Business development testimonials
“Working with David helped revolutionize my practice. I stopped selling and started serving, finding ways to give freely of my time, thought, and energy rather than hawking legal services. By shifting my mindset and applying a few of his suggestions, I more than doubled my originations in a year.”
Allen Denson
Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
“It is a truly outstanding moment when I meet a consultant who walks the walk, and David Freeman presented me with that moment! I was blown away by his ability to provide relevant, applicable, and personalized advice after just 10 minutes of Q&A during a coaching session. He is also a dynamic and engaging presenter who adapts his experience and knowledge to the unique and deeply specific needs of his audience. Our group learned practical approaches to business development that could be immediately applied.”
Cindy Haynes, J.D.
Director of Attorney Training and Development, Fulbright & Jaworski
“Hiring David was a home run for us. In fact, many of our top billers have been coached by him. We have used a variety of coaches and trainers focused on a variety of target groups, and David is the first one that has been able to customize his system and approach to hit each individual’s target. He is fantastic.”
Jay Felton
Executive Committee Member at Lathrop GPM LLP
“For the last 13 years, my former firm has consistently hired David Freeman to work with hundreds of our lawyers at retreats, leadership training sessions and as a personal business development coach. As a former lawyer himself, David understands the lawyers’ psyche and crafts business development strategies that are highly effective and, most important, welcomed by the lawyers. I continue to be amazed at the variety of creative approaches he developed to customize his coaching to each individual.
He worked hard to find strategies and tactics that resonated with every lawyer he coached. As a result, our lawyers enjoyed his relaxed, humorous and motivational coaching style, and they continue to report great successes based on the activities they engage in due to his coaching.”
Betsy Beorn Spellman
Former Chief Marketing Officer, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“I’ve worked with David several times as I’ve made my way through various transitions in my practice. Every time, he was able to help me craft business development strategies that fit my exact needs at those times. Earlier in my career, we built approaches that incorporated my experience as the CEO of a tech company to help me break into the venture capital market, and at another time, he assisted me while I was lateraling into a new firm. I rely on David to help me solve my business development problems. As his numerous awards attest, he’s at the top of the industry, and I consider myself lucky that I’ve had the chance to work with him.”
David Peterman Esq.
Gray Reed & McGraw LLP
“David Freeman is one of those people who sees the world through a different lens. It’s not about marketing, selling, or promoting (which we all can find distasteful), but instead it’s about building on our strengths and doing what we truly enjoy to connect with like-minded, high achieving potential clients and referral sources. For over 20 years, I’ve reached out to him whenever I need a shot of energy and new ideas, and his coaching and creativity have been invaluable.”
Bobby Guy, Esq.
Shareholder, Polsinelli PC
“Not only has David Freeman shown many of my firm’s lawyers how to grow their practices, but he has also been an exceptional brainstorming partner for me, helping me see how my role as Chief Executive Officer can be used to attract new opportunities to the firm. We’ve worked together to build on my passions and interests, to deepen and grow relationships within my networks, and to launch exciting new initiatives, which has resulted in many new clients. He has the ability to break big ideas into small manageable steps, and has a way of making what might seem like drudgery into a truly enjoyable process. I always look forward to our sessions and come away inspired to act on the next great approach we develop.”
Sangeeta Shah, Esq.
CEO, Brooks Kushman P.C.
“With his creative energy and relentless optimism, David inspires me to push myself harder and makes me feel like my only limits are self-imposed. He tailors his suggestions to a person’s unique strengths and does not take a one size fits all approach to his coaching.”
Aleah M. Schutze, Esq.
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“He worked hard to find strategies and tactics that resonated with every lawyer he coached. As a result, our lawyers enjoyed his relaxed, humorous and motivational coaching style, and they continue to report great successes based on the activities they engage in due to his coaching.”
Betsy Beorn Spellman
Former Chief Marketing Officer, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“David brings to the subject of cross-selling a practical and realistic approach to what is truly the holy grail of law firm business development. By combining his experience as a practicing lawyer with the wealth of knowledge he has around sales and leadership in the legal space, David provides not only the nuts and bolts of cross-selling, but also a proven strategy to address the cultural change that is essential to a successful cross-selling initiative.”
Felice Wagner
Executive Director and General Counsel at The Trial Network
“We have worked with David over several months to launch a client service and cross-selling initiative. His innovative mix of providing virtual training, consulting with our leadership team and administrative staff, gamification and a deep focus on driving ongoing implementation have delivered tremendous results. I can truly say that without his help, this wouldn’t be happening.”
Jessica Lyon
Executive Assistant at Vicente Sederberg LLP
“David took the time to understand my industry and practice areas and quickly honed in on avenues to develop new and existing business. Several of David’s marketing recommendations bore immediate results.”
E.B.
Member, Am Law 200 firm
“If you ever read any of David’s material or heard him speak you’ll know right away that he’s an expert in legal marketing and business development. He’s been recognized by the National Law Journal and for over 2 decades has worked with over 200 law firms helping them create collaborative teams that propel revenue. He helps law firms create a culture of business development and, in many instances, culture will trump strategy every time. He’s a wonderful speaker, trainer, consultant…and a really good guy. You should get in touch with him if you want to take your firm to the next level.”
Cole Silver, Esq.
Chief Client Officer at Blank Rome LLP
“David is a dynamic, intelligent and thoughtful speaker who connects well with lawyers. Lawyers walk away better informed about how to grow their practices and in less time.”
Tea Hoffmann, Esq.
Coach for Lawyers (Leadership, Life, Wellness & Career Coach)
“You have accomplished something pretty awesome here – everyone seems to feel that you hit the right tone for the firm and your message was positively received. This is a tough crowd at times – so kudos to you!”
Pamela Bernstein
Executive Director, Miller & Chevalier Chartered
“David delivered a tailor-made and extremely motivating pitch training to our partners. What I liked particularly was the interactive nature of the training – it was impossible not to get drawn into the dynamics of the event and everybody was really engaged. Worth every penny!”
Dr. Andreas von Falck
Practice Group Leader Intellectual Property, Media and Telecommunications, Hogan Lovells
- “This was worth coming to Florida to hear Mr. Freeman. I have learned tools to revitalize my career. Thank you to whoever asked Mr. Freeman to speak.”
- He was excellent. Knowledgeable, personable, enthusiastic. A pleasure to listen to.”
- Very inspiring speaker.”
- Wonderful speaker! Great tips!”
- Good presentation style and presence.”
- Very informative and ideas on implementation.”
- Excellent presentation – content highly useful and can be integrated immediately in practice.”
Feedback from business development presentations – 27th Annual Meeting of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (rated 3.93 out of 4)
“David, thanks very much for bringing yesterday’s meeting to a great close with your “info packed” presentation. A number of partners have asked for copies of your slides, one describing it as a “sales bible” he intends to use.”
David Woods
Former Director of Marketing and Client Services, Kelley Drye & Warren
“David has a good way of reducing his message to simple, basic concepts that are easy to understand and implement. I liked the practical aspects of the presentation. It provided actual, thoughtful steps rather than esoteric concepts. I liked the discussion among the group, it was helpful to hear from others. David is a must-see/hear for anyone interested in learning to be more successful about business development. I would absolutely recommend him. Loved it!”
Feedback from Participants at a Cross-selling Training Program for an NLJ 250 Firm
“Our lawyers were very pleased with David. His presentation style is professional, and his presentation content is easy to absorb. While the topic of business development can be intimidating to those who do not feel up to the task, David makes the process easily understood and provides tips that can be readily adopted by anyone.”
Elizabeth E. Hofmeister
Director of Legal Recruiting & Development, Harter Secrest & Emery
“David Freeman and I worked together for about two years, and he has been an excellent coach. Through trial and error, he helped me develop a business development system that fits my personality. He taught me to be aware of what to listen for in business development meetings, how to maintain consistent communication with clients and members of my firm, approaches for setting up personal meetings with clients and prospects, and ways to explain what I do in a manner that fits my audience. I gained a lot from this investment. Some of the specifics skills and habits he has helped me with are as follows:
- Awareness – knowing what to look and listen for in various business development meetings, part of that involves homework before the meetings
- Consistent Communication – maintaining consistent communication with contacts even when work is very busy
- Concierge – helping people whenever I can whether it’s finding them a babysitter, recommending a vacation spot, or sending a relevant newspaper article
- Personal Meetings – setting up personal meetings with clients and prospects (onsite meetings are the most desirable)
- Elevator Speech – explaining what I do and making sure it is adjusted properly to fit the audience (it sounds easy but it’s not)”
Reuben D. Rosof
Gardere Wynn Sewell LLP
“I just read the article that the ABA Journal published on you in the June 2007 edition, and I recognized many of the techniques and strategies, as I have experienced good success with many of these since our sessions. Bottom line, I credit my experience with you with a resulting boost to my client relations and development habits and practice that has yielded good results for me and the firm in the past couple years.”
Charles Boettcher
Partner, Thompson & Knight LLP
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with David over the past 2 years as he has provided training to our partners and counsel. There are several things that differentiates David from other business development trainers and coaches – mainly his focus on practical application and follow up. Too often a trainer will come in, present a session and disappear leaving the attorneys to quickly revert to business as usual. David’s emphasis on continued coaching results in the attorneys applying their new found skills and actually developing business. David has been uniformly well received and respected throughout the firm and has forged a solid working relationship with the Marketing and Business Development staff that allows us to customize training sessions for various audiences. Bringing in David to augment the services our department provides has proved to not only be efficient, but has added to our standing within the firm.”
Roberta Montafia
Former Chief Marketing Officer, Day, Berry & Howard
“David Freeman approaches business development training from a high-level, strategic perspective, but delivers a program that is both actionable and results focused. We provided him with a different type of training challenge (how to help turn marketing staff professionals into effective internal business development sales coaches) and he delivered exactly the type of program we needed to make our Marketing team more successful with our attorneys and groups.”
Blain Banick
Former Director, Global Practice and Industry Groups, Baker & McKenzie
“I just completed my last business development coaching session with David Freeman and wanted to let you know that I found him to be extremely useful in helping me to set up a system for maximizing my contacts with potential sources of business and refining my personal business plan. I highly recommend that we continue to use David where appropriate for training and coaching in the area of business development, and perhaps in other areas such as client service and leadership.”
Randy Crispen
Partner, Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP, San Diego
“David’s presentations are phenomenal! His experience in the legal arena and expertise in leadership and business development give him the ability to do what few presenters do well: present strategic guidance and practical “to-do’s.” Attendees leave with a greater understanding of how they can make an impact in their firms.”
Adam Severson
Director of Business Development, Baker Donelson, LLP
“We have enjoyed using David Freeman to train and coach some of our attorneys. We had several attorneys who needed to take the next step and David was a catalyst for that and more. He has a strong, yet appealing way of getting any personality attorney thinking about (and acting on) business development and I would highly recommend him.”
Presh Killebrew
Former Marketing Director, Miller & Martin PLLC
“I highly recommend David Freeman. My former firm used him for several years to train associates, partners, and new laterals. He is an attorney himself and can walk in their shoes. His process and techniques are meaningful and memorable. In fact, many of the attorneys have, over the years, requested refresher courses, and only from him. David’s business development skills netted new and increased business for them and gave them the courage and tools to go after it in a way that fit with their individual skills and personalities.”
Barbara Kaplan
Marketing and Client Development Consultant; Former Director of Marketing, Saul Ewing LLP
“After working with David I have recommended him enthusiastically to others in my firm. His prior experience as a lawyer is evident in his flexible attitude, and creative (but realistic) brainstorming approach. He’ll look at a situation from many angles until one fits my specific style and goals. Each conversation I have with David provides me with new approaches and insights into creating opportunities I had right in front of me.”
Marc Cooperman
Former Managing Partner, Banner & Witcoff, Chicago
“David has been extremely helpful as my marketing strategist and coach. My goal was to increase my exposure and visibility with respect to potential referral sources in my industry to facilitate business development. With David’s help, I have succeeded beyond my expectations! David provided a springboard for me to create a women’s networking group that enables me to interact with my target network on both local and national levels. The contacts have snowballed and I am building excellent relationships with key individuals. I couldn’t have found a more successful way to rapidly gain visibility and credibility, and the best part is that David helped me to identify an opportunity that I am passionate about pursuing. What I thought would take years to develop is occurring much more rapidly and the group that I have developed has opened doors and given me access beyond what I ever thought possible.”
Robyn Forman Pollack
Senior Associate, Saul Ewing, LLP Philadelphia
“David Freeman has been a tremendous help to me in creating the right coaching strategy for my attorneys. A few of our practice teams have recently gone through a restructuring and lateral recruiting phase, and David has been able to help with new ideas on how to market both the ‘practice’ and the ‘attorney’. I’ve also had the good fortune to work with David twice at law firm marketing seminars. On both occasions, I found David’s workshop topics and approach to be extremely relevant to the needs of my attorneys and my firm – and the dynamics he brought to the table was amazing. I highly recommend him for individual, group, attorney or business development staff coaching.”
Tia Atchison
Marketing Director, Ulmer & Berne LLP, Cleveland, OH
“David worked with us on one of our practice group retreats and it was my first introduction to him. I was impressed with his broad business development knowledge but particularly with his ability to generate interaction and discussion with our lawyers, so I brought him back several times to conduct additional business development training sessions. The feedback from his programs has been exceptional, and I look forward to finding more opportunities to utilize his skills in other areas of the firm.”
Jolene Overbeck
Chief Marketing Officer, Hogan Lovells LLP
“When it comes to business development, David Freeman is superb. He brings a cost-efficient and confidence-inspiring approach to the challenging task of improving law firm business development practices. He has a deep understanding of today’s competitive legal services industry, and knows how to teach busy practitioners how to compete and win. Secrets of the Masters is a robust compilation of his thinking, supplemented by the wisdom and experience of more than two dozen top-flight legal marketing experts. I highly recommend David for any organization looking to grow its business, and any lawyer looking to build his or her practice should have a dog-eared copy of this report on their bookshelf.”
Peter Kellett
Chairman and CEO, Dykema
“Having seen many business development consultants come through our doors over the years, I must say David Freeman was one of the best we’ve ever used. His nuanced understanding of how to help lawyers provide better levels of service and grow their practices was outstanding, and his coaching has been extremely well-received by our lawyers. Lawyers relate to David not just because he is a licensed attorney, but because he applies a refreshingly realistic, down to earth and practical approach to the subject.”
Thomas W. Turner, Jr.
Managing Partner, Procopio
“I have known David for approximately 15 years. I had the opportunity to see the impact of David’s work at one of my prior firms, and recommended that he be engaged by two other firms I subsequently joined. As a COO who is responsible for maximizing financial results, David has proven to be an asset who has shown our lawyers how to confidently and effectively pursue their best opportunities.”
Richard Wolf
Former Chief Operating Officer, Parker Poe LLP
“What sets David apart from many business consultants is that he understands lawyers. He offers guidance and proposes solutions that work in the law firm environment.”
Eric Garner
Managing Partner, Best Best & Kreiger LLP
“David worked with my firm leadership and coached individual lawyers to maximize their business development potential. Three years later I still hear David’s wisdom from the mouths of those he coached at the firm. His ability to meet each lawyer where they are, and then move them toward more sophisticated, strategic thinking is truly his gift. But he does not stop there. His continued work with my lawyers pushed them to take action, and own both what they achieved and where they fell short, learning along the way. David is honest, candid, and motivational. Our firm has benefitted greatly from the work we did with David, which has made my work as Director of Marketing & Business Development that more effective.”
Holly Lentz Kleeman
Former Director of Marketing, White and Williams LLP
“We hired David to train and coach several of our partners in business development. He is insightful, creative and does an excellent job of helping each partner use his or her strengths to create and execute an effective business development plan.”
Donald A. Tarkington
Managing Partner, Novack & Macey LLP
“As a lateral who came from a government position, David Freeman helped me think through ways I could best utilize contacts made with private industry during my tenure with the government. He understood the sensitivities involved with the transition and was mindful of delicate issues, including ethical limitations and internal firm politics. While landing clients ultimately depends on good old-fashioned hard work, David helped me focus my time and efforts on marketing techniques that had the highest likelihood of success. The training has proven successful for me. Best of all, David understands that marketing should be fun and invigorating.”
David Zambito, Esq.
Office Managing Partner, Harrisburg PA office, Cozen O’Connor
“David Freeman has provided our Firm with a variety of consulting services over the years, including individual and group business development coaching and retreat facilitation. His focus on the fundamentals and his ability to generate concrete action steps and follow through resonates well with our attorneys. Our partnership with David has resulted in re-energized lawyers generating successful results in relationship building.”
Greg Curry
Marketing Partner, Thompson & Knight LLP
Retreats, speaking & strategic planning testimonials
“David Freeman just presented at our partner retreat, where we asked him to address cross marketing. He did a great job, the audience was far more engaged than they have been at previous retreats, and I’ve received unsolicited positive feedback on his presentation (which has never occurred in past retreats). He was also accommodating and helpful during the planning process, met with our committee several times, and tailored his presentation to our specific goals. I give him a strong endorsement.”
Anthony Allegrina
Director of BD and Marketing, Bodman PLC
“David designed and ran an exceptional virtual meeting of our leadership team. He first presented very useful information on how our group leaders could become more effective as “sales managers” of the lawyers they lead, and then they broke into virtual breakout rooms where they discussed their challenges and received peer coaching. The result was a deeper level of connection between our leaders, new ideas shared, and commitments for action from each of them. We couldn’t have asked for more!”
Betsy B. Spellman
Chief Marketing Office, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“We hired David to design and deliver a retreat in May of 2020, and when it was cancelled due to the pandemic, he immediately pivoted and created a series of virtual programs that far exceeded our expectations.
In addition to building customized programs to meet our needs, David also worked with our internal team to build follow up implementation systems so that we act on the ideas he helped us generate in our sessions. So far, we’ve tracked literally hundreds of actions he prompted in us, which have resulted in many new matters. His mix of highly engaging programming with action and accountability has proven to be a magic formula for us.”
Josh Kappel
Managing Partner, Vicente Sederberg
“I recently attended a two day conference where David Freeman was one of the presenters. I found David’s presentation on referrals to be the best amongst a number of high quality presentations. David truly understands his subject matter and is able to impart his wisdom in a way that makes it easy to implement his ideas. I highly recommend David as a speaker.”
Leon Loganathan
Partner, Ward Keller and Vice Chair of Lawyers Associated Worldwide
“Wish our lawyers were here. Mr. Freeman is a fantastic speaker with well-organized materials. David Freeman is a very engaging speaker and knows his craft. Hope to have him come back to speak at the Firm. David is a remarkable speaker, can’t wait to hear from him again. The aphorisms were memorable.”
Participant Feedback Comments, Kansas City Association of Legal Administrators Annual Conference
“Freeman was excellent. The marketing tips given by him were very valuable. I thought he (Freeman) had very useful information; He motivated me; The business development presentation on Saturday was terrific. I’ve attended many presentations on the same topic, but this was by far the best; Freeman was outstanding; I thought Freeman was very good and his handouts will be effective for future use; One of the things I like about our retreats is that they often get me enthusiastic to get going on some idea presented at the retreat. The marketing presentation did that; I really liked the client service presentation where David presented many real-life situations and habits to grow my business.”
Feedback from a Retreat at a West Coast Firm of Over 100 Lawyers
“In over 40 years in the legal industry, I must say I’ve never met anyone quite like David. His ability to communicate with lawyers, to get them to make commitments around marketing, is a rare gift. The magic was in the preparation and design that led the lawyers to uncover literally tens of millions of dollars in both new business opportunities and existing client business prospects. At the time, in part due to his influence, the firm recorded its most profitable year.”
Betiayn Tursi
Global Chair and Co-Founder, Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF)
“We recently brought David in to speak to our Columbus ALA members and the partners of their firms at our Annual Partner Lunch. The attendees varied from firm managing partners, practice group leaders and senior associates to office administrators and functional specialists. The presentation, which focused on creating a cross-serving culture shift, was fantastic. The material was extremely relevant in today’s legal environment and was applicable to everyone in attendance. The amount of positive feedback I received from attendees was overwhelming. I truly believe everyone left the session with actionable information to take back to their firms.”
Sara Leech
Past President, ALA Columbus and Director of Financial Reporting & Analysis, Ice Miller
“David, everyone thought the retreat was great – best ever. Thanks so much for your excellent leadership! “
Nancy G. Fax
Managing Partner, Pasternak & Fidis
“5 out of 5. He’s direct, smart, no bs, to the point, focused. He does not waste our time. He does not say in three hours what could be said in ten minutes. Compared to some consultants we’ve had in the past, that’s very refreshing.
Regarding David, I give him a 5. I think he is an excellent speaker and excellent facilitator.
I give David a “5″ ranking. I thought he did a good job facilitating the discussion and attempting to reduce the suggestions to concrete steps that will be easier to implement. I think David is very skillful at getting people to generate ideas out of nothing, and then develop them into specific action steps. He was also very good at staying on point and focused on the goal.”
Lawyer Feedback Comments, Real Estate and Banking Practice Area Retreat, Thompson & Knight LLP
“At the recent TerraLex Americas Regional Meeting, David Freeman gave an outstanding presentation to more than 125 delegates. As Chairman of TerraLex and as a former Managing Partner of my own law firm I have attended presentations by many law firm consultants. This was one of the best. The research David presented opened our eyes to the uncomfortable fact that many lawyers are not aware of their weaknesses or strengths in client relationship management and practice development. He also offered simple and practical advice on how law firms can improve their performance in these critical areas. His Culture X-ray® was a picture that was better than a thousand words of the usual law firm management consultant advice.”
Charles E. McCallum
Chairman, TerraLex, A World-Wide Network of Independent Law Firms, and Fellow, American College of Law Practice Management
“David is energetic and takes charge of a room. He is the perfect moderator for a retreat. From developing a program to following up on next steps, David is able to keep the momentum going months after the retreat is over. We have enjoyed our sessions with David and look to his expertise for many of our new endeavors. We highly recommend David for his ability to work within a firm’s culture and move ideas to tangible efforts.”
Fred Fulton
Corporate and Securities Department Leader, Thompson & Knight, LLP
“Our firm has worked with David for over six years, in which time he has helped us in many ways. He has designed and led strategic planning meetings, spoken at our retreat, worked behind the scenes to create a coordinated planning approach for our practice groups, and many times over the years conducted client development training sessions for our lawyers. David’s work has always been very well accepted by our firm despite our historically consultant-averse environment. His perspective as a lawyer enables him to craft ways for lawyers to accept, and be motivated, to implement change. I believe his work with our long-range planning committee was a catalyst for many of the changes our firm is currently implementing. He has always proven to be a valuable planning partner, and is totally committed to our success, which he constantly demonstrates by offering regular ongoing advice and support, including between professional engagements. We have confidence in his integrity and knowledge, and I would highly recommend him to any firm looking for ways to enhance their performance.”
Jim King
Chief Operating Officer, Fowler White Boggs, Tampa, FL
“I am writing to tell you what a wonderful retreat we had under your leadership. As Chair of The Florida Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, I was responsible for arranging a workshop designed to define the Section’s direction for the next few years. We had held a retreat three years ago with the same goal in mind. Although we had achieved some success through our prior retreat, the experience had been disappointing. This time we were looking for someone who could relate to a group of lawyers and understand our needs. You were the ideal person for the job. Not only are you versed in the language of lawyers, but you took the time to understand our needs. You guided us through a well organized and very productive workshop. The feedback I received from the attendees included praise for your skill as a facilitator as well as for you as an individual. We accomplished a tremendous amount in a relatively short period time and are already reaping the benefits. Thank you for making the Appellate Practice Section’s 2003 Retreat a huge success.”
Angela Flowers
Chair of the Florida Bar Appellate Practice Section
“David’s advice for me as a practice group leader was extremely valuable, especially around designing and delivering our group’s annual retreat. He was an excellent brainstorming partner who helped me think through some of my most challenging planning issues. His relentless focus on achieving higher levels of performance was properly balanced with an understanding of the people issues involved in getting everyone on the same page and engaged in the mission. The result was an action-oriented, high-energy meeting that has us focused as a group and committed to working together to achieve our common goals.”
George Magnatta
Saul Ewing LLP, Philadelphia, PA
“Thank you so very much for serving as a Facilitator of our Interactive Workshop on Business Development on Thursday, October 3, 2003. Your efforts, your time, and your commitment contributed greatly to the huge success of our 2003 Fall Meeting, October 2-3, 2003 in Chicago, Illinois. Your presentation and remarks during the panel discussion were insightful, constructive and helpful. Thanks to you, we have received nothing but praise about the workshop! Please accept this informal expression of our deep gratitude and appreciation. We could not have had a successful Fall Meeting without you! Your contribution was invaluable.”
Stephanie L. Franklin-Suber, Esq.
Co-Chair, ABA Minority Counsel Program
“We recently had an excellent presentation from David Freeman. With a group that included many senior marketing directors, David got rave reviews from everyone for his calm style, insight and experience with law firms, and tangible and specific ideas that could be implemented immediately.”
Dave Poston, Esq.
Poston Communications LLC, LMASE Atlanta City Group Coordinator
“Over many years, David and his team made significant contributions to the Zurich family of companies in the areas of strategic planning, maximizing cross-selling opportunities, reorganization, and developing a sales management system. He has been a valuable planning partner, and has designed and led meetings with our senior executives where we achieved consensus on creative solutions for difficult strategic issues, and committed to action steps that would drive us toward achieving our desired future. David also helped us build tools to manage the execution of these actions. One of his strengths is the customized approach he takes to each engagement. He was also very conscientious and creative in his preparation for and facilitation of meetings. We particularly appreciated his ability to present challenging concepts like the Balanced Scorecard in an easy-to-use manner that had immediate application for our businesses.”
Steve Fallek
VP of Strategic Planning, Zurich North America Insurance Group
“David Freeman was a key player in our company’s visioning exercise — the development of a five-year plan. He helped us examine every aspect of our organization’s culture, operating philosophy, policies, programs and initiatives, determine the value of each and implement changes where needed. Not only were the outcomes important to us, but the process itself was very beneficial, for it involved virtually all disciplines throughout our company in the decision-making, which gave instant ownership to the key result areas and their goals.”
Beecher Hunter
Executive Vice President, Life Care Centers of America
“Based on the evaluations collected, you scored 3.8 out of 4; a great response to your presentation to our Chapter in July 2013. Comments from the evaluations are below:
- David Freeman was very informative, I very much enjoyed his presentation.
- Engaging.
- Great strategies!
- Lot of material in short time. Well done.
- Good bullet points.
- Entertaining, informative and kept it moving.
- Ideas you can implement easily.
- Excellent.
- Well paced. Well done!
- Would love to have him back on a drilled-down topic.
- Chockfull of great info. Love it!”
Travis Larson
Legal Industry/Business Advisor, ALA Greater Chicago Chapter
“The Storage Networking Division of Agilent Technologies, Inc. Semiconductor Products Group recently engaged David Freeman to run a two-day strategic planning session for our leadership team in my organization and the results exceeded my expectations. He did an excellent job of designing the meeting and facilitating our team. The result was that in just two days, we agreed on a realistic 12-month process improvement plan, with commitments in place to ensure that we complete our initiatives. David is also dedicated to our success on an ongoing basis. He continues to follow up and offer advice on keeping the process of implementing our plan alive. We have truly enjoyed working with David and would highly recommend him to organizations that are actively working on strategic planning.”
Martin Scott
VP & GM, Storage and Networking Division, Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Leadership testimonials
“Our firm has consulted with David for many years to improve our culture of business development and general firm leadership. He is knowledgeable, experienced and fun to work with. He is extremely strong on implementation, follow up and accountability.”
Susan Brewer Esq.
CEO, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“As we began our journey through this pandemic, we knew it was critical to bring our leadership teams together and discuss our future. The only way to do that was to meet virtually, so we called on trusted advisor, David Freeman. David designed and conducted two virtual sessions on how our leaders could improve revenue, and the results exceeded our expectations. Within each 75 minute session, the groups learned new skills, engaged in group discussions and made personal commitments. We were very pleased with how easy it was to work with David remotely, and the long list of practical action steps we generated based on this process.”
Kelly Morgan
Chief Talent Officer at Thompson & Knight LLP
“David provided useful and timely suggestions and input tailored to meet the needs and culture of our firm. With the wealth of information David has and his background in working with firms, he understands that one size and plan does not fit all. David will listen and then make helpful suggestions to move the firm forward.”
Paul Bolus
Practice Management Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
“Over the six years we have worked with David, he has established a high level of trust and credibility with our management team and lawyers. He is very effective at tailoring his approach to our firm’s specific needs. David has been a valued partner in our strategic planning, client development training and leadership development program. Most recently, he provided our practice group leaders with the framework and personalized consulting that helped them become more effective in leading the revenue-focused activities in their groups. The result is that all of our practice groups have been able to get more buy-in, action in the right direction, continued momentum, and most important, additional business.”
Rhea F. Law
Former President and CEO, Fowler White Boggs., Tampa, FL
“Over the past few years at my prior firm, David provided leadership coaching to a number of our practice group leaders and, more recently, members of our marketing department (very helpful!). In all cases, people appreciated his style and approach and they reported they received significant value from working with him. I would highly recommend David to anyone looking for help in business development or leadership.”
Mark Price
Director of Marketing, Antitrust Group, Dechert LLP
“When we started working together I was extremely impressed with your approach to customize the process and implementation to the specific needs of our department. This contrasted very favorably with other providers who seemed to take off the shelf product and try to adapt it. The training and planning meeting that you led so capably got our practice group leaders to discuss and make important decisions on leadership issues. In addition, it led to a commitment of each group leader to create and set forth a schedule for implementing group marketing plans. What has set you apart, I believe, from the run of the mill consultants is your unbelievable commitment to following up with each of the leaders for months after the workshop. I can’t stress enough how your kind and helpful follow-up has helped them move their varying initiatives to implementation. It has been a delight to work with you. You are sensitive to the needs of lawyers and their time commitments and we greatly appreciate all the help you have given us.”
William Rheiner
former Department Chair, Business & Finance Department, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
“David brings a practical approach to solving business development questions and leadership issues, which I have not found anywhere else. Moreover, he often thinks of alternative paths to take to reach a potential solution. My times with him have been very well spent.”
Marc Folladori
Corporate and Securities Group Leader, Houston, Mayer Brown LLP
“I have had the beneficial experience of participating in separate business development and leadership training sessions organized and led by David Freeman of David Freeman Consulting Group. I found both of them to be extremely valuable in terms of the content presented and the depth of focus on the subject matter of each program. They were also both enjoyable and challenging because of the varied methodologies used to present the material. Of added value has been the personalized counseling that has followed each of these programs which has served both to personalize the subject matter to my specific situation and to encourage the implementation of the plans and strategies developed in that process. Participation in the leadership program has already led to a significant enhancement of the business development activities of the Practice Group which I head, and I have found much of it to have been readily transferable to other of my partners who did not participate in the program directly.”
Carl Fridy
Partner-in-Charge of the Transactional Finance Group, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP
Lateral integration testimonials
“As a former long-term in-house attorney, I was very skeptical about my ability to sell my services and build my practice. I got off to a pretty good start, but once I met David my business development really took off. David helped me think out of the box while also focusing me on my business plan. Most importantly, he helped me set realistic short term goals and pushed me until I achieved them. He’s always available with good advice and great ideas, and he really encourages me to succeed. Even his nickname for me –“the marketing machine” – had its intended effect of motivating me to even higher achievement. He also helped me realize that there are various angles by which to approach an opportunity and that diversity of sales approaches is hugely beneficial. It has also been amazing to learn how many doors I can open with mere calls and emails! When I went into private practice, I was an Of Counsel to my firm with virtually no clients. Just three years later, I’m a Partner in my firm, with a thriving seven figure practice – and still going strong. David was certainly a key player in that success story.”
Andrew J. Lauer
former Partner, Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP, New York
“David Freeman Consulting Group does for me what I do for my clients. My clients call me because I am doing deals and solving problems all day and every day. That is what we lawyers do. We listen to our client’s problem, ask them questions, and make suggestions, all based on the knowledge and experience we have from doing this sort of thing every day. Often the real problem and the solution reveal themselves as a result of the discussion. David Freeman has done the same thing for me with respect to business development and networking. I call him because this is what he does every day. Every discussion seems to start off the same way, then David asks the same questions, and before I know it what was a jumbled mass of real or perceived opportunities have materialized into a short list of tangible objectives and action items. David is like a personal trainer for business development.”
David Peterman
Head of the Houston office Corporate, Banking and Business Section, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
“Like a great batting coach, David teaches partners that the most important part of business development is the follow through. David helped our lateral partners to understand that the best source of referrals is found in the office next door and with each of one of their partners.”
Timothy E. Hoeffner
partner, Saul Ewing LLP, Philadelphia
“As a lateral coming from a government position, David Freeman helped me think through ways that I could best utilize contacts made with private industry during my tenure with the government. He understood the sensitivities involved with the transition and was mindful of delicate issues, including ethical limitations and internal firm politics. While landing clients ultimately depends on good old-fashioned hard work, David Freeman Consulting Group helps you focus your time and efforts on marketing techniques that have the highest likelihood of success. The training has proven successful for me. Best of all, David understands that marketing should be fun and invigorating.”
David Zambito, Esq.
Saul Ewing, Harrisburg, PA
Secrets of the Masters book testimonials
“This (Secrets of the Masters) report contains the kind of excellent advice David Freeman provided to us on strategic planning, client development and leadership development initiatives. It is a comprehensive treasure trove of some of the best approaches for building a practice, and I think lawyers will especially appreciate the practical case studies provided throughout the work. His call to action at the end of each chapter is the key to success. Lawyers looking to become great rainmakers will find Secrets of the Masters to be an invaluable resource.”
Rhea F. Law
Former CEO and Chair of the Board, Fowler White Boggs P.A.
“Secrets of the Masters is the most comprehensive, yet practical “how to” guide I’ve seen for developing business in the legal industry. Whether you’re a young attorney starting to build a practice and reputation, or a seasoned practitioner looking to achieve the next level of success, this book is your roadmap. Simply stated, if you heed its principles, you will make more money.”
Jonathan Fitzgarrald
Former Chief Marketing Officer of Greenberg Glusker and Author of BADfortheBRAND.com
“David’s approach emphasizes action – and this book brings together subject experts with practical tactics that give attorneys the foundation they need to realize their potential as business developers. I value David’s insight and guidance, and I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to transform their business development culture.”
Betsy Beorn Spellman
CMO, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
“The book is fabulous. I loved it, and I look forward to implementing more of your great ideas. It is very readable, and filled with specific, easy-to-implement strategies for lawyers looking to bring their practice to the next level. Thank you for your continued support of the growth of my career!”
David A. Perlick
Perlick Legal Counsel PC
