If you were to poll the attorneys in your firm about whether business development is an expectation or an option, would you get a consistent answer? High performing firms are increasingly investing earlier and more often in attorney business development coaching and training. This is good news for a profession that historically looked down on business development as being beneath the character of a lawyer. Increasingly lawyers are recognizing that sales is about helping solve problems that need to be solved — an extension of rather than an adjunct to legal excellence.

Meet the rising star of new law: the changemaker. Change-makers are lawyers with a relentless focus on growth who also recognize that long-term success requires more than revenue generation alone. With the head of a rainmaker and the heart of an innovator, change-makers are quickly becoming a driving force in helping partners buy into new ways of thinking.

The legal profession has had a pretty good run. Lawyers are busy and overall law firm economics are solid. After a decade of declining and flat growth, 2018 brought an upward tick in demand. Key practices of corporate, litigation and employment all reported growth. Anecdotally, a general sense of “busyness” contributed to attorney confidence and sense of productivity.