One of the most common concerns I hear from law firm leaders is how to prepare the next generation of lawyers for larger roles. Sometimes the conversation centers around succession planning. Other times it’s focused on leadership development, client transitions or business development. While those discussions may start in different places, they often lead back to the same challenge.
Many firms have talented lawyers doing excellent work who remain largely invisible outside the matters they’re handling every day, which doesn’t help them with growing their practice, their brand or their network.
Clients know the senior partner. Referral sources know the senior partner. Industry contacts know the senior partner. The lawyers who will eventually be asked to take over those client relationships, lead practice groups and help shape the future of the firm are often working behind the scenes with relatively little exposure. As a result, firms sometimes find themselves trying to accelerate years of relationship building in a matter of months.
This is one reason I believe law firms should spend more time helping lawyers build visibility earlier in their careers. I’m not talking about turning everyone into a content creator or encouraging lawyers to spend their days posting on social media. I’m talking about creating opportunities for people to become known, build credibility and develop relationships long before a transition becomes necessary.
Many firms have talented lawyers doing excellent work who remain largely invisible outside the matters they’re handling every day, which doesn’t help them with growing their practice, their brand or their network.
Link to Visibility Matters More Than Many Firms Realize Visibility Matters More Than Many Firms Realize
One of the biggest misconceptions in the legal industry is that great work naturally leads to recognition. While strong legal work is the foundation of every successful legal career, it doesn’t automatically create broader awareness. Many lawyers assume that if they consistently produce excellent work, the right people will notice. Sometimes that happens. Often it doesn’t.
Most law firms are filled with highly capable lawyers whose reputations extend only as far as the people they work with directly. Their clients know them. Their immediate colleagues know them. Beyond that circle, many people have little understanding of their experience, industry knowledge or accomplishments. That becomes a challenge when firms begin thinking about leadership succession, client transitions and future growth.
The lawyers who are being considered for larger opportunities aren’t evaluated solely on legal ability. Firm leaders are also thinking about who can build relationships, represent the firm, maintain client confidence and help drive the business forward. Those responsibilities become much easier when people already know who you are.
Link to Why Client Relationships Need More Than a Transition Plan Why Client Relationships Need More Than a Transition Plan
Client transitions are often discussed as if they are operational exercises. A partner plans to retire. A successor is identified. Meetings are scheduled. Responsibilities are transferred. In reality, client relationships are much more personal than that.
Many clients have worked with the same lawyer for years, and in some cases decades. They’ve developed confidence in that person’s judgment. They’ve relied on that person during difficult situations. They’ve built trust through hundreds of conversations and interactions over time. A client relationship doesn’t automatically transfer because a firm decides it should.
Clients are more likely to feel comfortable with a transition when they’ve already developed familiarity with the lawyer stepping into a larger role. They may have worked together on matters, attended meetings together, participated in strategy discussions or heard that lawyer speak at an event. Those interactions create confidence long before a formal transition takes place. The firms that handle client transitions most successfully are often introducing future relationship partners years before they need to take over.
Link to The Mistake Many Firms Make With Younger Lawyers The Mistake Many Firms Make With Younger Lawyers
Many lawyers spend the first decade or more of their careers focused almost entirely on legal work. That approach makes sense to a point. Associates need to develop technical skills, learn how to manage matters and become excellent lawyers. The problem is that many firms unintentionally separate legal development from relationship development.
Young lawyers are encouraged to focus on the work while senior lawyers handle client relationships, speaking opportunities, networking and business development activities. Then years later, those same lawyers are expected to develop business, inherit client relationships and step into leadership positions. The challenge is that relationships, credibility and professional reputations take time to develop.
A lawyer can’t build in six months what others have spent ten years building. That’s why firms should begin creating opportunities much earlier. Exposure to clients, industry organizations, speaking engagements, writing opportunities and business development activities should be part of a lawyer’s professional development long before partnership becomes a possibility.
Link to Visibility Creates Opportunities Visibility Creates Opportunities
One of the most interesting things about visibility is that its benefits often appear in unexpected ways. A lawyer writes an article and receives a speaking invitation. A conference presentation leads to a new referral source. An industry association introduces someone to a future client. A webinar creates an opportunity to strengthen an existing relationship. A LinkedIn post starts a conversation that leads to a business opportunity months later. None of these outcomes happen every time. But collectively, they help lawyers expand their networks and establish reputations beyond the matters they handle each day.
Visibility also creates opportunities inside the firm. Lawyers who contribute ideas, collaborate across practices, participate in firm initiatives and become known throughout the organization often have access to broader networks and greater opportunities to contribute. When leadership positions become available, people already have a sense of who those lawyers are and what they bring to the table.
Link to What Law Firms Can Do Today to Invest in the Visbility of Their Lawyers What Law Firms Can Do Today to Invest in the Visbility of Their Lawyers
Helping lawyers become more visible doesn’t require a massive investment or a complete overhaul of a firm’s marketing strategy. It starts with creating opportunities. That might include encouraging lawyers to write articles, speak at conferences, participate in industry organizations, contribute to client alerts, host webinars, mentor younger lawyers or share insights on LinkedIn. Encouraging lawyers to participate in these activities helps clients, colleagues, referral sources and industry contacts become familiar with the people who will eventually take on larger responsibilities within the firm.
One of the reasons client transitions can be difficult is that many clients have spent years, and sometimes decades, working with the same lawyer. They trust that person’s judgment. They know how that person thinks. They know how that person communicates. That level of trust develops gradually and is reinforced through consistent interactions over time.
When lawyers write articles, speak at conferences, participate in webinars, attend industry events and become more involved in client-facing activities, they create additional opportunities for people to get to know them. A client may read an article they wrote, hear them speak on a panel, attend a webinar they presented or work with them on a matter over several years. Each interaction contributes to familiarity and confidence. Over time, that lawyer becomes someone the client already knows rather than someone they are meeting for the first time because a partner is retiring.
The same principle applies inside the firm. Lawyers who contribute ideas, participate in firm initiatives, collaborate across offices and become active within the broader legal and business community often develop stronger internal networks. When leadership opportunities arise, more people understand their experience, their strengths and the value they bring to the organization.
Many firms invest heavily in developing legal skills, which is obviously important. Future leaders also need opportunities to build relationships, establish credibility and develop reputations that extend beyond the matters they handle every day. Firms that create those opportunities early often find client transitions, leadership succession and business development efforts become much easier over time.
Link to Why LinkedIn, Personal Branding and Business Development Training Belong in This Conversation Why LinkedIn, Personal Branding and Business Development Training Belong in This Conversation
Law firms shouldn’t wait until lawyers are up for partner, inheriting client relationships or being considered for leadership roles to start teaching the skills that help them become known.
That’s where LinkedIn, personal branding and business development training can play an important role. The focus shouldn’t be on turning lawyers into influencers or encouraging them to spend their days posting on social media. It should be on helping lawyers build relationships, strengthen their professional networks, communicate their experience effectively and become more visible to the people who matter most.
For many lawyers, LinkedIn is one of the first places someone will go after meeting them, hearing them speak, receiving their name as a referral or seeing them included on a pitch team. If their profile is incomplete, outdated or generic, the firm is missing an opportunity to reinforce that lawyer’s credibility. A strong profile, a clear description of their practice and experience and occasional thought leadership can help clients, colleagues and referral sources better understand who they are and the type of work they handle.
Business development training is equally important. Many lawyers spend years developing technical legal skills but receive far less guidance on relationship building, networking, client development and how business actually comes into a firm. Then later in their careers they’re expected to maintain client relationships, generate work and contribute to the firm’s growth strategy.
Those responsibilities are much easier to take on when lawyers have already spent years building relationships, expanding their networks and becoming comfortable having business conversations.
The same is true for personal branding. Lawyers don’t need to become famous within their industry. They do, however, benefit from being known by the right people for the right things. Clients are more likely to trust lawyers they recognize. Referral sources are more likely to make introductions when they understand a lawyer’s experience. Colleagues are more likely to think of someone for an opportunity when they have a clear sense of that person’s strengths and areas of focus.
Firms invest heavily in developing lawyers’ legal skills, and rightly so. But firms that are serious about succession planning should also be investing in the skills that help lawyers build relationships, expand their visibility and develop business. Those efforts support client retention, leadership development and succession planning in ways that are often overlooked until a transition is already underway.
Link to Helping the Next Generation Become Known Helping the Next Generation Become Known
Many law firms are spending a great deal of time talking about succession planning, client transitions and the future of firm leadership. Those conversations are important, but identifying who will take over a client relationship or leadership position is only one piece of the puzzle. The more difficult question is whether clients, colleagues and referral sources already know those lawyers.
I’ve seen firms spend months developing succession plans while doing very little to help younger lawyers build relationships outside the matters they’re working on every day. Then a transition becomes necessary, and everyone is trying to accelerate a process that ideally would have started years earlier.
Clients are more likely to feel comfortable with a transition when they’ve already worked with the lawyer stepping into a larger role. Colleagues are more likely to support future leaders when they’ve had opportunities to collaborate with them and see their capabilities firsthand. Referral sources are more likely to think of lawyers they’ve met, heard speak, read articles from or interacted with over time.
The lawyers who are best positioned for larger opportunities are rarely the people being introduced for the first time. More often, they are the lawyers who have spent years building relationships, expanding their networks, participating in industry activities and becoming known both inside and outside the firm.
Succession planning doesn’t begin when a retirement announcement is made. It begins much earlier by creating opportunities for the next generation to build the relationships, visibility and trust that will ultimately support the firm’s future. The firms that do this well aren’t scrambling to introduce future leaders when a transition becomes necessary. They’ve been helping those lawyers establish themselves for years.
Link to Key Takeaways on Why Law Firms Should Invest in the Visibility of Their Lawyers Key Takeaways on Why Law Firms Should Invest in the Visibility of Their Lawyers
- Succession planning isn’t just about deciding who takes over a client relationship or leadership position. It’s also about making sure clients, colleagues and referral sources already know the lawyers who will be stepping into those roles.
- Many law firms do an excellent job developing legal talent but spend far less time helping younger lawyers build relationships, expand their networks and become visible within the firm and the marketplace.
- Clients are much more likely to embrace a transition when they’ve already worked with and developed confidence in the lawyer taking on greater responsibility.
- Writing, speaking, networking, participating in industry organizations and contributing to thought leadership all create opportunities for lawyers to build credibility and strengthen relationships over time.
- The firms that tend to handle client transitions most successfully start preparing long before a partner announces retirement plans.
- Helping lawyers become known isn’t just a marketing initiative. It’s an important part of leadership development, client retention and long-term succession planning.
Link to Frequently Asked Questions About Succession Planning, Client Transitions and Lawyer Visibility Frequently Asked Questions About Succession Planning, Client Transitions and Lawyer Visibility
Link to Why is succession planning important for law firms? Why is succession planning important for law firms?
Most law firms eventually face the same challenge: key partners retire, leadership changes and client relationships need to be transitioned. Without a plan, firms risk losing institutional knowledge, disrupting client relationships and creating uncertainty for both lawyers and clients. Strong succession planning helps ensure continuity and positions the firm for long-term success.
Link to When should law firms start succession planning? When should law firms start succession planning?
Much earlier than many firms do. One of the biggest mistakes I see is waiting until a partner is approaching retirement before starting the conversation. Building trust, developing relationships and preparing future leaders takes time. The most successful transitions are often years in the making.
Link to Why do client transitions sometimes fail? Why do client transitions sometimes fail?
In many cases, clients simply don’t know the lawyer who is taking over the relationship. A client may have worked with the same partner for 10, 15 or 20 years. They’ve developed trust in that person’s judgment and advice. Replacing that relationship isn’t as simple as sending an email announcing a new relationship partner. Clients are generally much more comfortable when they’ve already had opportunities to work with and get to know the lawyer stepping into a larger role.
Link to How can law firms better prepare younger lawyers for leadership positions? How can law firms better prepare younger lawyers for leadership positions?
Firms should look for opportunities to involve younger lawyers in client meetings, industry events, business development activities, speaking engagements and thought leadership initiatives. The earlier lawyers begin building relationships and visibility, the easier it becomes for them to take on larger responsibilities later in their careers.
Link to What role does business development play in succession planning? What role does business development play in succession planning?
A bigger role than many firms realize. Business development helps lawyers build relationships, expand their networks and establish credibility with clients, referral sources and colleagues. Those relationships often become incredibly valuable when leadership transitions or client handoffs occur.
Link to Why does visibility matter for lawyers? Why does visibility matter for lawyers?
Visibility helps people understand who you are, what you do and the type of work you do. Many talented lawyers spend years developing deep expertise but have limited visibility outside the matters they’re working on every day. As a result, clients, colleagues, referral sources and firm leaders may not fully understand the breadth of their experience. Building relationships, participating in industry activities, writing, speaking and sharing knowledge can help lawyers become more known within their firms and industries. Over time, that visibility can support business development, client relationship growth and leadership opportunities.
Link to How can lawyers increase their visibility? How can lawyers increase their visibility?
There are many ways to do it. Writing articles, speaking at conferences, participating in industry organizations, hosting webinars, mentoring younger lawyers, attending networking events and sharing insights on LinkedIn can all help lawyers become more visible and build stronger professional relationships.
Link to Is personal branding only important for partners? Is personal branding only important for partners?
Not at all. In many ways, associates and junior partners have the most to gain. Building a reputation, developing relationships and becoming known for a particular area of expertise takes time. Lawyers who start early are often in a stronger position when leadership and business development opportunities arise later.
Link to What can law firms do today to support future leaders? What can law firms do today to support future leaders?
Start introducing them to clients. Include them in meetings. Give them opportunities to speak, write and participate in industry activities. Encourage them to build relationships both inside and outside the firm. The more exposure they have early in their careers, the easier future transitions become.
Link to What’s the biggest mistake firms make when it comes to succession planning? What’s the biggest mistake firms make when it comes to succession planning?
Waiting too long. Many firms focus on succession planning only when a retirement or leadership transition is approaching. By then, they’re often trying to accelerate years of relationship building in a very short period of time. The firms that tend to have the smoothest transitions are the ones that have been preparing for them all along.
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