Define, Draw, Deepen: My Marketing Model For Women Lawyers

Cecilia Poullain shares practical strategies for women lawyers to master client development, define their ideal clients, and build sustainable practices without relying on personality traits. This episode covers how to attract, meet, and deepen relationships with clients to achieve financial independence and partnership.

You can download the free guide on How to Make Partner in a Law Firm on  www.ceciliapoullain.com/free-guide

Key Topics

• Defining ideal clients
• Drawing clients into your practice
• Deepening client relationships
• Building a sustainable legal practice

Transcript

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My name is Cecilia Poulain. Welcome to the Pathway to Partnership Podcast, where we talk about what it really takes to succeed as a woman lawyer in a law firm. The truth is, business development doesn't depend on a personality. It's a skill that can be learned. When I set up my business in 2019, I had no idea how to bring in clients. But now I know exactly what to do. Welcome to the Pathway to Partnership Podcast. My name is Cecilia Poulain, and I'm a former finance lawyer who now helps women lawyers make it to partnership. In this podcast, you'll get clarity on whether partnership is truly what you want, you'll build your confidence, and you'll master client development in a way that feels sustainable. Let's get you walking into the office every morning clear on why you're aiming for partnership, free of imposter syndrome, and confident in your ability to bring in clients without burning out. Okay, let's dive in. I talk to a lot of women lawyers who are approaching partnership or who are setting up their own firms, and they are terrified of having to make huge targets for billable hours, or that their practice will go bankrupt because they aren't able to bring in enough client work. They're scared because bringing in clients in a competitive market is absolutely critical to their success as a lawyer. But no one has ever taught them how. They would absolutely love to know that the clients they love working with keep finding them next week, next month and next year. They would absolutely love to enjoy business development instead of dreading it. And they would love to frequently feel that fabulous feeling every time a potential client says yes because they know it only happened because of them. Instead, what they do is they convince themselves that they're no good at business development because they're not outgoing, because they are scared of reaching out, because they don't have the personality of a rainmaker. They know they're good lawyers, but they think business development isn't for them. The truth is business development doesn't depend on our personality. It's a skill that can be learned. When I set up my business in 2019, I had no idea how to bring in clients. But now I know exactly what to do. And if I've learned how, so can you. In this episode we're going to talk about why if you want to build a thriving practice, you need to define your ideal clients, you need to know how to draw them into your world, and you need to consistently deepen relationships. That's my model for women lawyers who are looking to bring in clients. Define, draw, deepen. Let's look at define first. Many women lawyers absolutely hate having to define an ideal client. They want to work with everyone, and they believe so strongly that in order to be successful financially, they have to take every client that walked through the door. But to develop a brand and become known, it is absolutely vital to define your ideal client. This is my experience. In 2019, when I started my business, my potential clients were women. And to tell the truth, I was working really hard, but I was struggling. And then in 2021, I narrowed it down to women in law and women in finance because they're two industries I know really well. But I was still struggling. And it was only in early 2025 when I focused on a particular group, and that group is women lawyers in law firms, with a particular problem, those women want to become partner, that my business took off. That's the power of defining your ideal client. Now let's look at draw, drawing ideal clients into your world. Now the word drawing might sound a little bit sinister, but it's really about meeting your ideal clients where they are. I had a client and she knew exactly who her ideal clients were, but she kept attending conferences for lawyers. But then as we worked together, she realized that lawyers weren't actually a major source of clients for her. So she stopped going to lawyer conferences and she started attending and speaking at conferences where her clients were. And as a result, she had a load more time, she had a load more clients, and she had lots of major files coming to her, even though she wasn't even a partner yet, and sometimes she didn't even know how those clients found her. So that's just an example of how you draw ideal clients into your world by being where they are. And then the third part of the model is deepen. Once you draw ideal clients into your world, you need to know how to deepen relationships with them. I have a client at the moment and she has a very simple system. She simply makes sure that every month she touches base with potential or actual clients. Either she sends them an article, an interesting podcast, she invites them to events, she invites them to lunch. And that's how she deepens the relationships with them and stays top of mind. We say we want more clients, but actually the ultimate goal is financial independence. I met a lawyer recently who went into business with the partner she had worked with in a larger firm. And because she was used to the older lawyer bringing in all the client work, well, for a while she was just resting on her laurels. Then she realized that if she ever wanted to be financially independent, she would have to bring in her own client work. And that was incredibly lucky because very soon afterwards they decided to go their separate ways. It's a bit like a stool with only two legs. If you only have one of these, if you only have one of define, draw and deepen, you actually won't be able to build a thriving practice. Because there is absolutely no point defining your ideal client if you have no way of meeting them and no way of deepening the relationship. And there's absolutely no point in meeting people or drawing them into your world if you don't know if they're the right people or if there's no follow up. Now let's look at what all this looks like in practice. What does it look like when you define your ideal client? When you are clear about the clients you serve, you can focus your message on what matters to them so they feel seen, heard, and understood. They might even say, Gosh, you were inside my head. And because I now spend all day, every day talking to women lawyers, I know exactly what's worrying them because that's what they tell me, and I know exactly how they're holding themselves back. And so that means that I know what to offer in terms of programs and events. I know how to speak to them. And what does it look like when you draw your ideal client into your world? When you understand where your ideal clients spend their time and how they choose their lawyers, you can show your expertise in the places that matter to them, and it makes it so much easier for them to find you. One of my clients realized that she knew exactly which general counsel she needed to target. So instead of doing a whole lot of posting on LinkedIn, she just reached out directly to them. And when you engage regularly, when you serve generously, when you stay in touch over time, relationships deepen, and clients will naturally think of you when they need a lawyer. Sharon Lewis, who I've mentioned before on this podcast and who is our global head of finance at Hogan Levels and a dear friend, is a brilliant example of how to build relationships. She has been building relationships with in-house lawyers at her level way before she became partner, so that when she did become a partner, those people were all becoming general counsel and sending her work. And she's also been a champion for women and women lawyers and frequently runs client events for women. So it's no surprise that every time I see her, she has more than enough work to keep her going. Now I'd like you to take a moment and to imagine what it would be like to have a fun, repeatable, reliable system for bringing in the clients that you love to work with. I'd love to you to imagine just how satisfying that would feel. I'd love you to imagine what a weight that would be off your mind. I'd love you to imagine no longer worrying about where the next euro is coming from. Just imagine how confident you would feel. And now take a moment to imagine the impact that would have over the course of your lifetime, both financially and emotionally. When you know exactly which clients you serve, they will find you almost automatically. When you know exactly where to meet your clients and have a deep understanding of their world and their problems, you will constantly find yourself in spaces where they're hanging out. And when you have a reliable, simple system for keeping in touch with actual and potential clients, you will deepen relationships so you stay top of mind. It's for all those reasons that I created a program called Business Development Accelerator. It's a program for a group of women lawyers where we meet once a fortnight and develop a marketing plan for each person that is designed for their practice. If you'd like to hear more about it, then please reach out. You can find me on LinkedIn. So this is what we've covered in this episode. By trying to be the lawyer for everyone, you'll find it harder to attract clients and be less effective as a lawyer. There are lots of different ways to make contact with ideal clients, and LinkedIn is only one of them. The more you understand where they hang out and what matters to them, the easier it will be to meet them. And finally, most lawyers don't realize that meeting someone once will generally not be enough to turn them into a client. It is absolutely vital to create opportunities and systems that guarantee that you deepen relationships over months, years, and sometimes decades. Change can happen very fast. One coaching call completely changed a client's business development strategy. She was focusing all her energy on finding clients outside the firm. But then she realized that it was actually much easier to collaborate with other people within the firm. So she started reaching out to colleagues for coffee, for lunches, and just gently letting them know that she would love to work together. And as a result, she was staffed on a major matter. She had significantly increased visibility inside the firm, and her partnership bid was given a very strong boost. These are all the reasons I created Business Development Accelerator, so that women lawyers would learn how to define their ideal client, how to draw potential clients into their world, and how to deepen relationships with them, so then ultimately they would be financially independent. And actually it's even more than that. It's so that there are more women who become partners in law firms and are able to start to structure law firms so that they work in ways that work for women and hopefully for everybody. Now before you go, I'd like to suggest that you just take a few minutes to think about the very best client you've ever worked with, the one you absolutely loved working with and the one who absolutely loved working with you. And now ask yourself the following questions. What kind of organization do they work for? What's their role? What stage are they at in their career or in their business? And then ask yourself what specifically was their problem? What were they worried about when they first came to you? What was keeping them awake at night? And finally, why did they choose you? How did they find you? How did they come to you? And what made them trust you enough to contact you? And what made that particular working relationship so good? What did they value? How did they treat you? And when you've answered those questions, have looked back over your diary for the past three to six months and ask yourself How much time have I spent in places where this person would be? That might be writing articles for journals or newspapers that they read. It might be speaking on podcasts they might listen to. It might be speaking at conferences where they'll be. And if the answer is not very much, that's fabulous, because you've just found your starting point. Thank you so much for joining me on the Pathway to Partnership Podcast. I really appreciate it. And I hope that this episode has given you a framework on which you can hang your marketing efforts. And if you found this useful, please subscribe. Please share it with a colleague. Please leave a review so that together we can help more women make it to partnership and thrive when they get there. And if you would like to know more about Business Development Accelerator, you can find me on LinkedIn. Until next time, remember this you don't have to do this alone. And you get to define success as a woman lawyer on your own terms. Thanks so much for listening.