Give a firm enough work so that you have some clout

This blog has urged law departments to send enough work to a law firm that they become one of its significant clients (See my post of Jan. 3, 2006 about primary and secondary client roles.). If your billings are small, especially when the work is overseen by a middle-of-the-class partner who lacks pull within the firm, your stature is small. Granted, you might say, but so what?

The firm might decide you are not worth serving. Larry Bodine, writing in Law Practice, Dec. 2006 at 12, cites research done for the US law firm Thomson Hine by RedWood Analytics. The research determined “that the likelihood of a $5,000 client becoming a significant client was only 1/10 of a percent.” Your firms getting driblets of work might hang you out to dry.