[Wassana]

Does anyone know anything about this line of work? Is it well paid? Respected? Or do the lawyers look down on staff who do marketing / business development / finance type stuff? It's kinda back office, right?

Really appreciate any information.

Thanks!

[jacketpotato]

I can't comment on whether it is well paid.

BD is a back-office role, because it is the lawyers who who have direct contact with clients and deliver pitches. However, the BD guys are well respected and I don't think anyone looks down on them. The BD guys at my firm do a great job.

I imagine that junior BD people would spend a lot of time organising events and researching information for pitches; more senior BD people seem to spend a lot of time working with partners and helping prepare pitches.

I am no expert but would say that presentation is very important. The quality of pitches and written materials is important for law firms. Ultimately it will be the partners who decide what materials to produce and what to put in pitches, but it is BD who turn my scrappy word document into a very professional looking publication.

[richie123]

Interesting question. I have a number of friends working in this area. One went in at the lowest level of a silver circle firm, moved on to a large London firm and then went to a US firm in London - all in quite a short space of time.

At the silver circle firm he was expected to work almost solicitor-level hours without the solicitor level financial rewards (low 20,000s). Small team, hard work, didn't enjoy it much but he did learn a bit. At the large London firm the people were nicer but it was a shambles as far as organisation was concerned. He was earning mid 20s by the time he got to the US firm. Think it was okay but he didn't stay long. He never wanted to be in the industry and has left to pursue something he wants to do. Some of my other friends enjoy it well enough.

Lots of pitch prep as you might imagine.