Five Tips for New Partners

You have started the year with a bang: the promotion you have been working hard towards and striving for. A huge congratulations. Your mother may be calling her friends, as we speak. This is genuinely wonderful news for you.

“With great(er) power, though, comes great responsibility.” Forgive me, I may have had too much Spiderman over the holidays.

Profile and awareness now become paramount, not just for your own practice but for the department and wider firm. There are many avenues to raising your profile and we examine here five ways to champion your practice.

Thought Leadership in Press:
There are literally hundreds of trade magazines spanning multiple legal sectors and business industries – and with a little due diligence and homework – you can establish who the leaders and are and what they may need.
While many may ask for ‘Pay-to-Play,’ they are also very much in need of strong, reliable third-party content from professional, responsive thought leaders. If you know your niche and area of expertise, find those reporters and editors and reach out. You can establish yourself as a go-to person in your field and also introduce editors and reporters to other experts in other jurisdictions too. Ask us which publications may well be the appropriate avenue.
Press releases
While LinkedIn has become the destination for deal announcements, check with your client if you can issue an official press release for a deal you have been working on. It is good for the news tab on the firm’s website, as well as your own profile and CV.
Events
Now is the time to find those events in 2024 for your industry. Not only will attendance give you exposure to potential new clients and latest trends, but it can also develop your network and turbocharge your business development efforts. Type up notes and observations to share with your team and department. The more you are seen and active, the more you can expand your real-world network but also increase your visibility when it comes to rankings in the legal directories.
Networking
LinkedIn feels like it has been around forever but are you using it well. Aside from the fact that we offer Masterclasses in LinkedIn, spend 20 minutes a day on the platform to become a member of key industry groups – belonging to a group instantly grants you access to sending connection invites to every other member within that group. Look to join alumni groups and those at previous workplaces. Take a deep dive into your connection’s connections, as well as your competitors. This can help identify target companies, as well as those who can offer potential referrals.
Legal Directory Submissions
With decades’ experience here, we would strongly recommend that new partners reach out to their marketing department and head of department to ensure that they are involved in 3 or 4 of the 20 matters asked for by IFLR, Chambers and Legal 500, among many other directories. Keep a list of the transactions and cases you are working on, for easy access. Ensure that you are involved in the process and get a chance to join a phone interview, if possible.