Legal Business Development During the Pandemic : Think Differently

I sat down with business development coach and author, Nora Riva Bergman, last week – at least virtually – for an interview for her upcoming book, 50 Lessons for Happy Lawyers: Boost wellness. Build resilience. Yes, you can.

Nora was nice enough to enough share some of what I shared with her in a blog post. I thought I’d share some of that with you.

Lawyers need to think differently during the pandemic, now is not the time to do the same.

“The biggest problem lawyers have is just getting in the way of themselves and being guided by other lawyers. In order to innovate, somebody needs to be an innovator. The greatest challenge I see for lawyers is that they’re going to try to correct the situation by just doing the same things. It doesn’t work.”

Look at how consumers interact with services and products. They don’t interact with them in the same way that legal services are being rendered. So, there’s real opportunity for lawyers who are willing to be different. Now’s the time not to be the same.”

Learn How to Really Use the Internet for Business Development

“99.9999% of lawyers have no clue how to use the internet. It’s built for relationships. It’s built for building a name. Most lawyers don’t know how to use it.

Lawyers have to understand the internet is an opportunity to communicate, to basically build your own room, so you can network with people, engage with people, and other people can see you doing that.”

Be Vulnerable and Have Faith

“Until we’re vulnerable, it’s hard to take a step forward. Lawyers are afraid to be vulnerable, and maybe rightfully so. They think if they let their guard down, other lawyers will think less of them. Vulnerability means letting your guard down and doing something different. And if you don’t know what to do, that’s okay. People will help you along the way. Others have laid down paths that you can follow.

It takes a sense of faith in yourself and in the world that things will work out because they always do.”

Thanks Nora, I look forward to reading your book.

And for those of you not following Nora on social media, she’s a real pro. There’s much to be learned for lawyers from her use of social media for business development.