Client Growth Manager

About the role

At Barnes & Thornburg, the Client Growth and Marketing team serves 900+ lawyers across 50 practices in 26 markets by establishing, enhancing and enabling meaningful client relationships, significant sector visibility, and optimal market share for the firm and its attorneys. In collaboration with the Client Growth team and Practice leadership, this role identifies key practice priorities, crafts and aligns client development strategies, and executes those plans.

Responsibilities

• Works proactively and collectively with the Real Estate department and assigned practice areas to develop and support initiatives to cement and expand existing client relationships.
• Identifies and supports business development efforts with prospects and within relevant industry sectors.
• Collaborates with CGM colleagues to implement and adopt marketing and business development best practices across the team.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for assigned practice leaders with respect to client development efforts.
• Plays a critical role in determining important projects that require additional department/firm support and advocates for appropriate strategic initiatives.
• Develops a robust understanding of supported departments and practice groups, including their products and services, to identify synergies and introduce key practitioners to meet niche needs.
• Provides business development advice and coaching to attorneys, demonstrating a sound understanding of practice group work and experience.
• With help from the Senior Client Growth Manager, drives business development goals of assigned groups, including identifying leads, expanding existing client matters, and pursuing cross-selling opportunities.
• Participates in the creation of practice-specific business development plans and serves as the primary point of contact for executing objectives and key results within those plans.
• Guides attorneys in setting strategy for increased exposure on the national stage, including conference participation, speaking engagements, panel appearances, and in-house client programs with clear ROI directives.
• Supports onboarding of lateral attorneys to ensure immediate revenue production, including participation in interviewing potential lateral candidates as deemed appropriate by practice leadership.
• Develops a deep understanding of law firm operations, business models, and best practices, and applies industry, practice, geographic, and services knowledge to craft effective positioning and pitches.
• Owns continual gathering and cataloguing of key experience, categorizing by type of work, firm role, jurisdictions, industries, and other key data; collaborates with Communications and Proposals teams to ensure accessibility.
• Creates and edits presentations, graphics, and pitches for assigned practices and offices in collaboration with CG managers.
• Liaises with the Proposal Team on complex projects, ensuring deliverables reflect practice fluency, firm differentiators, and best-in-class experience; contributes to pitch and RFP response strategy and executes responses with post-response coaching.
• Prepares pitches, frequently working with the Legal Operations department to incorporate pricing proposals.
• Collaborates with department teams—communications, media relations, events, business intelligence, proposals, graphics—to package practice experience, differentiators, and thought leadership for maximum impact.
• Strategizes on marketing and client development expenditures to ensure optimal impact and best use of firm resources; tracks ROI and makes recommendations.
• Coordinates industry and practice relationships with Client Growth Manager peers, lead attorneys, and external sales professionals; develops and executes strategies for thought leadership, events, and sponsorships.
• Oversees activities required to produce lawyer ranking submissions.
• Leverages business intelligence and BD tools for research, compiling and presenting data on prospects, clients, industries, and legal/sector trends.
• Coordinates planning and execution of on-site and off-site business development and marketing events and activities, including substantive programs and CLEs, webinars, networking and social events, trainings, roundtables, conferences, exhibitions, and more.
• Performs other duties and projects as assigned.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of increasingly responsible, directly related experience in marketing and business development, preferably within an AmLaw matrixed marketing and BD department.
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in a writing-intensive or research-heavy discipline.
• Strong oral and written communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills to interact with a broad range of individuals at all levels, liaise with clients and prospects, and build relationships with attorneys and colleagues.
• High-level service orientation, resourcefulness, ownership mentality, and agility in managing shifting priorities in a fast-paced, high-expectation environment.
• Responsiveness, robust work ethic, and commitment to accountability.
• Ability to produce quality work product and “think beyond the ask,” with intellectual curiosity to connect dots within practices, across the firm, and in the external business landscape.
• Fluency in MS Office Suite and standard technical proficiency in CRMs, ERMs, CMS systems, and basic database platforms.
• Demonstrated project management experience is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to build strong working relationships across all levels of the organization and work effectively both independently and cooperatively.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities, meet deadlines, and manage workload.
• Ability to leverage research and competitive intelligence to identify business opportunities and support go-to-market strategies.
• Strong knowledge of and familiarity with legal and business environments.