Business Development interview prep.
Senior legal BD coach - has run BD at a BigLaw or mid-market firm, written hundreds of pitches, owned Chambers and Legal 500 submission cycles, run partner activation programmes.
What interviewers look for
- Can the candidate run a pitch end-to-end - kick-off, capture plan, win themes, pricing, partner activation, oral, debrief - not just project-manage it?
- Can they influence partners with no direct authority - service mindset, commercial credibility, picking battles, knowing when to push back on a bad pitch?
- Do they know the Chambers + Legal 500 cycle cold - submission deadlines, referee management, band movement strategy, what gets a ranking lifted?
- Are they client-intelligence driven - sector mapping, in-house counsel targeting, panel review cycles, competitor tracking - not just event coordinators?
- Can they prove BD ROI in a profession that distrusts marketing - attribution, dashboards, league-table movement, named client wins?
- Are they BigLaw / partnership culturally fit - long hours during pitch + Chambers seasons, partner ego management, discreet on conflicts + client confidentiality?
Behavioural questions to expect
Walk me through your career.
What it tests: Story coherence + legal BD readiness. Hiring partners and CMOs want a line from your background through professional services BD to why a law firm specifically - not 'I fell into legal'.
Tell me about your most significant BD win.
What it tests: Depth + ownership + measurable outcome. Tests whether the candidate frames BD as won pitches + ranking moves + attributed revenue - or vague 'we helped the partners'.
Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you have received and worked on.
What it tests: Self-awareness + maturity. Fake weaknesses ('I work too hard on pitches') fail immediately. Senior BD professionals must show they can take partner feedback without defensiveness.
Why legal business development - vs in-house corporate marketing, consulting, or agency BD?
What it tests: Authentic interest in a partnership professional services environment. Legal BD is unusual: long sales cycles, partner culture, conservative buyers, intense directory + league table cycles. Generic 'I like helping people' answers fail.
Why this firm?
What it tests: Firm-specific homework + cultural fit. Bar: specific reasons grounded in this firm's practice strengths, recent matters, BD function maturity, and named conversations - not 'great firm'.
Why this move now in your career?
What it tests: Strategic timing reasoning. Tests whether the move is reactive (pushed out, burnt out) or considered + aligned with career arc.
How do you see this firm's practice + BD function vs the market?
What it tests: Firm-specific homework + honest comparative assessment. Tests whether the candidate has done the work - Chambers + league tables + recent matters - or relied on the firm's own marketing.
If you joined, what do you think the biggest BD priority would be in year one?
What it tests: Strategic thinking + diagnostic instinct. Distinguishes candidates who have actually studied the firm from those who pattern-match.
Technical concepts to master
Pitch + RFP mechanics
- Capture plan
- Pre-drafting intelligence brief on the client, decision-makers, incumbent firm, evaluation criteria, and political context.
- Win themes
- Two to three strategic messages anchored in the client's need (not the firm's credentials) that thread through every page of the pitch.
- Alternative fee arrangements (AFAs)
- Pricing structures beyond hourly billing - fixed, capped, blended rate, success fee, portfolio retainer - designed to align with client procurement.
- Oral defence + beauty parade
- The shortlist presentation where the partner team presents the pitch live and takes client Q&A; often decisive.
Directory rankings + league tables
- Chambers + Legal 500 cycle
- Annual submission cycle by practice and jurisdiction - practice overview, matters, referees, individual rankings; researcher interviews drive band decisions.
- Matter selection
- Choosing the 8-15 matters per submission that signal the band the practice is targeting - complexity, deal value, market firsts, cross-border, client name recognition.
- Referee management
- Identifying client referees who will respond and speak positively, managing the ask without over-burdening, and never sending the directory the same names year after year.
- Researcher interview prep
- Coaching the partner team on the band ambition, the questions to expect, and the matters and themes to surface in a 30-45 minute interview.
Partner influence + activation
- Service mindset + commercial credibility
- The dual posture: serve partners as internal clients, while bringing enough commercial substance to be a sparring partner not a coordinator.
- Origination credit + partner economics
- Understanding how partners get credit for new client revenue (origination, working, referring) drives their BD behaviour and the BD professional's leverage.
- Picking battles
- Knowing when to push back on a bad pitch strategy, a weak directory submission, or an unrealistic timeline - and when to absorb and execute.
- Sceptic-to-advocate journey
- The deliberate cultivation of one initially BD-sceptic partner into a vocal internal advocate, usually through one demonstrable win.
Client + sector intelligence
- In-house counsel mapping
- Identifying decision-makers and influencers inside target clients - general counsel, deputy general counsel, divisional counsel, procurement legal lead.
- Panel reviews
- Periodic (often 2-3 year) client processes to refresh the panel of approved law firms; entry usually requires invitation + a competitive RFP.
- Key account programme
- Firm-wide programme orchestrating relationship intelligence and partner coverage across the top 20-50 clients.
- Client listening programme
- Structured external interviews with clients (often by senior BD or independent consultant) to surface satisfaction, perception, and unmet needs.
Practical drills
- An equity partner walks into your office: a target client has issued an RFP for a strategic mandate, response due in three weeks. Walk me through how you run the pitch.
- You have inherited coverage of a senior equity partner who is famously BD-sceptic and routinely cancels pitch prep sessions. The firm needs his practice to grow. Walk me through your 90-day plan.
- The Managing Partner has asked you to build a 12-month plan to grow the firm's position in a target sector (e.g. life sciences, energy transition, financial services). Walk me through your approach, including a rough prioritisation of the top 10-15 target clients and what success looks like at the 12-month mark.
Smart-question anchors
- BD function structure - central vs practice-aligned, reporting line, partner sponsorship
- Pitch win-rate + KPI ownership - what BD is measured on at this firm
- Directory + league table ambition - current standing, target bands, named cycles
- Key account + sector programmes - which clients + sectors are the strategic priorities
- BD tech + experience management - CRM, experience capture, proposal tools, dashboards
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