Law
firms
often
spend
substantial
sums
of
money
on
business
development
in
the
belief
that
this
will
pay
off
with
new
work
for
the
firm.
Many
law
firms
pay
for
their
attorneys
to
attend
conferences
and
networking
events
so
that
they
can
potentially
meet
people
and
businesses
that
might
seek
out
the
law
firm
for
legal
services. Other
law
firms
spend
significant
sums
on
marketing
so
that
they
can
advertise
the
shop
to
different
audiences. In
my
experience,
law
firms
sometimes
do
not
spend
enough
resources
on
entertaining
existing
and
potential
clients,
and
this
can
be
a
fun
way
to
work
on
business
development.
When
I
worked
at
other
law
firms,
partners
at
those
shops
occasionally
entertained
clients
and
potential
clients. Partners
took
clients
to
meals,
and
I
am
pretty
sure
that
clients
and
potential
clients
attended
golf
outings
and
poker
nights
hosted
by
partners
at
the
firm.
However,
entertaining
clients
was
often
an
afterthought
and
was
not
an
integral
part
of
the
business
development
efforts
of
those
shops.
When
I
opened
my
own
practice,
I
tried
to
be
more
creative
about
entertaining
clients
with
the
hope
of
originating
additional
business. For
instance,
I
would
often
take
a
client
out
for
lunch
or
dinner
if
we
had
a
victory
that
was
worth
celebrating. Perhaps
the
best
idea
my
firm
implemented
to
develop
new
business
was
to
buy
dozens
of
tickets
to
various
sports
games
in
our
area.
I
was
initially
skeptical
of
purchasing
such
tickets,
since
this
was
a
huge
expense,
and
my
firm
was
not
that
large. But
the
attorney
who
had
this
idea
said
that
the
tickets
would
pay
for
themselves
if
they
generated
just
one
new
client. It
can
also
take
a
huge
investment
of
time
and
energy
to
take
a
client
out
to
a
sports
game
since
you
need
to
be
“on”
the
entire
time,
and
it
was
often
not
easy
to
commute
to
and
from
the
stadiums.
However,
purchasing
the
tickets
was
a
great
idea
for
our
firm. Firstly,
it
was
a
ton
of
fun
to
attend
these
games
with
clients. Attorneys
and
the
people
they
serve
often
interact
daily
or
at
least
weekly,
and
it
is
fun
to
interact
outside
of
the
familiar
setting
of
the
attorney-client
relationship.
In
addition,
sometimes
we
were
able
to
invite
different
referral
sources
and
clients
to
the
same
games,
and
it
was
useful
for
these
individuals
to
meet
each
other
since
they
could
potentially
assist
each
other
in
their
respective
industries.
What
blew
me
away
is
how
inviting
prospects
we
did
not
expect
would
be
helpful
to
our
firm
actually
paid
off
in
client
referrals. Since
we
typically
bought
four
tickets
per
game,
we
often
had
open
seats
unless
we
decided
to
sell
the
tickets. In
many
instances,
our
clients
or
referral
sources
had
ideas
about
who
should
be
invited
to
the
sports
outing
to
fill
the
empty
seats. Sometimes,
clients
and
referral
sources
liked
being
able
to
invite
people
that
were
important
to
their
own
businesses
to
our
outings.
Even
though
these
individuals
were
strangers
before
we
met
them
at
games,
they
because
fast
friends
since
we
had
this
mutual
experience.
In
multiple
instances,
these
individuals
referred
work
to
our
firm,
likely
owing
to
the
fact
that
they
were
able
to
learn
about
our
practices
and
the
services
we
offered
over
the
course
of
the
game. It
is
hard
to
predict
how
socializing
with
clients
and
referral
sources
can
lead
to
business
development
opportunities,
but
it
is
important
to
put
yourself
in
a
situation
to
get
such
business.
All
told,
organizing
sports
outings
or
other
social
events
for
clients,
prospective
clients,
and
referral
sources
can
be
expensive
and
tiring.
However,
this
can
be
a
solid
way
to
originate
business
and
have
a
good
time
along
the
way.
Jordan
Rothman
is
a
partner
of The
Rothman
Law
Firm,
a
full-service
New
York
and
New
Jersey
law
firm.
He
is
also
the
founder
of Student
Debt
Diaries,
a
website
discussing
how
he
paid
off
his
student
loans.
You
can
reach
Jordan
through
email
at jordan@rothman.law.