Business Development Manager - Emerging Companies and Venture Capital

Business Development Manager - Emerging Companies and Venture Capital

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Wilmer Hale is a leading, full-service international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located throughout 12 offices in the United States and Europe. Our lawyers work at the intersection of government, technology and business, and we remain committed to our guiding principles of providing quality, excellent legal and client services; developing diversity among our lawyers and staff and cultivating an environment that promotes an ambitious spirit, collaboration and collegiality by drawing on the extraordinary talents and dynamic experience of our lawyers.

Our goal is to reflect the diversity of our clients and the communities in which we practice.

The Business Development Manager (“Manager”) is responsible for identifying and supporting revenue-generating opportunities for the firm’s emerging company and venture capital practice. This individual will proactively develop relationships with founders and early-stage startups (both existing clients and prospects); university, incubator and accelerator program contacts; technology industry groups; venture and seed investors; and other service providers. In addition to understanding the business plans and legal needs of entrepreneurs, the Manager serves as a spokesperson for Wilmer Hale, educating the market about our lawyers, services and value proposition and promoting our brand, with a primary geographic focus in the Bay Area but also extending to Boston, New York and more national efforts.

Internally, the Manager is expected to deliver market updates, insights and recommendations and consistently engage lawyers from our emerging company and venture capital practice in activities designed to enhance their visibility, strengthen and expand their client portfolios and grow market share. Working with the Director of Business Development for the Transactional Department, the Manager will collaborate with firm personnel to maximize ROI on sponsor ships and memberships, design and execute events, maintain our digital presence, develop and promote marketing content and perform industry and company research.

In addition, this position drives the business development initiatives of the Transactional Clients & Markets team and its individual practice groups. The Manager provides strategic guidance and support directly, or coordinates with other team members to ensure services are delivered efficiently and effectively. This role serves as the go‑to lead for practice group business development and marketing projects, including—but not limited to—implementing strategic business development activities, responding to pitches and RFPs, managing events, and leading marketing initiatives such as thought leadership and social media projects.

Additional responsibilities include increasing practice group and individual attorney visibility and overseeing marcom infrastructure projects, such as maintaining mailing lists and practice group descriptions. Demonstrates a strong commitment to professionalism by setting clear expectations and ensuring the delivery of high-quality service. Fosters and reinforces a positive, solution‑oriented (‘can‑do’) approach across the team. Ensures effective support of internal departments, external clients, and vendors by modeling and requiring clear, courteous communication through electronic correspondence, telephone, and in‑person interactions.

• Identifies, evaluates and develops relationships with industry groups, accelerators and university programs where promising emerging companies are developing and could utilize the firm’s legal services.
• Regularly engages with and visits universities and other startup venues with the goal of building long term relationships and referral sources.
• Attends key events and evaluates opportunities to sponsor programs and host events (in Wilmer Hale offices or virtually) in order to network, grow Wilmer Hale visibility and gather market intelligence.
• Updates CRM system to track activity and communications with new and existing contacts and uncover internal connections (“who…