Ronelle Geldenhuys is a principal at Jones Maxwell Smith Davis in Australia.
She describes what business development looks like when it is not yet a strategy but a condition of survival. Her perspective is shaped by a career across firms of different sizes, but especially by her experience helping to build business development in a small firm environment.
In a small IP firm, business development is often inseparable from the day-to-day reality of practice.
“I joined my current firm when I was employee number four,” Ronelle recalls.
“In that setting, there was no large institutional platform to generate work in the background. Every person had to contribute. Finding work was not a separate management issue delegated to a few senior people. It was part of everybody’s role from the outset.”
Relationships drive referrals
For Ronelle, that smaller-firm environment brought into sharp focus the relationship-driven nature of business development. Here, work often comes through referrals from complementary advisers such as accountants or litigators. But those referrals are commonly based on personal trust in an individual attorney, not just in the firm name. As a result, the personal brand and reputation of each attorney becomes highly significant. Someone is not simply referring a matter to a firm. They are referring a client to a person.
The importance of personal referrals creates both opportunity and vulnerability. The opportunity lies in the ability of individuals to build loyal networks and strong reputations. The challenge is that business can slow if too much depends on one person. Ronelle notes that one practical response is to build backup into relationships by pairing attorneys on key clients or events, so that continuity does not depend entirely on a single individual.
Authentic connections
A particularly valuable feature of her approach is the emphasis on authenticity.
Rather than expecting every attorney to network in the same style or attend the same types of events, Ronelle argues that firms should help their people find ways of doing business development in a way that suits their personalities. Some attorneys are comfortable in large conference settings. Others are better in smaller interactions or through shared interests outside work. The principle is not that any one style is best, but that attorneys are more effective when their approach to BD aligns with their personality.
This also connects to one of her strongest themes: junior attorneys need support, not assumptions. Firms often expect young attorneys to focus entirely on technical work for years and then, at some later stage, suddenly become commercially minded and socially confident. This is unrealistic, emphasises Ronelle:
“Business development needs to be taught and modelled throughout an attorney’s career. That includes exposing junior attorneys to client meetings, letting them observe how experienced practitioners explain IP issues in business terms and gradually giving them space to participate themselves.”
For her, the starting point is often personal branding. Less experienced attorneys need to understand not just the firm’s positioning, but their own: what they stand for, how they differ from others and how they can communicate their value in a way that feels natural. Generic language about quality or professionalism is not enough.
“The sooner attorneys begin to understand their own professional identity, the sooner they can begin to build meaningful external relationships,” Ronelle adds.
Her perspective shows that in a small firm, business development is not a peripheral function. It is a core survival skill. But it is also something that can be made more sustainable by aligning it with personality, sharing responsibility and investing early in people. Lessons that partners and attorneys at larger firms will also find invaluable.
Read on
- In part one, read the business development consultant’s view
- Part three brings the medium-firm perspective
- Part four reveals the larger-firm experience
- Part five brings the essential lessons and takeaways every firm should master
(links become live as pieces are published)
Next steps
Find out more about FICPI’s PMC Committee and how to get involved at: https://ficpi.org/organisation/committees/practice-management-committee