Partner Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme, a member of Pryor Cashman’s Intellectual Property, Litigation and Media & Entertainment Groups, was interviewed by Law 360 for its October 26, 2015 article, “5 Tips For Landing New Intellectual Property Work.”

In a fiercely competitive market for intellectual property work, attorneys have to be proactive and tactical about how they go after new business. Attorneys should think of business development as a marathon, not a sprint, and know that winning over major clients does not happen overnight. It tends to be a slow and steady process.

“My biggest clients were developed after years of me being patient and persistent,” said Finguerra-DuCharme. “People don’t just wake up and say they are going to transfer everything over to you. That rarely happens. For the most part, in my experience, it’s been me doing a couple of things here or there, producing quality work, not being overly pushy, and then I’ve had potential clients transfer large amounts of work over to me.”

New business can come from unexpected places. One of Finguerra-DuCharme’s clients is a paralegal she worked with more than a decade ago at a former firm who now has a consulting business in the cryptocurrency industry and relies on her for advice on trademark and copyright matters.

“The life lesson is to do high-quality work, be kind and have people like and respect you,” Finguerra-DuCharme continued. “You don’t have to be their best friend. But if you are respected for the kind of legal work and services you provide, that’s a way to generate new work.”

Attorneys also should be thinking of how to keep their clients and prospective clients up to date on important legal developments and court decisions that could affect their business without bombarding them with mass emails.

“It doesn’t do much good to add every client to an email blast list,” Finguerra-DuCharme said. “I find it’s better to send a personalized email … that says ‘here’s why you should pay attention to this case, here’s how it affects your industry and here’s why it’s important.’ It shows clients you understand them and their needs.”

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