Jane Southren

Jane Southren

Jane Southren is the principle of Jane Southren Consulting. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience as a practising litigator and almost five years as an in-house business development coach at a mid-sized law firm, she works with lawyers to help them build their practices into strong, sustainable businesses. She writes and speaks regularly about issues facing lawyers building practices in today’s market.

She can be reached by email.

How to convert contacts to clients

How do you get to the point where your contacts and connections become clients and referral sources? It’s a question that baffles us all.

Stand out from other lawyers: Think deeds not words

When thinking about how to distinguish yourself from the legions of other lawyers in the province who do more or less exactly what you do, think less about the words you are broadcasting widely and more about the actions you are taking to impact clients and people in your network individually.

Autonomy, mastery and purpose: The ‘motivation trifecta’ at the heart of a successful and fulfilling practice

One of the things that is most likely to catalyze people to call me is the appearance of an external pressure or demand on them to “build a practice.”

No, you aren’t imagining it: Legal services really are harder to ‘sell’

Legal services, and in fact many professional services, are what economists call “credence goods.”

From getting to giving: Transforming your approach to networking

From what I have seen thus far in my journey helping lawyers build businesses, there is one struggle that seems to be shared almost universally among them.

Influence: What it is, why you want it and how to get it!

The ability to exercise influence is one of the most impactful tools in a lawyer’s toolkit, but how to get it and use it is not well understood.

Experiment with social media to uncover what works best for you

Cross-selling: the Unicorn of the practice of law

Neuroscience provides a case for docketing business development time

Storytelling mastery: Why it matters to lawyers