Rachel Hammerman

Rachel Hammerman coaches lawyers to build their book of business in a satisfying and sustainable way. She is particularly dedicated to advancing the careers of high potential associates and underrepresented partners including women, LGTBQIA+, BIPOC and those from minority backgrounds, by helping them embrace business development.

Rachel views business development as a practice of enlightened self-interest – when you help others, you can’t help helping yourself. She’s known for her expertise in business and marketing strategy, relationship building, scripting for key situations and stress reduction using Mindfulness meditation. Her coaching approach is tailored to meet each lawyer’s unique needs as she helps them create their own reliable and meaningful process for generating and securing new business.

To support the advancement and retention of women leading law firms, Rachel co-founded and moderates The Managing Partner RoundTable’s 2181 Group, small virtual roundtables for experienced women lawyers leading their firms to share best practices for firm management. She frequently speaks on business development at events for Managing Partners and legal marketers on the topics of relationship building, strategic communications, generating virtual visibility and stress management.

In 2011, Rachel founded her communications strategy consultancy and in 2017 began coaching lawyers on business development alongside Marianne Ruggiero of Optima Careers LLC, which has offered business development coaching to partners at top-tier firms for over a decade. Over a nearly 20 year career, Rachel has provided PR & strategic communications consulting to generate business results for C-Suite Executives in and beyond the legal industry, including launching the podcast Serial with This American Life to create a global market of listeners and podcasters; empowering LexisNexis executives as thought leaders on the rule of law and combatting human trafficking; and positioning start-ups and media companies for successful acquisition.

Formerly a fidgety skeptic, Rachel teaches Mindfulness to lawyers and offers meditation training programs in firms and companies. She is faculty of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science and the Community Meditation Center of New York, and is certified by the Mindfulness Training Institute and International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She received her B.A. from Tufts University and is based in Brooklyn, NY.