Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The BD Catalyst

Rebecca Wenglinski, Founder & CEO of Lotus Business Growth Consultants, shares practical ways to put AI to work for law firm marketing and business development. We cover automated client intelligence, building agents for pitch research and RFPs, keeping confidential details out of the tools, and helping lawyers make their outreach more meaningful. This is all great framing for firms of any size.

Liz H. Sobe, Director of Business Development at Robinson+Cole, joins Kristo Sween to step through the universal BD progression: Contact to Connection to Relationship to Client. Liz shares that “a contact lives in your CRM, but a connection lives in your awareness,” and uses her definition of AI, Authenticity and Intentionality, to guide attorneys along the path of building relationships and trust. As her mother used to say, trust is built in drops and lost in buckets. Liz’s “AI” moves firms from selling legal services to helping people who trust their attorneys solve problems when the timing is right.

Lee Ashby Rogers, Director of Integration and Inclusion at Bass, Berry & Sims, joins Kristo Sween to talk about the connections between lateral partner onboarding and business development. Drawing on lessons from her waitressing days and a Ritz-Carlton approach to VIP guests, Lee explains how listening for what goes unsaid, pairing every new partner with a well-prepared sponsor, and mapping relationships from day one can turn onboarding into a cross-selling head start. Lateral integration, in the right hands, has business development written all over it.

For most prospective clients, business development starts before anyone picks up the phone. It starts on the firm’s website. Jason Lisi has watched that shift from the beginning. He’s a former tax lawyer who found his spark in the early days of the internet, and in the late 1990s he founded Legal Internet Solutions Inc. to translate between the people who build websites and the lawyers who need them. Today, a law firm’s website has to earn trust, position its lawyers as thought leaders, and even cross-sell, showing a visitor who came for one practice that the firm can handle their expanded needs too. That’s why content that reads as keyword-stuffed or AI-generated is a business development risk, not just a style problem. Jason makes the case for handing website development to people who know legal ethics and legal audiences, so lawyers can spend their time on clients and BD professionals can spend their time with the lawyers. Jason describes his work as helping lawyers turn their ideas for growing the business into action.

Ralph Cooper Jr., the very first guest on the podcast, returns to help mark 20 episodes of The BD Catalyst. Ralph came to business development from sports reporting, and admits he spent a lot of his early days feeling like an imposter. Ten months into his role as Business Development Manager at Benesch, he talks about how that changed. He approached BD the way he approaches football. He stayed curious, asked the obvious questions, and built a record of what works, ultimately coaching attorneys from his own experience and the experiences of others. He's currently helping associates build the same confidence through Benesch’s career advancement plans, a process where associates envision their future years before most lawyers start thinking about it and Ralph helps show how BD gets them there.

Sarah Delaney, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Hellmuth & Johnson, joins The BD Catalyst to talk about her role in the firm's extraordinary growth. Sarah views her firm’s 70 attorneys as 70 small businesses, each with its own clients, comfort zone, and path to growth. She shares the moment she saw the need for a mandatory firm retreat where a third of the day is spent speed networking and makes a strong case for advertising when other firms are pulling back. 

Kayla Fatica Himes, Marketing Manager at MacDonald Illig Jones & Britton LLP, joins The BD Catalyst to talk about launching her "Marketing 101" program for associates and law clerks, many of whom finished school during COVID and didn't have as much opportunity to practice how to work a room, start conversations, and commit to follow-up afterward. Kayla also shares how she builds events around what clients actually want. Outcomes range from a breathwork-and-cooking "rest before the rush" for women clients, an arcade night where associates build the guest list, and a family fall fest where event hosting builds succession planning. Kayla activates the formula: marketing creates opportunities, attorneys build relationships, and relationships create business.

In this episode, Kristo sits down with Sarah Hazel, Director of Marketing and Business Development at BCM Law, P.C., to talk about framing relationship attorneys as account managers. Sarah walks through her process for lawyers leading cross-functional client teams, defining clear expectations, building systems and fostering the kind of ongoing feedback loop that turns client service into client retention. Sarah's formula, Great Attorney + Effective Account Manager = Trusted Advisor, leads to clients asking for guidance beyond the current file. Finally, with a shared background on the stage, Kristo and Sarah discuss her observation that the theater-to-law-firm pipeline is strong and brings real value to creative collaboration inside law firms.

Mike Mellor, President and Founder of 742Advisors and a former CMBDO joins the podcast to share his C-Suite experience including the basic blocking and tackling of firm intelligence systems and processes to building trust and creating meaningful change inside law firms. Drawing on more than two decades leading marketing and BD functions at Big 4 accounting and AmLaw 200 firms, Mike talks about building coalitions of the willing and the use of data to expose gaps firms didn't know they had. At the end, Mike and Kristo discuss real, practical uses for AI to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Livca Shin-Kim, MBA, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Donahue Fitzgerald LLP, joins the show and traces her path from an art museum internship to an MBA and nearly a decade in legal marketing. She explains how she's reframed BD for her attorneys as curiosity in relationship-building. A lifelong learner and creative problem solver, Livca shares some of the business development tools and approaches she has used to coach and train lawyers at her firm. Finally, she comes back to the museum with a sponsorship relationship she fostered that turned into new estate planning business for her firm. This is a conversation about the patience, value, curiosity and creativity that make Livca an ever evolving BD Catalyst.

Chris Moyer, Business Development & Marketing Manager at Hedrick Gardner, joins the podcast with a set of reframes that attorneys can put to use immediately. Chris prefers the term "relationship" development instead of "business" development. He advocates tracking whether an attorney showed up to a BD activity rather than what came of it and presses his attorneys to take more shots on the goal, giving credit to Wayne Gretzky of course. It's a practical look at lowering the pressure around business development so lawyers actually do more of it more easily.

Emily LaCount, Marketing and Events Manager at Carlton Fields, joins The BD Catalyst to dig into the ways law firm events work as business development tools and how attorneys are involved from invitation lists to follow-up post-event. She walks through why, post-pandemic, attorneys and clients demand more intentional, high-touch experiences, rather than the old standard "beer, wine, and cheese" event. Emily talks about how her firm pairs seasoned shareholders with associates to teach real networking skills in low-stakes settings, and fosters structured, low-lift follow-up that helps attorneys turn a good event into a great relationship. Events aren't the finish line, Emily says. They're just the opening shot.

In Episode 12 of The BD Catalyst, Kristo continues his conversation with Marguerita Dolatly, Director of Business Development at Katten. Marguerita shares a training session that nearly fell flat and what it taught her and her attorneys about the value of failing and strategies on how to pivot. Marguerita and Kristo also dig into AI's growing role in legal BD, from live networking research to drafting first passes lawyers can make their own, and close with a discussion of Marguerita's core mantra: business development can be learned and taught, it isn't a unique personality trait.

In Episode 11 of The BD Catalyst, Kristo sits down with Marguerita B. Dolatly, Director of Business Development at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. This is part one of a two-part conversation in which Marguerita, a former practicing attorney turned two-decade BD leader, shares some of her coaching mantras and philosophy: no fixed template, no forcing extroverted lawyers into round tables or introverted lawyers onto panels, just helping each attorney find the approach that's actually theirs to sustain. Marguerita and Kristo dig into emotions and personality traits on the way to what Marguerita calls the "glimmer moment," the instant a lawyer sees a suggestion and recognizes it as something they could genuinely do, and how that recognition becomes the seed of a repeatable habit. Coaching lawyers is less about behavior modification and more about self-recognition.

Alexandra DeFelice, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Jeffer Mangels & Mitchell LLP, joins the podcast to share how she turned a wave of unexpected turnover into an opportunity to elevate her team's roles and educate her firm's attorneys to see the BDM team as trusted and valued partners. The conversation is a masterclass in building talent and fostering trust. By coaching confidence and a consultative approach, Alexandra's team now delivers higher-level solutions and outstanding client service. They are modeling key components of business development that attorneys would do well to emulate. 

In Episode 9 of The BD Catalyst, Kristo sits down with Laura Gutierrez, Director of Referral Partnerships at JD Supra, for a conversation about what it's like to grow up inside law firms, literally. Laura's mother worked at a Minneapolis firm for thirty years, and Laura was in the office by age eight, long before she ever considered a career in legal marketing. Laura shares the moment that changed everything, when she saw the data behind a piece of content for the first time and realized the potential when marketing and intelligence work together. She also makes a sharp case for where AI fits in a writer's process and where it doesn't, arguing that when everyone uses the same tools the same way, you just get an average, not the unique voice that actually builds a book of business.

In this episode of the BD Catalyst, Kristo sits down with Amanda Bekric, MBA, Marketing Manager at Dady & Gardner, P.A., for a conversation about the "old-fashioned" secret sauce behind her firm's success: genuine, deeply human relationships built on trust and authenticity, in a national franchise law practice. Amanda shares how she channels David Kelly's "fail faster, succeed sooner" ethos in her own approach with attorneys by encouraging them to show up authentically, embrace the occasional fumble, recover quickly and let real human connection be what actually wins clients. The result is a firm culture where what clients hear on the phone, see online, and experience in the room are all exactly the same. And that consistency is a metric that truly predicts decades of client retention.

This week on the BD Catalyst, Kristo sits down with Lisa Jones, Senior Practice Development Manager at Miller & Martin, for a practical, grounded conversation about what it actually looks like to move the needle on business development inside a law firm, sometimes one attorney at a time. Lisa shares how pairing consistent coaching with real accountability has helped one of her attorneys go from casting a wide net to building genuine, results-producing relationships over the course of three years. Lisa also talks about why BD professionals who stay close to the process, not just the outcome, make all the difference. Her closing thought is the one that sticks: many of the successes in her career aren't hers alone. They belong to the attorneys she's coached, trained and mentored.

In Episode 6 of The BD Catalyst podcast, Kristo sits down with Kaley Green, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Fogler, Rubinoff LLP, for a conversation that ranges from what it takes to build and inspire BD culture at a regional mid-market firm, to what happens when two law firm BDM professionals (who also happen to be Irish dance parents) walk into a podcast. Kaley shares a robust collection of parallels between competitive Irish dancing and lawyer business development. From the power of a first impression to making the case that the same discipline, resilience, and repetition that brings wins in the competition hall is exactly what delivers success in client loyalty and business development.

In this episode Kristo sits down with Eldin Johnston, Marketing Director at Elsberg Baker & Maruri PLLC for a candid and moving conversation about authenticity in all relationships. We discuss music, motorcycles and those famous gold shoes from LMA 2026. Eldin shares his coaching philosophy of "freeing people up" by replacing the guilt of missed assignments with open-ended brainstorming that consistently unlocks new ideas. In a world where AI is pulling people further from authentic human connection, Eldin makes a compelling case that the lawyers who will win are the ones who do what most people won't: ask a simple question, listen to the answer, and let the conversation go wherever it goes.

In this episode of The BD Catalyst, host Kristo Sween sits down with Thomas Keller, Business Development Director at Kerr Russell, for a wide-ranging conversation about the overlap between improv comedy and the art of attorney business development coaching and opportunity spotting. Tom reveals how he spent years quietly using improv as a "secret ninja skill" in his legal marketing career. From using a reporter's mindset and the power of intentionality to unearth hidden opportunities with attorneys, to the firm conviction that in-person connection is irreplaceable for building the kind of trust that actually moves the needle on business development, Tom provides practical wisdom and a few laughs along the way.

BD Catalyst host Kristo Sween sits down with Emmad Awaad, MBA, Business Development Associate at Bodman PLC, for a conversation about what it really takes to build a culture of business development inside a law firm. Emmad shares how leaning into an attorney's passions can unlock unexpected BD wins. From the simple but powerful act of picking up the phone to rekindle dormant client relationships, to the mindset shift he instills in associates that BD starts on day one, Emmad shares his practical, human-centered business development approach that law firm BDM pros can put to work immediately.

In this episode of The BD Catalyst, Kristo sits down with Adam Brown, Director of Marketing at Fafinski Mark & Johnson, for a candid conversation about what it really takes to help lawyers grow their practices. Adam draws on his background as a practicing attorney, a professional development leader and a legal marketing director, including his work teaching law students, to share what works and what doesn't when it comes to building a business development culture inside a law firm. Kristo and Adam dig into why individualized BD plans lead to better results, how marketing and business development professionals can show up as confident, valued partners, and how the non-billable nature of the marketing and BD role is actually a strategic advantage when it comes to collaborating with lawyers in meaningful ways.

LMA Members, here's a link to the Associate Business Development Training webinar referenced in the episode.

https://www.legalmarketing.org/Purchase/associate-business-development-programs-a-practical-approach-for-small-teams-with-limited-resources-mch

Kristo and Adam were on a panel with law firm BDM leader Susan Slifer.

Today I sit down with Ralph Cooper, Jr., Business Development Manager at Benesch in Chicago. Ralph shares success stories and insights he brings to coaching lawyers from his experience as an athlete and coach of youth sports.