We are continuing the conversation about today’s law schools, and whether the education should lean theoretical or practical. Put differently: what should law schools be teaching? I understand both sides, and I genuinely believe a good legal education is invaluable. I also believe that the more practical instruction a school can provide, the better. Education has become expensive enough that students are entitled to expect some.
There is one practical skill in particular that all law schools should teach, and to my knowledge it is not specifically taught in any American law school: how to sell, or, as the industry prefers to call it, how to conduct business development.
I realize the idea is unwelcome to many law professors, and probably to a good many deans. Having worked in and studied the legal employment market across the country for well over twenty years, I would say that the ability to bring in business is the single most important skill a lawyer in private practice can have. That assumes the lawyer is a good one. Being a good lawyer is table stakes, and anyone who is not is not in the conversation at all.
Knowing how to sell is what makes a rainmaker, and as the previous articles set out, rainmakers sit at the top of the hierarchy. They make the most money, hold the most influence, and generally run the firm. If they believe they are being treated unfairly, or that a better opportunity exists elsewhere, they can leave almost whenever they choose. You want to be the rainmaker. What makes one? She knows how to sell. She brings in business.