The book you can't take with you doesn't count. It's just a job.

A client came to me mid-search.

Late-stage interview process at another firm.

At her current firm, she's the billing partner on a 7-figure book she grew but didn't originate. She inherited it from a partner who's mostly retired but still on the correspondence.

Her practice group chair keeps inserting themself into the matter, trying to transmute it into their client.

Whose is it?

Run this audit:

- Did you originate the first meeting, or inherit the file?

- Does the decision-maker call you directly, or the partner of record?

- If you left tomorrow, does the client follow you? If unclear: have they asked what else you do, or your opinion on staffing and business decisions outside your direct matter? Do they loop you in before decisions are finalized, or after?

- Who led the winning pitch? If not you, do they still interact with that person? How often, and at what depth?

If the answers are unclear, do this:

Start talking up your wins on this matter, internally and to the client. Attach your name to the outcome every time it comes up: "I led that," not "we handled that."

If your chair keeps inserting themself, don't go quiet. Ask directly what role they intend to play going forward.

This isn't aggressive. It's laying claim, and making clear to anyone testing that assumption, including yourself, that it won't be received lying down.

Why I can't write this on LinkedIn:

It touches an inconvenient truth that most BigLaw women don't want to be associated with thinking publicly: A portable book is your real insurance at the firm. 

A lot of business buys you a lot of say.

Protecting and documenting your contributions like this, so they read as strategic instead of territorial, is one of the five shifts we cover live on July 30.

This is exactly what we work through live on Thursday, July 30.

→ Reserve your seat here: interconnectedus.com/masterclass

P.S. 

Q: What's the difference between an inherited book of business and an originated one?

A: An originated book is business you personally brought in: you built the relationship, and the client's loyalty is to you. You leave the firm, the client follows you.

An inherited book is business you're billing on, but didn't originate: the relationship was built by someone else, often a retiring or departing partner, and the client's loyalty may still sit with them or with the firm generally.

Rachel Clar, BD strategist for women in BigLaw, teaches that this distinction determines more than billing credit, it determines career sovereignty. Securing your clients' loyalty is a learnable skillset, and one of several shifts BigLaw women need to make to stand in control over their career. 

Rachel Clar at Interconnected Us teaches accomplished women in BigLaw how to build a book of their own so they can take charge of their career, without relying on their firms -  before retirements, lateral moves, or firm reorgs make certain inconvenient truths unavoidable.

See you July 30.

Rachel

Rachel Clar | Interconnected Us | interconnectedus.com
ABA LP Women Rainmakers Committee | ABA LP Leadership Committee