Fractional BD support
Flexible, strategic support for law firms during periods of growth and change
Law firm BD teams are pulled in more directions than ever. Capacity gaps appear, strategic priorities get deprioritised, and BD becomes reactive by default rather than design.
Our fractional BD support gives you experienced, in-house-style BD professionals who work as part of your team — senior enough to lead, practical enough to deliver. Without the lag time or overhead of a permanent hire.
This isn’t outsourced admin. It’s the kind of support that moves BD from something your firm does in response to things, to something that gets ahead of them.
Firms typically come to us when they need:
Interim cover for maternity leave or other absences
Extra BD capacity during busy periods or major pitches
Senior BD leadership while a role is being recruited
Strategic BD input when internal capacity isn’t there
Short- to medium-term support during growth or change
We’re used to stepping into complex environments and getting up to speed fast — with minimal handholding.
How we work
Our approach is deliberately practical and flexible:
- Fast onboarding - we’re experienced at embedding quickly and understanding your priorities, people and processes.
- Senior-level insight, hands-on delivery - you get strategic guidance alongside the day-to-day BD work that actually moves things forward.
- Flexible, remote-first delivery - we work remotely as standard, with in-person support available for key meetings, planning sessions or milestones.
- Clear scope and boundaries - we agree what’s in scope from the outset and flag anything outside it before progressing.
- Regular check-ins and reporting - weekly updates keep you informed, aligned and in control.
Flexible support models
We offer several fractional models, depending on what you need:
A dedicated BD consultant (for example, a senior executive or manager) working fixed days per week as part of your team.
Best for:
BAU support, maternity or extended leave cover, and additional capacity during peak periods.
A senior BD lead supported by a small, dedicated team to deliver projects or manage workload flexibly.
Best for:
High-impact strategic support when internal bandwidth is low — particularly for fast-growing or changing teams.
A core number of days with one consultant, with bolt-on team support or project delivery as needed.
Best for:
Firms that need consistency, with the ability to scale support quickly.
Example: interim BD support in practice — Cripps
We provided interim BD support to a Commercial Real Estate team at Cripps during a period of transition, before moving into the Corporate and Commercial team for a longer engagement.
Working as part of the internal team, we provided a mix of strategic input and hands-on delivery, including:
- Bringing a strategic lens to legal directories — working with both lawyers and the BD team to strengthen submissions and build the capability to sustain that standard going forward
- Planning and delivering a flagship event at the Barbican Conservatory, securing the speaker and managing everything end to end — an event that reinvigorated an existing tech community, grew its membership, and expanded its scope
- Developing an intermediary programme from the ground up, creating the strategic foundation and the structures to build on
- Building the strategy, assets, and messaging for a US business development trip — work that hadn't existed before and resulted in at least two instructions
- Supporting the key client programme in a way that contributed to tangible client expansion
- Coaching lawyers to move from reactive BD activity to more proactive, planned approaches
- Providing pitch support, including messaging, coordination and review
The support model was deliberately flexible, combining fixed weekly days with additional project-based input where needed.
The result:
A BD function that moved from reactive to strategic — with new programmes, new capability, and commercial results that justified the investment. Strong enough that the relationship extended into a second team.