
Client Development
Best practices from 27 law firm experts
Executive Coaching for Lawyers & Law Firms
For thirty years, David H. Freeman has coached the lawyers and leaders who build the largest practices at the world's most respected firms. Bespoke, confidential, and relentless. Built to compound for life.
Founder & Lead Coach
David H. Freeman, JD
National Law Journal
#1 BD Coach · Hall of Fame inductee
NLJ #1 BD Coach
National Law Journal
NLJ Hall of Fame
Inducted Coach
16 Books / 2 Bestsellers
Author & Speaker
10,000+ Lawyers Coached
30+ Years
What follows is not theory. It is the working method David has used in private coaching with partners, leaders, and rainmakers at hundreds of the world's most respected law firms.
01
Custom to the lawyer
“There is no playbook that fits every practice.”
Every engagement begins with a deep read of the lawyer, their practice, their psyche, their advantages, and the precise market they want to win in. Strategy is built from there, not retrofitted from a template.
02
Strengths over selling
“Serve, don't sell.”
We replace the dread of selling with an approach rooted in service, generosity, and authenticity, connecting lawyers with the work they actually want, through the relationships they actually enjoy.
03
Concrete tactics, not platitudes
“Big ideas, broken down to next steps.”
Sessions translate strategy into specific, scheduled actions, the meeting to request, the email to send, the talk to give, the introduction to make. No vague resolutions; only the next move.
04
Relentless accountability
“Follow-through is the rare commodity.”
A structured cadence of sessions, commitments, and check-ins ensures progress between meetings. We hold lawyers to the work they promised themselves they would do, kindly and relentlessly.
05
A personal growth system
“Become your own rainmaker engine.”
We install the operating system underneath the success: a personal BD plan, a relationship architecture, a follow-up rhythm, and a way of thinking about opportunities that the lawyer keeps long after coaching ends.
06
Behavior change that compounds
“Three years from now, the habits are still there.”
Our work is finished when the new habits are inseparable from the lawyer, when partners across the firm are quoting principles from the engagement years later, and the book of business continues to compound on its own momentum.
Advanced Certification
Three decades of work with more than 10,000 lawyers at hundreds of the world's most respected firms, distilled into a single credential. Freeman Certified BD Coaches are personally trained and vetted by David to deliver the Freeman Method to law firms, so the firms that hire them know exactly what they're getting.
Hire a Freeman Certified BD Coach, or apply to become one.
Every engagement is bespoke. The structures below describe how the work usually shows up, but the substance is shaped entirely by the lawyer, the leader, or the firm in front of us.
One-to-one engagement
1:1 Partner Coaching
Confidential, recurring coaching for partners and senior associates ready to build or rebuild a serious book of business.
Personal BD plan tied to your practice and market
Recurring strategy sessions with structured agendas
Real-time tactical guidance between meetings
Accountability and progress tracking
High-potential cohort
Rainmaker Development
A coaching arc for the lawyers your firm has identified as future rainmakers, designed to compress years of trial and error into a focused growth path.
Individualized rainmaker roadmaps
Cohort peer accountability
Targeted skill-building sessions
Pipeline & opportunity coaching
For group leaders
Practice Group Leader Coaching
Coaching for practice group, industry team, and office leaders who must grow revenue through other lawyers, not just their own book.
Sales-manager mindset for legal leaders
Group goal-setting and pipeline reviews
Coaching skills for leaders coaching their own teams
Quarterly progress and recalibration
For incoming partners
Lateral Integration Coaching
A dedicated coaching engagement for lateral partners, accelerating cross-firm relationships, originations, and integration in the first 12 months.
90-day integration plan
Targeted internal relationship mapping
Cross-selling activation
Book portability acceleration
Managing partner-level
Firm Leadership Advisory
Strategic, confidential counsel for managing partners and executive committees driving firm-wide growth, culture, and talent decisions.
Confidential sounding board
Firm-wide BD strategy review
Leadership team alignment
Talent and lateral strategy input
For BD & marketing teams
Internal Coaching Cohorts
Train and equip your in-house marketing and BD professionals to act as internal coaches, multiplying David's methodology across the firm.
Train-the-coach curriculum
Frameworks, scripts, and playbooks
Live observation & feedback
Ongoing senior advisor support
Coaching engagements are typically twelve months, with the option to renew. Sessions are scheduled to your calendar, always on the record, always confidential.
Phase 01
Discovery
A confidential conversation to understand your practice, your ambitions, and the specific outcomes you want from coaching.
Phase 02
Diagnosis
A structured assessment of strengths, networks, current pipeline, and the gaps standing between you and the next level.
Phase 03
Personal Strategy Map
A custom written plan: target relationships, priority practice areas, tactical priorities, and clear measures of progress.
Phase 04
Coaching Cadence
Recurring 1:1 sessions, typically monthly or bi-weekly, with structured agendas, prep work, and clear commitments.
Phase 05
Field Tactics
Real-world execution between sessions, with on-call refinement on the meetings, pitches, and outreach that matter most.
Phase 06
Accountability & Wins
Quarterly review of progress against the plan, celebrating wins, recalibrating priorities, and reinforcing new habits.
“I stopped selling and started serving, and more than doubled my originations in a year.”
Working with David helped revolutionize my practice. I stopped selling and started serving, finding ways to give freely of my time, thought, and energy rather than hawking legal services. By shifting my mindset and applying a few of his suggestions, I more than doubled my originations in a year.

Allen Denson
Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
For the individual lawyer
Partners & senior associates building a serious book
For the lawyer who knows they have more in them, and wants a private, expert partner to help them get there without guessing.
Common outcomes
Originations growth
Confidence in BD conversations
A sustainable personal system
For practice group & firm leaders
Leaders responsible for group revenue and people
For practice group leaders, office managing partners, and rising firm leaders who must develop other rainmakers and grow group revenue.
Common outcomes
Effective sales-management of partners
Stronger group plans & pipeline
Peer-to-peer accountability
For managing partners
Managing partners & executive committees
For the most senior leaders who need a trusted, confidential advisor on firm strategy, leadership, culture, and growth decisions.
Common outcomes
Discreet strategic counsel
Firm-wide BD alignment
Higher-leverage leadership decisions
Engagements are measured by what changes in the lawyer's practice, and what stays changed for years afterward.
01
2×+
Originations growth
Partners doubling personal originations within twelve months of starting coaching.
02
New
Matters landed
Targeted outreach producing new matters within the first quarter of engagement.
03
Years
Habits that hold
Behavior change so deeply ingrained that lawyers cite David's coaching years later.
04
Firm
Cultural lift
Group-wide momentum as coached lawyers become the firm's next generation of leaders.
“Hiring David was a home run for us. Many of our top billers have been coached by him. We've used a variety of coaches, and David is the first one able to customize his system and approach to hit each individual's target. He is fantastic.”
Jay Felton
Executive Committee Member, Lathrop GPM LLP
“David has been an exceptional brainstorming partner for me as CEO, building on my passions, deepening relationships, and launching initiatives that have resulted in many new clients. He breaks big ideas into small manageable steps.”
Sangeeta Shah, Esq.
CEO, Brooks Kushman P.C.
“Three years later I still hear David's wisdom from the mouths of those he coached. His ability to meet each lawyer where they are, and then move them toward more sophisticated, strategic thinking, is truly his gift.”
Josh Kappel
Founding Partner, Vicente LLP
David's books are used by law firm leaders and lawyers across the profession. Practical guides grounded in decades of work inside the firms that hire Freeman.
16
Books published
2
National bestsellers
30+
Years in print

Client Development
Best practices from 27 law firm experts

Cross-Serving®
Maximize firmwide cross-selling

Leadership
Leading a culture of business development

Founder & Lead Coach · Freeman Coaching
A former New York lawyer turned business development expert, David has spent more than thirty years coaching the lawyers and leaders who go on to build the largest practices at the world's most respected firms, training over 10,000 lawyers across hundreds of firms in the process.
He has been voted the #1 business development coach in the United States by the National Law Journal and inducted into their Hall of Fame. He is the author of sixteen books on business development for lawyers, two of which are bestsellers, and the creator of the proven Freeman Coaching Method now used at the heart of every engagement.
Tell us what you're solving for. David personally reviews every inquiry, and we'll respond within two business days to schedule a private call.