and to be intentional about using them.
Every Lawyer is a Seller
For more than a decade, GrowthPlay has used a psychometric tool developed by The Chally Group to provide insights around the business development aptitude of lawyers.
Combining the group’s validated research around sales performance and our expertise in business development coaching for lawyers, we identified six distinct sales approaches for lawyers and mapped a set of competencies for each using Chally’s proprietary database of 133 attributes of high-performing sellers (see 2026 Selling Style Results Chart).
Now in our sixth year of benchmarking results across the six GrowthPlay Selling Styles, our research consistently shows that all lawyers have sales potential and 98.6% demonstrate natural aptitude in at least one style. (See Every Lawyer is a Seller and We Have the Data to Prove It)
While each style offers a path to successful rainmaking, one style is emerging as a leader in the race to capture premium rate work as AI use continues to grow: The Advocate.
Of more than 5,000 lawyers and professional services providers assessed, 51% were a fit for the Advocate style. Another 37% were a “flex” to the style, meaning they were a match to some, but not all, of the attributes. No other style comes close.
2026 Selling Style Results
| Selling Style | Natural Fit | Match (Fit or Flex) |
|---|---|---|
| Advocates Focus on Trust & Loyalty | 51% | 88% |
| Inventors Focus on New Ideas & Approaches | 28% | 49% |
| Educators Focus on Knowledge & Expertise | 25% | 65% |
| Alliance Builders Focus on Referral Partners | 21% | 70% |
| Integrators Focus on Cross-Practice Solutions | 14% | 26% |
| Activators Focus on New Connections | 9% | 21% |
Source: GrowthPlay benchmark data of 5,443 lawyers and professional services providers assessed with the Chally selling styles assessment. A fit is a close match to the profile of a high performer. A match includes both fit and flex. Percentages total more than 100% because most lawyers match more than one style.
Undoubtedly, AI will replace many business functions, but it will never replace the role of a true trusted advocate (see https://www.growthplay.com/evolving-from-trusted-advisor-to-trusted-advocate/).
Minders Turned Finders
Advocates were once seen as “minders”—lawyers adept at keeping clients happy—and often wrongly perceived as being unable to generate business independently. While Advocates do excel at guarding and growing existing relationships, that does not keep them from being “finders” who win new clients.
Advocate Rainmakers simply apply the same strengths they use with current clients to win new ones. There are six competencies that distinguish high-performing advocates from average ones:
- Taking a problem-solving approach during the sales process by using structured conversations to help clients maximize their results.
- Using feedback to get ahead of client concerns and elevate the client experience.
- Treating a client’s willingness to hire them as a sign of honor and personally managing the critical aspects of the sales process.
- Fostering collaboration to accomplish goals and proactively sharing information, ideas and support. They see themselves as more than an advisor, and act as integral part of the business team.
- Increasing business from existing clients. Advocates recognize that as the law firm business model changes, the nearest-term opportunities for growth live within the firm’s existing portfolio.
- Being responsive. Advocates are available in real time and have a strong sense of duty when it comes to those relying on them.
Clients have always wanted outside counsel who are proactive, responsive, and invested in understanding their business. Today, those are no longer ‘value adds.’ They are requirements that are redefining what it means to be a rainmaker.
These strengths make Advocates a triple threat:
they win work, keep it, and grow it.
What positions the Advocate for success is their ability to apply these skills to every aspect of relationship building. They use the sales process as an opportunity to engage in problem-solving conversations and solicit feedback to give prospects the experience of what it is like to have them as their lawyer. They network and nurture relationships with a business advisor’s mindset, and they make sure they are responsive in real-time when asked for input. Combined with their ability to spot new opportunities and expand existing business, these strengths make Advocates a triple threat: they win work, keep it, and grow it.
AI answers questions about the law. Lawyers who turn that knowledge into trusted relationships with their clients will be the rainmakers of the future. That is the Advocate opportunity.
Interested in learning more about Selling Styles? Contact GrowthPlay at www.growthplay.com.