You’re new. Or venturing into a new practice area or market. You want clients to hire you but you don’t have enough (or any) experience with the issues they present.

How do you show them you can do the job?

The key: confidence. That’s what they’ll buy.

If you look and sound like you can do the job, you’ll at least be in the running.

Am I saying you can fake it? Yes, and no.

You need to know enough to ask the right questions and identify the issues. You need to know what you’ll have to do to get started. But you don’t need to know everything—that’s what research is for—and you (probably) don’t need years of experience with that matter.

You sell your confidence in your problem-solving abilities. You sell your experience doing similar work.

Don’t lie. Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver. But if you look and sound like you know what you’re doing, if you comport yourself as confident and capable, the question about how much experience you have with the specific matter usually won’t come up.

If you’re hired and find yourself over your head, get help. Talk to someone who knows what to do, burn the midnight oil, and get yourself up to speed.

You can earn while you learn.

On the other hand, if you know from the beginning that you don’t have nearly enough knowledge or experience or resources to handle the case, if you can’t do the work without taking undue risk, admit it and ask the client for permission to associate with another lawyer or firm.

That’s what I did when I was a new pup and had big cases I wasn’t ready to handle.

I told the client they would benefit from the resources and experience of the other firm, and also be able to work personally with me at no additional cost.

I didn’t apologize or show weakness. I was matter-of-fact about it, as though this was a very common arrangement, and confidently explained the benefits of having two lawyers working for them

And never had a client turn me down.