In my new book, One of a Kind: A Proven Path to a Profitable Practice, I discuss the importance of carving out a practice/industry area niche in order to build a book of business. Indeed, when it comes to business development, quality work and technical proficiency are table stakes. Acquiring the skills necessary to develop and sustain a solid client base is required, and that’s a much different skill set.

In today’s market, in which clients are looking for specialists, not generalists, developing business requires niche expertise. While the ethical rules may prevent you from identifying yourself as an “expert” in your particular field(s) of practice, you should be doing everything possible — professionally and authentically — to create this impression in the minds of others.

For years he has toiled in relative anonymity while keeping us safe. No matter the conditions, no matter the odds, he pursues his mission with relentless zeal. His bark is as big as his bite as he works like a dog fending off the enemies of American aerospace. He asks for little in return. His reward: A pat on the back, and a scratch behind the ears. His name: Piper the Airport K9.

Piper is an 8-year-old Border Collie who helps maintain wildlife control at the Cherry Capital Airport by chasing ducks, geese, owls, foxes and other creatures from runways. It’s said that every dog has its day and Piper, Traverse City’s newest celebrity, has gone viral.

If you live in or near Traverse City, it’s almost certain that you’ve heard of Piper by now. If you live elsewhere you probably have as well. For the last two weeks Piper has been an ubiquitous internet sensation and social media darling.

It all began when someone posted a short video of Piper on Reddit. He’s wearing his signature goggles, a Coast Guard helicopter in the background causing snow to swirl in the frigid air around him. Piper sits calmly, cool and unaffected by his surroundings.

Soon after, Piper was everywhere, from The Huffington Post to ABC News. As with all internet darlings, though, his notoriety will inevitably fade. Earlier this week I heard his owner, airport operations supervisor Brian Edwards, comment on a local radio station that Piper is probably on his 14th minute of his 15 minutes of fame.

While the “What” of this story is no doubt intriguing – a super cool, goggle wearing, bird hunting pooch is irresistible “click bait” – the more interesting and lasting part of the story may be the “Why?”.

One of my primary goals at Simply Stated is to educate and inspire lawyers of all ages and at all stages of their careers with valuable content that helps them grow, and derive more satisfaction, from their practices. There is a lot of content on Simply Stated, so if you’re new to the blog a good place to start is with some of my most popular posts. Here is a list to get you started:

1. 17 Things I Wish I Knew as a First-Year Associate
Starting a legal career is hard. New lawyers know very little about the practice of law, or how a firm works. This post touches on some of the things that I wish I knew as a first year associate.

Big firm or small, litigation department or corporate, law firm associates are assessed not only on their work product, but their business development skills, too. The good news is that there are steps that associates at any level can take to quash any questions about his or her practice-building abilities. Attorney at Work’s great new guide, “Build It! The New Associates’ Guide to Business Development,” is loaded with insights and information to help associate lawyers showcase their value to their firms.

The guide features two articles I wrote, including “17 Things I Wish I Knew as a First-Year Associate” on page 9 and “Relationship-Improving Steps for Better Business Development” on page 26. Click here to download the free guide and share with associates and law students. It’s never too early to starting thinking about business development.

Business development is one of the greatest challenges for a new attorney. It’s not taught in law school, nor should it be. It’s something to be learned in the real world. But before chasing down clients, there’s a few things that junior law firm associates should focus on first. Learn more in my latest article published today by Attorney at Work. The full text of the article can be read below:

It’s widely accepted that law schools don’t do a very good job — or in many cases don’t do anything at all — to teach law students how to develop business. Many commentators lament this failure, criticizing schools for not focusing on business development basics.

I think this is wrong. There’s no reason to think that law schools can or should take on this challenge, principally because business development is not something that is learned in the classroom.

The skills attorneys must learn to develop a book of business must be acquired in the real world, through observation, trial and error. Especially error. Yes, business development is mostly about failure, which is one of the main reasons most lawyers don’t like the business development process.

Every successful law firm strives for growth. But growth – unbridled – can be dangerous. Our article “Bad Growth: Destructive to Your Law Practice,” published today by Attorney at Work, covers a different kind of growth: bad growth. Read our article to learn how to distinguish good growth from bad growth, and ensure your firm is on the path to productivity and profitability. You can also read the full text here:

The focus of “One of a Kind” has been on growth. Growth that’s good. The steps and strategies identified in prior posts — establishing a niche expertise, a compelling personal brand and a robust content marketing strategy — will lead to more clients, more revenue, more staff and more opportunities. Exciting stuff.

But growth — unbridled — can be dangerous. Things can get out of control. If you’re not careful, your practice can get on a “bad growth” path that is, at best, counterproductive and, at worst, personally and professionally destructive.

The second article in the “One of a Kind” series Jay Harrington is writing for Attorney At Work was published today. It focuses on the importance of building, maintaining, and promoting one’s expertise in a narrow, discreet practice or industry in order to establish an interesting and profitable legal practice. Check it out if you get a chance or read the full article below:

There are countless ways lawyers can and do compete with one another for work. We have price — what work costs; process — how work is performed; personality — the lawyer’s and her firm’s; place — one’s geographic location; principles — “honesty,” “integrity,” “work ethic.” Those and countless others that don’t start with “p” are all characteristics that lawyers emphasize in an effort to differentiate themselves.

But these are not the fields on which you want to play. Expertise, narrowly defined, is what good clients crave and are willing to pay a premium for. Unlevel the playing field. Become an expert.

A family friend will be graduating from law school this spring and starting his career at a large law firm next fall. Asked to provide some advice, I started compiling tips and recommendations — things to do and not to do. As I considered my own experiences as both a new and senior lawyer, I quickly formulated a list that required a scroll rather than a Post-it and subsequently decided to write an article on the things I wish I knew as a first year associate.

Attorney at Work, a website that focuses on legal marketing, business development and practice management tips for lawyers and legal marketing professionals, recently published the article. The full text can be read below:

A family friend will be graduating from law school this spring and starting his career at a large law firm next fall. Asked to provide some advice, I started compiling tips and recommendations — things to do and not to do. As I considered my own experiences as a first-year associate at a big firm, and subsequent experiences as a more senior attorney, I quickly formulated a list that required a scroll rather than a Post-it.

There are so many things not taught in law school that are only learned by young lawyers through the hard-knocks school. These tips are intended to help young lawyers develop the attribute that is the single-most important building block for future marketing and business development efforts — namely, becoming an excellent attorney.