Onboarding gets the lateral in the door. Integration gets the book in the door.
Lateral Partner Integration connects a new partner's clients to the firm and the firm to the new partner. Each lateral works a written integration plan with a coach every month, and leadership reads a scorecard every quarter.
Partners who joined in the last 12 to 18 months, in cohorts of 16 to 20
Nine to twelve months, from individual intake to a closing session
1:1 implementation coaching for every lateral
A scorecard for each lateral, every quarter
The hire is fixed at signing. What happens after is the firm's to manage.
Firms pay a premium for lateral partners and underwrite the deal with a projected book. Clients do not follow an announcement. They stay where relationships are strongest, and the first year is when those relationships are either widened across the firm or left with one partner.
Named targets
The clients to protect, the relationships to build inside the firm, and the cross-practice openings to pursue.
An owner and a cadence
Every target has a name and a date beside it. The plan is worked with a coach each month.
A scorecard leadership reads
Relationships built inside the firm, cross-practice work opened and portable revenue retained, reported every quarter.
Individual intake first, then three parts and a close.
Every lateral meets with BPG individually before Part 1. The integration plan is first drafted there.
Firm Navigation and Internal Networking
In person over two days. Laterals learn how work gets done at the firm and practice explaining their own practice to new colleagues. Day two is mock client meetings.
Client Protection and Growth
In person over two days. Laterals work on protecting client relationships through the move and on bringing other partners in. Day two is a mock cross-practice proposal.
Relationship Mapping and Growth Planning
Virtual. Each lateral maps internal and client relationships and selects the ones that matter most. Milestones are set for the year.
Review and Next Year
The cohort reviews what moved and sets priorities for the next year.
Monthly implementation coaching
A BPG coach works with each lateral between parts, on live clients and live matters. What is said in coaching stays between the coach and the partner.
Leading indicators first, lagging as the book lands.
In writing
- An integration plan for each lateral, with a named owner
- A relationship map for each lateral, built in Part 3
- A scorecard for each lateral every quarter
- A midpoint readout and a final readout to leadership
What we measure first
- Integration plan milestones hit on schedule
- Introductions across the firm made and returned
- The lateral's clients meeting the firm's bench
- Matters staffed across practices
What follows
- Book arrival against the projection
- Revenue sourced across practices on the lateral's accounts
- New matter types opened with legacy clients
- Lateral retention past year two
One significant new matter at partner rates covers the cohort.
Each design choice traces to published research. Citations are available on request.
Delivered from both sides of the client relationship.
BPG runs the cohort for the full program. The firm's integration team sits in from the first month and carries the support after.
Craig Budner
CEO & Co-FounderNearly four decades in BigLaw, as a rainmaker and as the leader of a global growth platform. Lead trainer and coach across the program.
Anna Tichborne
COOFormer general counsel and COO. She has hired and managed outside counsel from the client's chair. Co-trainer and coach.