Client Development
Best practices from 27 law firm experts
In most firms, the BD culture is an accident. CultureShift® is the operating system that makes it intentional, combining retreats, training, coaching, and BD Buddy into one orchestrated program that turns growth into a firmwide habit.
The Four Pillars
By design, not default
Orchestrated by CultureShift®
260+ Firms
Cultures shaped firmwide
50%+ Am Law 200
Have engaged Freeman
10,000+ Lawyers
Trained, coached, certified
30+ Years
Refining the operating system
It's a hodgepodge of fits and starts, more patchwork than purposeful, more Frankenstein than Formula One, more siloed than synchronized. The cost compounds quietly: missed originations, lost cross-sales, disengaged partners, and lawyers who never become the rainmakers they could be.
The organizational dysfunctions that quietly cap a firm's revenue ceiling, and that the right operating system obliterates.
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
The firms that win are the ones that stop treating BD culture as an accident, and start engineering it deliberately, across every lawyer, every quarter, every year.
CultureShifters are the leaders, partners, and BD professionals inside a firm who carry the new operating system forward when the outside engagement ends.
Ask yourself
How many CultureShifters live in your firm today, and how many will, twelve months from now?
Powerful change agents who create great places to work, delight clients, and awaken the rainmaking superpowers within their lawyers.
Catalysts and magicians who transform people and firms into better versions of themselves.
Authentic, bold, and unafraid to make a lot of (positive) noise.
Obliterate obstacles, inspire action, and move people from today toward a better tomorrow.
Build bridges by improving mindsets, systems, skills, and habits.
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
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.
The foundation, included with every engagement
Culture XRay®, the firmwide diagnostic
A simple, anonymous voice-of-the-firm survey across nine areas of BD culture. The XRay tells us exactly which obstacles to obliterate first, and which mix of the four pillars will move the needle fastest.
The CultureShift® model is the structure underneath every engagement. It's how we go from a diagnosis to a plan, from a plan to action, and from action to habits that outlast the engagement.
01
Identify the big goals
Clarify exactly what the firm wants to be true twelve months from now, revenue, culture, leadership, client experience.
02
Uncover the real obstacles
Use the Culture XRay® and leadership interviews to surface the misalignments, silos, and habits standing in the way.
03
Build the plan to obliterate them
Translate obstacles into specific initiatives, owners, sequencing, and the precise mix of retreats, training, coaching, and BD Buddy.
04
Launch Key Accelerators
Stand up the small number of high-leverage initiatives that unlock the most revenue, fastest. Cross-selling, lateral integration, rainmaker development.
05
Drive action and accountability
Break every initiative down to specific action steps with timelines, owners, and visible accountability. No vague resolutions.
06
Ingrain the new habits
Coaching, internal CultureShifters, and BD Buddy embed the behavior change into how the firm operates day-to-day, for years, not weeks.
CultureShift® engagements are sequenced so each phase feeds the next, from a focused diagnostic to a multi-year firmwide build-out.
Phase 01
Diagnose
Culture XRay® firmwide assessment plus leadership interviews. Get a clear picture of the BD culture you have today.
Phase 02
Design
Co-design a 12-month CultureShift® plan that sequences retreats, training, coaching, and BD Buddy around your specific obstacles and goals.
Phase 03
Launch
Open with a leadership retreat to align the partnership, set the theme, and capture firmwide commitments to the work.
Phase 04
Train
Deploy Lawyer BookBuilder® across cohorts so every lawyer learns the same proven BD frameworks and language.
Phase 05
Embed
1:1 coaching for the partners, leaders, and rainmakers who move the most revenue. BD Buddy delivers daily tasks and tracks follow-through.
Phase 06
Sustain
Internal CultureShifters trained, dashboards reviewed quarterly, and the operating system handed off so the culture continues to compound.
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 in year one.
Assessment & planning
DiagnosticShift
A focused diagnostic engagement that gives leadership an honest read on the BD culture today and a credible plan for the year ahead.
What's included
Culture XRay® firmwide assessment
Leadership interviews & data review
Culture findings presented to the partnership
12-month CultureShift® plan & sequencing
Best for
Firms exploring CultureShift or evaluating where to invest first.
Targeted upgrade
TacticalShift
Concentrate the four pillars on two or three Key Accelerators, usually cross-selling, lateral integration, or rainmaker development, and produce a measurable lift inside one fiscal year.
What's included
Targeted retreats & working sessions
Lawyer BookBuilder® for the priority cohort
1:1 coaching for the people who matter most
BD Buddy deployment for tracked accountability
Best for
Firms that need a specific result on a specific timeline.
Firmwide transformation
HolisticShift
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, permanently.
What's included
Firmwide diagnostic + leadership planning
Leadership & rainmaker retreats
Lawyer BookBuilder® across cohorts
Coaching for partners, leaders & laterals
BD Buddy firmwide for habits & analytics
Internal CultureShifters trained to sustain
Best for
Firms ready to make BD a permanent firmwide capability.
CultureShift® is measured the way a firm should measure culture, in shared language, daily behavior, leadership follow-through, and revenue that actually shows up on the P&L.
01
Firmwide
Shared BD language
Partners, associates, and BD staff all speaking the same vocabulary about how the firm grows.
02
More
Cross-sold matters
Typical lift in cross-sold matters within twelve months of engaging the full operating system.
03
Daily
BD habits, tracked
BD becomes a daily activity, not a quarterly scramble, with real-time visibility for leadership.
04
Years
Behavior change that holds
Habits and language so deeply ingrained that lawyers cite Freeman methods years later.
“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.
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
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.