When a law firm makes its first senior marketing and business development hire, there is often pressure to demonstrate value quickly through visible activity. A refreshed website or brochure, a more organised events programme, stronger social media, improved directory submissions and more polished pitches can all create momentum, but they do not, in themselves, amount to an MBD function. A genuine function gives the firm a commercial framework for growth: it connects leadership priorities with clients, markets, relationships, opportunities, reputation, investment and follow-through, and it creates shared commercial knowledge where information may previously have sat in individual inboxes or partner memory.
The distinction is important because a function built primarily around incoming requests will remain reactive, however capable the individual leading it may be. By contrast, a function built around the economics, ambitions and market position of the firm can influence where lawyers spend their time, which relationships receive attention, how opportunities are qualified and where budget is deployed. In my experience of building and reshaping MBD functions across international and regional firms, the strongest foundations are therefore not the most visible ones; they come from understanding the business deeply enough to make MBD relevant to the decisions that drive revenue and reputation.
Begin with an evidence-led commercial and market audit
Before writing a strategy, I would establish a clear picture of how the firm currently wins work and how the market sees it. Financial and pipeline data provide one part of that picture, but they need to be read alongside client relationships, referral sources, pitch outcomes, practice strengths, partner origination patterns, directory performance, awards, market visibility and the quality of the firm’s credentials.
Research should also look outward: which client sectors are growing, where regulatory or economic change is creating demand, which competitors repeatedly appear on relevant shortlists, how those competitors position themselves, and which parts of the market are already crowded or under-served.
This stage is also the right time to test the firm’s internal assumptions. A practice may believe that it is well known for a particular capability while clients associate it with something entirely different; a partner may be highly regarded in the market but under-represented in the firm’s own messaging; a sector described internally as strategic may have little supporting evidence in the client base or credentials. Client feedback, win-loss insight, conversations with referrers and targeted market research are therefore valuable not simply as research exercises, but as a means of identifying the gap between the firm’s intended position and its actual one.
The purpose is not to produce an academic market report. It is to create a commercially useful evidence base from which leadership can make choices about where the firm has a credible right to grow, what needs to change, and which opportunities are unlikely to justify investment.
Translate ambition into a small number of commercial priorities
Once the commercial picture is clear, the next step is to reduce a broad set of ambitions into a manageable number of priorities. A firm may want to deepen institutional client relationships, grow a disputes practice, develop a sector proposition, increase cross-border referrals, strengthen a new office or build the profile of particular partners. Each objective requires a different combination of relationship development, market visibility, research, credentials, pricing, content, directories, events and partner activity, which is why an MBD strategy needs to be more than a calendar of initiatives.
If the priority is disputes growth, for example, the programme may combine direct client development with international law firm relationships, barrister and expert networks, stronger matter capture, targeted directory positioning, selected awards, partner thought leadership and a clear set of credentials around the disputes the firm most wants to win. If the priority is a sector, the emphasis may shift towards sector research, client mapping, competitor analysis, tailored messaging, relevant industry relationships and a much more focused content and events programme. The value of strategy lies in these choices because it gives MBD a reason to say yes to some activity and no to other activity, while giving leadership a clearer basis for allocating partner time and budget.
Define the proposition, USPs and messaging early
A new MBD function should also establish how the firm wants to be understood by the market. This does not mean inventing a slogan before the commercial strategy is clear; it means translating genuine strengths into a proposition that clients and referrers can recognise and repeat. The firm’s USPs may include specialist depth, local court capability, cross-border coordination, sector knowledge, partner access, pricing discipline, rights of audience, speed of response, a distinctive client base or a combination of these factors. The strongest messaging is usually grounded in evidence and client need rather than in generic adjectives such as ‘commercial’, ‘innovative’ or ‘client-focused’.
Research and competitor analysis are particularly important here. The relevant question is not simply what the firm does well, but what it does well that matters to the clients it wants and is not already claimed more credibly by competitors. Once that has been established, the same strategic messages can be expressed consistently across partner profiles, pitches, the website, directory submissions, awards, credentials, media commentary and client conversations. Consistency does not mean repeating identical copy; it means ensuring that each market-facing touchpoint reinforces the same underlying reasons to choose the firm.
Build the commercial infrastructure before activity multiplies
A new function does not need elaborate systems on day one, but it does need enough infrastructure to stop commercial information from disappearing. I would prioritise an accessible credentials bank, clear client and target lists, a disciplined pitch and proposal process, a directory and awards calendar, a referral and relationship map, a practical CRM approach, a forward content and events plan and an MBD budget linked to the agreed priorities. These are not administrative add-ons; together they create the operating system that allows the firm to reuse what it already knows and learn from what it does.
Matter capture deserves particular attention because credentials sit behind so many other activities. Significant work, outcomes, sector relevance, team composition, innovative approaches and potential client referees are far easier to record while they are fresh than to reconstruct months later. The same information can then support a pitch, a case study, a Legal 500 or Chambers submission, an award entry, a media opportunity or a partner’s business development conversation. When evidence is captured once and used intelligently across several channels, the function becomes both more efficient and more persuasive.
The purpose of this infrastructure is continuity, not bureaucracy. A partner preparing for a pitch can find the right evidence quickly; a directory submission is built from information accumulated throughout the year; an introduction made at an event has an owner and a next step; and a sponsorship can be reviewed against the relationships, visibility or opportunities it actually created.
Use client feedback as a strategic input, not a courtesy exercise
Client feedback is often treated as a relationship exercise conducted after a matter or as part of an annual review, but it can be much more valuable than that. Properly structured feedback reveals why clients choose the firm, what they value in delivery, where the experience falls short, which competitors they also consider and what additional needs may be emerging. It can validate the firm’s proposed USPs or expose a disconnect between the message being promoted externally and the experience clients actually receive.
This information should flow back into strategy, messaging, service design and partner plans. If clients repeatedly value responsiveness, accessibility or sector knowledge, the firm can articulate and evidence those strengths more confidently. If feedback reveals inconsistency in communication, pricing or team structure, the MBD function can work with leadership to address an issue that no amount of external promotion will solve. A sophisticated function therefore treats client feedback as commercial intelligence: it helps protect key relationships, shape the proposition and identify growth opportunities at the same time.
Make partner and practice plans practical enough to use
Firmwide strategy becomes useful only when individual lawyers can see what it means for them. A concise partner or practice plan can bridge that gap by identifying the clients to deepen, the realistic targets to develop, the referrers who matter, the themes the partner wants to be known for, the evidence that supports that position and the next actions most likely to move relationships forward. These plans work best when they are specific, short enough to revisit and rooted in the firm’s wider priorities rather than in an isolated wish list.
This is also where MBD can operate as a genuine adviser rather than a service desk. Market research can challenge an assumption about a target; competitor analysis can show why a pitch needs a different proposition; client data can identify a cross-selling opportunity; a gap in credentials can reveal where thought leadership or matter capture needs to improve. The value is not in producing more plans, but in improving the quality of the commercial decisions that partners make.
Clarify ownership and embed CRM into behaviour
One of the fastest ways to weaken a new MBD function is to allow every commercial task to become ‘MBD’s job’. The most effective model is collaborative: leadership sets direction, partners own client and market relationships, practice leaders make choices about growth, and MBD brings structure, challenge, intelligence, coordination and follow-through. Clear ownership is particularly important for clients, targets, referral relationships and live opportunities because many promising initiatives fail not through lack of potential, but because responsibility for the next step was never explicit.
The same principle applies to CRM. Many firms start with the software when the more important question is behavioural: what does the firm need to remember in order to make better decisions? A useful CRM captures enough context to help lawyers prepare, coordinate and follow up – relationship ownership, recent meaningful contact, opportunities, referrals, client intelligence and agreed next actions – without asking them to record every interaction for the sake of completeness. Once lawyers can see that the system helps them avoid duplicate approaches, prepare for client meetings, identify warm routes into targets or keep important relationships from going quiet, adoption becomes far more likely.
Connect strategy, budget and measurement
A growth strategy without resources behind it remains largely aspirational. Before the strategy is adopted, leadership needs to decide what level of investment it is prepared to make in MBD-led growth and how that investment will be allocated. Travel, events, sponsorships, directories, awards, content, PR, research, technology and client programmes all consume time and money; their value comes from supporting agreed commercial priorities rather than simply repeating historic spend.
Measurement then needs to be sophisticated enough to reflect how professional-services growth actually works. Not every initiative will produce immediate revenue, but it can still be assessed against relevant outcomes: access to priority decision-makers, progression of key relationships, quality of referrals, pitch conversion, client retention, cross-selling, stronger credentials, improved rankings, external recognition, pipeline development and the quality of market intelligence generated. Over time, this creates a much more intelligent conversation about ROI because the firm can see which relationships and activities are contributing to commercial momentum and where resources should be increased, reduced or redirected.
Build capability across the lawyer population
A sustainable MBD function cannot depend on a handful of natural rainmakers. Business development develops over a career, and the function can help create that capability deliberately. Junior lawyers can learn how to build professional networks, capture credentials and understand the commercial context of their work; senior associates can develop sector visibility, referrer relationships and client-facing confidence; partners can benefit from more structured client planning, origination, cross-selling and opportunity management.
This does not mean turning every lawyer into a salesperson. It means recognising that relationship development, market awareness and commercial judgement are professional capabilities that can be taught and supported. When those behaviours begin to spread across the firm, MBD stops trying to generate growth on behalf of lawyers and starts helping lawyers generate growth more effectively themselves.
The real test is whether the firm starts behaving differently
The success of a new MBD function is not best measured by the number of events, posts, pitches or campaigns produced in its first year. A more meaningful test is whether the firm’s commercial behaviour has changed: significant matters are captured while they are fresh, clients and targets receive more deliberate attention, pitches are better qualified, referral relationships are maintained more consistently, partner activity is connected to strategy, and leadership has clearer visibility of opportunities and investment.
At that point, MBD is no longer a department sitting beside the business. It has become part of the way the business understands its market, makes choices, develops relationships and grows. That is the point at which the value of the function begins to compound rather than simply add activity.