Writing for Business Development as a Senior Lawyer: Cementing Legacy, Mentoring, and Expanding Influence : Part 1

By Christine Shimoda

As a senior lawyer, you’ve already built a thriving practice, established your expertise, and earned the trust of clients and peers alike. At this stage, your goals for business development are likely more nuanced. You’re not just attracting new clients—you’re building your legacy, nurturing the next generation of lawyers, and positioning yourself and your firm for long-term success. Writing, in its various forms, continues to be a powerful tool to achieve these goals, but the way you use it evolves as your career reaches this level of maturity.

Here’s how writing can support your business development as a senior lawyer, helping you expand your influence while ensuring your impact resonates both within your firm and the broader legal community.

1. Establish and Solidify Legacy

After years of experience and success, writing becomes one of the key ways you can leave a lasting impact on the profession and your practice area. You’ve likely amassed a wealth of knowledge that goes beyond legal principles to include industry trends, client relationship-building, and leadership. Writing allows you to distill this knowledge into content that will outlast your active career.

As a senior lawyer, you can use writing to reflect on broader, strategic issues in your field, leaving behind a record of your expertise and thought leadership. This might include writing for respected legal journals, contributing to books, or publishing white papers on pressing industry challenges. Thoughtful, insightful content that reflects your experience ensures your voice remains influential in the legal world for years to come.

Pro tip: Consider writing a series of reflective pieces on how the legal landscape has evolved throughout your career and where you see it heading. Sharing your insights on major legal transformations or challenges you’ve encountered will position you as a source of historical and practical wisdom.

2. Mentor and Guide the Next Generation of Lawyers

As a senior lawyer, you are a natural mentor, whether you intend to be or not. Writing allows you to formalize this role and share your experiences, insights, and advice with the next generation of lawyers. By writing content aimed at guiding and teaching younger lawyers, you not only nurture the talent within your firm but also contribute to the development of the profession as a whole.

Consider writing pieces that address career growth, leadership in the legal field, and how to navigate the complex balance between building a successful practice and maintaining a fulfilling life. These types of articles are invaluable to mid-career and junior lawyers seeking guidance and can strengthen your role as a leader within your firm and the broader legal community.

Pro tip: Create content that combines practical advice with personal stories. Sharing both your wins and setbacks humanizes your success and allows junior lawyers to relate to and learn from your journey. You could even consider writing a mentorship-focused blog or recurring column that explores different aspects of career progression and leadership.

3. Strengthen Client Relationships and Reaffirm Trust

Writing as a senior lawyer provides a means to deepen relationships with your existing clients. At this stage in your career, many of your clients have worked with you for years, trusting you with significant legal and business decisions. Writing content that speaks directly to their ongoing needs reaffirms this trust and positions you as a constant source of value.

For senior lawyers, writing can focus on high-level, strategic issues that impact your clients’ industries. By offering insights into how legal developments or industry changes might affect their businesses, you’re not just providing legal expertise—you’re demonstrating that you understand their world and care about their long-term success. This positions you as a key business partner, not just a legal adviser.

Pro tip: Create personalized, industry-specific content for your major clients, offering tailored insights into legal developments that matter most to their business. It could be a biannual report or personalized updates that give clients the sense that you’re actively watching out for their interests, even when you’re not directly engaged in a matter with them.