Law

Partners build their business by growing the number of clients that use their services as a trusted advisor. This happens by being more than a subject matter expert. It requires a combination of foundations and energizing activities that grow a partner’s competitive position in the marketplace and increases the likelihood of inclusion in broader engagements with existing clients of the firm. Understanding the areas that are accelerating or slowing business development and knowing the priority actions to take are just some of the insights gained through use of the Competitive Advantage Accelerator. 

The Competitive Advantage Accelerator is used by partners at law firms to identify ways they can enhance and develop their business development strategy to create a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Personal reports provide targeted and high value insights by using benchmarks from peer group data for priority actions and ‘watch-outs’. In some use cases, group data is also available to provide insights for practice groups and client teams.

Whether it is for an equity partner who is seeking to add new clients and/or grow revenues from a well-established client base, or a junior partner who is in the early stages of defining a competitive position for growing their book of business, the Competitive Advantage Accelerator is designed to improve business development capabilities.

Experts from Thrive Matters, Saïd Business School, and accredited providers with law firm experience, are available to support the use of the Competitive Advantage Accelerator for business development in law firms.

Ask Us how we can support you in business development.

Client Relationship Teams (CRTs) are partner-led groups that coordinate how a law firm serves and grows its most important clients across practices and geographies. Most firms already have client (service) teams, but many underperform because the team does not operate as a team: high-performing individuals pull in different directions, creating an inconsistent client experience, weak internal coordination, slow follow-through, missed opportunities, and over-reliance on one or two people to carry the relationship.

The Client Relationship Team program is designed to turn client teams into a growth engine by building the behaviors that deepen strategic client relationships. It combines a diagnostic (the Competitive Advantage Accelerator) with an alternating cycle of one-to-one and team coaching, focused on trust, decision clarity, cross-practice collaboration, and collective accountability. Coaching is tied to live client priorities, so changes show up in how the team plans, executes, and communicates, leading to clearer roles, faster decisions, better follow-through, and a shared commercial mindset across the team.

Increasing collaboration is central to growing client revenues. The research of Dr Heidi Gardner (Harvard) demonstrates the opportunity to significantly grow revenues in law firms through smart collaboration. Legal issues are often multifaceted, complex problems that require experts across practice areas to integrate their knowledge and perspectives in order to generate optimal solutions. 

Through increased collaboration, engagement across available expertise will result in better outcomes for clients. For the firm, significant increases in revenue and profitability will result if just one additional practice group is engaged by existing clients by improving collaboration. 

The Smart Collaboration Accelerator is used by more law firms globally than any other collaboration development tool. Individuals, practice groups, client teams all gain an understanding of the catalysts and barriers to greater collaboration. 

Experts from Thrive Matters, Gardner & Co, and accredited partners with experience in collaboration skills development, are available to support the use of the Smart Collaboration Accelerator.

Ask Us if you would like to discuss how we can help improve collaboration.

Moving from senior associate to partner is a significant transition. The core components and activities involved in developing a sustainable deal flow as a partner is not obvious nor clearly understood. Often the advice from partners around what is required to be successful is limited or skewed to their personal preferences. This may mean that there are not the role models to make partnership feel accessible.

The Competitive Advantage Accelerator uses research from Oxford University and work with leading law firms to demystify partnership and distill these steps for partner success into actionable elements. Our analytics use industry benchmarks to identify and provide personal recommended actions and ‘watch-outs’ to help senior associates create an action plan that supports their transition to a successful junior partner. 

Experts from Thrive Matters, Saïd Business School, and accredited coaches with law firm experience, are available to support the use of the Competitive Advantage Accelerator in law firms.

Ask Us if you would like help with the development of senior associates or junior partners.