William J. Flannery is the President of The WJF Institute, headquartered in Austin, Texas. The Institute's primary focus is business development, client development, client relationship management, law firm marketing and marketing support programs. The WJF Institute also trains lawyers and provides related consulting services in substantive legal skills, law firm management and leadership. From 1988 to 2006,The WJF Institute has conducted intensive, small group training sessions for over 10,000 lawyers all over the world. Bill graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park, MD in 1967. He started his career in 1966 at the Department of Justice as an instructor. He later joined the Johns-Manville Corporation in their Washington, DC office. In 1969, he joined the IBM Corporation in Washington, DC. While at IBM, he attended the University of Baltimore Law School and obtained his Juris Doctorate in 1973. He also attended the IBM/Harvard Advanced Business Executive Education Institute. His IBM career included assignments in marketing training, product marketing, large account marketing, corporate marketing planning, large system management, IBM corporate executive briefing program, corporate strategic planning, finance, litigation management, personal computer product development and technology for the legal profession. He left IBM in 1988 and founded The WJF Institute. Bill has published numerous articles on business development, marketing, technology and law firm management in law journals and legal publications. He is a frequent speaker at LMA and various legal conferences, marketing and business development forums, panels and various international law firm consortiums.
