Joint offering combines Smarter Collaboration's data-driven assessments with BPG's coaching programs, beginning with lateral integration and key account growth
DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Budner Performance Group (BPG), a consultancy that helps law firms and other professional service organizations drive client growth and integrate partners, today announced a strategic partnership with Smarter Collaboration®, the research, advisory and technology business founded by Dr. Heidi K. Gardner and Ivan Matviak. The alliance combines Smarter Collaboration's decades-long research, psychometric assessments, 360-degree feedback tools, and collaboration analytics with BPG's coaching, training and change management. The end result gives organizations a clear understanding how their people collaborate and generates sustainable revenue growth through enhanced collaboration.
The partnership will focus on business development coaching programs, training delivery, lateral and cross-cultural integration, and post-merger integration.
The collaboration comes as firms face rising pressure on several fronts. Lateral hiring remains at high volume, yet roughly half of lateral partners fail to meet expectations. Smarter Collaboration research shows laterals who are not integrated into the firm's existing client relationships within about six months are at high risk of leaving. Clients are consolidating panels and buying across practices, which makes single-practice relationships the most fragile. And as firms invest heavily in AI and bring in professionals with more varied backgrounds, the ability to collaborate across disciplines is becoming a competitive necessity.
"Clients shouldn't feel they're being handed off to a different methodology or vocabulary. This is the first time we've co-developed an implementation approach with a partner, so firms can embed these concepts and get the results our research shows are possible," said Gardner, who is also a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School.
More than two decades of Smarter Collaboration research shows that professionals who collaborate across practices, offices and specialties generate more revenue and profit and build longer-lasting, more lucrative client relationships. The majority of AmLaw 100 firms have worked with Smarter Collaboration to apply these concepts. BPG is helping firms turn this insight into everyday habits among busy partners to stimulate sustainable profitability.
Through their partnership, BPG will integrate Smarter Collaboration's assessment and analytics tools, including SC Profile®, SC360®, SC Signals and the SmarterNetworks® analytics platform, into its programs: Lateral Partner Integration, Key Account Growth and Client Growth Training. Assessments at the start and end of each program give firm leaders a measurable view of how partner behavior has changed. Where firms license SmarterNetworks, they can also see collaboration patterns, growth opportunities and client and talent risks reflected in their own billing data.
BPG's programs combine one-to-one coaching from former rainmakers and legal services buyers, group training and experiential learning in which partners rehearse real client situations. BPG also trains each firm's own people to carry the work forward after the engagement ends.
"Most firms already know greater collaboration improves profitability. What still challenges many firms is how to create systems that incent partners to engage clients holistically to drive cross-practice and geography solutions. Heidi's research identifies where a firm should focus to improve collaboration and we provide an execution strategy that systematically changes behaviors across the firm," said Craig Budner, Founder and CEO of BPG.
Budner brings more than 35 years of law practice and firm leadership experience. He led the global client growth platform at K&L Gates, where he unified recruiting, lateral integration, business development and marketing into a single system across five continents and saw cross-sourced revenue rise from 16% to 54%. While serving in these management roles, he also maintained a consistent and large client following as a practicing partner.
BPG's programs incorporating Smarter Collaboration's tools are available now to AmLaw 100 and 200 firms, with the same model applicable to accounting and consulting firms and to organizations facing post-merger or cross-cultural integration. Learn more at [budnerpg.com/partnership URL].
About Budner Performance Group
Budner Performance Group helps law firms and professional services organizations grow client relationships and retain talent through year-long programs in Lateral Partner Integration, Key Account Growth and Client Growth Training. Founded by Craig Budner and Will Budner, BPG combines decades of practice and firm-leadership experience with behavioral science and habit formation. Learn more at budnerpg.com.
About Smarter Collaboration
Based on 20+ years of research at Harvard, Smarter Collaboration helps organizations unlock more value from how people work together. Its research, science-based assessments, 360s and collaboration analytics provide actionable insights that enable leaders and teams to strengthen relationships, improve performance and drive growth. Learn more at smartercollaboration.com.
Media Contact
Meg McEvoy, LIMELIGHT, 1 434-409-0050, [email protected], www.limelightgrowth.com
SOURCE Budner Performance Group
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