Company: Morgan Lewis, Philadelphia, PA
Company Description: At Morgan Lewis, we work in collaboration around the world—always ready to respond to the needs of our clients and craft powerful solutions for them. Our team of more than 1,900 lawyers and legal professionals provides comprehensive corporate, transactional, litigation, and regulatory services for clients ranging from established, global Fortune 100 companies to enterprising startups.
Nomination Category: Business Development Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Business Development Professional of the Year
 Nomination Title: Debra S. Hare
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2022 of the nominated individual, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 197 words used.
In 2019, Amanda M. Bruno, Global Chief Business Development Officer at Morgan Lewis, recognized the need to meet the growing demands from lawyers seeking strategic business development training and coaching. Convinced that there was a benefit to hiring someone permanently who could gain institutional knowledge of the firm, act as a consistent and continuous resource to the lawyers and provide a long-term cost-savings, Amanda hired the firm’s first-ever Director of Business Development Training & Coaching, Debra S. Hare.
With 30+ years of experience, Debra serves as a trusted coaching partner and mentor to lawyers seeking to improve business development acumen through individualized one-on-one coaching. Additionally, she developed and executed a comprehensive business development training program for the firm’s lawyers while continuing to reinforce a culture of exceptional client service.
From 2022 to 2023, the demand for customized business development training grew >200%. Annually, Debra and other senior BD leaders present 45+ BD training programs tailored to each distinct audience.
Debra leverages skills and best practices received through the certification program offered by Skillful Means Marketing. Coaching efforts have paid off in many ways: whether it’s tangible ROI impacting the firm’s bottom line to meaningful client engagement activities.
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
In addition to the BD training programs conducted for Morgan Lewis lawyers, last year Debra conducted an in-person personal brand workshop attended by 35 in-house counsel at a technology and manufacturing client’s annual legal retreat. In 2024 Debra conducted a training segment “LinkedIn or Left Out” at the annual Women in Shared Services and Outsourcing (WISSO) conference. Attendees reached out to Debra to schedule 1:1 sessions to update their LinkedIn profiles and build a strategy to leverage this impactful social media platform.
Since 2020, Amanda and Debra offer dedicated BD training and coaching to all rising partners at the firm to ensure they successfully pivot into the ownership role by defining and implementing long-and-short term goals for practice generation.
Additionally, Amanda and Debra work closely with the firm’s professional development team and speak at the firm’s annual academies for new lawyers, mid-level associates, and senior associates.
In 2024, Debra and the team launched #BDProHacks, a series of short on demand training videos to reinforce the concepts shared during formal training and coaching sessions.
For the past two years, Debra conducted tailored BD training programs for the Hispanic/Latino Lawyer Network. She works closely with the leaders to incorporate relevant cultural elements into each training program. Debra created a similar curriculum in 2024 for the Asian/Asian American Lawyer Network.
Finally, Amanda and Debra reintroduced the highly successful Partner BD Program offered to cohort of high-performing partners hand selected by the firm’s chair. Partner demand often exceeds the available slots.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 247 words used.
Practice generation does not happen overnight. The legal industry constantly changes to align with sophisticated client needs for legal services.
In 2021, Debra and BD colleagues who support the firm’s transactional practices conceived and launched the CBT Business Development University (CBT BDU), a series of training sessions focused on business development topics designed to help lawyers at every stage in their careers grow their practice. Since its inception, Debra and senior BD leaders have presented 30+ programs on various BD topics to ~40 registrants per session. Trainings are offered in live, hybrid, and virtual settings at various times to accommodate the firm’s global office locations. Debra and others are paired with a partner or senior associate who share real world insights how they successfully generated business
As the program evolved, enhancements to the service offerings reflected feedback shared by lawyers. They asked for more advanced training topics, worksheets, and tools. As a result, different “tracks” were offered on training topics geared to associates with 1-3 years of experience, and those associates with 4+ years and beyond. Post-pandemic, several training sessions were offered in hybrid settings offering more face-to-face engagement and hands-on workshop style programs.
As the firm experienced significant growth outside the US, tailored programs designed to support lawyers in the growing German and Asia offices were offered to ensure lawyers throughout the world received access to the BD training and coaching services.
All programs are recorded for on-demand viewing and stored on the firm’s Intranet site.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 233 words used.
Below are quotes received from participants in Debra's training programs.
"I just wanted to reach out to say thanks again for the great session . As we progressed through days 2 and 3 of our meeting, we referred back from time to time to some of the discussions about building our personal brands and further enhancing our function’s brand. Many of our team members remarked on how valuable they found the session. We really appreciate your efforts to learn about the Company and tailor your presentation to meet our objectives. We hope you found that the level of engagement by our team fueled your presentation." Former GC, Technology and Manufacturing Company
"That was a really great presentation with lots of helpful things to think about. I have a pitch coming up and was taking copious notes so that I can use some of your suggestions and tips!" Morgan Lewis Partner, Investment Management Practice
"I very much appreciate all of your work in making our 5 BD sessions over the last few months a big success. I believe the associates have found them interesting and it is excellent that you even motivated them to start putting together their elevator speeches." Morgan Lewis Partner, Structured Transactions Practice
"Thank YOU for the wonderful presentation. It certainly reminded me of some things that I need to be doing." Morgan Lewis Partner, Intellectual Property Practice
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