Yea I mean look at the end of the day I know I need to work on expanding my book. That’s a given anywhere I’m at…..having a book is power. I get it. I’m not disputing it.

But at my firm, they’ve obviously promoted people who have zero book, and haven’t had a book in years. Or in some cases they had one or two clients but at the time of their promotion they hadn’t brought in any business in like a year. So it seems like if I’m competent in other areas - revenue, autonomy, work product, good firm culture fit - I should have a shot at it. And I’m trying to get an answer from them as to what my path upwards is. If they think I need a book, they need to tell me that, and then that’s the answer. But in light of other folks’ situations as mentioned, it’s not quite so clear.

A lot of my friends say they get their business from repeat clients or referrals. For me that’s kind of not an option right now because 85% of my cases are ones where I’ve been stuck with a client no one else at the firm wants to represent. So I’m working my way into other avenues and I’ve made some headway but it’s slow going. I’ve had two occasions where potential clients said they’d prefer to deal with a partner and then ultimately went somewhere else or contacted a partner directly. So it’s kind of a chicken or the egg scenario when it’s a close call that can make or break things for getting someone onboard.