Zen & the Art of Legal Networking

While I’m out of the office today attending the Economist’s Annual General Counsel Conference in London, I’m bringing you another Rainmaking Recommendation from trainer and expert, Jaimie Field! I’m a big fan of Jaimie’s recommendations in this post, and use them myself – in fact, as a holdover from my days in high school (yes, that long ago), I still use a paper agenda to schedule my daily tasks, even breaking up long term projects so that I work on them a little bit every day to make progress. For me, it works really well to have a tangible list that I can cross things off of. I also create a monthly plan, which is tied into my overall operational plan for the ILN, which I review weekly to ensure that I’m maintaining continuity on my goals, and my organization’s goals.

We’re excited to announce our newest member firm in Ecuador, Izurieta Mora Bowen!

Throughout its almost 80 year-history, Izurieta Mora Bowen Law Firm has become one of the most recognized names, both nationally and internationally. Their commitment to professionalism, along with high ethics and morals, have made them a successful firm since they began operations in 1941. Their mission is to offer their clients and their businesses the peace of mind and security that comes with preventative advisory services, as well as comprehensive legal representation for unforeseen events. They provide appropriate and innovative services to complex challenges and have a focus on generating trust with their clients.

Daily, we interact with lots of people – this happens in person, at our offices, in the coffee shop, at our kids’ sporting events or art classes. It happens online, through our group chats, text messages with friends, Facebook shares, LinkedIn comments, etc. We interact so much and so frequently, that we’ve reached a real saturation point with these interactions, and even with our professional messages, we can see a lack of care that a lot of us are giving to the details over the tools and the shiny new thing. Instead, we’re just blindly producing more and more and more and more, adding more noise (as Adrian Lurssen would say). 

Content marketing can feel like the opportunity to be the author or podcaster or speaker that you’ve always wanted to be.

But when done strategically, it’s about building relationships with clients and potential clients, and providing additional value to them that will make you top of mind when they have a matter that requires your expertise. When you bear that in mind as an end goal, it’s a reminder that you can’t simply put out content – you need to build an audience. 

Recently, I was speaking with a group of  professional women about the skills they see as essential to “getting to the top.” CEO of Pure Performance Communications, Deirdre Breakenridge, put together an article, “Climbing the Ladder to Success: Five Thought Leaders Weigh-in with Advice,” collecting their answers, and I wanted to share mine with you here.

For me, the answer is three-fold: persistence, a willingness, and openness to always be learning, and a strong tribe.