Building Your Client Base as a Consultant Solicitor

Article Summary: You don’t need an existing client following to make consultancy work, and you don’t need to become a natural salesperson overnight either. Most lawyers already have a stronger foundation than they realise, in the form of relationships, referrals, and reputation built over years of practice. For those with a smaller existing network, business development can still be built gradually through straightforward habits rather than a standing start. Either way, building your client base is a gradual habit in your first year and beyond.

Of all the questions lawyers ask before moving to consultancy, “where will my work actually come from?” is one of the most common. It conjures images of cold calling, aggressive self-promotion, or needing a huge book of business before you even start. In reality, it’s rarely like that, whether you’re bringing an established client base with you or need to do more development.

This article looks at how business development in your first year truly plays out, and why it tends to be far more manageable, and far less sales-y, than you might think.

Considering consultancy? Read the rest of the articles in this series:

• Your First Year as a Consultant Solicitor
• Finances as a Consultant Solicitor
• Marketing Yourself as a Consultant Solicitor
• Building Your Support Network
• Junior Lawyers: Preparing for Consultancy

If you’re bringing a following with you

If you already have clients who are likely to move with you or want to work with you specifically rather than your former firm, you’re in a strong starting position. However, even if you’re in this position, some deliberate relationship-building is worthwhile, rather than simplyassuming it will happen automatically.

Recognising what you’re already bringing with you is the first step:

• Direct relationships with clients who trust you personally and are likely to follow, given the option
• Referral sources including colleagues, other professionals and past clients who send you work because of your reputation, not your firm’s name
• Reputation within your specialism, which often travels with you far more than you may expect

Most of this groundwork has already been laid over years of practice. Your first year is less about starting a business development effort from nothing, and more about formalising and nurturing relationships that already exist, and making sure clients and referrers know how to find you in your new setting.

Being upfront with existing contacts about your move is also worthwhile, wherever possible. Clients and referrers often want to continue working with the person, not just the firm, but they can only do that if they know you’ve moved and how to reach you. A short, simple heads-up tends to go a long way here, well before anything more formal is needed.

If you’re starting with a smaller existing following

Not every consultant moves across with a ready-made client base, but this can still be a workable starting, not a barrier. If this describes you, a few things are worth knowing:

• You’re not expected to have a fully formed pipeline on day one. Business development, for most consultants, builds gradually over months rather than arriving all at once.
• It doesn’t have to look like traditional sales. For most lawyers, generating work in this context looks more like staying visible, being easy to reach, and letting your reputation and specialism do more of the work than any active pitching.
• Small actions still count. Reconnecting with former colleagues and contacts, being responsive when opportunities arise, and simply being known for what you do tend to matter more than any single big push.
• Look at support. Many consultancy firms don’t offer BD support; you’ll be expected to generate all of your own work. However, some do, and if this is important to you, make sure you bring it up in early conversations. For example, at Setfords, our Business Development team generates over 25% of the firm’s work per year. Find out more about business development at Setfords.
• It gets easier as it goes. Early work often leads to referrals, which lead to more work, in a way that compounds steadily rather than requiring constant fresh effort.

This path may take a little longer to build momentum than moving across with an existing following, but it’s still a common and workable route into consultancy. What matters most is the drive to build a following and bring in work, as well as taking advantage of any support available to you.

Building the habit, whichever position you’re in

Regardless of where you start, business development in your first year works best as a consistent habit rather than a project with a start and end date. Some habits to think about building include:

• Reconnecting, not pitching. A simple message to a former client or contact to say you’ve moved, with no ask, can do more than formal outreach with strings attached.
• Being easy to find and easy to say yes to. Making sure people know how to reach you, and that reaching you is straightforward, removes a lot of the friction that often slows referrals down.
• Treating every piece of work as a potential source of the next one. Client satisfaction and word of mouth tend to be the single biggest driver of a growing pipeline for consultants, more than any marketing activity.
• Giving it time. A pipeline built on relationships and reputation takes months to gather pace, not days. This is true no matter where you’re starting from.
• Keeping a simple, personal record of who you’ve spoken to and who you might follow up with. Even a basic list is enough to make sure good contacts don’t quietly slip through the cracks in a busy first year.

A note on support

You’re not expected to build all of this in total isolation. At Setfords, there is support available to help generate leads and referrals alongside your own efforts. For example, our Business Development Team generate over 25% of the firm’s work each year – these are new business leads passed directly to our consultants.

For most consultants, the foundation of a lasting work pipeline is still your own relationships and reputation. The support around you is designed to be a helpful supplement to that, not a replacement.

The bottom line

Whether you’re moving across with a strong existing following or need to build it up, developing your client base as a consultant should be seen as a gradual, ongoing process rather than a hurdle to clear before you even start. Recognising what you already bring with you, building a few habits, and giving it time to compound are what really move the needle more than any single dramatic effort. Most consultants find that, a year in, their pipeline looks nothing like the blank page they feared at the start, especially if they take advantage of the support available.

Ready for consultancy?

Get in touch for a confidential conversation about what it could look like for you.