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I'm a junior/midlevel associate in a major market (NY/LA/Chi). I practice commercial/L&E lit. I am not sure how to broach the business development subject -- especially where most people seemingly either inherit clients or have no idea what they did to get them in the first place. For those of you at firms that place an emphasis on BD, what did you do to start the process? Any practical tips?

Take the long view and consider every lawyer you meet (including your colleagues at the firm) a potential client. You never know who will go in-house.

In the meantime, make time to network and try to develop subject matter expertise (and turn that into panel talks and CLE seminars, etc).