Key takeaways
- The buyer is general counsel where there is one, and the founder or finance director where there is not.
- Deals, disputes and regulatory change create legal work you can see from outside.
- Know-how, briefings and referrers do more than cold pitches.
- Every message is approved by a partner and checked for confidential detail.
Who instructs a commercial law firm
Where a company has an in-house legal team, the general counsel or legal director instructs outside firms, often from a panel. Where it does not, the founder, chief executive or finance director decides, usually because a deal or a dispute has arrived.
Referrers matter as much as buyers. Accountants, corporate finance advisers, investors and other law firms that cannot act because of a conflict all pass work on, and they remember who stayed in touch.
Which triggers create legal work
Legal work follows change in a business. Law firm business development teams track these events across their target sectors.
- A funding round, with its investment and shareholder documents
- An acquisition, a disposal or a restructuring
- Entry into a new country, with contracts and employment questions
- A dispute with a supplier, customer or former employee
- New regulation in the client's sector
How do lawyers get business clients without hard selling
Lawyers get business clients by being useful before they are needed. A two-page briefing on a regulatory change, a short note after a client's announcement or a small round table for finance directors builds the trust a pitch cannot.
Sector focus helps here: a partner known for one sector gets introductions in that sector, and every matter adds to the know-how that the next briefing draws on.
What rules govern commercial law firm marketing
In England and Wales, the SRA's codes of conduct govern how solicitors publicise their services, including unsolicited approaches to members of the public, and its transparency rules require price and service information for some services. Other parts of the UK have their own regulators.
Confidentiality limits what you can say: never name a client or matter without consent, and run a conflict check before discussing anything specific with a prospect. Agree your outreach approach with your compliance officer for legal practice.
How should legal services prospecting be reviewed
Legal services prospecting should go through one review: a business development colleague or an assistant drafts, and the partner whose name is on the message approves it. The partner checks the facts, the tone and that nothing confidential has slipped in.
Keep the message short and about the reader's situation. Offer a conversation or a briefing, never an implied result.
How a commercial law firm finds clients, step by step
Agree the approach with your compliance officer first.
- Choose the sectors and matter types the firm wants more of.
- List companies in those sectors and watch for funding, deals, disputes and regulatory change.
- Name the general counsel, founder or finance director at each company.
- Run a conflict check before any specific conversation.
- Draft a short, useful note and have the partner approve it before it is sent.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityResearch & analysisAsk an assistant to read a target company's news and public pages for recent deals or regulatory changes, with numbered citations a partner can check.
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsUse Find fresh leads for general counsel and finance directors at up to ten named companies, with at least one role and one location per run.
- CapabilityOutreach contentDrafts are saved in the partner's connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox, so the partner reviews and sends each one.
Common questions
Can solicitors send cold emails to businesses?
Check the SRA's current guidance on unsolicited approaches and the electronic marketing rules with your compliance officer before you run any campaign. Personal, relevant notes to existing contacts and referrers are the safer place to start.
What is a legal panel review?
A process in which a company chooses the law firms it will use for a period, often through a questionnaire and pitch. Being invited usually depends on a relationship with the general counsel beforehand.
Should partners or a BD team do law firm business development?
Both. The business development team finds triggers, builds lists and drafts; the partner owns the relationship and approves every message in their name.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
