How I think about — Pitch & RFP
Write for the person who skims, not the partner who drafts.
GCs and PE buyers read pitches under deadline. The decision usually gets made on the first two pages and the fee section. Everything else is comfort. A good pitch is engineered around what the buyer actually opens — and ruthless about cutting what they won't.
Do
Practice- +01
Open with the team, the price, and the plan
Buyers want to know who's running it, what it costs, and how you'll run it. Bury any of those past page three and you've lost the read.
Source — BigHand · Pitch & Proposal Insights
- +02
Use the client's words, not the firm's
Mirror the RFP's language for practice areas, risk categories, and deliverables. Re-naming things is read as not listening.
- +03
Show pricing logic, not just the number
A bare number invites a haircut. A pricing rationale — assumptions, phases, alternatives — invites a conversation.
Source — ACC · RFP Best Practices
- +04
Make the comparables specific and recent
Three matters in the last 18 months beats twelve from the last decade. Recency is a proxy for relevance.
Don't
Patterns- −01
Don't lead with the firm's history
The buyer assumes the firm is credible — that's why you got the RFP. Founding-date prose is a credibility tax on their time.
Source — BigHand
- −02
Don't bury the team behind the practice description
Buyers hire people, not platforms. Headshots and one-line specialisms early. Practice overview later, if at all.
- −03
Don't promise 'tailored' and then send the template
If the only customised content is the cover page, the buyer will notice. Tailoring is the easiest signal to fake and the easiest to catch.
Source — Above the Law · RFP coverage
§ References
Where this thinking comes from
- BigHandPitch & Proposal Insights
- ACCRFP Best Practices
- Thomson ReutersBuyer of Legal Services Report
Synthesised from publicly available reports and commentary. All views my own.