Partners who succeed in business development think in three buckets: short-term, medium-term, and long-term.
Three Buckets of Business Development
Short-Term Wins
Short-term is reactive and opportunistic. A client or a prospective client might get sued, or a matter may be terminated and need appellate counsel. Here, partners can use a mix of cold outreach or warm outreach.
Medium-Term Strategy
Medium-term may be the most interesting bucket. This has more variation than short-term BD. This could be relationship-driven, like spending quality time to remain top of mind for an AGC who may be about to get promoted to GC. Or it could be substantive, like spotting a rising antitrust enforcement risk for pharmaceutical companies improperly listing Orange Book patents.
Long-Term Game
Long-term has the most variation. There are partners who teach at law schools. Their students have gone on to in-house roles and sought out the partners' guidance. Bringing in in-house speakers is also a key way to grow relationships that have created work. It's a long game. One experienced partner recently shared that in her mid-50s, GCs are now pursuing her for her expertise.
Success Criteria
You can't evaluate these strategies without knowing your success criteria. These differ.
For short-term, cold outreach has a lower hit rate (1-5%), but remains a key way to augment growth. As one partner pointed out, the benefit of short-term techniques is that you get rapid feedback on efficacy and you can pivot as needed.
Medium-term is effective when there is an immediate payoff for the client. They should get direct guidance that creates the need for additional guidance. This is a two-way street. Lawyers get insights on underlying goals of their clients.
Long-term works when you're doing something inherently interesting. One partner pointed out that you need a total disregard for payoff for this to work. It's the polar opposite in terms of feedback of short-term, so it needs to be gratifying simply for doing it.
Final Thoughts
The partners who thrive at business development don't rely on just one approach. They layer short-term responsiveness with medium-term relationship building and long-term investments that may not pay off for years.
Each bucket requires a different mindset. Short-term demands speed and adaptability. Medium-term rewards strategic patience. And long-term? That takes a craftsperson's commitment to work that matters regardless of immediate returns.
If you're interviewing at multiple firms, consider how each one approaches business development across these three horizons.