Client Development
Best practices from 27 law firm experts
In most firm, the BD culture is more by default than design. CultureShift is the operating system that makes it intentional, combining retreats, training, Lawyer BookBuilder, personal coaching, and BD Buddy™ into a synchronized approach that turns growth into a firmwide habit.
The Four Pillars
Orchestrated by CultureShift®
260+ Firms
Consulting, training, coaching, & technology
50%+ Am Law 200
Invested in Freeman's products & services
10,000+ Lawyers
Trained & coached worldwide
30+ Years
Launching rainmakers
Typical firm culture is a hodgepodge of fits and starts, more siloed than synchronized, more Frankenstein than Formula One.
The cost compounds quietly: missed originations, lost cross-sales, disengaged partners, and lawyers who never become the rainmakers they could be.
Silo mentalities
Lackluster cross-selling
Poor communication
Under-trained lawyers
Lack of internal trust
Misaligned compensation
Inconsistent client service
Minimal accountability
Unclear goals and measures
Inefficient teams
Poorly trained leaders
Lack of follow-through
The Opportunity
Firms that win are those that proactively engineer their BD culture across every lawyer, office, department
Now more than ever, firms need leaders who are truly CultureShifters.
CultureShifters are powerful change agents who create great places to work, delight clients and awaken the rainmaking superpowers within their lawyers.
CultureShifters care deeply about those they work with, work for and the communities they work within.
CultureShifters are catalysts - magicians who transform people and firms into better versions of themselves.
CultureShifters guide people toward living at their optimal intersection of passion and practicality.
CultureShifters are authentic, bold and make a lot of (positive) noise.
CultureShifters obliterate obstacles and inspire action.
CultureShifters say no to bullies, no to internal politics, no to dysfunctional behavior, no to indecisiveness and no to fear.
CultureShifters move people from today toward a better tomorrow.
CultureShifters build bridges toward that tomorrow by improving mindsets, systems, skills and habits.
CultureShifters develop other CultureShifters who work together to create a high-performing workplace.
Ask yourself
How many CultureShifters live in your firm?
01
Powerful change agents who create great places to work, delight clients, and awaken the rainmaking superpowers within their lawyers.
02
Obliterate obstacles, inspire action, and move people from today toward a better tomorrow.
03
Develop other CultureShifters who together create a high-performing workplace.
Each Freeman product is best-in-class on its own. CultureShift® is what happens when you sequence them, integrate them, and run them as one program, so the impact compounds instead of evaporating.
How the pillars compound
Assessment
Culture XRay®
The firmwide diagnostic reveals where you stand today, so every pillar that follows targets the right obstacles.
Strategy
Retreats
Leadership aligns, the firm commits, the direction is set.
Skill & Practice
BookBuilder® · Coaching
Every lawyer learns the same proven curriculum, then coaching turns skill into action in the field.
Habit
BD Buddy
AI-enabled tracking embeds new behaviors as daily habits.
Phase 01
Diagnose
Identify strengths and gaps in your firmwide culture of business development
Phase 02
Design
Create a CultureShift plan that coordinates planning, training, coaching, reminder systems and accountability.
Phase 03
Buy-In
Run collaborative planning sessions to develop alignment and buy-in to the transformation.
Phase 04
Skills
Deploy scalable, consistent training and coaching to enhance BD skills and create a common framework and language.
Phase 05
Habits
Utilize the BD Buddy automated reminders, coaching, and tracking system to build high-performance habits.
See how it feels to shift your culture
Every CultureShift® is custom-designed. These are the three shapes our engagements typically take, depending on how much of the system your firm wants to deploy.
Assessment & planning
FocusShift
A focused diagnostic process that uncovers your current business development culture and assesses your leaders' revenue-focused leadership skills, priorities, and opportunities for improvement.
What's included
Firmwide BD culture assessment
Practice Group Leader Assessment
Initial CultureShift deployment report and briefing
Best for
Firms assessing where and how to optimize their culture of BD
Practice Group Jumpstart
PracticeShift
Firms choose a handful of practice groups or offices that need to rapidly accelerate their BD activity
What's included
All element in FocusShift
Targeted collaborative planning sessions
Lawyer BookBuilder BD training and group accountability cohorts (within and across practice groups/offices)
BD Buddy automated reminders, coaching and tracking system to drive consistent implementation.
Best for
Practice group that are behind budget or that need a boost to hit their next level.
Firmwide transformation
FirmShift
The full CultureShift®: a coordinated, firmwide build-out of strategy, skill, practice, and habit, designed to make business development part of how the firm operates.
What's included
All element in FocusShift and PracticeShift
Ongoing training, planning, and accountability mastermind programs for lawyer-leaders
Targeted BD training programs
Firmwide deployment of Lawyer BookBuilder and BD Buddy
Best for
Firms ready to make their culture of BD a competitive advantage.
In the AI era, winning is less about drafting documents and more about relationships, trust, and consistent follow-through. Model what a few more engagements from new clients and cross-sells could mean for your firm.
Number of lawyers in your group/firm expected to bring in new work
Average revenue per matter
How many additional matters could each lawyer bring in over the course of a year through more consistent business development activity?
Number of matters from new clients per lawyer/year
+0.25 engagements
avg per lawyer / year
Number of cross-sold matters received per lawyer/year
+0.25 engagements
avg per lawyer / year
At +0.5 engagements per lawyer, that's roughly 100 new engagements each year.
Projected incremental revenue
$5,000,000
200 lawyers x 0.5 engagements each x $50,000 per engagement. Small shifts in activity from a large group of lawyers adds up quickly.
50 new client engagements
$2.50M
50 new cross-selling engagements
$2.50M
This kind of upside becomes possible when every lawyer is consistently prompted to act like a rainmaker.
“Culture trumps strategy every time, and David helps law firms build the right one.”
He's been recognized by the National Law Journal and for over two decades has worked with hundreds of law firms helping them create collaborative teams that propel revenue. He helps law firms create a culture of business development, and in many instances, culture will trump strategy every time. You should get in touch with him if you want to take your firm to the next level.
Cole Silver, Esq.
Chief Client Officer, Blank Rome LLP
“Our firm has consulted with David for many years to improve our culture of business development and general firm leadership. He is knowledgeable, experienced and fun to work with. He is extremely strong on implementation, follow up and accountability.”
Susan Brewer, Esq.
CEO, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“Over the six years we have worked with David, he has established a high level of trust and credibility with our management team and lawyers. The result is that all of our practice groups have been able to get more buy-in, action in the right direction, continued momentum, and most important, additional business.”
Rhea F. Law
Former President & CEO, Fowler White Boggs
“We have worked with David over several months to launch a client service and cross-selling initiative. His innovative mix of providing virtual training, consulting with our leadership team and administrative staff, gamification and a deep focus on driving ongoing implementation have delivered tremendous results.”
Jessica Lyon
Executive Assistant, Vicente Sederberg LLP
Managing partners & executive committees
Leaders ready to set a firmwide BD direction
You want every partner, associate, and BD professional pulling in the same direction, and a credible plan to get them there.
Practice group & office leaders
Leaders who must grow revenue through other lawyers
You need your group to behave like a team that grows revenue, not a collection of solo practices that happen to share a hallway.
BD, marketing & talent leaders
Professionals carrying the firmwide BD program
You want a partner who brings the operating system, the credibility, and the tooling, and who multiplies your internal team instead of replacing it.
Freeman's books distill 30+ years of training and coaching thousands of lawyers worldwide into the principles, tactics, and habits that build exceptional rainmakers.
16
Books published
2
All-time best-sellers
Over 10,000
Lawyers trained and coached
Client Development
Best practices from 27 law firm experts
Cross-Serving®
Maximize firmwide cross-selling
Leadership
Leading a culture of business development
A thirty-minute call with David is enough to determine whether CultureShift® is the right fit for your firm, and which pillars to deploy first.