SUGARCREST: Tell me about your background.

Boehm: I graduated law school in 1978 and came to Washington to work for the Securities and Exchange Commission. I spent over three years in the Enforcement Division and then went to the general counsel's office. I was then asked to join the executive staff as counsel to a commissioner. I served in that position until I joined Sutherland in July 1983.

SUGARCREST: You went to the SEC right out of law school. That's pretty unusual today.

Boehm: Nowadays, it's much less common because of the salary difference between private practice and the SEC. In 1978, there was only a $6,000 a year differential between the highest paying Wall Street firms and the SEC. The salary difference between leading Washington firms and the SEC then was only about $1,000. So, money wasn't an issue and the government was able to get a number of people right out of law school that might not choose that path today. Today, the SEC relies more on laterals whom they can compensate more flexibly.

SUGARCREST: You came to Sutherland as an associate. At what point did you start to bring in clients?

Boehm: It's hard to pin down a defining, epiphanal moment. But I started focusing on business development fairly early on. Even as an associate, I knew that it was important to figure out how to develop business if I wanted to make a long career in private practice.

SUGARCREST: Do you recall bringing in your first client?

Boehm: Well, it is hard to say which client was actually my first. When I came to private practice, someone told me that the best way to develop business is through your peers. When your peers are young, they're your friends, but as you all get older, they become your clients. This can be true whether your peers are in the government, who then go to the private sector, or to other law firms, who then give you referrals.

So, early on, I started to remind my good friends that I was now in private practice. My first large success in that regard involved a large New York-based financial institution, where a close friend of mine with whom I had served on the Executive Staff at the SEC had assumed a senior legal position. I began to remind him rather regularly that Sutherland would be a good place to send some of his legal business and, after a couple years and a rather large number of calls, some of them no doubt annoying, he had no choice but to send us some work.

SUGARCREST: A lot of lawyers have a hard time asking for business from their friends. How have you overcome that?

Boehm: I think you have to have your own style. I tend to be a connective person. I like the idea of staying close to my friends and I like the idea of making friends out of new acquaintances -- even in the business environment. So, to me, asking friends for business is just another part of my relationship with them. They understand, and I understand, that the worst they could do is say "no." And, the way I go about it, hopefully, is in a manner that suggests that even if they can't give me business, we're still friends.

SUGARCREST: How have you grown your practice?

Boehm: I think the critical element in growing a practice is to have a strong platform. Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan is a very strong platform. Sutherland has a very strong reputation in the financial services area, particularly in the investment company area. It also maintains one of the nation's leading tax practices.

As a financial services lawyer, I have tried to remind contacts and others in the industry that I have this platform -- and that there are others here with expertise besides myself. And, I have used this platform to develop a couple of areas of specific expertise, which has really been the basis for my practice expanding over the past few years.

SUGARCREST: Tell me about the areas of expertise that you've developed.

Boehm: The first is in the area of business development companies (BDCs), a specialized type of closed-end investment company. A client came to me in 1994 for a small SEC problem, and we fixed that problem, and they started giving us more work. We became their outside general counsel and started doing a very large part of their legal work. Now that client is the leader in the BDC industry. Once I was representing an industry leader, others in that industry wanted to be represented by our firm as well. At this point, even the SEC has called on us to give a seminar to their staff on BDCs.

The second area in which I've developed a reputation is in college tuition plans, so-called 529 plans. They became very popular a few years ago. I had the opportunity to do some of the earliest work in the area. So I promoted my expertise in a new area to our existing financial services clients, and to many financial services companies that were not existing clients.

The key is not being afraid to go after things that you see. For example, in the 529 plan area, we follow closely the financial service companies that states are selecting to run their plans. We have actually gained two clients through cold calls to these large financial services companies.

SUGARCREST: Tell me about how you cold call clients.

Boehm: Well, it's not quite as nefarious as it sounds. But, I'll give you an example. When I learned that a company was getting into the 529 plan business from an industry publication, I sent an e-mail to everyone in our firm asking whether anyone knew this person at the company quoted in the article.

I got one e-mail response indicating that one of our partners thought that they once had met her doing a small deal a number of years ago. I found her e-mail address and sent her an e-mail indicating that I had read that her company was interested in getting into the 529 space; that I understood that she knew who we were because she worked with one of my partners in the past; and, that we believed we had the type of experience and expertise that would help her in this area.

I added that I'd be pleased to come up to meet her sometime if she thought it would be helpful. I got a call from her about a week later. We had lunch two weeks later. I was retained three weeks later.

Sometimes, you just have to ask.

SUGARCREST: Many lawyers are afraid to ask that directly.

Boehm: You can't be afraid to ask. Recently, I spoke at a conference on 529 plans, and I was approached right after I spoke by a general counsel of a financial services company. She came up to me with a colleague and started asking me about our expertise in the 529 area. After I had addressed her questions, I gave something more than a soft sell about our firm's expertise and experience in the area and why there really would be no other firm in America for her to use.

When I finished my soliloquy, she then turned and introduced me to the woman standing next to her who turned out to be her outside counsel. Undaunted, but somewhat embarrassed, I smiled and slowly slithered away. A week later, we were retained by that financial services company. Again, sometimes you just have to ask.

SUGARCREST: From where does most of your business come?

Boehm: Right now, I would say most of my business in the BDC area, for example, comes from referrals, from the reputation we've been able to develop. I am now associated with the BDC industry because we represent so many of the prominent members of that group.

It's a relatively small industry and it's at the point now where my reputation and the firm's is large enough, and we've worked with enough investment bankers and others in the business, that they just know my name. In the 529 area, it comes both from our growing reputation, word-of-mouth from people in the industry, and my willingness to continue to go out and aggressively solicit potential new clients.

SUGARCREST: Where are the best places to meet your clients?

Boehm: The best places to meet your clients are in your past, at your job and in your life. Notwithstanding the anecdotes I've given, the way you get clients, for the most part, is through connections. People who you work with, your first job, your fellow lawyers who will go in-house someday.

I've gotten business from regulators who have left the SEC and are now in private practice. They remember you from the way you dealt with them on the staff. Basically, you tend to get business from peers who grow with you in the profession and ultimately, are in a position to give you business or send business to you from others. Also, if you're recognized in a specific area of expertise, you need to promote yourself. Hold seminars. Don't wait for some organization to ask you to speak. Get your firm to sponsor a seminar.

SUGARCREST: What makes you different? There will be people who have been practicing for fifteen years who will read this article and say, "My peers are in-house and no one is sending me work."

Boehm: The best way to get business is to ask for it -- both with existing and prospective clients. Clients don't mind being asked, particularly if they can get good service for fees that are fair. Second, you have to capitalize on luck. You have to be in the right place at the right time, but you also have to be willing to exploit it. And third, you have to regularly think about business development. Everyone who has been practicing for at least 10 years has business to mine somewhere.

SUGARCREST: How do you ask for business?

Boehm: Very directly. It is neither shameful nor inconsistent with one's role as a professional to tell a client that you are in a position to provide valuable service and to consider you or your law firm to provide that service. The worst that you can be told is no.

SUGARCREST: Do you think that business development is different in your practice area than it is in others?

Boehm: No and yes. No, because in all areas it's about communicating and connecting on some level. Yes, in the sense that my area is very specialized. There aren't a large number of experts, although there are a large number of potential clients.

It is very important for young lawyers to understand the special circumstances of their practice and use it to their advantage. Whether it's the size of the bar, the special needs of clients, or the relationships with regulators, every area has a special need of some kind.

SUGARCREST: What works in your practice area?

Boehm: I think that it is essential to be perceived as having good relationships with the regulators and an understanding of the regulatory process and the subculture of the agency. Of course, regulators won't provide special treatment in resolving legal issues. But if you have relationships with regulators, either because you worked with them in the past or have dealt with them over the years, clients feel that they have someone who can walk them through the hallways and solve a problem or get a difficult issue addressed.

SUGARCREST: What specific business development techniques work for you?

Boehm: One of the things that I find useful with an existing or prospective client is to find common grounds for connection. I think it helps if you can find a connection -- whether it's a common interest in a particular area of the law or a common interest in non-legal related areas. Maybe you both like talking about current events. Maybe you both love talking about history.

I think the ability to connect with a client or prospective client on a level beyond the work you do can be very helpful. You have to figure out whether, in a particular case, connecting is useful. To me it's fun making new friends and hearing what people have to say.

The second and more tangible thing I would say is responsiveness. In the current environment, service is the bottom line. It used to be that once a large financial institution forged a relationship with a law firm, that was it. That law firm would do everything for them and it wouldn't change. Today, it's very different. I think people compete on every possible level. But the one that clients always remind you about is service.

One of the ways you can demonstrate service is by always returning phone calls. Even if you're returning the call just to say, "I can't talk to you today but I got your message and I'll talk to you tomorrow." The greatest source of business development is existing clients and if you can show your clients that you're always there for them, they'll give you more work.

SUGARCREST: Do you talk with your clients about what service means to them?

Boehm: I try to. Just last week, for example, I brought an entire client service team (six lawyers) to a client's office in New York at our expense to go over what we're doing right and what we could do better just for that purpose.

SUGARCREST: You've told us about some of the things that work. What doesn't work?

Boehm: What doesn't work is speaking at conferences in areas in which you don't really practice. Sometimes you're asked to speak at a conference just because you know someone, you know the issues a bit and you're articulate enough. But, it doesn't do you any good because after the conference, people contact you with the hard questions. If you're not an expert in the area, it's going to show. Also, you have to be selective about the conferences. Not every conference -- even in your areas of expertise -- is going to yield business. Conferences that consist of mostly lawyers in private practice rather than in-house counsel or other prospective clients are generally not as good. I think articles are good too. But again, you have to select areas in which you really are an expert. In my view, pumping out articles regularly is not necessarily the best way to spend promotional time.

SUGARCREST: How do you identify the right conferences?

Boehm: You have to learn which conferences matter. You have to go to conferences as a participant and determine where the clients are. You may just want to go to a conference to learn and that's fine. But, if you want to get business, going with peers in other firms is not going to work, although it might, at some point, result in a referral. So, you need to identify where the clients are, and once you start to have a reputation in an area, put yourself in a position to be selected to speak. If you're not selected to speak, contact the organization and tell them why you should be selected.

SUGARCREST: Do you have a system for keeping in contact with all the people in your network?

Boehm: I have an alarm clock in my head that reminds me when to spin my rolodex and pick out the card of a potential client to call. I try to stay in touch with contacts I've made and remind them on a periodic basis that we're here, we can provide legal service they need, and they should let us know when we can help.

SUGARCREST: Do you do that by phone?

Boehm: I do both phone calls and e-mails. A lot of people think e-mail is impersonal; I think e-mail is a very valuable tool. People are much more willing to tap out a note sometimes than to pick up a phone, and, again, in this era, I don't think the use of e-mail is inappropriate.

Particularly if people are busy, it can be really effective to send a quick e-mail reminding the person that you spoke a few months ago, you're still working in this area and that you're available if they need you. It puts very little pressure on the recipient and it's relatively simple. And, most people would probably not find that difficult to do as a sender.

SUGARCREST: Has anyone ever responded badly to getting e-mail or a call from you like that?

Boehm: I have never had a bad response from either an e-mail or a call aimed at developing business.

SUGARCREST: Where do you find the time to market?

Boehm: I make the time because I scare myself into the recognition that if I don't keep promoting, there's no guarantee that a busy practice can be sustained. Sometimes, I get into the office early to make a promotional call or send a promotional e-mail and sometimes I do it late in the day. And sometimes I'll just find the time in the middle of the day between meetings or calls. It's something I have made a very high priority. You simply have to make the time and I've always done so.

SUGARCREST: Have you mentored others in business development?

Boehm: Yes. I think it's very important to mentor associates on business development from the moment they walk in the door. Even though the life of an associate at a large law firm really does not depend on the amount of business they bring in, I think we owe it to associates to train them in business development.

They need to understand that to the extent they want to make a career in private practice, business development will be an important part of their lives and they should start the process now. I think the best thing an associate can do is to start connecting with the folks now who in 10-15 years will become their clients.

SUGARCREST: And what would you say to associates who feel that they don't get credit for or encouragement to develop business? Why should they bother?

Boehm: I would say that undertaking promotional activities is helping build their own practice in the future. They're getting skills and contacts. Even if they're not getting a current reward from aiding their firm's growth, they're building their own careers.

SUGARCREST: Have you been successful at cross-selling the firm's services?

Boehm: I like to think I cross-sell the Firm's services as extensively as I sell my own services. In a financial services practice, there is a significant need for expertise beyond my securities law expertise. Clients frequently need tax, ERISA, or estate planning advice. Against that background, it really isn't that hard for me to promote our lawyers, particularly in areas in which we have a reputation that equals or even exceeds our strong reputation in the financial services area.

SUGARCREST: Do other lawyers in the firm cross-sell your services?

Boehm: Yes. Once you develop a readily identifiable expertise in an area that is in demand, and the nature of what you do has been communicated effectively to your partners, that can happen pretty regularly. We have been successful in letting the rest of the firm know what we do.

SUGARCREST: You said earlier that you do some writing, you do some speaking. But you also seem to do a lot of networking. What's the mix at this point in your career?

Boehm: You have to balance the three. I believe networking and speaking tends to be more directly fruitful. However, the advantage of writing is that if you prepare a definitive piece in an area in which you have expertise and for example, post it on your website -- all of a sudden, you become known to the world.

So, with the internet, I think writing can become more important than ever and I think it's not a question of how many articles you write, but writing the right article and getting it exposed. And once you have an important writing, it can give you a basis for networking and speaking.

SUGARCREST: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you started?

Boehm: That it's okay to ask for business and that business development can be fun. I've come to understand that prospective clients, particularly in the current environment, are fundamentally receptive to business development efforts.

An abridged version of this article was originally published in Legal Times.