Law firm marketing and business development teams put a tremendous amount of work into preparing lawyers for meetings with clients and prospects. They research the company, review recent news, look into the people attending, search the CRM, check previous pitches and matters and try to identify relationships that could help the lawyer prepare. Very often, they’re doing all of this with limited notice and very little information about the purpose of the meeting.
The request may arrive late in the afternoon for a meeting the next morning. The lawyer may provide a company name, a few attendees and a brief note asking for background. The marketing or business development professional then has to figure out what to research, where to find it and what the lawyer is likely to need.
The final briefing may be thorough, accurate and beautifully organized, but the lawyer may only have five minutes to review it. If the most useful information is buried halfway through the document, all of that work may have little effect on the conversation.
Creating a better law firm client meeting briefing requires more than collecting information. The person preparing it has to make decisions about what matters for this meeting, this lawyer and this relationship.
Link to Understand why the meeting is happening Understand why the meeting is happening
The purpose of the meeting should guide the research from the beginning. A first meeting with a prospect requires a different briefing from an annual client review, a pitch, an introduction to a new general counsel or a conversation about an issue the firm is already handling.
Before starting the research, find out as much as you can about why the meeting is taking place, who arranged it and what the lawyer hopes to accomplish. Ask whether the firm has spoken with the company or attendees before and whether any known issues or sensitivities could affect the conversation.
The lawyer may not provide a detailed explanation. Even a few sentences can help the marketing or BD professional focus the research and avoid spending time on information that has little connection to the meeting.
If the request comes through another member of the marketing or business development team, review previous emails, meeting notes and pitch materials. Someone else at the firm may already know why the meeting was scheduled or what the client wants to discuss. Finding that context at the beginning can save a considerable amount of work later.
Link to Put the information the lawyer needs first Put the information the lawyer needs first
Lawyers often review meeting briefings shortly before the conversation. They may be moving between calls, sitting in a car or looking at the document on their phones. The opening section should give them enough context to understand the meeting quickly.
I’d put five things near the beginning of most client meeting briefings:
- Why the meeting is happening
- Who’ll be attending
- What has changed at the company
- Which relationships the firm already has
- Which questions the lawyer may want to consider
More detailed company background, complete biographies, representative experience and sources can follow. A lawyer with additional time can read further, while someone with only a few minutes can still find the information most likely to affect the conversation.
Firms may want to create several briefing formats for different situations. A short introductory call may only require a one-page meeting snapshot. A major pitch or executive meeting may justify a longer company report and more detailed individual profiles. Using the same format for every request often produces briefings that are too long for routine meetings and not detailed enough for the most important ones.
Link to Keep the company overview focused Keep the company overview focused
Most meeting briefings need some background on the company, particularly when the lawyer is unfamiliar with it. The overview should help the lawyer understand what the company does, how it makes money, where it operates, who owns it and what appears to be changing.
It shouldn’t read like several pages copied from the company’s website. Lawyers can visit the website if they need a complete corporate history or description of every business line.
Focus on the information that establishes the context for the meeting. If the company recently entered a new market, changed leadership, completed an acquisition or announced a strategic shift, those developments may be more important than a lengthy history of the organization.
The overview should also reflect the lawyer’s level of familiarity. A relationship partner who has represented the client for 10 years probably doesn’t need a basic explanation of the business. That person may need a concise update on what has changed since the last conversation. A lawyer meeting the company for the first time will need more background.
Link to Explain why recent developments may be relevant Explain why recent developments may be relevant
Including recent news is easy. Deciding which developments belong in the briefing requires more judgment.
A news search may produce dozens of articles about the company. Sending all of them to the lawyer shifts the work to the person with the least time to complete it. A more helpful briefing identifies the developments that could affect the conversation and provides a short explanation of their possible significance.
Suppose the company has announced plans to enter three new markets during the next year. The briefing could explain that the expansion may create new employment, regulatory, privacy and contracting considerations. The lawyer can then decide whether the development belongs in the conversation and which questions may be appropriate.
The same approach can be used for leadership changes, acquisitions, financing, litigation, restructuring, product announcements and public statements about strategy. Each item should answer two basic questions: What happened, and why might the lawyer care?
Some developments will create a reason to contact the client or involve another colleague. Others will help the lawyer better understand the company’s priorities. A few may involve sensitive subjects that the lawyer should know about without raising directly. The briefing provides the context, while the lawyer decides how to use it.
Link to Look beyond the basic biography Look beyond the basic biography
A person’s title and current role are important, but they provide only a limited picture of the individual the lawyer will be meeting.
Professional history can help the lawyer understand the person’s background, responsibilities and perspective. Previous employers, board service, public speaking, professional organizations, published articles and interviews may all be relevant, depending on the meeting.
For example, a recently appointed general counsel who spent much of their career in compliance may approach outside counsel relationships differently from someone who built their career handling transactions. An executive who frequently speaks about international expansion may be focused on issues beyond the company’s current domestic operations.
This information should always have a clear professional purpose. There’s a difference between helping a lawyer understand someone’s career and compiling personal details that have no connection to the meeting.
Before including something, ask how it could help the lawyer prepare. It may explain the person’s responsibilities, reveal a shared professional connection or suggest a subject that could improve the conversation. If the information doesn’t serve one of those purposes, it can probably be left out.
Link to Include the firm’s relationship history Include the firm’s relationship history
External research is only part of the preparation. The firm’s own knowledge may be even more valuable.
The lawyer should know whether colleagues have represented the company, pitched it or developed relationships with the people attending. They may need information about current matters, earlier proposals, recent meetings, client feedback and work being handled by other practices.
A useful internal relationship section might include:
- Current and previous matters
- Earlier pitches and proposals
- Lawyers who know the company
- Lawyers who know the people attending
- Alumni connections
- Recent meetings and events
- Other practices supporting the client
- Relevant firm experience
- Outstanding follow-up
This information can prevent embarrassing duplication and help the lawyer coordinate with colleagues before the meeting. It can also identify useful relationships outside the immediate team that nobody would have known about otherwise.
Internal relationship information is often the hardest part of the briefing to assemble. Some of it may live in the CRM or financial systems, while other pieces are scattered across emails, meeting notes and individual memories. Marketing and BD teams can only work with the information people have shared, which is why lawyers need to contribute to the firm’s relationship systems and update them after important conversations.
Link to Suggest questions without scripting the conversation Suggest questions without scripting the conversation
A useful briefing can also identify a few questions the lawyer may want to explore during the meeting. These should grow naturally from the company’s recent activity, the people attending and the purpose of the conversation, while leaving the lawyer plenty of room to follow where the discussion leads.
If the company recently completed an acquisition, the lawyer might want to ask how integration is progressing and which issues are taking the most time. If a new general counsel has joined, the lawyer may want to understand the legal department’s priorities and how the new leader is approaching outside counsel relationships.
A company expanding internationally may be encountering new employment, regulatory or operational issues. The lawyer could ask where the business is experiencing the most complexity and how the legal team is supporting the expansion.
These questions help the lawyer use the research without making the conversation feel rehearsed. They also create space for the client to explain what’s happening instead of requiring the lawyer to guess what the company needs.
The briefing can include possible follow-up as well. If the company is focused on a subject the firm has recently written about, the lawyer may want to send a relevant article after the meeting. If the conversation reveals a need outside the lawyer’s practice, an introduction to a colleague may be appropriate. Thinking about follow-up before the meeting can make the eventual response more timely and specific.
Link to Ask lawyers which parts they use Ask lawyers which parts they use
Marketing and business development teams shouldn’t have to guess whether their briefings are helpful. A short conversation with the lawyer after the meeting can provide useful feedback.
Ask what the lawyer read, which information helped, what they skipped and what they wish had been included. Find out whether the briefing changed any of the questions they asked or revealed a relationship they hadn’t known about.
You may learn that one lawyer prefers a one-page summary while another wants a detailed company profile. The firm doesn’t have to create an entirely different process for every individual, but those preferences can help the team develop a few formats that work across different meetings and working styles.
It’s also important to capture what the lawyer learned during the meeting. The client may have discussed a new priority, requested information or asked for an introduction. The lawyer may have promised to follow up with another member of the firm. Recording those details gives the firm better information for the next conversation and keeps useful context from disappearing into someone’s inbox.
Link to Use technology to make the work easier Use technology to make the work easier
Technology can help marketing, business development and research teams gather company developments, professional background and relationship information more efficiently. The quality of the final briefing still depends on whether the information is relevant, clearly sourced and organized around the meeting.
I’ve recently been getting to know Gatsby, an awesome company developing intelligence tools for law firms, and client meeting preparation is one of the areas we’ve been discussing. Gatsby Intel helps firms bring together information about companies, individuals and relationships so that the people preparing lawyers for meetings have a stronger place to begin.
What matters most to me is whether the final briefing is something a marketing or BD professional would feel comfortable sending to a partner. It should save time while preserving the judgment of the people who understand the firm, the client and the relationship.
Firms evaluating meeting preparation technology should use a real scenario involving public or otherwise approved information. Compare the technology-supported briefing with the firm’s current process. Look at the time required, quality of the sources, relevance of the information and amount of review needed before the document can be sent.
Ask the lawyer to review both versions and explain which one they would use. Their response will tell you much more than a general product demonstration.
Link to Review one of your recent client briefings Review one of your recent client briefings
Take a briefing your team recently prepared and look at it from the perspective of a lawyer who has five minutes before the meeting. See whether the purpose, attendees, recent developments and internal relationships are easy to find.
Review every section and ask whether it could affect the lawyer’s preparation or the conversation. Look for long company descriptions, news links without context and generic lists of firm experience. Consider what could be shortened, moved or removed.
The research team’s work should make the lawyer’s preparation easier. When a briefing is focused, current and connected to the firm’s relationships, the lawyer can enter the meeting with a better understanding of the people and company involved. They can ask more thoughtful questions and leave with a clearer idea of what should happen next.