Last Friday, at the closing plenary of the LMA North East Conference, moderated by Matt Plavnick, a standout panel featuring Ryan Cooke, Diana Brummer and Josh Kalish delivered a timely message: 

If law-firm marketing and business-development teams are to drive meaningful growth, the collaboration with lawyers must be rigorous, honest and framed around firm-first priorities.

 Obvious but worth remembering.

The conversation began with three bold assumptions: that preparation matters, that clarity of role is non-negotiable, and that marketing/BD and attorneys must bring the science of sales into the law firm context. Ryan emphasized that marketers who research a lawyer’s peer perception and growth arc unlock creative client-development initiatives. “Think not only about me and what I can do for our clients but also who else I should know at our law firm.”

Diana continued that theme, stressing that internal “dot-connecting” across practices — triggered by external market signals is the kind of firm-wide move that too few teams initiate. 

Josh underlined that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work: marketing must be proactive, iterative and responsive to actual lawyer strengths. 

Matt tied it together by calling out the need for structured frameworks and celebrating incremental wins. Passle commercial time - that is exactly why we built CrossPItch AI :)

Three themes stood out:

• Role clarity: Marketing supports the top of the funnel; Business Development focuses on conversion and growth. Lawyers respond best when they understand which hand is driving which stage of the process.

• Empirical humility + learning plans: “I don’t know, but here’s how we’ll find out” is far stronger from marketing and Business Development team members than “let me guess what might work”. Both Ryan and Diana reinforced that honest partnerships build trust far faster than polished but untested ideas.

• Tailored enablement: The fastest-ROI example came via Diana’s recounting of a targeted webinar that yielded new work in three weeks. The secret: tailor the topic, provide effortless enablement, lean into lawyer strengths and reduce friction wherever you can. 

For law-firm marketers, the practical takeaways are:

Don’t wait for the lawyers to come asking. Do the research, scan the market for client signals, propose firm-first themes, and build campaigns around the individual lawyer’s comfort zone. 

For lawyers:

Lean in to those marketers who offer transparent data and a collaborative approach. The magic happens when genuine human connection meets commercial discipline.

“In law expertise is our product, but visibility is earned.”

In short, the key to success is smart, connected, intuitive execution. The firms that win will be those where marketing, BD and lawyers see themselves as a single growth engine — not as separate functions.

Thanks to Matt, Ryan, Diana and Josh for a session full of substance, clarity and actionable intelligence.