At my current clerking gig, a few associates were discussing the need to bring in business to the firm in order to make partner. In my area of law, IP litigation, i'm not sure how to go about finding client and which professional events i should attend in order to promote myself. I need some advice from the forum. Thx!

Marketing for clients starts now! It takes time to build a client base. Dont expect any miracles to happen immediately.

I'm finishing my 2nd year of law school and i have been attending all the student bar event since the start of law school. Its a great place to meet other attorney and possibly get a job or an interview, but its not a great place to find clients. I want to do mergers and acquisitions, so i plan on joining ACG, he Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) which is a global association for professionals involved in corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. ACG has more than 12,000 members from corporations, private equity, finance, and professional service firms representing Fortune 500, Fortune 1000, FTSE 100, and mid-market companies in 53 chapters in North America and Europe. For more information, check out www.ACG.org

Marketing is all about sales. If you cant sell your legal services, then you better bill a shit load of hours.

The problem is that marketing to large companies requires that you have an "in" at the company or a long term relationship with them in order to get their IP litigation business. Starting out is the hard part because i'm not sure where to start. The associates at the firm are having the same trouble. They spend most of the day billing and the remainder of the day is very small. So, i guess the options are trade shows, associations, or referrals from others. It just seems like that will take forever to realize fruit from the planting of seeds.

Marketing is simply building relationships. If you want to obtain large clients as clients, then get to know the people at the large companies which hire the law firms. For example, the people is the legal department or the executives at the large companies authorize the retaining of law firms. Thats how you bring in business. Targeted marketing!