Deborah Farone

Over the past few years, Ive had the chance to speak with dozens of extraordinary women rainmakers about how theyve achieved such incredible reputations and developed 5 star practices. Whats striking is that there isnt one pathbut there are some very consistent themes. Developing business takes longer than people expect. Trusted relationships matter more than almost anything else. And the…

Here are some business development secrets. I had the greatest time speaking with Lou Diamond CSP about professional services marketing and what makes lawyers become rainmakers. Some hints: 1. The most significant relationships between clients and their lawyers develop over time. That means - start lawyers early on in training them about business development, and help other to be persistent…

The following piece appeared on August 24, 2026 in Law360. By Deborah Farone Legal careers are often described in terms of milestones: admitted to law school, hired for a clerkship, accepted into a firm and made partner. But when speaking with lawyers who have gone on to lead significant practices or firms, a different story emerges. Their success is rarely…

This article was published in PLI Chronicle: Insights and Perspectives for the Legal Community, https://plus.pli.edu. Not for resale. June 2026  What does it take for a woman lawyer to build a thriving practice? That question has driven much of my research and work over the years, and recently I had the pleasure of exploring it on a PLI panel with…

As appeared in PM Magazine, May 2026.       When I set out to write Breaking Ground: How Successful Women Lawyers Build Thriving Practices (PLI 2026), my goal was straightforward: to understand how some of the most successful women in the legal profession actually develop business. Not in theory, but in practice, across firms, geographies and personalities. Through interviews…

One of the questions I get asked most often is this: when it comes to business development for lateral hires, should you coach them individually or train them as a group? The answer is both, and knowing when to use each makes all the difference. -- Individual coaching is the right choice when someone needs personalized support. Not every lateral…

Most lawyers are thinking about LinkedIn as a final destination, not a starting point. I think of LinkedIn as an on-ramp. It is often where a new connection is started or a dormant one is revived. A comment on someone’s post can turn into an invitation for a conversation on Zoom and maybe a real-life conversation. (Human to human, involving…

Some of the best business development advice may feel like the hardest to follow. It's not. I had a wonderful conversation with Sally King of The Alexander Group on the Impact & Insight podcast recently—and we kept coming back to a theme that shows up again and again in my research:  The most successful people build practices that are authentic…

General Counsel: What if the skills that rainmakers use to build a $50M book of business are the same ones that elevate your influence inside your company? Over the past few years, I’ve interviewed dozens of in-house counsel and the world’s top rainmakers, lawyers who have built extraordinary practices across industries and geographies. At first glance, the inhouse world seems…

Are law firms using AI for business development? Last week alone, I counted four separate times that someone asked me some version of that same question, and I am sure other marketers are hearing it as well. It’s clearly top of mind. And the answer is yes—but the real opportunity goes a step  further. The firms that are seeing the…