The BD Catalyst

Kristo Sween, BD Coach, Trainer and CGO at Lawyer BookBuilder
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A podcast for law firm business development and marketing changemakers.

  1. hace 1 día

    Sarah Hazel, Director of Marketing and Business Development at BCM Law, P.C.

    In this episode, Kristo sits down with Sarah Hazel, Director of Marketing and Business Development at BCM Law, P.C., to talk about framing relationship attorneys as account managers. Sarah walks through her process for lawyers leading cross-functional client teams, defining clear expectations, building systems and fostering the kind of ongoing feedback loop that turns client service into client retention. Sarah's formula, Great Attorney + Effective Account Manager = Trusted Advisor, leads to clients asking for guidance beyond the current file. Finally, with a shared background on the stage, Kristo and Sarah discuss her observation that the theater-to-law-firm pipeline is strong and brings real value to creative collaboration inside law firms.

  2. 13 ago

    Mike Mellor, President and Founder of 742Advisors and former Am Law 200 CMBDO

    Mike Mellor, President and Founder of 742Advisors and a former CMBDO joins the podcast to share his C-Suite experience including the basic blocking and tackling of firm intelligence systems and processes to building trust and creating meaningful change inside law firms. Drawing on more than two decades leading marketing and BD functions at Big 4 accounting and AmLaw 200 firms, Mike talks about building coalitions of the willing and the use of data to expose gaps firms didn't know they had. At the end, Mike and Kristo discuss real, practical uses for AI to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

  3. 5 ago

    Livca Shin-Kim, MBA, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Donahue Fitzgerald LLP

    Livca Shin-Kim, MBA, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Donahue Fitzgerald LLP, joins the show and traces her path from an art museum internship to an MBA and nearly a decade in legal marketing. She explains how she's reframed BD for her attorneys as curiosity in relationship-building. A lifelong learner and creative problem solver, Livca shares some of the business development tools and approaches she has used to coach and train lawyers at her firm. Finally, she comes back to the museum with a sponsorship relationship she fostered that turned into new estate planning business for her firm. This is a conversation about the patience, value, curiosity and creativity that make Livca an ever evolving BD Catalyst.

  4. 30 jul

    Chris Moyer, Business Development & Marketing Manager, Hedrick Gardner

    Chris Moyer, Business Development & Marketing Manager at Hedrick Gardner, joins the podcast with a set of reframes that attorneys can put to use immediately. Chris prefers the term "relationship" development instead of "business" development. He advocates tracking whether an attorney showed up to a BD activity rather than what came of it and presses his attorneys to take more shots on the goal, giving credit to Wayne Gretzky of course. It's a practical look at lowering the pressure around business development so lawyers actually do more of it more easily.

  5. 21 jul

    Emily LaCount, Marketing & Events Manager at Carlton Fields

    Emily LaCount, Marketing and Events Manager at Carlton Fields, joins The BD Catalyst to dig into the ways law firm events work as business development tools and how attorneys are involved from invitation lists to follow-up post-event. She walks through why, post-pandemic, attorneys and clients demand more intentional, high-touch experiences, rather than the old standard "beer, wine, and cheese" event. Emily talks about how her firm pairs seasoned shareholders with associates to teach real networking skills in low-stakes settings, and fosters structured, low-lift follow-up that helps attorneys turn a good event into a great relationship. Events aren't the finish line, Emily says. They're just the opening shot.

  6. 16 jul

    Marguerita B. Dolatly, Director of Business Development at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP - Part 2

    In Episode 12 of The BD Catalyst, Kristo continues his conversation with Marguerita Dolatly, Director of Business Development at Katten. Marguerita shares a training session that nearly fell flat and what it taught her and her attorneys about the value of failing and strategies on how to pivot. Marguerita and Kristo also dig into AI's growing role in legal BD, from live networking research to drafting first passes lawyers can make their own, and close with a discussion of Marguerita's core mantra: business development can be learned and taught, it isn't a unique personality trait.

  7. 14 jul

    Marguerita B. Dolatly, Director of Business Development at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP - Part 1

    In Episode 11 of The BD Catalyst, Kristo sits down with Marguerita B. Dolatly, Director of Business Development at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. This is part one of a two-part conversation in which Marguerita, a former practicing attorney turned two-decade BD leader, shares some of her coaching mantras and philosophy: no fixed template, no forcing extroverted lawyers into round tables or introverted lawyers onto panels, just helping each attorney find the approach that's actually theirs to sustain. Marguerita and Kristo dig into emotions and personality traits on the way to what Marguerita calls the "glimmer moment," the instant a lawyer sees a suggestion and recognizes it as something they could genuinely do, and how that recognition becomes the seed of a repeatable habit. Coaching lawyers is less about behavior modification and more about self-recognition.

  8. 9 jul

    Alexandra DeFelice, CMBDO at Jeffer Mangels & Mitchell LLP

    Alexandra DeFelice, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Jeffer Mangels & Mitchell LLP, joins the podcast to share how she turned a wave of unexpected turnover into an opportunity to elevate her team's roles and educate her firm's attorneys to see the BDM team as trusted and valued partners. The conversation is a masterclass in building talent and fostering trust. By coaching confidence and a consultative approach, Alexandra's team now delivers higher-level solutions and outstanding client service. They are modeling key components of business development that attorneys would do well to emulate.

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A podcast for law firm business development and marketing changemakers.

Información

  • Creador
    Kristo Sween, BD Coach, Trainer and CGO at Lawyer BookBuilder
  • Años de actividad
    2026
  • Episodios
    17
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Copyright
    © 2026 David Freeman Consulting Group

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