Going Before a Higher Power – Nuns Take on Obamacare

On Nov. 6, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeals of several religious employers challenging the contraceptive mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The court will consolidate seven cases, the most prominent of which was brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns who dedicate their lives to helping the elderly poor.  The other employers include several Catholic dioceses, a religious non-profit group and several Christian colleges.

The contraception mandate requires religious employers who object to providing contraceptive services to notify the government of their objection, which transfers the responsibility of providing those services to the employer’s insurer.  The petitioners argue that this procedure violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it effectively forces the employer’s health plan to cover services the employer finds objectionable.  They argue that the government has less restrictive means available to provide these services.

The consolidation of these seven cases is particularly interesting because the employers have varied insurance arrangements.  While some of the employers are insured by large insurance carriers, others are self-insured, or have “church plans” as defined by ERISA.  It is unclear whether these different arrangements will affect the outcomes for the particular employers.

The court is expected to hear oral argument in the case in March 2016.

Article By Mark D. Scudder of Barnes & Thornburg LLP

© 2015 BARNES & THORNBURG LLP

Part 2: Influencing the Client Experience – Takeaways from LMA Capital’s Half Day Program

On October 29th, a record number of legal marketers attended LMA Capital’s half day program to discuss how to best influence the client experience. Part one discussed how marketers can address a few major concerns of clients: how the firm can add value to the representation, how a firm can build a strong client team to address issues like credit and succession planning, and how to grow client relationships through better scoping and budgeting. This part will wrap up the final three TED-style talks for the program.

Communication and Managing Expectations – Exceed Their Expectations Every Time: How to Communicate with Clients in Good Times and Bad

Mary Panetta, of Blank Rome LLP, took to the podium in her talk about managing client expectations. Understanding the goal of why you are at the table is crucial to understanding client’s expectations. Sometimes the goal of litigation isn’t always to win, sometimes it’s to acquire the client, or to settle. Ms. Panetta emphasized that it’s important to make no assumptions about what the clients goals are; always ask. If partners are not involved in connecting on a daily basis with the clients to find out what is going on at the company, the client is not going to feel like the firm understands their needs and they are not going to come back with return business. Another key point Ms. Panetta hit on is that it’s important to tell the truth about everything, including budgets. For the firm, it’s important to monitor the budget aggressively and if there is an issue or potential overage on the horizon, share the information with the client early and without alarm. Marketers can help the firm’s lawyers in the process as well by understanding what’s at stake and helping deliver the news to the client either by scripting a dialogue or being present when the call needs to be made. Clients are much more amenable to scope changes when they are appropriately notified and walked through what happened. Also, in this market, there is potential for the client to seek out other services that may cut into the work that the law firm does. Ms. Panetta advises firms to embrace these inevitable market disruptors and present them to your client as a collaborative process. This may be counterintuitive to the firm’s bottom line, however, partnering with a disruptor is a way the firm can bring value to the client and builds vast amounts of goodwill.

Affinity Group Initiatives – Developing Client Relationships Through Affinity Groups

When it comes to working with affinity groups in the firm, Dawn Afanador, of Gibbons P.C., reminded the audience that the groups are still client focused. The Women’s Initiative at her firm is focused on educating women and their clients, give back to the community and their client’s causes, mentor their women and their clients, and provide networking opportunities for women and their clients. Ms. Afanador has found that their women’s initiative to be one of their best client relationship building programs. Rather than focus on having bigger events with high attendance, her firm scaled back the size of the events and narrowly focused on areas of law that address their key client’s needs. The intimacy of the smaller programs, such as focused roundtables, succeeded in helping client engagement and presented opportunities for cross marketing. Firm groups also have an opportunity to help their clients with initiatives they may not be able to achieve on their own. For example, a company might want to get more involved in meaningful pro bono work, but has a small legal department and limited resources. The firm’s pro bono group would be able to collaborate with the client to help them further their pro bono initiative by providing them with support and training. Affinity groups can also add value to networking opportunities: people don’t have time to simply network anymore, so providing programs where your in-house team can learn something and network with others is invaluable. When starting an initiative, it’s important to have some small wins to generate excitement about the initiative. As the initiative grows, don’t be afraid to evolve the program based on client’s needs and feedback from folks internally.

Complacency and Responsiveness – Using Innovation to Motivate and Empower Attorneys and Connect with Clients

To round-out the TED-talks, Jennifer Castleberry of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, discussed how her firm uses innovation to motivate and empower attorneys and connect with clients. Her firm has created an innovation initiative, DWT De Novo, that focuses on technology, process improvement and people. When they began the program in 2013, they started by first listening to the client’s pain points, which eventually led to the appointment of a chief innovation partner that promoted the initiative at all of their offices. On this roadshow, they worked with people in the firm to solicit their pain points so they can figure out how best to create an initiative that is focused on addressing everyone’s concerns. In response to these concerns, the firm was able to create several tools that are designed to help placate client concerns. For example, their team developed a template for attorneys to summarize, for the client, how the firm has added value, in some ways that aren’t apparent to them. Attorney’s customize this to their clients so they get a clear picture of their relationship with the firm. They also spent a lot of time listening to what client’s wanted in a client dashboard, and used their input to create a “dashboard of the future”. Their dashboard includes realtime matter tracking, financials, as well as curated pieces that are specific to the client using the dashboard. These tools were designed specifically to provide efficient, transparent, and cost-effective legal services for their clients.

Following the TED talks, the audience broke-out into discussion tables where each table was tasked with coming up with five action items specific to a particular TED talk, and we all came together in the end to share the action items.  Firms should rally their teams to create their own action items so that they are able to better address the myriad of client concerns. Considering these major areas of concern, adding value, credit, succession planning, billing and budgets, communication, managing expectations, and responsiveness, is crucial to creating a positive client experience.

Article By Nicole Cudiamat Minnis
The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

Copyright ©2015 National Law Forum, LLC

Part 2: Influencing the Client Experience – Takeaways from LMA Capital's Half Day Program

On October 29th, a record number of legal marketers attended LMA Capital’s half day program to discuss how to best influence the client experience. Part one discussed how marketers can address a few major concerns of clients: how the firm can add value to the representation, how a firm can build a strong client team to address issues like credit and succession planning, and how to grow client relationships through better scoping and budgeting. This part will wrap up the final three TED-style talks for the program.

Communication and Managing Expectations – Exceed Their Expectations Every Time: How to Communicate with Clients in Good Times and Bad

Mary Panetta, of Blank Rome LLP, took to the podium in her talk about managing client expectations. Understanding the goal of why you are at the table is crucial to understanding client’s expectations. Sometimes the goal of litigation isn’t always to win, sometimes it’s to acquire the client, or to settle. Ms. Panetta emphasized that it’s important to make no assumptions about what the clients goals are; always ask. If partners are not involved in connecting on a daily basis with the clients to find out what is going on at the company, the client is not going to feel like the firm understands their needs and they are not going to come back with return business. Another key point Ms. Panetta hit on is that it’s important to tell the truth about everything, including budgets. For the firm, it’s important to monitor the budget aggressively and if there is an issue or potential overage on the horizon, share the information with the client early and without alarm. Marketers can help the firm’s lawyers in the process as well by understanding what’s at stake and helping deliver the news to the client either by scripting a dialogue or being present when the call needs to be made. Clients are much more amenable to scope changes when they are appropriately notified and walked through what happened. Also, in this market, there is potential for the client to seek out other services that may cut into the work that the law firm does. Ms. Panetta advises firms to embrace these inevitable market disruptors and present them to your client as a collaborative process. This may be counterintuitive to the firm’s bottom line, however, partnering with a disruptor is a way the firm can bring value to the client and builds vast amounts of goodwill.

Affinity Group Initiatives – Developing Client Relationships Through Affinity Groups

When it comes to working with affinity groups in the firm, Dawn Afanador, of Gibbons P.C., reminded the audience that the groups are still client focused. The Women’s Initiative at her firm is focused on educating women and their clients, give back to the community and their client’s causes, mentor their women and their clients, and provide networking opportunities for women and their clients. Ms. Afanador has found that their women’s initiative to be one of their best client relationship building programs. Rather than focus on having bigger events with high attendance, her firm scaled back the size of the events and narrowly focused on areas of law that address their key client’s needs. The intimacy of the smaller programs, such as focused roundtables, succeeded in helping client engagement and presented opportunities for cross marketing. Firm groups also have an opportunity to help their clients with initiatives they may not be able to achieve on their own. For example, a company might want to get more involved in meaningful pro bono work, but has a small legal department and limited resources. The firm’s pro bono group would be able to collaborate with the client to help them further their pro bono initiative by providing them with support and training. Affinity groups can also add value to networking opportunities: people don’t have time to simply network anymore, so providing programs where your in-house team can learn something and network with others is invaluable. When starting an initiative, it’s important to have some small wins to generate excitement about the initiative. As the initiative grows, don’t be afraid to evolve the program based on client’s needs and feedback from folks internally.

Complacency and Responsiveness – Using Innovation to Motivate and Empower Attorneys and Connect with Clients

To round-out the TED-talks, Jennifer Castleberry of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, discussed how her firm uses innovation to motivate and empower attorneys and connect with clients. Her firm has created an innovation initiative, DWT De Novo, that focuses on technology, process improvement and people. When they began the program in 2013, they started by first listening to the client’s pain points, which eventually led to the appointment of a chief innovation partner that promoted the initiative at all of their offices. On this roadshow, they worked with people in the firm to solicit their pain points so they can figure out how best to create an initiative that is focused on addressing everyone’s concerns. In response to these concerns, the firm was able to create several tools that are designed to help placate client concerns. For example, their team developed a template for attorneys to summarize, for the client, how the firm has added value, in some ways that aren’t apparent to them. Attorney’s customize this to their clients so they get a clear picture of their relationship with the firm. They also spent a lot of time listening to what client’s wanted in a client dashboard, and used their input to create a “dashboard of the future”. Their dashboard includes realtime matter tracking, financials, as well as curated pieces that are specific to the client using the dashboard. These tools were designed specifically to provide efficient, transparent, and cost-effective legal services for their clients.

Following the TED talks, the audience broke-out into discussion tables where each table was tasked with coming up with five action items specific to a particular TED talk, and we all came together in the end to share the action items.  Firms should rally their teams to create their own action items so that they are able to better address the myriad of client concerns. Considering these major areas of concern, adding value, credit, succession planning, billing and budgets, communication, managing expectations, and responsiveness, is crucial to creating a positive client experience.

Article By Nicole Cudiamat Minnis
The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

Copyright ©2015 National Law Forum, LLC

Influencing the Client Experience – Takeaways from LMA Capital’s Half Day Program Part 1

The LMA Capital group brought together a record number of legal marketers in the D.C. area on Wednesday, October 29th to discuss how best to positively influence the client experience and foster lasting relationships between their firms and clients. Tara Weintritt, partner at Wicker Park Group, kicked off the program by setting the scene for attendees. In the past, law firms focused on touting their experience and success in handling particular matters. However, Tara elaborated that smart, capable, intelligent lawyers are baseline characteristics. Clients want to know how you can help them and what it’s like to work with you. After speaking with over 1,500 in-house counsel, the folks at Wicker Park Group have been able to identify seven major areas of concern that are consistently at the forefront of these decision-makers’ minds: adding value, credit, succession planning, billing and budgets, communication, managing expectations, and responsiveness. Tara provided direct quotes from actual client interviews as an introduction to attendees, but six thought leaders in the legal marketing industry gave in-depth (but brief!) TED-style talks to really drill down to the heart of why these are concerns for clients, and what can be done to address these concerns.

Adding Value –  Creating a Culture of Strategic Business Intelligence

Gina Lynch, of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, kicked off the first TED talk. Clients want to know how you can add value to the relationship that does not show up on the billing report. This is where competitive intelligence teams are valuable in influencing the client experience. Firms must go above and beyond the requisite skills required for establishing the business relationship, which are thorough writing and analysis skills. The firm counterpart must demonstrate that he or she can understand the complex research.  CI teams must fully understand the work the client does. Ms. Lynch elaborated, “they need to be able to talk like your client, act like your client”. It not enough to present a report to the client. They want to know how this is relevant to them, what their competitors are doing and what their long-term strategy might be. Ms. Lynch also advocates for the CI team to be outside of the marketing department so it can be involved in all aspects of the firm’s relationship with the client: intake/pitch, research, knowledge management and retention. This circles back to the notion that it’s critical to understand the work the client does. Finally, the relationship should be client-focused! This is a no-brainer as members of the team should be living in the client’s world so it can play offense when a problem comes up. If a CI team is strategically informed, it can spot opportunities for growth (or damage control) when a new situation arises.

Credit and Succession Planning – Creating Strong Client and Industry Teams for the Long Term

Ms. Weintritt, at the start, elaborated that a major concern clients have is not being involved in or more aware of transitions within the firm. Tara Derby, of Reed Smith LLP, in the next TED talk, discussed how to mitigate this concern, and ultimately develop a long-term, successful relationship with the client by creating strong client teams. A successful client team will be focused on leadership, collaboration, a proactive and intuitive approach, and strategic client engagement. There are two things that need to be accomplished in order to build a strong client team: 1) the right client relationship leader must be selected, and 2) he or she needs to work hand in hand with the key account manager, or client relationship driver. This leader needs to be organized, efficient, client-facing and engaging. It’s important that the correct leader and team be in place or else service provided to the client will be only mediocre. Teams are only effective when there is a high level of collaboration across the firm, but people that are part of the team need to make a positive impact on the client. Strong client teams are proactive, not reactive, and to do so requires the team to know the client’s needs, culture, and ultimately how they think. Clients will feel understood and listened too because the relationship is 100% centered around their needs.

Billing and Budgets – Doing Your Homework: Strengthening and Growing Client Relationships Through Better Scoping, Budgeting and Risk Assessment

Since the major shift if the legal industry a few years ago, clients have been more cost conscious. As Melissa Prince, of Ballard Spahr, elaborated in her TED talk, the quality of the work matters less than the value the work provides the client. In terms of cost-effectiveness, clients want transparency in the budgeting process and improved budget forecasting, more than the lowest cost. In terms of scoping, it’s important to develop the client relationship to understand the client’s goals and business objects. This means speaking to the client about their needs before the scoping process. The key thing is to put everything in writing: matter phases, tasks, expected deliverables, proposed timelines and deadlines, responsible time keepers, etc. It’s also key to identify assumptions, that is, to identify what is and what is not going to be included in the matter. In terms of budgeting, use historic financial data to identify ways to improve efficiency. The budget should also be documented in writing as specifically as possible. It should include metrics such as hours work, type of work, who will be completing the task, identifies different hourly rates, and outlines low and high estimates, as well as start and end dates. To preserve a positive client relationship, any overages that arise should be communicated as early as possible. Properly managing their expectations for the scope and budget of the representation will help improve the firm’s efficiency, but also deepen their relationship with the client.

Stay tuned for part 2 of LMA Capital’s Half Day Program.

Article By Nicole Cudiamat Minnis
The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

Influencing the Client Experience – Takeaways from LMA Capital's Half Day Program Part 1

The LMA Capital group brought together a record number of legal marketers in the D.C. area on Wednesday, October 29th to discuss how best to positively influence the client experience and foster lasting relationships between their firms and clients. Tara Weintritt, partner at Wicker Park Group, kicked off the program by setting the scene for attendees. In the past, law firms focused on touting their experience and success in handling particular matters. However, Tara elaborated that smart, capable, intelligent lawyers are baseline characteristics. Clients want to know how you can help them and what it’s like to work with you. After speaking with over 1,500 in-house counsel, the folks at Wicker Park Group have been able to identify seven major areas of concern that are consistently at the forefront of these decision-makers’ minds: adding value, credit, succession planning, billing and budgets, communication, managing expectations, and responsiveness. Tara provided direct quotes from actual client interviews as an introduction to attendees, but six thought leaders in the legal marketing industry gave in-depth (but brief!) TED-style talks to really drill down to the heart of why these are concerns for clients, and what can be done to address these concerns.

Adding Value –  Creating a Culture of Strategic Business Intelligence

Gina Lynch, of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, kicked off the first TED talk. Clients want to know how you can add value to the relationship that does not show up on the billing report. This is where competitive intelligence teams are valuable in influencing the client experience. Firms must go above and beyond the requisite skills required for establishing the business relationship, which are thorough writing and analysis skills. The firm counterpart must demonstrate that he or she can understand the complex research.  CI teams must fully understand the work the client does. Ms. Lynch elaborated, “they need to be able to talk like your client, act like your client”. It not enough to present a report to the client. They want to know how this is relevant to them, what their competitors are doing and what their long-term strategy might be. Ms. Lynch also advocates for the CI team to be outside of the marketing department so it can be involved in all aspects of the firm’s relationship with the client: intake/pitch, research, knowledge management and retention. This circles back to the notion that it’s critical to understand the work the client does. Finally, the relationship should be client-focused! This is a no-brainer as members of the team should be living in the client’s world so it can play offense when a problem comes up. If a CI team is strategically informed, it can spot opportunities for growth (or damage control) when a new situation arises.

Credit and Succession Planning – Creating Strong Client and Industry Teams for the Long Term

Ms. Weintritt, at the start, elaborated that a major concern clients have is not being involved in or more aware of transitions within the firm. Tara Derby, of Reed Smith LLP, in the next TED talk, discussed how to mitigate this concern, and ultimately develop a long-term, successful relationship with the client by creating strong client teams. A successful client team will be focused on leadership, collaboration, a proactive and intuitive approach, and strategic client engagement. There are two things that need to be accomplished in order to build a strong client team: 1) the right client relationship leader must be selected, and 2) he or she needs to work hand in hand with the key account manager, or client relationship driver. This leader needs to be organized, efficient, client-facing and engaging. It’s important that the correct leader and team be in place or else service provided to the client will be only mediocre. Teams are only effective when there is a high level of collaboration across the firm, but people that are part of the team need to make a positive impact on the client. Strong client teams are proactive, not reactive, and to do so requires the team to know the client’s needs, culture, and ultimately how they think. Clients will feel understood and listened too because the relationship is 100% centered around their needs.

Billing and Budgets – Doing Your Homework: Strengthening and Growing Client Relationships Through Better Scoping, Budgeting and Risk Assessment

Since the major shift if the legal industry a few years ago, clients have been more cost conscious. As Melissa Prince, of Ballard Spahr, elaborated in her TED talk, the quality of the work matters less than the value the work provides the client. In terms of cost-effectiveness, clients want transparency in the budgeting process and improved budget forecasting, more than the lowest cost. In terms of scoping, it’s important to develop the client relationship to understand the client’s goals and business objects. This means speaking to the client about their needs before the scoping process. The key thing is to put everything in writing: matter phases, tasks, expected deliverables, proposed timelines and deadlines, responsible time keepers, etc. It’s also key to identify assumptions, that is, to identify what is and what is not going to be included in the matter. In terms of budgeting, use historic financial data to identify ways to improve efficiency. The budget should also be documented in writing as specifically as possible. It should include metrics such as hours work, type of work, who will be completing the task, identifies different hourly rates, and outlines low and high estimates, as well as start and end dates. To preserve a positive client relationship, any overages that arise should be communicated as early as possible. Properly managing their expectations for the scope and budget of the representation will help improve the firm’s efficiency, but also deepen their relationship with the client.

Stay tuned for part 2 of LMA Capital’s Half Day Program.

Article By Nicole Cudiamat Minnis
The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

California Political Contribution Case That 19 Law Professors Missed

Earlier this week, I wrote about an amicus curiae brief submitted by 19 law school professors Friedrichs v. Cal. Teachers Ass’n, a case now pending before the United States Supreme Court.  In particular, I questioned whether these academics properly described the holding Finley v. Superior Court, 80 Cal. App. 4th 1152 (2000).  The professors claimed that the case represented a “rare example” of a court holding that the business judgment rule is a defense to an attack on a corporate contribution.  In fact, the reported holding in the case was that the business judgment rule was a defense to the decision of a special litigation committee.

The 19 law professors also incorrectly described the holding in another California case, Barnes v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 16 Cal. App. 4th 365 (1993) (“claim by policyholder of mutual insurance company seeking to stop insurer from engaging in political activities dismissed because the decision was protected by the business judgment rule . . .”).  Although the Court of Appeal did invoke the business judgment rule in Barnes, it did so in the context of the policyholder’s separate claim that the company was maintaining too large a surplus.  The policyholder’s challenge to political expenditures was made on constitutional grounds and the Court of Appeal’s analysis of that claim did not involve the business judgment rule.

Even though the law professors erroneously cited Finley and Barnes, I do believe that courts should, and do, apply the business judgment rule to director decisions to make political and other contributions.  In fact, the professors overlooked one California case in which the court expressly deferred to the business judgment of the directors. Marsili v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., 51 Cal. App. 3d 313 (1975) was a derivative suit challenging the propriety of a political contribution.  Here’s what the Court of Appeal had to say:

Neither the court nor minority shareholders can substitute their judgment for that of the corporation “where its board has acted in good faith and used its best business judgment in behalf of the corporation.”

Quoting Olson v. Basin Oil Co., (1955) 136 Cal.App.2d 543, 559-560 (1955).

Article By Keith Paul Bishop of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP

© 2010-2015 Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP

December Visa Bulletin Shows Little Movement But Contains Projections for Future Movement

The Department of State’s (“DOS”) December 2015 Visa Bulletin showed minor movements in the employment-based visa categories.  The most significant movement was in the Indian EB-2 category which advanced  by 10 months to June 1, 2007.  All other employment-based categories showed slow advances by few weeks, except for Mainland China EB-3 and Other Worker categories that advanced by 10 weeks to April 15, 2012, and by 12 weeks to August 1, 2006, respectively.  There was no movement in the Dates for Filing in the employment-based categories.

The December Visa Bulletin contained the following additional information:

  1. The Bulletin advised about the upcoming scheduled expiration of the non-minister special immigrant program and the immigrant investor pilot program (“EB-5 Visas”) on December 11, 2015, unless Congress acts to extended these programs.

  1. The Bulletin contained a prognosis of visa movement in the coming months.  For the employment-based visa categories, possible movements are as follows:

  1. EB-2 China:  Little or no movement

  2. EB-2 India:   Up to eight months

  3. EB-3 China:  Rapid forward movement with possible “corrective” action as early as April, 2016

  4. EB-3 India:  Up to three weeks

  5. EB-3 Philippines:  Four to six weeks

  6. EB-5 China:  Slow forward movement

  1. New 9 FAM-e.  The Visa Bulletin announced that on November 18, 2015, the printed Volume 9 of the Foreign Affairs Manual will be replaced by the 9 FAM-e and as of that date the e-version will become the authoritative source for visa guidance.  The new e-version overhauls language and organization of Volume 9 of the FAM, but does not alter the substance of the old printed version.

Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases

december visa bulletin

Dates for Filing of Employment-Based Visa Applications 

december visa bulletin

Article By Shaoul Aslan of Greenberg Traurig, LLP
©2015 Greenberg Traurig, LLP. All rights reserved.

Ford UAW Workers Defy Logic Of Ricky Bobby With New Tentative Agreement

If you ain’t first, you’re last. Not so, say the Ford UAW workers whose bargaining committee recently reached a new tentative agreement with Ford. While Ford was the last to reach a tentative agreement with the UAW, if the membership ratifies the tentative agreement, the UAW workers at Ford stand to receive a better overall deal than their counterparts at Fiat Chrysler and GM. Highlights of the tentative agreement with Ford include:

  • Investment of $9 billion in the U.S. by Ford over the life of the agreement;

  • $8,500 ratification bonus along with a $1,500 profit-sharing prepayment;

  • Entry level employees can progress to the Tier 1 wage rates within 8 years; and

  • $70,000 retirement incentive for eligible employees.

As with the ratification process for Fiat Chrysler and GM, the UAW membership at Ford will now be asked to vote in the coming days to approve the tentative agreement. The fact that the Ford tentative agreement is already better than the tentative agreements with Fiat Chrysler and GM should aid in the ratification process. Additionally, the UAW has already seen firsthand what works and what does not when it comes to seeking ratification of a tentative agreement in the current automotive climate.

While the bargaining process at Ford seems to be headed in the right direction, GM is still waiting to announce the ratification of its tentative agreement with the UAW. Despite a majority of the hourly production workers supporting the tentative agreement, a majority of the skilled-trades workers voted “no.” Based on the UAW’s constitution, the UAW is required to meet with the skilled-trades members to hear their complaints. Those meetings began this week. We will have to wait and see if the UAW attempts to go back to the bargaining table based on the issues raised by the skilled-trades workers.

Article By Michael W. Groebe of Foley & Lardner LLP

© 2015 Foley & Lardner LLP

Branding Challenges: Law Firm vs. Individual Attorneys

As a legal marketer, the challenge of marketing your law firm versus individual attorneys is an ongoing struggle. We have all been in a meeting with a firm’s “rainmaker” who wants to place an ad or produce a handout that doesn’t look like the other materials the firm has produced. Instead, he wants his piece to be different and to “stand out” from the law firm’s brand.

As a marketer, this goes against all we know about brand consistency, including the use of a firm’s logo, fonts, colors and the overall messaging of the law firm.

Which Brand Comes First?

The issues related to law firm brands versus attorney brands parallel the age-old question: “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?” After all, a law firm cannot exist without attorneys. The fact is, most firms started out with one or two attorneys who had a growing reputation that the firm was built on. As more attorneys were added, the reputation of those attorneys enabled it to continue to grow. However, without a solid brand for the firm, relying on the reputations of the firm’s founders can damage an individual attorney’s ability to attract larger clients with needs that span practice areas.

The reality is that both the firm and its attorneys need to have a symbiotic relationship that balances the individual attorney’s brand and the overall firm brand. Both the marketing professional and the attorney need to relax their egos some and come to an agreeable understanding. Some issues can be averted with pre-planning and tweaking of the firm’s brand guidelines and marketing materials to allow for more flexibility while still maintaining a degree of consistency.

Balancing Brands

Competition is fierce in today’s legal market, so it’s important to have a strong firmwide brand that represents the sum of all the law firm’s parts, including its reputation in the marketplace, its core competencies, its key differentiators, and the experience of its attorneys and the support staff that keep all the wheels in motion. But what room is left to insert visual elements that represent the brand of an individual attorney?

Some brand guidelines are overly rigid, making it impossible to balance the firm’s brand with an attorney’s brand. If this is your case, consider taking a new look at how you can adjust these guidelines to allow for some additional flexibility.

Tweaking Your Guidelines

A firm’s identity is conveyed through its branding elements, such as:

  • The firm logo

  • Brand color

  • Type font

The use of these items is a must to convey the relationship between the attorney and the firm. They create a very strong brand consistency and should be used as much as possible to create an immediate recognition of your firm and brand message. But there can and should be flexibility in their use that includes relocating the standard placement of the logo or use of a secondary color.

More flexibility can also be given to components like photo imagery and other graphic elements These will allow for more personalization of the piece while maintaining consistency across the core brand elements.

Finally, another way to add flexibility to your branding is to create a standard footer on all ads or printed materials that allow for greater personalization across the rest of the collateral.

Adding Flexibility to Your Website

The law firm’s website is an integral marketing and branding tool. It also should be flexible enough to allow attorneys and practice areas to promote themselves in a way that makes sense for their particular markets.

Can attorneys post a blog, upload video content or add photos that will market themselves or their practice areas without interfering with the law firm brand’s use across the site? If not, this is something that needs to be addressed the next time you go through a website revision.

Using Social Media for Your Personal Brand

If you’re looking to promote your personal brand, look no further than social media. Social media is the perfect brand builder for individual attorneys. Lawyers can share blog posts and post other relevant information pertinent to their practice areas.

Not all social channels may fit your personal brand, so enlist your firm’s marketing personnel to help you define what channels are the best fit for you. Remember to maintain consistency across all networks by using the same profile picture. In addition, some social channels work best if you post once or twice a week, while others may require more regular attention. And remember to know your firm’s guidelines as well as your respective state bar association’s rules on social media use. Some actions can be construed as “advertising” and thus are subject to association guidelines.

Law is a professional service. That means that a large part of the decision-making process that determines whether a client hires you or someone else is how much they connect with you as an individual. The way you shape this identity is by honing your personal brand. So attorneys and law firms need to take their brands seriously and figure out how to strike a balance between the firm’s image and that of its individual attorneys.

Article By Alan E. Singles of Jaffe

© Copyright 2008-2015, Jaffe Associates

In three weeks! Attend the 3rd Annual Bank & Capital Markets Tax Institute West – December 3-4 in San Diego

When: December 3-4, 2015
Where: The Westin San Diego, San Diego, California

Register today!

We are proud to announce that BTI West will be coming back for a third year! For 49 years the annual BTI East in Orlando has provided bank and tax professionals from financial institutions and accounting firms in-depth analysis and practical solutions to the most pressing issues facing the industry, and from now on professionals on the west coast can expect the same benefits on a regular basis.The tax landscape is continually changing; you need to know how these changes affect your organization and identify the most efficient and effective plan of action. At BTI West you will have access to the same exceptional content, networking opportunities and educational value that have made the annual BTI East the benchmark event for this industry.

In an industry that thrives on both coasts, we will continue to offer exceptional educational and networking opportunities to ALL of the hard-working banking and tax professionals across the country. Join us at the 2nd Annual Bank and Capital Markets Tax Institute WEST, where essential updates will be provided on key industry topics such as General Banking, Community Banking, GAAP, Tax and Regulatory Reporting, and much more.

The Bank Tax & Capital Markets Institute Conference – West will feature a full one-day program consisting of keynote presentation, deep-dive technical sessions, and peer exchange and networking time.