By Andrew Dick
November 19, 2025
Oringinally published in Law360 (link to article)
Winning new clients rarely comes from a cold email or glossy credentials. Today’s general counsel expect outside lawyers to show interest, relevance, and value long before there is an engagement to be had. The firms that consistently earn new relationships treat business development as a trust-building exercise, not a transaction.
Below are seven practical ways to generate new client relationships in a way that feels authentic, strategic, and aligned with how GCs actually want to engage—drawn from recent conversations with over a dozen general counsel about how they approach new outside counsel relationships.
Don’t wait for a live matter to introduce yourself. When the pressure is on, clients prioritize known quantities, and there’s no faster path to being known than showing up early with perspective and curiosity. Proactive outreach shouldn’t be a pitch. Rather, it’s built through a pattern of relevant touchpoints that demonstrate you understand the company, respect the GC’s time, and want to be helpful without strings attached.
Early, low-friction conversations build a foundation: you learn how the business makes money, the company's risk profile, board and management sensitivities and existing areas of legal concern]. When something does break, you’re not a stranger, you’re the person who’s already been thinking about the problem with them.
Try this: After a company’s earnings call, send a two-paragraph note highlighting a regulatory or litigation implication of something that came up on the call and offer to brainstorm ideas for 15 minutes – off the clock.
GCs don’t hire in a vacuum. Deputy and associate general counsel, senior counsel, legal operations leaders, and paralegals weigh in on outside counsel decisions, manage day-to-day interactions, and shape whether the relationship succeeds. Limiting outreach to the GC alone increases your blind spots and decreases your odds.
Building multi-level relationships also future-proofs your efforts. Today’s senior counsel is tomorrow’s associate general counseland in a few years, the GC. Treat them like the decision-maker they’re becoming. Show respect for their expertise, ask what “usable” advice looks like for their internal clients, and make it easy for them to champion you internally.
Try this: Map the in-house legal org chart. Invite a legal ops leader to a short call about process pain points (templates, preferred billing formats, playbooks). Follow up with a practical resource they can use immediately.
A well-placed, no-strings-attached insight often earns more trust than the most polished pitch. But “free advice” works only when it’s targeted, digestible, and usable. Avoid the temptation to send a 10-page memo. Instead, translate a development into three implications for the business, one recommended action, and an offer to pressure-test an approach.
Thoughtful generosity signals that you’re focused on the client’s outcomes, not your origination credit. Over time, those small, helpful moments compound into credibility. And credibility is what gets you invited into the room when stakes are high.
Try this: Send a two-slide briefing after a key agency announcement tailored to the company’s industry, with a short checklist the GC can share with the CFO or HR.
New relationships form fastest when you speak the client’s language. That requires more than reciting the law; it requires understanding how the business creates value and where it’s heading. Frame your outreach around goals like market expansion, margin protection, product launches, or talent strategy – then connect the legal issues to those goals.
This is where preparation pays off. Read the 10-K, investor letters, product pages, and job postings. Know the competitors. Anticipate the internal questions a GC will get from the CEO or board and shape your point of view accordingly. When you demonstrate strategic fluency, you move from vendor to partner.
Try this: Open a conversation with, “If the company is prioritizing X this year, here are two areas where we often see legal risk undermine that goal and one way to mitigate each—interested in a quick working session to tailor this to your environment?”
Many new business relationships are hiding in plain sight. Your colleagues, alumni, clients in adjacent sectors, and even former opposing counsel can be warm bridges to the people you want to meet. Yet many lawyers operate like solo practitioners inside their own firms.
Build an internal habit of network mapping. Quarterly, pick two target industries and ask partners, counsel, and senior associates to identify connections, shared boards, or vendor overlaps. Look for natural intersections – portfolio companies of private equity clients, suppliers for your existing clients, or executives who previously worked with your firm elsewhere. Then coordinate outreach so it’s unified, not duplicative.
Try this: Host a short, cross-practice huddle to identify five shared contacts who would value a roundtable on a hot issue. Co-sponsor it with another partner to broaden reach and credibility.
Attention is scarce. A single, well-chosen touchpoint can cut through noise more effectively than a slick capabilities deck. Ask yourself: if the GC forwarded your note to a business leader, would you be proud of what it says about you?
Personalization beats volume. Reference the company’s product roadmap, a specific facility or market, or a quoted comment from an exec – and add a bite-sized insight that helps them make a decision today. Consistency also matters. A light cadence of thoughtful notes over a few months is more persuasive than a flurry followed by radio silence.
Try this: Instead of a client alert blast, send an email with a three-sentence view tailored to the company and attach a one-page decision tree they can reuse internally.
Relationships compound over time through reliability, discretion, and the courage to tell hard truths. That means being visible and useful when there’s nothing to sell, offering referrals when you’re not the right fit, and giving the GC air cover – not angling for credit – when something goes sideways.
Treat early interactions as the first working sessions of a long partnership. Ask for feedback and act on it. Offer to help draft executive-ready materials. Share credit generously with your team and with in-house counterparts. When you build a reputation for making the GC’s life easier, opportunities have a way of finding you.
Try this: After a helpful intro or nonbillable call, send a short summary of what you heard and two follow-ups you’ll handle – no invoice, no pitch.
Business development that chases quick wins burns out fast. The lawyers who build durable books of business do so by being curious, commercially aware, and consistently helpful. Show up before the crisis. Engage the whole team. Offer targeted value without strings. Align with strategy. Harness your network. Make each touchpoint count. And play the long game.
Do those things, and when a live issue hits, you won’t be introducing yourself, you’ll be the first call.
Andrew Dick is VP of Strategic Initiatives at The L Suite, where he runs Client Quotient™, an on-demand learning platform with GC insights to help law firms understand what clients want.
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