You’ve been telling yourself it’s too soon.

Or too late.

Junior enough that BD can wait. Senior enough that you’ve already missed the boat.

Neither is true.

Ask most lawyers when the right time to start BD is, and you’ll get one of three answers. Not yet — I’m too junior, nobody wants to hear from me. Not yet — I need partner first, then I’ll have the credibility. Too late — I should have started years ago, so what’s the point now.

I hear all three. None of them hold up.

BD is relationship building and those relationships take time to build — which is exactly why the moment to start is always now. If you’re junior, you’ve already got a ready-built network sitting in your contacts list. Don’t let it go cold. If you’re senior, your credibility is already established, and your network is bigger and warmer than you think. A cold DM from a senior associate lands very differently to one from a trainee.

If you’re thinking you’d rather focus on the legal work because the relationship building feels hard, don’t worry. Business development is a skill, not a personality trait. You learn it the same way you learned everything else – by getting started, having a strategy and course-correcting as you go.

As skills go, the sooner you develop this one the better. The lawyers who get promoted are the ones who can show they’ve contributed to the business of the firm, not just the practice of the law.

In this week’s episode of Legal Imposters, I break down why BD matters at every stage, the three misconceptions keeping good lawyers on the sidelines, how much time it actually needs, and why a strategy beats throwing spaghetti at the wall.

P.S. Inside Be The First Group Coaching, I give you the tools to turn all this into results — a full BD strategy, the BD Tracker to keep you consistent, and coaching to help you convert your pipeline into real, paying clients. Enrolment for the September 2026 class opens 17 August. Save the date in your calendar and keep listening for details.