Kim Tolkien is the Business Development Manager for the global intellectual property practice at Clifford Chance. She is also the founder of the Legal BD Futures Forum.
Kim Tolkien has recently been promoted, taking her first manager role at the law firm Clifford Chance. And it’s a big one.
In a newly created position, Kim is now responsible for the marketing and business development strategy and implementation for the firm’s highly respected global intellectual property practice.
It is a role that can see her coordinating a global pitch, arranging events and raising the team’s profile across the legal giant.
“There is a lot of joining the dots between teams around the world,” explains Kim, “letting them know what everyone is doing and, importantly, the rest of the firm. It is also about getting them to think a little more strategically and moving them forward.”
Kim was already working as a senior business development executive with the firm’s London IP and tech team and put herself forward for the new role, encouraged all of the time by her London partners.
To give herself a head start in the new role, Kim decided she needed to better understand the work of the team, taking training courses in intellectual property.
She has just finished a course organised by the UK Intellectual Property Office.
“It is an enormously useful thing to do,” says Kim, “both in understanding the work of the team but also in sending the team a message that you are taking the role seriously.”
But to really get to know the practice and the work it does, Kim continues to invest a lot of time and effort in building relationships with fee earning and local marketing and BD colleagues around the world.
“I knew the UK team well, but not so their colleagues in other offices,” explains Kim. “I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know them, to understand their goals and what they want to achieve, bringing that together in a common aim.
“It is about me being an adviser to the team rather than just reacting to requests.”
One year into the role, Kim has already launched a new global blog and a visual identity for the global IP practice, established regular team meetings and a monthly reporting programme.
“We have quickly joined up the team, with a clear strategy and cohesive message, and that is already making award and directory submissions so much easier. I am now working towards the global team’s first offsite meeting to drive activity further and faster.”
It is just the latest example of how Kim has constantly challenged herself in her career.
On moving to London in 2022 and recognising that she did not know many marketing and BD execs, she took matters into her own hands creating the Legal BD Futures Forum.
“I was meeting lots of people at networking events, but nobody doing a similar job to me,” says Kim. “I had at the time a mentor through the PM Forum’s Mentor Match programme, and she suggested putting out a LinkedIn post to see if anyone wanted to meet for a drink. It was all very informal and has now really taken off.”
Legal BD Futures Forum holds regular networking events, all arranged on LinkedIn, adding more recent events hosted by Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith and other law firms.
“It has grown from a small handful of people two years ago to around 300 people. It remains informal, but there is now a committee who help organise events and speakers”, says Kim.
“Pushing myself in launching Legal BD Futures Forum has really helped my confidence and my career, and I hope it will do the same for others.”
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