The best of the Making the Jump interview series
May is promotion season. If you have just made partner, congratulations — and also, you probably have a longer to-do list than you anticipated. The BD part of that list tends to feel the most unfamiliar.
As a regular segment of our Trifecta newsletter, we speak to partners across practice areas and firm types about the realities of making the step up. Their advice is practical and honest, and provides a real insight into this transition. Here is what the series has taught us so far.
Nobody felt fully ready — and that turned out to be fine
Ask almost any partner when they knew they were ready, and the honest answer is: they weren’t sure they were. The instinct, in the years before making partner, is to wait for absolute certainty, so that you feel fully equipped before putting your hand up. What our interviewees consistently described was something more gradual: a slow recognition, usually prompted by someone else, that they were already doing the job.
The short answer is — no! When it was first mentioned to me that perhaps I would like to consider joining the Partnership I felt nothing but uncertainty. I thought I can’t be ready for this, surely?! I was pretty early on in my career in terms of post-qualification experience, and in my mind being a partner meant being technically excellent as a result of years of experience.
— Holly Goacher, Partner, Cripps
Holly’s experience is common. The instinct is to measure readiness against some imagined future version of yourself — more experienced, more certain, more authoritative. In practice, the lawyers who make the smoothest transitions are usually the ones who recognise they’re already performing the role before they have the title.
For me, it was the moment when I no longer felt insecure about the thought of having the partner badge. It really came down to my client relationships and how those had developed — specifically how I was interacting with key clients and how they were looking to me as their trusted advisor and the first point of contact.
— Rachel Davison, Partner, Taylor Wessing
What’s equally worth noting is that the uncertainty doesn’t disappear once you make the step. Several partners describe imposter syndrome as an ongoing companion rather than something that resolves at a particular milestone.
Having imposter syndrome is completely normal and actually quite healthy! You soon realise that even your superiors still feel imposter syndrome at times.
— Rachel Holdaway, Partner, Cripps
The advice that flows from this is practical: Holly keeps a note on her phone of things that have gone particularly well – moments that pushed her outside her comfort zone or that were well received by clients. On the days when confidence dips, she reads it back. It’s a simple habit, but the principle behind it matters. Evidence is more useful than reassurance.
That uncertainty I described was alleviated as I thought more about taking that next step and talked it through with other partners, but it never really disappears. So long as I acknowledge and understand it, that’s part of what makes me hungry to always be improving.
— Holly Goacher, Partner, Cripps
The BD expectation shift is bigger than most people anticipate
Several interviewees talked about the moment they realised how much their relationship with BD had to change at partnership — and how underprepared they felt for it. As an associate, BD is something you contribute to. As a partner, you own it. That shift in ownership can be harder to absorb than it sounds.
There’s a lot more of an emphasis on BD as you move to partnership. I think really it’s fully taking responsibility for driving yourself in a way. You’re given the freedom to do whatever business development you want and what you think is appropriate.
— Ben Willows, Partner, EIP
For Ben, who spent several years in-house before returning to private practice, the gap was particularly visible. BD simply hadn’t been part of the role in-house, and coming back meant rebuilding both the habit and the mindset from scratch.
Rachel Davison describes a version of the same realisation arriving earlier — as a mid-level associate, when she was told that technical excellence was only part of what partnership required. She wishes she’d internalised that message sooner. Most of our interviewees received little formal BD training before making partner, and a lot of new partners have to work this out as they go — including, as Matthew Briggs emphasises, learning to work with colleagues rather than in isolation.
I slightly wish I’d taken advice given to me on board sooner. For example, the idea that being a good or hopefully an excellent technical lawyer is all there is to becoming a partner. I kind of wish I’d taken that on board sooner because I think the sooner you’re thinking more as a commercial person within the business, the better.
— Rachel Davison, Partner, Taylor Wessing
BD is all about building relationships, including with your colleagues, and you won’t be as effective at it working in silos.
— Matthew Briggs, Partner, Irwin Mitchell
Structure matters more than motivation
Every partner we’ve spoken to carries a full case load alongside their BD responsibilities. The ones who describe BD as working well for them aren’t the ones who feel most motivated — they’re the ones who have built enough structure around it that it doesn’t depend on motivation. The fee-earning work will always feel more urgent. Without a plan, BD is what gets dropped.
If you just give somebody two hours in their calendar to do some BD without a plan, it’s like, where do you start? You don’t fully appreciate that the journey can actually take several years.
— Ben Willows, Partner, EIP
Ben has introduced a planning framework in his firm specifically to address this – 90-day action points, broken into specific and manageable steps. The goal is to make the next action concrete enough that it doesn’t require a decision every time you sit down to do BD. Rachel Davison is similarly deliberate: she keeps a contact list broken down by category, reviews it each week, and has a handwritten to-do to make sure nobody goes cold. Her rule of thumb is that six months without contact is too long, as by that point, you’re essentially starting from scratch.
I treat my BD plan like I would a case. You wouldn’t let a file sit on your desk for months without attention, so don’t let your BD efforts go stale either. It’s about creating small, achievable goals and sticking to them.
— Jonathan Grigg, Head of CDR, Foot Anstey
Relationships are the whole game
If there’s one thing every person in this series agrees on, it’s that BD in law is fundamentally about relationships – and that most of the anxiety lawyers feel about it comes from misunderstanding what that means in practice. Part of that anxiety comes from the myth of the rainmaker: the partner who seems to pull in work effortlessly, as though through some innate gift. Jonathan Grigg is direct about this.
Rainmakers are simply lawyers who have figured out how to forge strong client relationships and keep them. It’s not just about one big win. It’s about being persistent, staying visible, and genuinely caring about your clients’ success. A lot of lawyers think, ‘Well, I’m not a rainmaker, that’s for someone else.’ But that mindset is what holds them back.
— Jonathan Grigg, Head of CDR, Foot Anstey
Joseph McCaughley takes that further. The anxiety around BD often comes from framing it as a performance – something you do to people rather than with them. His approach is different, and the results bear it out.
For me, the idea of connecting with people is not about ‘winning work’. I build connections because I am genuinely curious and interested in people and the work they do. If work comes in time, that’s great — but for me, it is about creating relationships that last rather than forcing sales. The by-product of such an approach is that it tends to build a level of trust that doesn’t come from trying to sell — and paradoxically, it leads to more work than direct selling ever does.
— Joseph McCaughley, Partner, Spencer West
Rachel Davison makes a connected point about existing clients that is easy to overlook: the most common mistake she sees is treating a client relationship as secured and moving focus to new business. Existing clients are the best source of referrals. The moment you stop paying them attention, you are undermining your ability to grow.
A big mistake anyone could make is to say, ‘I’ve won those clients, I’m now the client partner, it’s done and dusted, so I must focus on new clients’, because existing clients continue to be the best referrals of new clients.
— Rachel Davison, Partner, Taylor Wessing
Holly Goacher offers a reframe that cuts through a lot of the anxiety around doing BD correctly. It doesn’t have to be formal or transactional. The lasting relationships come from making an effort to get to know people beyond the work – being personal, showing genuine interest.
Lucinda Orr, who describes herself as naturally quite shy, says she now loves a room full of new people. The change was in how she thought about what she was there to do. She also makes a point that sits alongside this: there are a lot of good lawyers out there, and the ones who build strong practices tend to be the ones who find a specialism and own it – because that’s what makes you memorable and easy to refer.
“Business development and marketing can be viewed as this formal, stuffy thing, but making connections with people outside of the deals you are doing is really enjoyable and that’s what creates the lasting relationships.”
— Holly Goacher, Partner, Cripps
Get to know your clients properly — really get to know them. Don’t just focus on the immediate legal issue. Understand how the matter fits into their wider business and what they’re actually trying to achieve. When you understand that, you become far more valuable.
— Joseph McCaughley, Partner, Spencer West
One piece of advice
We end every interview the same way: what’s the one thing you’d tell an associate aiming for partnership in the next year or two? The answers vary in style but cluster around the same ideas. Start earlier than feels necessary. Be visible about your ambition. Don’t wait for the perfect moment to begin.
Build and maintain relationships, within your firm and outside of it. Those are the personal connections you will need as you climb the ladder. And help others climb theirs — the legal world is surprisingly small, and reputation is everything.
— Matthew Briggs, Partner, Irwin Mitchell
Speak to people. Find out what you need to be doing, what the expectations are. Becoming a partner is all about what value you can add to a business. Being open and engaging with people, finding out where can I add value, what areas do you think the business needs to focus on — trying to find your niche in a way that you can differentiate yourself and add value there.
— Ben Willows, Partner, EIP
Back yourself. Exude confidence (as opposed to arrogance!). This is your time. AND if it is not your time, it will be your time soon.”
— Lucinda Orr, Partner, Enyo Law
Just do it. Honestly, don’t overthink it. The biggest mistake is not doing enough BD because you’re waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect strategy. Start small, be consistent, and learn as you go. BD is about progress, not perfection.
— Jonathan Grigg, Head of CDR, Foot Anstey
The full interviews are all available on the GFC insights page. If you know someone who has just made partner — or who is working towards it — this would be worth sharing.