Join NAWL for their 2014 Mid-Year Meeting – March 19-20 in Washington D.C.

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming 2014 Mid-Year Meeting of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL).

2014 Mid-Year Brochure_Draft 5

When

Wednesday March 19 – Thursday March 20, 2014

Where

Washington, D.C.

Register here!

Join us at the 2014 Mid-Year Meeting in Washington, D.C. on March 19-20, 2014 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel.

This year’s program is Leadership through Change: Lessons from D.C. and Beyond. The hard work and collaboration of the entire Mid-Year Meeting Planning Committee have produced a comprehensive and rich program relevant to Women in all fields of legal practice. Topics we will cover include a mix of professional development and substantive sessions: Navigating in a Majority Environment: Clearing the Hurdles to Success; Cyber & Data Security; Developing Lawyers as Leaders; 50th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act: Where We Stand; and Power: How To Get It and How To Wield It. We will be announcing our keynote and other speakers soon, so please stay posted on the website. Finally, as always, there will be networking time built in throughout the event.

While we hope that you learn a lot from the meeting, we also want you to enjoy yourselves in our nation’s capital—and, with luck, enjoy the height of the cherry blossom season after a very long winter. We believe that you will leave the 2014 NAWL Mid-Year Meeting inspired and look forward to seeing you in D.C.

IP Law Summit Spring 2014 – March 20-22, 2014

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming IP Law Summit hosted by Marcus Evans.

IP summit 2014

When

Thursday March 20 – Saturday March 22, 2014

Where

Las Vegas, Nevada

Register here!

Intellectual Property is the bedrock of many contemporary companies and with the growth of the internet and a global market, having a smart IP strategy is more essential than ever. Every business decision that involves IP is a legal decision and every legal decision is also a business decision. Counsels are constantly pressed to promote innovation and must keep up-to-date with any worldwide regulatory changes ensuring the future growth and protection of their company’s IP.

The IP Law Summit is the premium forum for bringing senior IP Counsel within the largest corporations and mid-market organizations together with service providers. As an invitation-only event taking place behind closed doors, the Summit offers an intimate environment for a focused discussion of cutting-edge technology, strategy and products driving the IP marketplace.

Chief Litigation Officer Summit – March 20-22 in Las Vegas

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the Marcus Evan  Chief Litigation Officer Summit taking place March 20-22, 2014 at the Red Rock Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, NV.

Chief Lit.March2014

Qualifying titles include:
Associate General Counsel
Chief Litigation Officer
Chief Litigation Counsel
Head of Litigation
SVP/VP Litigation
Senior Litigation Counsel

Key Topics in 2013 include:

  • Mitigating the Risks – Safeguarding your organization from whistleblower and retaliation claims

  • Taking the Reins – Solutions for controlling e-Discovery costs and driving efficiency

  • The Best Defense is Prevention – Uncovering practical approaches to litigation avoidance

  • Spotlight on Dispute Resolution – Determining whether to arbitrate vs. litigate

  • Working Hand in Hand – Creating valuable partnerships and synergy with your outside counsel

 

Distinguish Speakers Include:

Tanya Menton
Vice President, Litigation
ABC

Eva Lehman
VP, Litigation and Chief Compliance Officer
Western Digital Corporation

Mark LoSacco
EVP and General Counsel – Litigation, Labor and Employment
HSBC North America

Christopher E. Paetsch
Vice President and AGC Litigation
Kaplan, Inc.

Phyllis Golden Morey
VP and Deputy General Counsel – Litigation
Ingersoll-Rand

Steve Taub
Assistant General Counsel
U-Haul International, Inc.

Reagan Bradford
Deputy General Counsel
Chesapeake Energy Corporation

Tiffany Woodie
Senior Counsel/Head of Litigation
PetSmart Corporation

To watch a testimonial video click: http://ow.ly/tWvdy

To receive the full agenda and to register, contact:
Jenny Keane
Marketing Manager
+1.312.540.3000 x6515
j.keane@marcusevansch.com

The Top 25 Law Marketing Cliches to Avoid

Fishman Marketing logo

 

As a whole, lawyers are very literal, often too literal for good marketing.  As a result, many firms simply opt for the obvious icons that represent the general concept of “Law,” just like most of their closest competitors.  The logical rationale seems to be, “Well, if everyone else is doing it this way, it must be right.”  But that’s wrong.

Your marketing should set you apart, help you stand above the crowd.  And doing exactly what they do buries you in the anonymous middle.  Sure it’s safe, but ”safe” doesn’t help generate revenue.

That is, if your website home page shows a skyline or column, you’ve immediately convinced everyone who sees it that (1) your firm is mediocre, and (2) there’s nothing worth reading inside.  If you want to claim to be a high-end, A-tier firm, then you must look like it, and a photo of a handshake, map, or pen resting on a document won’t cut it.  No exceptions, unless you’re, say, Wachtell or Cravath.

So here they are, the 25 most typical and tedious clichés law firms use (and what they actually convey to the average reader):

The Image (What it means.)

  1. Globe/Map (We did a deal in Toronto once)
  2. Shaking hands (We’re your partner.)
  3. Building/Architectural detail (We work in a building!)
  4. Skylines (We work in a city!)
  5. Columns/Courthouse (We’re lawyers!)
  6. Gavel (Yup, we’re lawyers.)
  7. Light bulbs (We have good ideas.)
  8. Chess pieces (We’re strategic.)
  9. Diverse conference room (Stock photo)
  10. Smiling lawyers (People work here!)
  11. Scales of justice (Still just lawyers.)
  12. Dart boards (We’re on target.)
  13. DNA/Test tube/beaker/gears/CD (We have an IP practice.)
  14. Man/Woman walking, in suits (That’s our profession’s action shot.)
  15. Vacant lobby/Conference room (We go home at 5:00.)
  16. Books (This might be 2012, but we still use books.)
  17. Laptop/Computer (Look!  We use computers!)
  18. Eyeglasses or pen on a document (We work on documents.)
  19. Boxing gloves (We’re tough.)
  20. Rowing/Musicians (We work as a team!)
  21. Crayons/Flags/Circle of hands (Diversity!)
  22. Grinning PI or divorce lawyer (Lost a limb? Wife left you? Good for me!)
  23. Cheetah (We move fast.)
  24. Maze (We solve puzzles.)
  25. Blurry man running up steps (Out of my way! Late for court!)

The fact that you immediately recognized all or most of these, and perhaps laughed embarrassingly at a few, proves that these images have lost their impact.  So, if you’re using any of these in your marketing materials, from website or blog to print ads or brochures, stop immediately.

Either change your tag line to “Average skills. Average price.TM” or, preferably, come up with something that really sets you apart.  Create something else, something great.  Something that helps you stand out in a way that generates real revenue. If you can’t do it, hire someone who can.  But it must be done, it’s important.

Figure out who you really are, then build your marketing around that.

Article by:

Ross Fishman

Of:

Fishman Marketing, Inc.

Last chance! Register now for the Women in the Law Rainmaker Forum: A Catalyst for Stepping into Your Power

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming Women in the Law Rainmaker Forum hosted by KLA Marketing Associates.

1.24.14

When

For your convenience, 3 dates and times:

February 17 – Late Afternoon

Feburary 19 – Morning

Februrary 27 – Late afternoon

Where

Philadelphia / New Jersey / Virtual

Join us – a safe, intimate forum where Women in the Law “lean in” and access much-needed resources to develop a prosperous and rewarding practice. Make 2014 the year to take control of your career. 
Join for our popular Forum to:
  • Learn critical rainmaking techniques
  • Brainstorm opportunities
  • Dig deep into your business challenges
  • Tap skills/experience of others  

Four 2-hour sessions to change the

way you do business – and win business!

Special Pricing: $499* for all 4 sessions – – and more. Register now to claim your seat that will change the way you do business!

About the Trainer/Coach
Kimberly Alford Rice, Principal and Chief Strategist of KLA Marketing Associates, has successfully trained hundreds of lawyers to build and grow a prosperous book of business over the course of her 20+ year legal services advisory practice. She deeply understands how to engage the organizational and human factors that drive successful implementation and change through her work. To learn more, check out KLA Marketing Associates website.

The 20 Best Law Firm Tag Lines

Fishman Marketing logo

 

Is your firm “Committed to Mediocrity™”?

Tag lines are hard – a few strategically selected words that encapsulate everything you stand for and want your target audience to know about you. It’s the slogan that tells your own people how to act, what makes them different, and help them bring in business. Does your firm have one? Does it stand out? Is it unique and memorable?

Consider FedEx’s brilliant “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” Nine simple words that tell FedEx buyers precisely what they’re going to get, while simultaneously informing all of its employees what their mission is, and its vital importance.

Law firms tend toward weak platitudes like “Committed to clients” or “Results Matter!” or “When Success Matters!” These vague “we’re totally awesome” statements makes a firm feel good about itself but aren’t specific enough for your lawyers or employees, or differentiating for your target market. They apply equally to nearly every firm in the market (when don’t results matter…?). They’re easy for a committee to agree on (“Good idea; let’s tell people we’re smart!”), but they don’t set you apart in a strategic way that generates revenue. What if FedEx’s slogan was “We mail things!”?

Would Nike be as successful if it allowed a marketing committee to red-pencil “Just do it” into “When you need great shoes”? How would BMW’s vision change if “The Ultimate Driving Machine” became “Your Car Matters!”

Here are law firm tag lines from the Feb-April 2011 issues of Inside Counsel magazine, a publication where many large firms advertise.

  • National Firm. Midwest Value.

  • Driving Business Advantage.

  • The confidence to proceed.

  • Canadian Lawyers.

  • Deep relationships. Forward thinking. And not just one lawyer. A team.

  • More together.

  • Top of Mind.

  • Singular focus. Outstanding results.

  • Intellectual property law by the numbers.

  • Driving Business Advantage.

Do you know which law firm is “More together?” Which firm gives you “the confidence to proceed” or “drives business advantage”? How does “Top of Mind” benefit a client?

Here are some examples of brand-related messages we’ve created that are clearer and catchier. They help define the firm internally and externally. They set the tone and help the firm stand out in a meaningful way. They give the lawyers something to say in new-business meetings when the prospects ask, “How is your firm different?”

They act as the platform for a larger campaign that helps the lawyers sell new business. It aids recruiting by defining the personality type and skill set of the laterals they should seek to hire.

Below are twenty law firm tag lines to compare and consider, that support a range of firms, practices, industries, and strategies. They are, of course, just a small part of larger campaigns, but their role can be significant in setting the tone, breaking the ice, and helping create a dialogue. OK, maybe they’re not the nation’s 20 absolute best law firm tag lines, there are some pretty good ones out there, but these are a pretty good start.

Two hours. Period.™

Laner Muchin, Chicago. The world’s most-responsive law firm. A labor and employment boutique where every client phone call is returned within two hours, even less in emergencies.

Seriously Unbelievably Client Service.™

Sandberg Phoenix, St Louis. The nation’s first firm to offer clients a written service guarantee. Their clients rate them an A+ in objective surveys.

Small but mighty.™

Novack and Macey, Chicago. A small litigation powerhouse with an amazing record of success at trial.

Article by:

Ross Fishman

Of:

Fishman Marketing, Inc.

How a Smartphone App Aims to Replace Attorneys

The Rainmaker Institute mini logo (1)

 

A smartphone app that allows users to create, sign and send legally binding documents is the latest tech tool developed to shake up the delivery of legal services.  And its name, aptly enough, is Shake.

Shake is the brainchild of Abe Geiger, an entrepreneur who found that standard contracts were too cumbersome and complicated to meet the needs of today’s business world, even though he has access to all the free legal advice he needs (his wife is an attorney).

As with so many other inventions, Shake started with the thought that, “There has to be a better way.”

Smartphone App Legal Services

With some Silicon Valley VC funding, Geiger and his team set out on their mission, which is posted on their website:

Our mission is to make the law accessible, understandable and affordable for consumers and small businesses. We want to empower our users to share ideas, goods, and services without the fear of being stiffed for a freelance gig or putting their business at risk.

Geiger said he believes that change in the legal industry will be driven by small businesses and consumers, not by lawyers and law firms.  He says that the legal market is huge, inefficient, underserved by technology and begging for change.

Sounds like he has more than one reason to shake things up.

Carolyn Elefant, who blogs about solos and small firms at MyShingle.com, wrote recently in an Above the Law post that the app won’t displace real lawyers because the people who want to use an app or a website for their legal documents are not likely to hire an attorney anyway.  I tend to agree.

I also agree with Geiger’s assertion that people are looking for more technology-based solutions for their legal problems, even if that “problem” is only a freelance contract or a NDA.

What attorneys should take away from this is that the market is moving toward technology much faster than most lawyers are, and making technology solutions available to clients – something as simple as downloadable documents off a secure website – is the new way your clients are defining good customer service.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

One week until the final session! Register today for the Women in the Law Rainmaker Forum

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming Women in the Law Rainmaker Forum hosted by KLA Marketing Associates.

1.24.14

When

For your convenience, 3 dates and times:

February 17 – Late Afternoon

Feburary 19 – Morning

Februrary 27 – Late afternoon

Where

Philadelphia / New Jersey / Virtual

Join us – a safe, intimate forum where Women in the Law “lean in” and access much-needed resources to develop a prosperous and rewarding practice. Make 2014 the year to take control of your career. 
Join for our popular Forum to:
  • Learn critical rainmaking techniques
  • Brainstorm opportunities
  • Dig deep into your business challenges
  • Tap skills/experience of others  

Four 2-hour sessions to change the

way you do business – and win business!

Special Pricing: $499* for all 4 sessions – – and more. Register now to claim your seat that will change the way you do business!

About the Trainer/Coach
Kimberly Alford Rice, Principal and Chief Strategist of KLA Marketing Associates, has successfully trained hundreds of lawyers to build and grow a prosperous book of business over the course of her 20+ year legal services advisory practice. She deeply understands how to engage the organizational and human factors that drive successful implementation and change through her work. To learn more, check out KLA Marketing Associates website.

How Can You (Safely) Shorten a Law Firm’s Name?

Fishman Marketing logo

Below are two logos – before and after the redesign, obviously.  Note, they’re exactly the same width. 

Which one stands out?  Which one are you more likely to notice and remember?

law firm branding logo

law firm branding logo

It’s obviously the right decision, there is no scenario where the top version is a “better” or more effective logo than the new one below it.  There are too many equal-sized names, and your brain can’t process all that visually similar information.  There’s no focal point, so your eyes don’t know where to go.  If you put it on tschotchkes like a hat or mug (see mock-ups below), or used it on business cards (also below) or a website, there’s a clear contrast.  If you looked away, you wouldn’t remember the firm’s name.

The bottom version with the larger name obviously helps the reader remember the firm’s name.

And that’s what a good logo is supposed to do.  It tells you what to remember, how to find them.  You know what to call them.  Which of course is the whole point – it’s a strong, interesting, unusual, and memorable name.  It’s what The Street has always chosen to call them – either “Lugenbuhl” or “The Lugenbuhl Firm.”  But changing a logo to reflect that reality is still extremely difficult.

law firm branding logo

Executing it requires teamwork.  Commitment to the firm.  Trust.  Strong leadership.

Here, Messrs. WheatonPeckRankin, and Hubbard are all still practicing.  They’re dynamic lawyers with great practices, leaders in their various industries (marine, bankruptcy, environmental, and energy). The latter Name Partners must have the professional security, integrity, and confidence to allow their names to be reduced in size compared to the first lawyer’s.  They all have to sublimate their egos for the sake of The Firm.  They must understand and accept that enlarging the first name over the others isn’t a comparative value judgment.

It doesn’t suggest that Mr. Lugenbuhl is “better” than they are. 

It’s not saying he’s more important, smarter, more valuable, or better looking.  It’s just that his name was first on the door and that having too many names of equal visual weight simply makes no strategic sense. It makes it harder to grasp visually and remember later, which hurts everyone’s business development.  The only possible explanation for keeping a design like this is the ego and insecurity of the latter-named lawyers.

law firm branding logo

And that’s not an insignificant thing, especially not in a professional-services firm. 

In a law firm, having your name on the door is the brass ring.  No one screws with a lawyer whose name is prominent on the letterhead.  Candidly, in their position, I wouldn’t want my name shrunk or eliminated from the logo either.  Regardless, it IS, of course, the right thing to do.

And that’s how we always pitch it – it’s not about Mr. Lugenbuhl.  ”Lugenbuhl” simply becomes a word, a noun, the corporate name.  It’s no longer about the person, it’s the word that represents the firm.  People don’t wonder who “Mr. McDonald” is when they buy a hamburger.

That’s certainly a challenge in first-generation law firms when one or more of the names on the door are still practicing.  This is particularly true when the firm has gradually added the firm’s top billers or rising stars to the end of the name.  The people in the front may no longer be as powerful or relevant. But it’s still the right thing to do.

Good for S. Rodger WheatonStewart F. PeckS. Frazer Rankin, and Ralph S. Hubbard, III.  They did the right thing for the firm.  I sincerely respect their sacrifice.

Here are two business card options with similar layouts.  The point is pretty obvious, don’t you think?

lawyer attorney business cards

lawyer attorney business cards

Article by:

Ross Fishman

Of:

Fishman Marketing, Inc.

3 Ways for Law Firms to Advance Their Brands In a Post-Recession Environment

 

The post-recession state of professional services branding is like living in a bland, empty room. Wherever we look, we see reduced brand activity and sameness. Once creative and compelling, professional service brands (via websites, advertising and other channels) now seem less visible. Sadly, it appears to us that both the quality and quantity of firm branding efforts are regressing.

Are past failed efforts to blame? Is the stumbling economy a disincentive to act? Or is it the pendulum swing to business development, the tremendous pressure on CMOs to drive revenue? Has anyone else noticed the fall off in brand awareness and memorability? Do we still believe brand is critical to creating preference?

Good questions, we thought. So we polled CMOs and CEOs at law, accounting and consulting firms around the world for their opinions. Respondents included leaders of local, regional, national and international firms with an average size of 382 professionals (full survey results at http://www.greenfieldbelser.com/research-page/brand-regression#).

Questions, answers and insights

Here, we’ve summarized four of the most important findings, including the questions asked, the answers received and the top line takeaways.

1. Brand Health. We asked how important is brand to the success of your firm, how helpful is your brand in achieving that success, and is your brand understood by key audiences?

  • 95% of CMOs and 92% of CEOs/managing partners believe their brand is moderately or extremely important to success
  • But only 26% find their brand “very helpful”
  • On understanding, only 21% replied that their brands were well or perfectly understood by prospects.

The takeaway? Yikes! How can something perceived to be so important yield such poor scores in helpfulness and understanding? In live presentations of these findings, some of our CMO friends suggest that the answer lies in the degree of difficulty of executing branding efforts properly in any professional services firm.

One respondent shared this comment, “These days if you wish to undertake any sort of brand exercise, it must be titled ‘Strategic Positioning Initiative’ to avoid the factious response that sometimes arrives as talk turns to brand.”

Whatever you call it, our view is that pioneering brand efforts among professional service firms have given way to safer, less expensive efforts that suffer from unoriginality and are easy to ignore. Conventional wisdom suggests that in times of recession it’s better to tighten the belt and cut marketing and branding expenditures to focus on sales. However, when firms stop investing in the brand and marketing, they have fewer opportunities to sell. Healthy firms require strong commitment to both brand/marketing and business development—they go hand in hand.

2. Brand Distinction. Is your brand promise—the value proposition—unique? Is your brand expression (look, feel and voice) unique? Do you consider your brand to be innovative?

  • Only 20%say their brands are “very” or “extremely innovative.”
  • 66% respond that their promise of value is “marginally” or “moderately unique.”
  • 54% say their brand identity or expression is “marginally” or “moderately unique.”

The takeaway? Unicorns and innovative brands are as rare as hens’ teeth. Again, responding CMOs and CEOs believe brands are important to success but say uniqueness is hard to come by in the professional services space. Perhaps this relates to the fact that lawyers and law firms typically follow precedent (and one another). Meanwhile, marketers toil in the business of  awareness building and differentiation.

That’s the rub. The most innovative firms and best marketers have the courage to take risks, break with convention, and inspire interest in the brand among their audience.

3. Brand Quality. How do you rate the quality of your firm’s brand communication tools (things like websites, advertising, content marketing, etc.)?

On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) CEOs and CMOs graded their own efforts:

  • they gave websites a mean rating of 3.6 on the five point scale
  • core identity (logo and such) scored 3.5
  •  proposal and pitch materials were 3.5
  • videos, 3.1
  • thought leadership and content marketing, 2.8
  • advertising, 2.8
  • social media, 2.5

The takeaway? On average, brand communications quality is, well, average. Given the Type-A personalities in leading professional services firms—those accustomed to performing at the head of their class and fields—the low scores might be hard to figure. But the effect of the economy sheds light on the tough grading. During the great recession, we saw marketing attention focused heavily on business development. And why wouldn’t we? During that time, sales were hard to come by as firms hunkered down among bleak predictions. We saw marketing communication investment devalued and more do-it-yourself branding within firms. Yes, that led to savings, but at what cost to quality, awareness, memorability and preference for firms?

Previous research shows that professional services firm clients and prospects have preconceived and immediate feelings about the quality of a firm solely based on the quality of brand communications. This, in turn, can have a noticeable impact on opportunities and on revenue.

4. Brand channels and investments. Which communication channels are most important and where do the greatest investments go?

  • 85% believe firm websites are the most important channel; 92% say it is the greatest area of investment.
  • 67% rate proposals and pitch material as the second most important channel; but only 30% say it is an area of greatest investment.
  • 59% say substantive alerts, speaking and thought leadership are very important; 32% indicate investments here are highest.
  • 35% viewed firm and practice advertising as most important; 45% reported it as an area of greatest investment.

The takeaway? Tuning the channels for the clearest return is a challenge. Website investment matches its perceived importance (shocker) but other communications are either overfunded or underfunded relative to perceived importance. Major events are viewed as much less important but still command a disproportionate financial commitment (boondoggle, anyone?). Pitch materials are not getting the love CMOs and CEOs feel they deserve and blue sky thought leadership is short-changed, as well.

What to do about brand progression?

While our study and data does not prove that branding in the business-to-business services sector has regressed following the recession, it does confirm that there is significant room for improvement for professional services firms.

Firms can advance their branding by considering these three tips:

1. Increase investments in marketing and business development simultaneously:We should start by mentioning that, increasing investments does not always demand higher dollar figure. It could (and often should) be a reallocation of funds from unimportant or ineffective programs to the ones that have the most impact. Think of it as finding couch money; the dollars and cents may be rattling around your firm, but you  need to collect them from underneath the cushions and spend them wisely. This often requires doing less and doing it better.

2. Have the courage to do memorable, engaging and high quality brand communications. The great ad man, David Ogilvy, said, “You can’t bore people into buying your product or service.” Firms need to take greater creative risks in order to achieve differentiation. For those of you who see branding as lipstick or worse, take the words of another “counsel.” Andy Warhol commented, “I may be superficial, but I’m deeply superficial.”

3. Demand that the investments made in marketing and business development yield measurable results:   When better branding initiatives are carried out, leads increase and create an improved conversion ratio.   Our study looked at brand tracking and found that the bottom line is that few in the professional services have the patience or budgets to do tracking research well(link to the study is below).

For brand skeptics, keep this in mind—following the U.S. Stock Market crash of 1987, Nike tripled its marketing spend and emerged from the recession with profits nine times higher than before the recession started. Yes, we know Nike is not a legal, accounting or consulting firm, but they are great at executing groundbreaking marketing plans—.And you have to admit a 9x increase in profits is a compelling argument to “just do it.”

Article by:

Of:

Greenfield/Belser Ltd.