Erica L. Opitz shareholder with Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry

Advice for the New Partner

One thing I've learned over the years is that each attorney's journey through their career looks different. There is no one-size-fits-all advice that can be given that will work for everyone to help them achieve their career goals. Each attorney has their own strengths to leverage and obstacles to overcome. The partnership track at each firm looks a little different. Depending on the area of law you practice in, your referral sources are going to look different. There are a few pieces of advice that I believe do apply to every attorney looking to grow their book of business.

Know that developing a book of business is possible regardless of your obstacles. I practice at a midsize firm where the partnership track requires you to develop your own book of business in order to advance in your career. The benefit is the partnership track is very objective in its criteria. The disadvantage is that, when you're a first-year associate looking at your path forward in your career, it can be incredibly daunting. I was a brand-new attorney in Atlanta, Georgia having grown up in upstate New York. I was a long way from home and a long way from connections that might be able to refer me business. At the time, I honestly believed that there was no way that I was going to be able to grow my book in a meaningful way given my situation. Eight years later, I had a book of business large enough to become an income shareholder, and three years after that, my book was large enough to become an equity shareholder.

Not every method of business development works for everyone. As the title of this article suggests, there are a lot of ways to develop business, but that doesn't mean that they all work for every attorney. Every attorney you ask for advice on developing business is going to tell you something different, because something different worked for each attorney.