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 the product of a single moment or transaction. Instead, it is the result of playing the long game — particularly when it comes to business development and the art of building relationships.
Early connections often become future decision-makers.
One of the most underestimated assets in a legal career is the network formed early on. Classmates from law school and colleagues from clerkships, government roles or early firm positions often go on to become in-house counsel, general counsel, founders of companies or business leaders.
At the time those relationships are formed, none of that may be apparent. It may just mean being friends with Heather, your law school classmate, or Rob, the associate you hang out with for lunch. When I am training a group of associates within a law firm, I usually tell associates in the room that if they look to the right and look to the left, one day one of those people in sight will be a potential client.
Because there may be no immediate business opportunity, lawyers sometimes allow these connections to fade. That is a mistake. The value of these relationships lies not in what they can offer today, but in what they may represent years from now.
Staying loosely connected reflects an understanding that careers unfold over decades, not just months or years. For those at larger firms, you may have a client relationship manager that can be utilized to keep track of your contacts, but if not, there are still great options out there.
Tools like LinkedIn provide an easy way to keep track of your contacts and career moves, and affordable tools like HubSpot can offer basic database functionality. Lastly, an Excel spreadsheet can also serve as a simple and effective starting point to track contacts.
Goodwill does not expire as quickly as we think.
There is a quiet but powerful dynamic at work in professional relationships: Goodwill tends to endure. When someone once had a positive experience with you and found you thoughtful, reliable or generous with your time, that impression often remains, even after long gaps in contact.
Reaching out a few years later does not typically feel intrusive when it is done with sincerity. In fact, many people experience these reconnections as meaningful, particularly when they are grounded in genuine interest rather than an immediate ask.
A brief note acknowledging a shared history or expressing interest in someone’s current chapter can reopen doors that never truly closed. There is no better time to do this than today. Reaching out to law school classmates, college friends and acquaintances, and even childhood friends on LinkedIn or by email can make a difference later on.
Even if someone doesn’t become a general counsel, they may start their own company or simply be a referral source for you. Keep in mind that if you allow a decade to pass without contact and then reconnect solely to request work, your friend, now serving as a general counsel, might be a lot less likely to respond.
Consistency matters more than frequency.
Maintaining professional continuity does not require constant interaction. What matters is consistency over time.
Realistic touchpoints such as a short note around the holidays, a message acknowledging a friend’s promotion or a check-in after their significant career move can help preserve a sense of connection. Do what feels right for you.
Staying informed also plays a role. Tools such as alerts or curated news feeds can make it easier to understand what matters to the people in your network, enabling more thoughtful outreach.
These gestures signal attentiveness without demanding time or attention in return. You can use simple tools like Google Alerts, or if you’re at a firm with the capabilities, the firm may be equipped with other ways to do this efficiently by tracking the news of individuals or companies.
Relationships must evolve as roles evolve.
In more than 60 interviews I conducted for “Breaking Ground: How Successful Women Lawyers Build Thriving Practices,” the most successful partners mentioned that their best client relationships are the ones they’ve known for many years.
As careers progress, so do responsibilities. A former colleague who once focused on a narrow practice area may now be overseeing a large firm or launching a tech company. The most effective professional relationships adapt accordingly.
Offering perspective, sharing insights or simply serving as a sounding board, even when no legal work is at stake, builds trust. Offering to create introductions between two people “who should know one another” is always a great way to cement a relationship and help more than one person with one small but meaningful action.
Over time, these interactions reinforce the perception that you are someone who understands the broader context in which decisions are made, not just the legal question at hand.
Your network grows in many ways, including through mentoring law school students or meeting with a candidate thinking of joining your firm. These small, early exchanges build goodwill that can accrue over time.
The strongest networks are built gradually.
The lawyers who ultimately build enduring practices are rarely those who attempt to accelerate relationships or force outcomes. Instead, they are known for consistency, following through and treating others with respect over many years.
Their most significant relationships are not transactional. They are the product of accumulated moments: those small interactions that demonstrate judgment, reliability and professionalism. These qualities compound over time, creating a foundation that supports opportunity when circumstances align.
While the best time to start building a network is yesterday, it’s never too late to begin. Thinking intentionally about your network — the classmates you once studied with, the parents you know from your children’s school or the people you’ve met socially — is often the first step toward nurturing the long-term relationships that matter most.
A long-term perspective pays dividends.
In a profession that often rewards urgency, taking a long-term view can feel counterintuitive. Yet it is precisely this perspective that distinguishes lawyers who sustain influence and relevance over the course of a career.
The decision to hire a law firm is nuanced. The factors that often go into the mix are the firm’s brand and the work they’ve done in a specific area, but even with all of those elements at play, the one factor that is missing the most is relationships. Trusting that someone will handle your matter with expertise as well as empathy is based on relationships.
Playing the long game is not about waiting passively. It is about investing steadily in relationships and understanding that trust is built incrementally, and that today’s colleague may be tomorrow’s collaborator, client or referral source.
Setting up systems to keep track of and maintain contacts and using your earlier years as a lawyer to meet people is essential to your future role as a rainmaker.
For lawyers willing to think beyond the immediate horizon and make the investment, the return on that investment can be profound.
Deborah B. Farone is the founder at Farone Advisors LLC. She is the author of “Breaking Ground: How Successful Women Lawyers Build Thriving Practices” (PLI 2026) and “Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing” (PLI 2019).
