“I started with written notes. You’re at a convention and you meet someone. You need to keep in contact over time. If I reach out two months later, and four months later, and eight months later, if they needed me in that time period, they’re much more likely to call me, not because I’m the best lawyer, but because I’m the one that is in their mind. Networking is about establishing a relationship that you touch over time.

“Now, how do I do that? So I have strong and disciplined routines every day. If you follow me on social media, Mike Alder or my firm Alder Law, I give my routines. And one that I do every morning is I write at least three personal notes.

“How can you reach out when you make a relationship? If you meet someone at a party or a convention or whatever, you get their information. That’s one touch. I go home and within a week, I’ve written them a personal note. Nothing special, but great to know you, great to meet you, looking forward to seeing you again. If they talked about their dog, Fifi, then you take note and say, I hope Fifi’s doing well.

“That’s touch number two. I see him at another event. Maybe that’s touch number three. I’ve written a book called The Trial Lawyer’s Bible. I send it to him. That’s touch number four. That book has my name on the front and it contains helpful information, but nobody’s going to read the damn thing all in one sitting. So it usually sits on their desk. That is touch number five, which is a continuing one.

“I have a newsletter that’s not overwhelming, but it contains good info. Touch number six. I go to events and speak. I invite them. Touch number seven. I invite them to a Laker game. Touch number eight. Let’s say that takes a year.

“I compete with 10 of the top guys in LA. They all are great lawyers. They can do at least as well as I can. Why would they call me as opposed to the other nine? Most of the time, it’s because when they come up and need a referral to a trial lawyer, I’m the one who recently connected with them.

“So for you watching this and you’re talking about creating a network, you don’t need billboards. First focus on the network that you already have, establishing a base with people who know what you do. I still have people that don’t know that I’m an employment trial lawyer and that I have a workers’ firm. And I’ve told them eight times.”

Can you share one of your biggest mistakes or lesson learned?
“When I started, I took anything that moved. I would go to everybody’s office and do anything. Then I won an award, got a little money, and thought, “I’ll only take your cases worth over 250.” And then I’m only gonna take those worth 500 or more.

“That was a mistake. The way I got my foot in the door and they started referring the million dollar cases to me rather than the other person was when that person stopped taking smaller cases. Then I did the same thing and started noticing they weren’t referring to me anymore. The reason was they had nine cases and needed help on all nine. If I only took one they still needed help with the other eight as they’re not a litigator.

“So I realized that my firm needed to have levels of casework for different size cases. That doesn’t mean I take 100% of all cases, but I tell people, look, if we have a relationship where we rely on each other and you’re gonna trust me with your cases, then I will trust that.”

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