Budner Group Partners with Research Firm for Law Firm Collaboration Tools

DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Budner Performance Group (BPG), a consultancy that specializes in helping law firms and other professional service organizations grow their client base and integrate new partners, has announced a strategic partnership with Smarter Collaboration, the research, advisory, and technology business founded by Dr. Heidi K. Gardner and Ivan Matviichuk. The alliance combines Smarter Collaboration's decades of research, psychometric assessments, 360-degree feedback tools, and collaboration analytics with BPG's coaching, training, and change management expertise. This partnership aims to provide organizations with a clear understanding of how their people collaborate and generate sustainable revenue growth through enhanced collaboration.

The partnership is timely given the challenges law firms face in today's market. Lateral hiring remains at high volume, but roughly half of lateral partners fail to meet expectations. Smarter Collaboration's research indicates that 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, making single-practice relationships the most vulnerable. As firms invest heavily in artificial intelligence and bring in professionals with more varied backgrounds, the ability to collaborate across disciplines has become a competitive necessity.

The partnership will focus on business development coaching programs, training delivery, lateral and cross-cultural integration, and post-merger integration. The end result will give organizations a clear understanding of how their people collaborate and generate sustainable revenue growth through enhanced collaboration. More than two decades of Smarter Collaboration research have shown 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'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.

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.

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].

Smarter Collaboration helps organizations unlock more value from how people work together. Its research, science-based assessments, 360-degree feedback tools, and collaboration analytics provide actionable insights that enable leaders and teams to strengthen relationships, improve performance, and drive growth. Learn more at [smartercollaboration.com].