Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
You are not Atticus Finch. [Y]ou have to accept that you are in the business of sales.
— Ivan Gaviria, a corporate partner at Gunderson Dettmer, in remarks delivered during a business-development boot camp for the firm’s newest partners, as reported by Reuters. As artificial intelligence allows clients to handle more legal work themselves, law firms are training attorneys to distinguish themselves through something the bots can’t easily replicate: genuine human relationships. For lawyers hoping to build a successful book of business, simply being an excellent attorney is no longer enough, because they also need to know how to sell themselves.
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
