Clarification/Follow-up by voiceguy2000 on 10/30/03 5:02 pm:
"Rain making" is the term for bringing in business. The "rainmakers" in the firm -- the people who seem to be able to develop lots of business -- occupy a privileged position.

In this world, people often are divided into "finders, minders, and grinders." These are the people who, respectively, (a) bring in the clients, (b) keep up relations with the clients, and (c) do the actual work for the clients. Most people fall into the latter two categories, for a variety of reasons.

The lesson to take from this -- and it is well set out in Harding's book -- is that in today's world, all professionals must get at least an adequate handle on marketing if they are to prosper. This tends to be discouraging to those who "just want to do good work" and let their competence speak for itself.

The truth is, the marketing task is already underway: you need to sell yourself to law schools that you want to attend. This will require marshalling your assets and presenting them in their best light.

I don't want to sound cynical about this, and I dont mean to convey that impression. I know a lot of things now that I wish I had known when I started out. I think marketing is a vitally important skill to develop, because it, more than anything, leads to freedom and liberty. As long as you are dependent on others to develop the work on your plate, you are chained to their goals and their needs, and have no independent base nor the ability to try to shape your own destiny and professional development. When you can target and land important client work on your own, it means that you can move in the direction you want to move. And you can do so with the assistance of others who are not as skilled as you are at landing the work.

Marketing is not, in general, something that is taught in law school. You have to pick it up on your own. It is worth the effort.