The Pursuit Desk
2: Improving RFP Responses with Samuel Sroka, J.D., Proposal Manager
June 3, 2020
Sam is a recipient of 2019 LMANext Fellowship for the New York City Chapter and former Executive Articles Editor of the New York International Law Review. He is a marketing and business development professional with a legal background, including four years in private practice. Sam works closely with attorney teams and individuals in articulately and creatively illustrating practice experience, tailoring pitches and proposals to prospective clients, providing strategic practice development support to attorneys and practice groups, as well as contribute on a substantive basis to firm newsletters. With more than 900 lawyers across 16 offices, Seyfarth Shaw LLP provides advisory, litigation, and transactional legal services to clients worldwide. Learn more about Sam and Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
Timestamps and topics covered:

1:08 Background on Sam’s career, graduating from law school and getting into Real Estate property taxes in New York City

3:00 How Sam got into legal business development

4:05 Taking a career course that led him to legal marketing

5:40 Sam’s role in the RFP lifecycle at each firm he’s worked at

7:00 Challenges with the experience database and RFP lifecycle system Sam put in place

7:56 Researching and understanding what clients are looking for

8:33 Making the firm and marketing team look better with better pitches

10:09 The process of fielding RFPs

11:39 A memorable example of winning with a client-specific tailored proposal

12:20 Outworking the competition on proposals

13:25 The more you can tailor to the client, the better your chances are at procuring work

14:20 The highest value parts of a proposal and how to restructure it

15:53 Extracting information from attorneys effectively

17:00 Asking the right person for information

17:38 Creating the right culture between attorneys and business development

18:56 Proactive experience collection

19:27 How often you should ask attorneys for information

20:26 What should you do when you get an RFP in?

21:40 Difference between large and small firms

23:00 Seeing returns on technology investments for small to mid-size firms

23:25 Future plans and career aspirations