How Lawyers Make Time for Business Development

Bill's BD Framework (Part 2/3): Disagreeing with Clients and more!

Your client is convinced they know exactly what they need. But what if they're wrong? In this episode, Bill Burns and Tobi Steinemann tackle the second part of Bill's framework of the seven essential steps in attorney business development. It takes them to what may be the most important and most overlooked question: not just what clients want, but whether that assessment holds up under scrutiny. The answer separates advisors from order-takers. You'll walk away with: * Why understanding client needs is really two questions and why the second one is the harder one * A real-world example of a prospect chasing a solution that didn't exist and what happened when an attorney pushed back * Why attorneys need to follow business news closely (especially litigators, who often don't) * The "Zurich to Paris" principle: why meeting clients where they are determines whether your marketing actually lands * Why lunch and learns consistently outperform speeches to large audiences for building real client relationships * The value box: how to think about price vs. value and why being the cheapest is never the right differentiator This episode is especially relevant for attorneys who feel they spend more time pitching than listening, and for anyone who has ever lost a piece of work and wasn't sure why. If you want clients who trust your judgment, not just your fee quote, this one's for you.

Bill's BD Framework (Part 1/3): Who Is Your Client?

Most attorneys rush to the pitch. They spot a company, picture themselves doing the work, schedule a lunch, and walk in ready to sell. Then they wonder why nothing comes of it. In this episode, Bill and Tobi kick off a three-part series on Bill's framework for business development: the seven essential questions every attorney should be able to answer before chasing a client and when maintaining an ongoing a client relationship. Part 1 zooms in on Question One: "Who is your client?". Sounds obvious, until you actually try to answer it. You'll hear: * The full list of the seven essential BD questions * Why business development is a circular process, not a linear one and what attorneys miss when they treat it as a checklist * "Window gazing" business development * A cautionary dentist story that nails what not to do in the first 60 seconds of a client relationship * How to map a prospect at three levels: the rational, the organizational, and the personal * etc. This episode is especially relevant for: * Attorneys who feel paralyzed by too many BD ideas and no system to sort them * Senior associates and new partners building their book of business * Marketing and BD professionals coaching lawyers through specific pursuits If you've ever walked out of a "great" prospect lunch wondering why nothing came of it, this one is for you.

Law Firm Branding: How Firm Brand and Personal Brand Work Together

You've been told to build your personal brand. Your firm has its own brand. So which one actually wins clients? And what happens when the two don't line up? In this episode, Bill and Tobi unpack how firm branding actually functions in legal practice: what it does for the individual attorney day to day, why visual identity is only the surface layer, and how to think about a rebrand without panicking the partnership. You'll hear: * Why firm brand and personal brand are layers of the same offering, not competing forces * The two sides of a firm brand: external differentiator and internal cultural anchor * The shift in big-firm branding: from hiding talent to putting people on stage * How brand strategy scales from sole practitioner to multi-office firm, and why each requires a different playbook * Three triggers that signal it's time for a rebrand: identity, market, leadership * Why the internal rollout (and not the public launch) is what makes a rebrand stick This episode is especially relevant for: * Attorneys who want to make better use of their firm's brand assets in their own client work * Managing partners and firm leaders weighing a rebrand or new website * Marketing and BD professionals working across multiple offices or markets Branding isn't decoration. It's the stage your business development happens on — and built right, it does some of the selling for you.

How Attorneys Use LinkedIn for Business Development

Most attorneys know they should be on LinkedIn. Far fewer know how to actually use it for business development. In this episode, Bill and Tobi break down LinkedIn not as a broadcasting tool, but as what it really is: a real-time networking environment where the same principles that work in a room full of prospects apply just as well on screen. They cover what the platform actually rewards today, what it used to reward (and why that changed), and what attorneys can do right now to stay visible and relevant to the clients and contacts that matter. You'll walk away with: * Why the "networking room" mental model changes how you post, comment, and engage on LinkedIn * How the algorithm has shifted from connection-based to interest-based and what that means for your content * What makes a post worth reading (and why saves and shares now matter more than likes) * A practical playbook: posting frequency, topic focus, comment strategy, and profile hygiene * Why firms need a social media policy and the real consequences when attorneys get it wrong * Why LinkedIn alone is not enough, and which one channel gives you back control of your audience This episode is especially relevant for: * Attorneys who post occasionally but aren't sure if it's working * BD managers and marketing leads setting or revisiting firm social media policy * Anyone building a practice who wants to understand how LinkedIn actually works in 2026 and beyond LinkedIn is real life. The attorneys who understand that will use it very differently.

How Lawyers Make Time for Business Development

You know you should be doing more business development. The problem is finding the time between client work, billable hour targets, and, well, the rest of your life. In this episode, Bill and Tobi tackle the number one excuse attorneys give for not doing business development and break down exactly how to work around it. Note, not all activities take the same amount of time, and knowing the difference is the key. We also discuss the content marketing angle that will make you rethink how much you're already sitting on: how to source content effortlessly from your client conversations, how to turn one blog post into a month of LinkedIn material, and how a Swiss law firm started generating qualified leads from content they'd already written – with almost no extra effort. Whether you have five minutes or a full afternoon, this episode gives you a concrete playbook for making business development actually happen, consistently, intentionally, and without overhauling your life. You'll walk away with: * A simple 3-tier time framework (minutes / hours / days) to match BD activities to your schedule * The "content parking space" trick for never running out of things to write about * How to repurpose a single blog post into multiple LinkedIn posts * What "upcycling" content means and how one firm turned anonymous website traffic into real leads * Why strategic clarity (not more time) is often the real bottleneck