We are continuing our discussion of finders, minders and grinders. Because those roles exist in one form or another in most modern law firms, the best advice I can give any lawyer in private practice is to go and develop your own client base. It does not happen overnight, and the sooner you begin the better. In my experience it is by far the most important step a lawyer in private practice can take to advance a career. That is truest for young lawyers, and it holds at every level of experience.
Here is what that means day to day, particularly for a young lawyer. It is late, and you have decided to work one more hour before going home. Absent a deadline or something urgent, spend that hour on business development rather than billing it. Some would disagree, and in the short term the firm is better off if you bill it. For your own career, the better use of the hour is bringing in business, or learning how.
Some lawyers do not like that advice either. Plenty have told me they did not go to law school to be a salesperson. I understand the sentiment, and it is a shortsighted view of the industry as it now is. A lawyer could once hold that position and still have a successful career. Today, significant success in private practice without business development is not impossible, and it is much harder. The rainmakers are the ones at the top.