Page 16 - Minnesota Vol 8 No 2

New Lawyers: Your Marketing Toolkit!
BY TERRIE S. WHEELER, MBC
Graduating from law school is an exciting time in your life. You have studied hard, read more than you thought you could, and reached your goal – passing the bar exam! is article is geared toward those of you who choose to go into private practice at a law rm. A future article will
discuss tips to start your own practice out of law school.
e following tips and suggestions are designed to help you ease into developing clients of your own. It won’t happen overnight. While law schools provide the intellectual and decision-making framework that will serve you through your career, you will need to dedicate law school-level study time to turning the theories you learned in law school into how to be successful in private practice. Most law schools do not teach you to run a business, attract clients, develop referral sources, and apply ethical best practices to your marketing e orts. While you will not be able to land large corporate clients or attract big litigation matters as a newly minted lawyer, there are many things you
CAN do to begin the process of becoming a rainmaker.
Stay in Touch With Your Classmates: When I talk with successful lawyers they can generally trace some of their best relationships and referral sources back to law school. Make sure you stay connected to the people you really liked and bonded with in law school. Remember that many of them will take other legal positions and can develop into great referral sources. It’s just too easy to fall into “the grind” of being a new lawyer, telling yourself you are too busy to socialize. Yes, you’re working hard, but nd a balance so your life isn’t all work and no play. Update your LinkedIn Pro le: Make sure you visit your LinkedIn pro le o en to make sure it re ects all your accomplishments. Linke- dIn is the professional version of Facebook, so make sure you select personal friends you also want to add to your professional network and send them connection requests. Also, make sure your headline speci cally references your practice areas, so you can be found in
searches.
Practice Client Service on the Partners: Believe it or not, the
senior lawyers at your rm will be judging your every move. ey are consistently looking to validate their decision to have hired you. ey will notice when you come in, when you leave, the quality of your writ- ing, how well you catch on, take criticism, get along with others, and more. You have one chance to make these career-changing rst im- pressions. Practice your client service skills on partners by asking for
ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · MINNESOTA· VOL. 8 NO. 2 16