Without customers, you don't have a business. You have a hobby.
—Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, “Return on Customer”

For lawyers who practice in a firm of any size, focusing on business development is essential to the growth of their business. Otherwise, lawyers risk turning their practice into a pastime with no clients—which translates to a career with no earnings.

As the practice of law has transformed over the last several years and firms scrutinize their bottom lines and attorneys' productivity, business development has become an essential skill all attorneys must cultivate. Counting on institutional clients or a retiring partner's book of business is closer to a fairy tale than a viable pathway to career success.