An article written by Bonnie Mayfield, a Bloomfield Hills-based member in Dykema’s Litigation practice, has been excerpted in “Professional Responsibility, A Contemporary Approach,” a casebook authored by Michigan State University Law Professor Renee Knake, Fordham University School of Law Professors Russell Pearce, Daniel Capra, and Bruce Green, and Penn State Law Professor Laurel Terry. The original article, “Rainmaking: Business Development & Retention Techniques,” published by both ABA and ALI-ABA, is excerpted in the section of the interactive casebook entitled “The Business, Technology, and Marketing of Legal Services.”
In the article, Mayfield discusses several, successful business development and retention techniques, the mentality of the successful lawyer who develops business, how to identify clients and client opportunities, how to obtain and retain business, and a variety of ways to stay in front of clients and/or prospects. As Mayfield mentions, although developing your own individual method and style to deal with rainmaking is critical, lawyers with excellent and finely tuned legal and human resource skills can take concrete steps to improve the likelihood of developing and maintaining clients.
In that regard, Mayfield has scored an impressive series of victories for different clients, including a legal “hat trick” for a trifecta of wins for one client and making legal history for another client by winning the first-ever award in a particular type of labor arbitration. Mayfield has earned her designation as a seasoned and business savvy trial and appellate lawyer. She also has been selected by several major clients to defend their labor, employment, pharmaceutical, and commercial matters and also to be the Responsible Partner managing the client/law firm relationships. As a Responsible Partner, Mayfield assists in the management of the client/law firm relationships and also performs substantive work for those clients. She enhances these client/law firm relationships, facilitates constructive feedback, and provides a common focal point and conduit for both Dykema lawyers and client contacts, in addition to defending legal matters.
Mayfield’s methods and style of business development and retention are now being taught to contemporary law students and interested lawyers. As Mayfield discovered — and shares with others — law students and lawyers will find that it is never too early to learn and to put into practice business development and retention techniques.
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