Position Overview

Baker Botts, a leading international law firm, seeks a Special Advisor - Client Development to accelerate revenue growth across the Firm's highest-priority clients, sectors, and transactional practices, including M&A, Corporate, Private Equity, Finance, and Project Finance. Based in Dallas or Houston, this position serves as a strategic growth partner to the Firm's leading relationship partners and practice leaders, helping them identify, pursue, and convert high-value business opportunities.

The Special Advisor's primary mission is to enable and amplify partner-led business development through strategic collaboration, market intelligence, data-driven opportunity identification, disciplined pursuit management, and differentiated client positioning. Working closely with partners responsible for the Firm's most significant client relationships, this individual will provide the insights, strategy, and execution support needed to deepen client relationships, expand the Firm's footprint within existing accounts, and drive sustainable revenue growth.

While the role includes selective direct relationship development with senior executives, private equity sponsors, investment bankers, and other market influencers, its core focus is empowering partners to maximize business development effectiveness and execute sophisticated client growth strategies.

Key Responsibilities

Client Growth & Market Development
Expand existing client relationships by identifying cross-selling opportunities, increasing penetration across practices, and coordinating executive-level engagement strategies. Support the development of relationships with corporate legal departments, private equity sponsors, financial institutions, investment bankers, boards of directors, and other strategic influencers where doing so strengthens partner-led client development efforts. Identify and qualify prospective clients aligned with Firm priorities and execute targeted go-to-market strategies that increase Baker Botts' visibility within key industries and growth sectors.

Partner Enablement & Client Origination
Serve as a trusted advisor to relationship partners and practice leaders, developing and executing strategic growth plans for priority clients and prospects. Collaborate with partners to identify, prioritize, and advance new business opportunities while coordinating cross-practice and cross-office pursuits.

Develop tailored client pursuit strategies, including relationship mapping, stakeholder engagement plans, opportunity assessments, and competitive positioning. Prepare partners for high-value client meetings with strategic briefing materials, market intelligence, and actionable insights, while coordinating pitches, proposals, follow-up activities, and pursuit execution. Establish disciplined pipeline management processes to monitor strategic opportunities from initial identification through engagement, providing visibility into pursuit progress, next steps, and revenue impact.

Strategic Client Positioning & Value-Based Pursuits
Champion a more sophisticated, client-centric approach to business development by transforming how Baker Botts positions its capabilities in the marketplace. Move the Firm beyond traditional law firm credentials presentations and generic capability statements toward highly customized, insight-driven pursuits that resemble the strategic advisory approach employed by leading investment banks and top management consulting firms.

Partner with relationship partners and client teams to develop compelling narratives centered on the client's business strategy, industry dynamics, competitive landscape, growth objectives, capital priorities, and emerging risks. Help frame Baker Botts not simply as legal counsel, but as a strategic business advisor capable of advancing the client's most important objectives.

Develop differentiated pursuit strategies that clearly articulate the value Baker Botts brings to each engagement, emphasizing commercial outcomes, strategic insight, innovation, and measurable business impact rather than firm history or practice descriptions. Coach partners and client teams on consultative selling techniques, executive storytelling, and value-based messaging that resonate with CEOs, boards of directors, general counsel, private equity sponsors, and executive leadership teams. Lead the creation of modern, executive-level pitch materials, opportunity briefs, and client presentations that are concise, visually compelling, analytically rigorous, and focused first on the client's business challenges and opportunities. Establish best practices, templates, and methodologies that improve pursuit quality across the Firm while creating a more consistent, differentiated client experience.

Data Analytics & Opportunity Identification
Leverage CRM platforms, deal databases, financial data, and market intelligence tools to identify high-probability opportunities, whitespace within existing clients, and emerging market trends. Analyze client relationships, matter history, industry developments, and competitive activity to uncover expansion opportunities and inform business development priorities. Develop dashboards and reporting that provide insight into pipeline health, partner activity, client engagement, revenue trends, and pursuit outcomes. Use analytics to guide partner prioritization, resource allocation, and strategic decision-making.

Sector & Market Intelligence
Maintain deep knowledge of the industries driving the Firm's strategic growth, including technology, artificial intelligence, energy, energy transition, power and infrastructure, digital infrastructure, private equity, capital markets, and strategic transactions.
Monitor market developments, investment activity, regulatory changes, and competitive dynamics to proactively identify opportunities where Baker Botts can deliver differentiated value. Provide strategic insights to partners and Firm leadership regarding emerging trends, client priorities, and market opportunities.

Strategic Leadership & Firm Initiatives
Partner with Firm leadership on strategic planning initiatives, client investment decisions, and firmwide growth priorities. Foster collaboration across practices to bring the Firm's full capabilities to clients while helping establish consistent business development processes, accountability, and best practices.

Qualifications
The ideal candidate will possess 15+ years of experience in business development, professional services, investment banking, consulting, corporate development, legal business development, or a related commercial leadership role. Candidates should demonstrate a strong understanding of corporate transactions, M&A, private equity, finance, capital markets, and related industries, along with a proven track record supporting senior executives or partners in originating and converting significant business opportunities. The successful candidate will have extensive experience leveraging market intelligence, CRM systems, and data analytics to inform client targeting and growth strategies, coupled with exceptional executive presence and the ability to build credibility with partners, C-suite executives, boards of directors, general counsel, investors, and other senior decision-makers. Experience within a law firm or other sophisticated professional services organization is strongly preferred. A JD and/or MBA is desirable.

Success Profile
The successful candidate will combine the strategic thinking of a consultant, the commercial instincts of a business developer, and the execution discipline of a growth operator. They will thrive in a highly collaborative, partner-led environment and be recognized as a trusted advisor who enables lawyers to pursue opportunities more strategically, deepen client relationships, and generate measurable revenue growth. The successful candidate will challenge traditional law firm business development approaches by introducing a more commercial, consultative, and value-oriented methodology that positions Baker Botts as a strategic advisor to clients rather than simply a provider of legal services. Success will be measured by the quality and progression of strategic opportunities, expansion of key client relationships, partner adoption of business development strategies and tools, effectiveness of data-driven targeting, cross-practice collaboration, new business generation, and overall contribution to the Firm's long-term growth objectives.