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Beyond Billable Hours: The Growth Accelerator for Lawyers
Most lawyers build their careers the way they hope cases will resolve: by being good at the work and trusting that recognition will follow. It rarely does. Beyond Billable Hours: The Growth Accelerator for Lawyers is the structured alternative to that gamble.
Drawing on her career as a Chief Marketing Officer in law firms and founder of a law firm growth consultancy, Barbara Koenen-Geerdink delivers a practical, step-by-step framework for lawyers who want to grow their practices with intention rather than luck.
At the centre of the book is the North Star Framework, a planning system that moves lawyers from vague ambitions to defined purpose, clear value propositions, and Ideal Client Profiles built around the specific problems they solve, not the credentials they hold. The book covers pricing strategy, relationship management, emotional intelligence, go-to-market execution and the growing role of AI in business development, enriched by the perspectives and practical insights of 24 industry experts from around the world.
Whether you are a junior associate building your first network or a partner rethinking your practice model, this book gives you the blueprint to treat your career as the business it already is.
Forget vague networking advice. Beyond Billable Hours delivers concrete tools: North Star frameworks, Ideal Client Profiles, value-based pricing models, and GTM strategies built specifically for legal practices. Practical, direct, and grounded in decades of real-world legal business development. This is the career strategy guide the profession has been missing.
Who is the book for?
Junior associates and early-career lawyers. Still waiting for success to find you? Beyond Billable Hours shows you how to build a personal growth plan from day one, define your value proposition, and develop client relationships before the pressure is on. Practical, structured, and grounded in real experience.
Law firm partners and senior lawyers. Good legal work alone does not build a practice. Beyond Billable Hours gives partners a strategic framework covering pricing, client development, peer referral networks, and emotional intelligence to grow revenue with intention rather than habit.
Legal business development and marketing professionals. Beyond Billable Hours speaks your language. From Ideal Client Profiles and persona mapping to GTM strategy and AI-powered CRM, this book gives BD professionals the vocabulary and frameworks to get lawyers genuinely engaged in growth.
About the Author
Barbara Koenen-Geerdink is a law firm growth strategist, author and entrepreneur. She has built her career in business development, marketing and strategy within leading international law firms, including as Chief Marketing Officer of one of the largest law firms in the Middle East. She is the founder of Beyond Billable Hours, co-founder of the global BOOST community for legal business development and marketing professionals, and creator of The Law Firm Growth Game. Her work focuses on helping law firms and lawyers strengthen their commercial capabilities and navigate the changing business of law.
Chapter listing
Chapter 1 – Your personal growth plan
Chapter 2 – Goals and objectives
Chapter 3 – Internal and external environment
Chapter 4 – Understanding your business model
Chapter 5 – Managing your connections
Chapter 6 – Your GTM strategy
Chapter 7 – What is emotional intelligence?
Chapter 8 – Understanding behaviour
Chapter 9 – Motivators
Chapter 10 – What’s next?
Chapter 11 – Data, AI and the future of BD
Chapter 12 – The evolving law firm model
Chapter 13 – Client experience as strategy
Chapter 14 – The BDM team of the future
Chapter 15 – Personal growth and career flexibility
Conclusion
Ask the expert contributors
Ahmed Elnagger – Founding Partner of Elnagger & Partners and Founder of Emirates Legal Network
Andrew Hutchinson – Co-Founder & CRO, Rebel Group
Charles Cousins – Olympic Rower, VP of Sales at Passle
Charlotte Ford – Head of International Relations at Charles Russell Speechlys and Vice-Chair of the IBA BD and Marketing Sub-Committee of the Law Firm Management Committee
Dr Christian Kessel – Formerly a very senior big law partner and sector leader, now coach, consultant and trainer on business development and strategy for partners, lawyers and law firms
Gemma Francis – Founder and Senior Consultant at Gemma Francis Consulting
Hanna Shea – Director Business Development at World Law Group
Hansi Giovanini – Business Development Expert / Founder of Hansi Go – BD for lawyers
Jean Muller – Executive Director – Global Markets, Khaitan & Co
Jeanne-Sophie Niard – Head of Business Development and Marketing, Hourani & Partners and Co-founder, BOOST – the global BDM Community
Katherine Hutchinson – Director, International Business Development & Client Engagement at Bennett Jones
Laura Reynaud – Associate General Counsel at Cognizant
Lindsay Griffiths – International Lawyers Network
Lucy Beales – Head of Learning and Development at Al Tamimi & Company and UK qualified solicitor advocate
Marc van Gelder – Managing Partner, Winston Taylor, the Netherlands and Belgium, member of the EME Board
Marieke van der Wilt – Legal Pricing Specialist, The Value Collective
Martijn Lesterhuis – Saga Legal
Melissa Davis – Founder and CEO at MD Communications
Moray McLaren – Partner and Co-founder, Lexington Consultants; Professor, LawAhead Centre on the Legal Profession, IE Law School; Associate Faculty, Møller Institute, University of Cambridge
Pritish Gandhi – Director – Leadership and Rewards, Khaitan & Co
Rachel Kennedy – Director of Business Development at Kinstellar and Chair of the IBA BD and Marketing Sub-Committee of the Law Firm Management Committee
Sadie Baron – Interim CMO at TLT Solicitors, Director at Sadie Baron Consulting
Steven Ongenaet – VP of Client Service at Nexl
Stijn van Oirschot – Partner at Beyond Billable Hours and Legal Tech expert
Publication date: 7 October 2026 | Print and eBook formats | £29.99 paperback | 262 pages | ISBN: 9781914066863 / 9781915855510