The Indie Guide to Building Your Legal Network

It seems harder than ever to get the job you want. Applying for jobs can be a lonely process. It seems like you're just sending resumes into the void. Phone calls that go nowhere. Maybe it seems like you have to settle.

But you don't have to settle. You can get the job you're after. You don't have to go it alone. To get to where you're heading, you need relationships to guide your path. You need your own your legal network behind you. 

A legal network is like a cheat code for navigating the practice of law: there is no professional goal a legal network can’t help you achieve. Building your own network is the solution for anyone who isn't relying on a human resources department to recognize your talent. 

Anyone can build a legal network using a handful of principles and a methodical approach. 

This short and actionable guide (45 pages) distills thousands of hours of time learning from hundreds of attorneys. You'll learn how to find and build relationships with the attorneys that will help you achieve your career goals. It's the playbook for how I went from a regional school without top grades to one of the top law firms in the nation. I couldn't have achieved this success without the principles I share in the book. 

This is for attorneys, law students, and anyone trying to build relationships with attorneys. If you want to understand what attorneys value and how they think about who they want to work with you, you need this guide. 

The guide is built for action. That's why I include access to my custom CRM to keep track of conversations with attorneys that I use to maintain my relationships. 

You can read a chapter for free here.

By the time you get to the end of the guide you will:

• Have a plan of action for building your legal network
• Better understand yourself and your professional goals
• Raise your aspirations for what you can accomplish

Reader testimonials:

"The Indie Guide to Building a Legal Network is an essential guide for anyone in the legal profession looking to build a meaningful, effective network. Whether you are a law student trying to navigate the early stages of your career or a seasoned attorney looking to broaden your network, the approach to connecting with other busy professionals requires tact, respect, and strategic thinking. 

Khurram's advice on how to reach out, follow up, and maintain connections with attorneys is particularly useful at tackling a universal challenge faced by law students and practitioners alike: how to effectively network with busy attorneys whose time is their most precious commodity. In that regard, Khurram offers practical tips for making meaningful connections in a way that respects the demanding schedules of legal professionals. Khurram/s strategies are not only practical but also adaptable, ensuring that readers can tailor their networking efforts to fit their unique circumstances and goals. Critically, this guide emphasizes the importance of authentic engagement over superficial interactions, changing the networking game from a daunting task to an enjoyable and rewarding part of our careers. 

Overall, this guide’s clarity, practicality, and deep understanding of the challenges of networking with busy attorneys make it a must-read for law students and practitioners striving to make lasting connections in the legal community."

- Raj Patel, Associate, Arnold & Porter

"The Indie Guide to Building Your Legal Network" is a valuable resource for not only law students, but practicing attorneys as well.  The book provides practical strategies and advice that help the reader enhance their networking strategies moving forward.  Khurram's insights are particularly relevant for today's legal profession, where business generation is likely to come from an attorney's relationships and not simply their reputation of being a skilled advocate.  I recommend this guide to anyone looking to leverage networking for both their career growth and career enjoyment."

- Eric Allison, Assistant United States Attorney

"I have been practicing law for over 20 years, and I found this to be a quick, useful read. I wish I had this resource when I started my legal career. Building a network involves overcoming anxiety, fear, and a number of other obstacles. Khurram addresses these issues directly. Thinking about your network as an asset that only gains value changed my perspective. I highly recommend this for current or recent students, as well as anyone interested in stepping up their networking game. You know how everyone talks about how valuable a network is? That's because it's true. Nothing will help you more in your career. And nothing I've seen will help you more than this simple writeup."

- Pav Athwal, Head of Legal, Nexthink

"Khurram has generously shared the keys to the kingdom. This book is directed to law students, but its lessons are applicable for anyone who deals with lawyers on a regular basis. If you are interested in being an attorney, marketing to attorneys, or even just understanding how to work better with attorneys, this book provides key insights on what the elite members of our profession value. More to the point, it provides a clear pathway and strategy to building valuable relationships that will pay off for any professional."

- Andrew Boulineau, in-house counsel and legal entrepreneur

"'The Indie Guide to Building Your Legal Network' is an excellent resource for any law students, newly minted lawyers, or even practicing attorneys who just haven't had the time or motivation to develop a network. I particularly liked how Khurram addressed all of the reasons that people usually resist building a network - many of those reasons spoke to me. I wish this guide were around when I was earlier in my career!"

- ​Shaun Sethna, Deputy General Counsel, Altisource

"The suggestions given in Khurram’s book completely changed my perspective about approaching strangers, especially established attorneys. Not only did I realize that I too had a lot to offer, but I also realized that I wasn’t on a temporary need-based journey. Rather, I was embarking on a long-term relationship-building approach. Like Khurram says, you already have the “human capital,” but it’s your “social capital” that’ll open doors and pay off in the long run."

- Amit Kulkarni, Patent Counsel, Knobbe Martens

"I wanted to let you know that I've finally completed your networking guide and I thought it was fantastic. You provide great advice on not only creating relationships, but also on nurturing them. Your writing is clear and easy to follow and I appreciated the personal touch you added with examples of your own successes. This is a great guide for attorneys (and law students) at all levels of their career."

- Neha Shah, Labor Relations, California State University

"Your writing is clear and concise, and I like how you weave in personal anecdotes and stories from others. You also outline a very clear action plan. Even as someone not in the law school setting, I found this extremely valuable in thinking about ways to reinforce many of the lessons that needed reinforcing on how to present well in strengthening and nurturing my network."

- Amisha Patel, Senior Associate, Dechert LLP

"The Indie Guide is a great primer on how law students and young junior lawyers can start to build their legal networks. However, it's also so much more than that. I am a decade out of law school and yet still found new practical tips to consider, plus I appreciated Khurram's unique perspective on professional networks, and his idea that a network is an asset. The Guide is a quick, worthwhile read, for lawyers at any stage in their careers."

- Heather Stevenson, Assistant General Counsel at Boston Globe

"The Indie Guide is a great read, full of practical tips about how attorneys can grow their legal network and insightful anecdotes regarding Khurram’s experience in building his own. This book is a must-have for any recent law school graduate, but is also of tremendous value to experienced attorneys who are interested in developing strategies to help foster deeper, more meaningful connections with their peers."

- Anthony Tsakalos, Attorney at Goodwin Procter LLP

"As an attorney who has been practicing law for eight years, I highly recommend reading The Indie Guide to Building Your Legal Network. As emphasized in this book, your network is a form of wealth. Before reading this book, I understood the importance of networking yet I felt frustrated with developing my legal network. The local bar associations I was part of did not help me with advancing my professional goals for my legal career, and I felt lost on how to address this problem. After reading this book, I realized I needed to create my networking strategy. This book gave me a great starting point to develop it."

- IB Koleosho, Senior Contract Specialist at Transmit Security

"Khurram’s own story is a great example of relationship building. He poured his wisdom into this book to share with us. I'm inspired and empowered to take actions after reading his book - schedule conversations with attorneys or other professionals I want to learn from and build relationships with, look for and get involved in communities I feel belonging to, and create my own community."

- Yanping Parks, Law Student at University of North Carolina

"I was looking to get comfortable with networking and Khurram's guide turned out to be a great resource. It is filled with granular and practical advice that helps you at every step of the process: from identifying potential connections, making an introduction to following up, and cultivating the relationship you just formed."

- Shelly Mittal, Law Student at University of Wisconsin-Madison

"I came across Khurram's guide on LinkedIn because a mutual connection of ours liked his post. Although I am in the financial services field, this guide is absolutely applicable and very practical. If you take nothing else away remember: Relationships are born in the follow-up. Bonus: Contribution to your chosen professional association(s) creates opportunities."

- Cisi Zhang, Project & Structured Finance Vice President at BMO CM

What's inside:

• The story of this guide
• What a network is really about
• Why should you build a network
• How does this approach work for you
• Finding your product-market-founder fit
• How to begin building your network
• Reaching out to attorneys
• How to build conversations into industry knowledge
• How to grow your relationships
• Why you should find your bar association
• Building your audience to grow your network
• Finding job opportunities from your legal network
• The ten year perspective 

To get more ideas for what to do to grow your legal network, read my articles here.

If you're ready to take ownership of your career, pick up the guide. Looking forward to hearing from you.