Tag: Legal Marketing

March 2023 Legal Industry News Highlights: Law Firm Hiring News, Industry Awards and Recognition, and the Latest Updates in Diversity and Inclusion

Welcome back to another edition of the National Law Review’s legal industry news roundup. We hope you are remaining safe, happy, and healthy! Please read on below for the latest in law firm hiring and expansion news, key industry awards and recognition, and a spotlight on important diversity, equity, and inclusion updates!

Law Firm Hiring and Expansion

Joanna Horsnail has been named managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Chicago office, effective February 28, 2023. Her appointment marks the fourth consecutive female leader for the firm’s largest office. Ms. Horsnail’s practice has primarily focused on advising clients on key transformational deals, primarily in the City of Chicago and State of Illinois. Most notably, she counseled on the deal securing the James R. Thompson Center as the corporate headquarters for Google, and has also previously worked with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and other public and not-for-profit organizations.

“Joanna’s well-earned reputation for professional excellence, coupled with her outstanding profile in the Chicago community make her an exceptional choice to lead the office,” said firm chair Jon Van Gorp. “Her natural charisma, approachability as a mentor to many and vision for the office will make her an inspirational and hugely successful leader. I look forward to working closely with her to achieve the growth and development objectives that the firm has for this office, which is where I started my career at Mayer Brown.”

“I’m delighted to be named office managing partner,” said Ms. Horsnail. “I have such tremendous enthusiasm for both Mayer Brown and this office and look forward to guiding the office as we continue our success in Chicago.”

Morten Lund has joined Foley & Lardner’s San Diego office as an of counsel in the Finance Practice Group. Mr. Lund has more than 25 years of experience advising developers, lenders, investors, and other project participants and has extensive experience in the energy sector.

Mr. Lund’s practice has primarily focused on solar energy and energy storage projects. His range of project experience also includes wind energy projects, combustion generator projects, nuclear energy facilities, hydroelectric facilities, cogeneration facilities, chemical facilities, forestry/paper facilities, large aircraft, and shipping fleets. He earned his JD from Yale University.

Eversheds Sutherland has added Megan K. Hall to their Tax Practice Group as a partner. Ms. Hall, located in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, further strengthens the firm’s international tax capabilities, focusing chiefly on transactional matters, cross-border employment and global mobility. She has previously worked with clients including multinational corporations on international tax matters, including the tax aspects of acquisitions, mergers, internal restructurings and business formations.

“I’m very excited to welcome Megan to the team and know she will add depth to our international tax practice,” said Robert S. Chase, US Tax Practice Group Leader. “Megan’s familiarity with cross-border operational structures and the tax considerations relevant to operating a multinational business enhances the firm’s ability to support clients in an area of increased focus for international tax authorities. The firm’s global footprint will provide a unique opportunity to enhance support to her international network.”

Jeremiah Kelly and Justin Coen have joined Venable LLP as partners in the firm’s FDA Group. Mr. Kelly’s practice concentrates on the FDA’s complex regulatory framework, helping clients with product development, application, and compliance for drugs, biologics, medical devices, and combination products. Mr. Coen’s practice focuses on guiding companies through FDA regulations related to drug, biologic, and device development, advising them on every stage of product development and commercialization.

Claudia A. Lewis, a co-chair of the firm’s FDA Group, said, “Venable has established itself among the premier practices in the FDA regulatory space and is regularly called upon to handle a myriad of issues involving the development and marketing of products regulated by the FDA. With the addition of Jeremiah and Justin, our services now include robust legal capabilities for companies navigating the FDA regulatory framework to commercialize drugs, biologics, devices, and combination products, among other product categories.”

Legal Industry Awards and Recognition

Janet Wagner, principal in the Banking practice at Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., has been accepted as a fellow of the respected American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA) for 2023. Fellows of ACMA, which is composed of lawyers in North America who are authorities in mortgage law, seeks to give back to their profession, improving and reforming laws and procedures affecting real estate secured transactions and raising the level of performance of lawyers practicing in this area. Candidates are recommended each year and are selected after thorough review of their qualifications and achievements.

Ms. Wagner primarily focuses her practice on banking and commercial financing transactions, providing key counsel to commercial banks, credit unions, institutional lenders, insurance companies and other lenders. Previously, she has represented lenders involving a variety of classes of real estate in states across the country on acquisitions, refinancing and construction loans.

The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) has named Lawrence J. Buckfire to their prestigious Preferred Attorneys Program. The objective of the Preferred Attorneys Program is to offer a credible, diverse listing of outstanding attorneys to be used as a resource for both referring attorneys and individuals with brain injury, their family members/caregivers, and others seeking legal counsel. BIAA Preferred Attorneys are selected for their demonstrated legal credentials and their knowledge of the physical, cognitive, emotional, and financial tolls a brain injury inflicts.

Mr. Buckfire has consistently demonstrated skill and ability in representing those affected by a brain injury. He is the lead trial attorney and managing partner at Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. His practice focuses primarily on child lead paint poisoning, wrongful death, nursing home neglect, medical malpractice, and other serious injury cases.

Adam Beaudoin of Ward and Smith has been chosen to serve as President-Elect of the Board of Directors for the Community Associations Institute of North Carolina (CAI-NC). The Community Associations Institute seeks to promote and strengthen community associations, focusing on education and resources for homeowners, volunteers, and professional managers.

Mr. Beaudoin brings extensive experience to his new role with CAI-NC, having previously practiced community associations law for nearly two decades. He is the Co-Chair of Ward and Smith‘s Community Associations Practice Group, and he has been a CAI-NC member since 2006. He has presented at several local and national CAI events, served on the Legislative Action Committee, and was a board member prior to his election.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion News

Katten Health Care Partner and Deputy General Counsel Kenya Woodruff has been profiled as a Leader in Diversity by the Dallas Business Journal. Ms. Woodruff is the National Chair of Katten’s Diversity Committee Women’s Leadership Forum, where she leads efforts to provide women attorneys with the professional tools and support to take their rightful place as leaders in law.

“I’m particularly proud of the professional development programming we have offered through the Women’s Leadership Forum to help empower our female attorneys at the firm and give them the skills needed to advance in their careers,” says Ms. Woodruff.

Woodruff’s practice centers around the healthcare industry, where she uses her legal, business, and regulatory expertise to support successful clinical operations and corporate transactions. She has previously worked as Deputy General Counsel for Parkland Health & Hospital System and Privacy Officer for a publicly traded radiology company.

Three Barnes and Thornburg attorneys will represent the firm in two 2023 Leadership Council for Legal Diversity Programs. Adetayo Osuntogun, Partner at the D.C. office, will join LCLD’s Fellows Program, a year-long training program focused on relationship-building and leadership skill development. Indianapolis Associate Alyssa Hughes and Los Angeles Associate Mihran Yezbekyan are joining the LCLD Pathfinders Program, which gives early career professionals the chance to develop tools related to leadership, career development, and professional networking.

Mr. Osuntogun is an international trade law expert focused on helping businesses handle global commerce matters related to trade policy, customs, imports, economic sanctions, export laws, and more. He is active with Alpha Phi Alpha, the Diverse Associates Network, and the National Bar Association. Ms. Hughes, who The Best Lawyers in America listed as one of 2023’s “Ones to Watch,” works in the Litigation Department on matters related to government and internal investigations, corporate criminal defense, and general commercial disputes. Mr. Yezbekyan also works in the Litigation Department, handling product liability, mass torts, and consumer class actions. Outside of the office, he volunteers with the Los Angeles County Bar Association Judicial Elections Evaluation Committee.

“LCLD has been a long-standing partner of Barnes & Thornburg. Their pathfinder and fellow programs align with our mission to position all of our talent to win,” said Dawn R. Rosemond, firm diversity partner. “We know that these programs will only further elevate Adetayo, Alyssa and Mihran’s professional practice and presence.”

Stanley Blackmon, Partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings’ Birmingham office, has also been selected to be a 2023 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow. The program will provide alumni networks, mentoring, accountability partners, leadership lunches, and class meetings to advance his legal diversity efforts and help others to do the same. LCLD Fellows are selected for their leadership, engagement, and commitment to diversity and inclusion, which Mr. Blackmon demonstrates through his active pro bono practice and involvement with the Birmingham Bar Association as President of the Young Lawyers’ Section, the Magic City Bar Association as an Executive Committee Member, the Alabama Standing Committee on Rules of Appellate Procedure, and the American Bar Association.

“We congratulate Stanley on his selection as an LCLD Fellow,” said Bradley Director of Inclusion and Diversity George D. Medlock, Jr. “Since Bradley joined LCLD in 2020, we have been proud to participate in and support the LCLD’s programs, which help prepare future generations of diverse talent for the highest positions of legal leadership.”

Article By Chandler Ford and Crissonna Tennison of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

For more legal marketing news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright ©2023 National Law Forum, LLC

B.S.ing with Bob Major [PODCAST]

When Bob Major founded Major, Lindsey & Africa in 1982, he could not have envisioned what the organization would become and the impact it would have on the legal profession. In this episode of B.S.: Beyond Stereotypes, Bob shares his journey with Merle Vaughn, including his childhood in Texas and Oklahoma, his Stanford education, and how both influenced his outlook on life personally and professionally.

Bob Major, founder and Partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa, grew up in Texas and Oklahoma. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and attended The University of Texas at Austin where he received a J.D. degree. Bob spent five years at the Washington, D.C., firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) practicing in its federal administrative practice. Prior to founding his own legal recruiting firm, he spent a year in-house as securities counsel at Saga Corporation (Menlo Park, California).

Article By Merle Vaughn of Major Lindsey & Africa

For more law office management legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2023 Major, Lindsey & Africa, an Allegis Group Company. All rights reserved.

December 2022 Legal Industry News Highlights: Law Firm Hiring and Growth, End-of-Year Industry Awards, and Diversity and Inclusion News Updates

Happy New Year from the National Law Review! We hope you are remaining happy, safe, and healthy as 2022 ends and 2023 begins. We thank you for all the time you’ve spent with us this past year, and we are looking forward to an even brighter year coming up!

In case you missed it, be sure to check out the National Law Review’s 2022 Go-To Thought Leadership Awards, which recognizes around 75 noteworthy thought leaders that have published with the NLR in the past year. Awardees have been selected for their high-quality writing, timely publication, and wide readerships! The NLR’s thought leadership awards go to a small subsection of our talented contributing authors, and we sincerely appreciate their part in providing the legal community a free to use, reliable news source.

Finally, please be sure to check out this year’s final episode of our Legal News Reach podcast: Creating A Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Work Environment with Stacey Sublett Halliday of Beveridge & Diamond! Also, a big shout out to Crissonna Tennison and Shelby Garrett for taking on the hosting duties of the NLR’s podcast.

Law Firm Hiring and Expansion

Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP (DGS) has announced the addition of six new partners: Andrea M. Bronson, who focuses her practice on environmental law and litigation; Nathan J. Goergen, who focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions; Jonathan M. Goldstein, who focuses his practice on real estate law; Almira Moronne, who focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions and financing; Alena Prokop, who focuses her practice on executive and equity compensation; and Daniel A. Richards, who focuses his practice on complex civil litigation.

“These six attorneys have shown an impressive level of dedication to the firm and to the community we serve,” said Davis Graham & Stubbs Co-Managing Partner Kristin L. Lentz. “Their professionalism, experience, and commitment to our clients make them valuable additions to the firm’s partnership. We wish them all the best in this exciting next chapter in their careers as lawyers at DGS.”

Rob McFadden has joined Hill Ward Henderson as Senior Counsel. A commercial real estate attorney, Mr. McFadden’s practice is primarily focused on representing clients in commercial development work with an emphasis on retail, office, industrial and ground leases. He provides clients with practical advice and solutions that safeguard their interests while furthering their business objectives.

Hill Ward Henderson has also added four new associates: Ana Abado, who focuses her practice on general commercial litigation; Ezichi Chukwu, who focuses her practices on commercial leasing and real estate acquisitions; Matthew Kelly, who focuses his practice on real estate transactions and development agreements; and Tyler Miller, who focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and private equity.

Laquan T. Lightfoot has joined Goldberg Segalla’s Transportation and Civil Litigation and Trial groups in Philadelphia. Ms. Lightfoot focuses her practice on a wide array of civil litigation matters, with a particular focus on transportation law. She has also formerly litigated in a variety of fields, including product liability, premises liability, premises security, motor vehicle accident, catastrophic injury, and employment law matters.

In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Lightfoot serves as an arbitrator with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Compulsory Arbitration Program adjudicating various civil disputes. Before entering private practice, Lightfoot served as an assistant district attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where she was assigned to Major Trials of the Southwest Division.

Blank Rome LLP has added twelve new partners, as well as four new counsel, effective as of January 1st, 2023. The following attorneys were selected:

“We are thrilled to announce our firm’s 2023 elevated class,” said Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s Managing Partner and CEO. “This group’s demonstrated talent, stellar client service, diverse backgrounds, and collaborative leadership and teamwork in their respective practice areas reflects Blank Rome’s commitment to recruiting, supporting, and advancing talented attorneys who will not only help our firm continue to grow and succeed, but also elevate the next successful generation of legal industry professionals.

Awards and Recognition for Law Firms

Sean C. Griffin, a member at Dykema Gossett PLLC in Washington, D.C., has joined the International Association of Defense Counsel, a highly-recognized, invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests. Mr. Griffin, a former trial attorney for the Department of Justice, represents government contractors, law firms, construction companies, and other businesses in complicated contract litigation. He additionally serves as the senior director at the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel.

“I look forward to my membership with the IADC and the opportunity to contribute to this global association of preeminent attorneys,” Mr. Griffin said. “I am excited to meet my fellow members.”

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP attorney Roger Lee has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal in its annual list of “Leaders of Influence: Thriving in Their 40s.” The list, which specifically honors leading business professionals between the ages of 40 and 49, covers Mr. Lee’s noteworthy representation of Bushfire Kitchen in its new partnership with leading private investment firm CapitalSpring to fuel Bushfire’s growth in Southern California and beyond.

Mr. Lee is senior counsel at Stubbs Alderton & Markiles. His practice is primarily focused on advising emerging growth and middle market companies in a wide variety of transactions, including buy and sell side mergers and acquisitions, mezzanine and senior debt financing transactions, and asset-based financing transactions. Notably, Mr. Lee was also recognized as a 2022 Go-To Thought Leader by the National Law Review for his coverage of President Biden’s Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act.

John Rolecki of Varnum LLP has been named to the Privacy Bar Section Advisory Board for the International Association of Privacy Professionals, a not-for-profit association committed to providing a forum for privacy professionals. As the world’s largest information privacy organization, the IAPP is dedicated to defining, promoting, and improving the privacy profession globally by allowing professionals to share best practices, track trends, and advance privacy management issues.

Mr. Rolecki is a partner in Varnum’s Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice. Primarily, he advises leading technology companies on emerging domestic and international data privacy regulations, and additionally provides counsel on matters such as data breach responses and ransomware situations.

Legal Industry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion News

Emily Burkhardt Vicente, a labor and employment partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth, and Jane Hinton, a real estate investment and finance partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth, were recognized as 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Visionaries in The Los Angeles Times’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility magazine. This publication recognizes diverse business leaders who inspire change and exhibit achievements both within their organizations and the community at large through actionable programs and initiatives impacting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

Ms. Hinton focuses her practice primarily on real estate transactions, which includes joint ventures, acquisitions, and leasing and portfolio property management. She places a particular emphasis on structuring debt and equity transactions. Ms. Vicente co-chairs the firm’s labor and employment group, focusing her practice primarily on complex employment litigation (such as California and FLSA wage and hour class and collective actions), PAGA actions, and employment discrimination class actions.

Recently, a number of lawyers and legal professionals have been named to the Lawyers of Color 2022 Hot List. Four attorneys at Foley & Lardner LLP have been named to the list, including partner Senayt Rahwa, senior counsel Olivia Singelmann, and associates Elizabeth Nevle and Jennifer Park. The publication is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting diversity in the legal profession, as well as advancing democracy and equality in marginalized communities.

Ms. Rahwa and Ms. Singelmann are both located in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Ms. Rahwa focuses her practice on finance and financial institutions, whereas Ms. Singelman focuses her practice on government enforcement defense, investigations, and business litigation. Ms. Nevle, located in the firm’s Houston office, focuses her practice on business litigation and dispute resolution. Ms. Park, located in the firm’s Chicago office, focuses her practice on business litigation and dispute resolution as well.

Katten’s Fabiola Valenzuela has also been added to the Lawyers of Color 2022 Hot List. Ms. Valenzuela concentrates her practice on structuring, negotiating and documenting business transactions, previously representing companies and investors through the entire corporate life cycle. She places particular focus on formations, mergers, acquisitions, venture capital financings, and corporate governance.

At the firm, Ms. Valenzuela also maintains an active pro bono practice, handling, among other matters, cases involving minors in federal immigration and deportation proceedings.

Moore & Van Allen’s (MVA) Jules W. Carter has also been named to the 2022 Lawyers of Color Hot List. Located in the firm’s Charlotte office, Ms. Carter concentrates on financial regulatory compliance issues, helping clients navigate complex regulatory environments and pursue business strategies that balance innovation with risk-awareness.

“Making the Lawyers of Color Annual Hot List is a prestigious and well-deserved honor for Jules,” said Thomas L. Mitchell, MVA’s managing partner and chair of the firm’s Management Committee. “We are proud of Jules’ commitment to provide sophisticated litigation and regulatory services to our clients, and grateful for her leadership as the chair of the firm’s Black Attorney Resource Group.”

Article By Chandler Ford of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

For more business of law legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

An Essential Guide to Become a Paralegal

Paralegals are the backbone of the legal industry. By supporting lawyers and managing their day-to-day tasks, paralegals ensure that the law firm runs smoothly and efficiently.

If you’re interested in becoming a paralegal or want to strengthen your skills, continue reading to learn more about this growing field, the job responsibilities, and what you can do to position yourself for success.

What Is a Paralegal?

A paralegal is a professional in the legal field who performs tasks that require knowledge of the law and legal concepts but not to the full extent of a lawyer licensed to practice law. As part of the support staff, a paralegal is working to enhance a lawyer’s work, and the lawyer takes full responsibility for that work produced.

What Do Paralegals Do?

Paralegals assist lawyers with legal cases by researching and preparing reports for lawyers to use in their work. They’re not permitted to work alone and must be under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Paralegals may work in many legal settings, including law firms, nonprofits, and government agencies, but their duties may include:

  • Investigating information about a case

  • Researching information about a case

  • Interviewing witnesses

  • Researching and learning about regulations and laws

  • Writing reports

  • Maintaining a database of records related to each case

  • Drafting letters, documents, and emails

  • Acquiring affidavits for court

  • Helping to draft legal arguments

  • Corresponding with clients

  • Preparing wills, real estate contracts, divorce decrees, and other civil documents

The duties of a paralegal can vary according to the environment in which they work. They can work within an area of practice, just like lawyers do, with different duties. For example, they may work in probate, immigration, litigation, intellectual property, or corporate law.

Is Paralegal Work Difficult?

The legal field is high pressure, high stakes, and driven by deadlines, and not just for lawyers. Working as a paralegal has its perks, but it can be stressful and demanding. Clients trust in the lawyer to protect their best interests, and that lawyer is depending on the paralegal to make that possible.

What Skills Should a Paralegal Have?

Paralegals have a variety of hard and soft skills, including:

  • Communication: Paralegals must communicate with lawyers, clients, court officials, witnesses, government officials, and insurance companies in both verbal and written correspondence.

  • Investigative Skills: A lot of paralegal work involves researching, analyzing, and seeking out information to assist lawyers. Paralegals must have attention to detail and a good eye for discerning relevant facts.

  • Teamwork: Paralegals don’t work alone. They must interact with other paralegals, legal assistants, secretaries, and lawyers throughout the day, so teamwork is essential.

  • Time Management: Much of the legal field revolves around good time management, and not just for lawyers. Paralegals have to adhere to deadlines and complete tasks in a timely manner, knowing how to prioritize appropriately.

  • Technology Skills: Paralegals use technology to complete their work, often using word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation software. Many law firms use law practice management software, which paralegals must also learn to use effectively.

How Do You Become a Paralegal?

Paralegals are not licensed on the national level, so there are no federal standards for the profession. Only a few states regulate the profession on the state level. Instead, the employers establish the hiring standards and require some formal education.

The options for paralegal education or training include:

Associate Degree

An associate degree takes about two years to complete and requires a high school diploma. Some schools may have additional admissions requirements.

Bachelor’s Degree

A bachelor’s degree in legal studies, paralegal studies, or similar fields is appropriate for paralegal education. Typically, bachelor’s degrees take four years to complete. According to the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA), more employers are placing an emphasis on earning a bachelor’s degree.

Master’s Degree

If you have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in legal studies (MLS) is a good choice to increase your knowledge in skills like negotiation, employment law, legal writing, and intellectual property law. This not only deepens the skill set for a paralegal, but it offers a broader scope of work as a legal professional.

Paralegal certification is another option to either replace a degree program or enhance it. The NFPA recommends achieving a paralegal certification to enhance employment prospects. There are several options available from the National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA), including a Certified Paralegal, an Advanced Certified Paralegal, and a Professional Paralegal certification.

Several schools also offer certification programs for paralegal work, though it’s important to research carefully to ensure you’re getting a certification that will benefit you professionally.

Are There Different Requirements in Each State to Become a Paralegal?

Generally, paralegals don’t have to meet any state licensing requirements, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Professional certification or degrees at the national and regional level is voluntary.

That said, state governments have no restrictions from establishing their own rules, and a few states have chosen to regulate the paralegal profession closely.

According to the American Bar Association, California has restrictions for workers using the title “paralegal,” as well as “freelance paralegal,” “contract paralegal,” “independent paralegal,” “legal assistant,” and “attorney assistant.” These rules prohibit paralegals from engaging in certain activities, including representing clients in court or giving legal advice. They also have minimum education and experience requirements, as well as continuing education requirements.

In addition, both Washington and Utah require licensing for paralegals and non-attorney roles in the legal field. This doesn’t mean these paralegals must be licensed to work, but that highly educated and experienced paralegals can become credentialed to perform a broader scope of legal work.

Outlook of Paralegals

According to the BLS, the median annual wage for paralegals and legal assistants was $56,230 as of May 2021. Employment of paralegals and legal assistants is projected to grow 14% from 2021 to 2031, which is a faster rate than all occupations. About 45,800 openings for these roles are projected each year, on average, over the next decades.

Since the recession, law firms have been making changes to become more efficient and competitive, which may include expanding the scope of work for paralegals. Other institutions also recognize the benefits of workers with legal training, such as government agencies and banks.

Since then, there’s been a rising demand for paralegals — particularly ones with technology skills. Paralegals that can navigate technology tools, such as law practice management software, digital forensics, and electronic evidence discovery and preservation, are highly sought.

Paralegals often handle billing and invoicing, which is simplified with legal billing software.

Pro Tip: To gain a competitive edge, paralegals should consider receiving a certificate in law practice management software. PracticePanther offers the certification for free and can be completed on your own time.

Become a Skilled Paralegal

The role of paralegals is growing in demand and constantly evolving. Though it’s not required, the more educated and technologically sophisticated paralegals are, the more career opportunities they have in the legal field – and that includes experience and skills with law practice management software.

Article By Nina Lee of PracticePanther

For more business of law legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

© Copyright 2022 PracticePanther

Easy Ways to Build Your Professional Brand

Whether or not you realize it, you have a professional brand, and it’s up to you to maximize and leverage it.

Every day, people are searching for you online. They may go to your web bio, but more than likely, they’re probably going to LinkedIn as well to check you out.

LinkedIn paints a much more robust picture of you and your professional background than your web site bio because it enables you to showcase your entire professional history and body of work.

Think of LinkedIn as your own mini website and blog.

So LinkedIn is a huge part of managing your brand. It would be very wise to focus on building your presence on LinkedIn, and it is free.

Also, Googling yourself regularly and setting up Google alerts to make sure that you’re aware of what’s being said about you, and manage your online reputation.

Speaking engagements can be incredibly powerful to underscore your subject matter expertise and stay top of mind with those who need someone like you. If you feel uncomfortable doing them live, do webinars.

There is a ripple effect with speaking engagements, which is that you likely will get asked to do another speaking engagement when people see that you are on the speaking circuit and that you are good at it.

Not everyone is comfortable being on video like I am, but that’s also an option. A podcast is another great way to build your brand, make strong relationships and you don’t have to be on camera.

There’s a lot of other things you can do, such as writing articles, blog posts, client alerts, email blasts and email newsletters – these are all great ways to showcase your thought leadership expertise and stay top of mind with your clients, prospects and referral sources.

There’s also trade association memberships and committee involvement – they are an effective way to get to know people in your industry, as long as you’re going to commit to them, because the worst thing you can do is to not do a good job on these committees.

You don’t have to do all of these things, or several of them at once, and you should only do the ones that you like to do because you will be more successful at them.

A Word About Self Confidence

Don’t let anyone else dim your light, most of all you.

It’s time to build your confidence about posting on LinkedIn and showing up in other kinds of marketing. We each have value to provide to others and we need to believe that.

Every time I post I get nervous about how it will be received, especially posting videos.

But we all over estimate the extent to which others are thinking about us because guess what? They’re thinking about themselves way more. So stop worrying about what everyone else thinks!

You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay.

The right people will gravitate toward you and appreciate your posts even if they don’t tell you or actually post a like on your content.

I keep posting because I believe in my posts and I’m coming from a place of genuineness. Trying to help people is enough for me to keep showing up and posting.

So believe in yourself and silence the naysayers and that negative voice that you have about yourself. Each of us has an inner critic and if we’re not careful, we can start to believe what it has to say. Your success on LinkedIn and elsewhere depends on your ability to silence your inner critic.

Don’t let other people (or yourself) dim your light and be YOU. That’s your superpower.

How do you find the confidence to show up on LinkedIn and in other places?

Article By Stefanie M. Marrone of Stefanie Marrone Consulting

For more legal marketing news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright © 2022, Stefanie M. Marrone. All Rights Reserved.

Episode 6: Shifting Mindsets: How Client-Focused Approaches Can Improve Law Firm Success with Matt Spiegel, CEO of Lawmatics

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 6 of Legal News Reach!

National Law Review Web Publication Specialist Crissonna Tennison and Matt Spiegel, Co-Founder and CEO of Lawmatics, discuss the mindsets that are necessary for law firm success. Practicing law isn’t just about winning cases—it’s about creating a supportive client experience in and out of the courtroom. How can firms integrate legal technology to center their clients, boosting their business success in the process?

We’ve included a transcript of the conversation below, transcribed by artificial intelligence. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Crissonna Tennison

Thank you for tuning into the Legal News Reach podcast. My name is Crissonna Tennison, Web Publication Specialist for the National Law Review. In this episode, I will be speaking with Matt Spiegel, founder of Lawmatics. Matt, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to start Lawmatics?

Matt Spiegel

Yeah, sure. So first of all, I’m very excited to be here, so thank you guys for having me. But yes, I’m Matt Spiegel, I am the founder and CEO of Lawmatics. I was a practicing lawyer, I don’t actually practice anymore, I haven’t practiced in like 11 years or so, but I still have my bar card. Long story short, I had a problem at my law firm that I wanted to solve with technology, and ended up starting a company called MyCase. So I founded MyCase, back in, like 2010. For those of you that don’t know, MyCase is now one of the biggest practice management software platforms on the market. So I was the original founder of that company, I also ran the company for five years. And then I left, and after a couple years doing some things unrelated to law and legal tech, I decided to come back into the legal tech space. I’m a glutton for punishment, and Lawmatics was what I decided to build. And it was really a product of what we saw when I was at MyCase. We saw the shift in the market, we saw lawyers starting to think about their law firm like a business and not just like a law firm. And when they start to do that, then they need business tools, right? They need the same kind of tools that other companies throughout industries, different genres of companies, tools that they’ve had forever, right? And so there was a little kernel of this idea of lawyers shifting to this mentality, you know, back in 2014. And so fast forward to 2017, we really saw this starting to become an opportunity that we thought was going to be a big one. And so we built Lawmatics to really address the business needs of a law firm and not as much of the practice management needs, right? The practice of law, we felt like that was pretty well taken care of. Our goal was to focus on the business side of it, you know, the lead management, the marketing, the automation, that sort of thing.

Crissonna Tennison

That’s awesome, and it sounds like a major change for you. When you were first starting your switch from being a lawyer to starting MyCase, what skill sets did you have already? And what skills did you have to develop along the way?

Matt Spiegel

Yeah, so it’s a good question. I mean, obviously, starting a software company is pretty different than being a lawyer. But I would say that I was probably a bad lawyer. And I just was always, I always had the skill set to be a decent entrepreneur, I guess. But I was probably just a really bad lawyer. It was very different. Well, I should strike that. Because the way I approached law–I was a criminal defense lawyer. And so I was in court all the time, I was doing a lot of trials, you know, it’s a very unique practice area. But I treated my law firm like a business right from the get-go. So I worked at a big law firm for like, four years, and then I started my own practice. And when I started my own practice, I was like, “I need to treat this like a business.” And I think that was the way I thought about it, even more so than being a good lawyer. And I think that was just because I was probably very entrepreneurial, even then. And so I was thinking about my law firm as like a business that I could build, not necessarily, “I’m a lawyer, I’m going to practice law.” So I think I always had that mentality, it was just manifesting itself within the confines of the legal space with starting my law firm. But as soon as I saw this need in the market for a product, which became MyCase, I kind of ran with it. It was like, “Wow, I’m building this business, a law firm, which can be big, but it’s going to have a ceiling, or I can start this, like, software company, which the ceiling is unlimited.” That just felt so much more exciting to me.

Crissonna Tennison

I do think it is very interesting that you brought up the entrepreneurial mindset, because from what I’ve observed there does seem to be a difference between that mindset and a lawyer mindset. It’s really interesting to hear you break that down a little bit.

What are some challenges that you’re most proud of overcoming in starting both MyCase and Lawmatics?

Matt Spiegel

What I’m most proud of, I think, is the legal tech space is not an easy space to enter. You know, there are a lot of companies that get started and not a lot of companies make it through. The fact that I’ve been able to build two companies in legal tech that have both been able to support these teams–like what I’m the most proud of in MyCase and Lawmatics are the teams that we built. They’re the people who made the company go and at MyCase, we just had an incredible team. It was such a great culture and at Lawmatics I think it’s even better, like, you know, we’ve built such an incredible team with with such an incredible culture, and it’s such a fun place to be and to work at. And so that’s a hurdle, right? It’s hard to build good cultures. You know, it’s hard enough to build one company, one startup that becomes successful, let alone two in the same space, especially when the space isn’t the biggest space in the world. So I think for me, you know, that hurdle of coming back into the legal tech space and trying to innovate in it, I’m think I’m most proud of that. And then the fact that we’ve been able to build such great teams. And that has nothing to do with the legal tech space, that’s just, you know, company mindset in general, company building in general. I think if I had to say what I’m most proud of it would be the teams that we’ve built.

Crissonna Tennison

That makes a big difference. And I feel like the teams you’re able to build and the workplace culture you’re able to foster really is everything when it comes to building a company.

You say that you saw some problems that you thought could be solved while you were a practicing defense attorney. So what exactly were you looking for that wasn’t available?

Matt Spiegel

MyCase came as a result of client communication problems. So my first company was a result of actually a State Bar complaint that I got. When I started my first law firm, I got a State Bar complaint pretty much right away. And it had nothing to do with the way I practiced, it was nothing to do with the outcome of the case, it was simply, “Hey, you didn’t call me back quick enough.” Right. And this is a tale as old as time. This is like, the most common complaint at every state bar still, even 12 years later, is attorney-client communication. And so I thought there has to be a better way to communicate than like, just calling me on the phone when I’m in court all day, every day. That cannot be the answer. And so I sought to develop a client communication portal. And that is what MyCase started as. Now it evolved into something so much more powerful and such a more robust piece of software. But the initial version, the initial idea was just simply a client communication portal. And so that’s how MyCase came about. Lawmatics really came about from what I observed talking to thousands and thousands of law firms in my time in MyCase, and what we saw was this shift, this idea that lawyers were starting to think about their law firms as a business, and not just the practice of law. And when I saw that, it’s like these people, if they have that mindset shift, they are going to experience some challenges with how to do that. Right? If they’re going to start doing marketing, if they don’t have a way to measure those marketing efforts, they’re going to be met with challenges, if they don’t have the ability to automate touchpoints, nurture campaigns, newsletters, like all the different things that are kind of marketing 101, if they don’t have that infrastructure in place, they’re going to be met with a lot of challenges. We anticipated that happening. And that’s sort of the problem that we look to solve with Lawmatics. And again, we weren’t reinventing the wheel. Products to solve the problems that Lawmatics solves have been around for decades, products like Salesforce, or HubSpot, they’ve been around for a really, really, really long time, they are not new concepts. What is new is a platform that is specifically built for law firms. And that’s where lawyers are a bit unique. They do and I’m not gonna say they require, but they do significantly better and they adopt more often tools that are designed for them, because they do have some unique requirements. And so that’s ultimately the problem that we look to solve with Lawmatics.

Crissonna Tennison

So as a lawyer, and as a person who’s running a law firm, you want to provide a great client experience, but you actually need to find clients in the first place. So what can law firms do from a marketing and client intake perspective to help this process?

Matt Spiegel

It’s about the client journey, right? A law firm needs to think about, “What is the journey that a client goes through with your law firm?” and we break that journey down into three phases.

Phase one is the intake phase, which is from the moment that they reach out to your law firm, by whatever means, all the way through to the point where they sign a fee agreement, and they pay you your retainer. Then you have phase two, which is an active case, you’re actually handling a case for them that has a definitive start and end time. And then phase three is after the case is over. Now, they are a former client. That is a very important part of the relationship.

So what Lawmatics is designed to do is help you with everything in phase one and everything in phase three, the practice management software like MyCase, they are designed to handle everything in phase two. So that journey starts from the very moment that a client reaches out to your law firm. And you have to understand that from that very moment, you have opportunities to delight your customers, and you need to think about it in terms of customer service: what kinds of service, what level of service are you providing to your client? And this is right from the get-go. So if someone reaches out to you, and they fill out a form on your website because they’re interested in talking to you, and maybe they don’t hear anything from you until the next day, that’s not good customer service. The first impression that they’re going to get is that you don’t respond to things very quickly. And so that initial moment of contact, there’s an opportunity to delight your customer, right, you can immediately engage them and show them that you’re on top of it. And that’s not something that a lot of law firms can do without the help of technology, right? You need technology to help you with those automated touch points. And so that’s just one example. But every step of the journey is an opportunity to delight your customer with customer service, not law. Forget about law. Right now we’re just talking about providing good bedside manner, good customer service. I have a saying that I’d love to repeat, which is that you could be the best lawyer in the world, but if you provide bad customer service, you are going to have a failing law firm. And the vice versa is true. You could be a mediocre or even a bad lawyer, but you could provide really, really excellent customer service, and you could be wildly successful. The outcome of the legal matter is not always the most important part of that relationship.

Crissonna Tennison

That’s something that I never would have thought about. But that makes sense that as a lawyer, of course, obviously, you want to win your case for your client, but you really want them to feel cared for and respected and like they can get in contact with you. And yeah, that is a lot of work to keep that going, especially because being a lawyer and running a law firm is so much work.

Matt Spiegel

Some of it is totally impossible! So here’s another example, let’s say after the case is over, something that would be a pretty nice thing to do would be to just send your former clients a note on their birthday every year, pretty simple. But you’ve got 2000 old clients, how are you going to keep track of all their birthdays and make sure you’re sending an email? It would take you, it would take an army to do that. So if you have a tool that can automate that whole process, all you do is click one button when you first set up the software, and then in perpetuity, every one of your former clients is going to get an email on their birthday every single year. So there’s so much that you can do that you can’t do manual, you have to have technology to help you do it. I think that that’s really important for law firms to understand when they’re looking at, “Well, what does this mean? How do I provide good customer service? Like what role can technology play?” I think it’s just really important to think about things that way.

Crissonna Tennison

The last few years have been a really chaotic time, especially for growing law firms. So what kind of feedback have you gotten from users of Lawmatics during this time?

Matt Spiegel

So the feedback that we get from our customers is pretty profound. So it’s two things, it’s what Lawmatics has enabled them to do. And then, you know, maybe not as sexy of a response is the amount of time that Lawmatics has saved them. So obviously, a product like Lawmatics that does so much around automation is going to save you time that really can’t even be put into words, the true impact can’t just be measured. And you know, some law firms are saving 20 hours a week. And that’s just a crazy amount of time. And the impact that has on a firm as a whole is pretty remarkable. But it’s really what Lawmatics has enabled them to do. Right? I mean, Lawmatics has really enabled growth for its customers. I think that’s the way to look at it. I think law firms before you know, our customers, before they used Lawmatics, it was really difficult to facilitate big growth for them. I’m not saying that law firms couldn’t grow before, that’s not true. But our customers were really struggling with certain aspects of it. They were getting into marketing, they were getting into intake management and thinking about things beyond just practicing law and how to attract more leads, and how to convert more of those leads into customers. But they had no way to manage it all. Maybe some of them knew what best practices were. But they couldn’t actually deploy those practices because they didn’t have the ability. Lawmatics has really enabled them to do the things that they’ve wanted to do on the lead management, the conversion side, the generating leads, it’s really pretty cool to hear the stories from these law firms that were struggling before to execute on growth plans, and now are exceeding what they thought they would be able to achieve.

Crissonna Tennison

I’m curious to hear more about why it’s so essential for those people who are running growing law practices to invest in quality practice management and CRM software. At this point in the game, how much do firms risk falling behind their competitors if they don’t use one?

Matt Spiegel

Personally, I feel like practice management software, right, like the MyCases, the Clios, the Practice Panthers of the world right now, I feel like that’s kind of table stakes, there are definitely still a lot of law firms out there that don’t use a platform like that. And for those firms, there must be some valid views. And but the vast majority of firms out there will have some sort of platform in place to help them with their time and their billing and their case management. I think that that’s table stakes in the industry now for the most part. But if you don’t have that, if you’re like doing your billing manually, that just is a colossal waste of time. And you would be falling behind the rest of the industry significantly, just because of the time that you’re wasting to input billing hours and send out invoices and things like that. But as far as CRM, this actually has the potential to make you fall behind even more. So first of all, we are at the inflection point for like CRM software and law firms. It is starting to become the focus of law firms, their understanding just how valuable it is and what they can do with it. And there’s a massive shift going towards this type of thing. That’s one reason why, you know, if you’re not on that boat, then you just fall behind technologically, but more importantly, it’s the byproduct of using a product like this. It’s the shift in thinking that is happening where you’re really going to fall behind because what it means is that law firms are out there thinking about marketing. They’re thinking about lead generation, they’re thinking about how to get more business and build their law firm. That means they’re going to be going out and taking leads from you if you’re not also thinking about that. So it’s so much more than just a piece of software that you’re talking about adopting, you’re talking about adopting a strategy for your business and your growth. So if you’re not on board with that, you are going to fall behind in ways that you probably haven’t necessarily thought of just yet.

Crissonna Tennison

That definitely makes a lot of sense. When we look at recent years, how have expectations of legal clients evolved, kind of along the lines of what you’re saying, if more and more firms are starting to really reorient their thoughts toward how they run their businesses and interact with their clients? How have their expectations evolved? And what changes have you seen in law firms and their operations since you started practicing?

Matt Spiegel

What we’ve really seen, I think, again, to me, it’s just been the wide adoption of some type of software platform and that software platform being in the cloud. So in starting MyCase, I was one of the people who was at the forefront of this shift to cloud computing in legal. I’ve gotten to observe this whole thing over the last, more than a decade at this point. And it’s really profound. It’s really cool. Right? It’s a mainstay in law firms now, cloud software. And what that’s enabled, operations are just easier. And there’s less operative people at a law firm, I think now, right? It’s just, it requires less, because so much is in software, it’s automated, it’s easy to access, it’s just makes things more streamlined. And so we see less of a need to have operators in a law firm and the ability for lawyers to focus more on actually handling their cases. A lot of this depends on the size firm that you are at. There’s a massive segmentation inside of the law firm industry, right? Like if you have solo and small law firms, they operate very differently than midsize or large law firms.

Crissonna Tennison

That kind of goes along with things that we’ve heard about in the past and prior conversations about CRM systems in general. Do you think that law students will have to start having practical knowledge of CRM systems as they enter the industry?

Matt Spiegel

No. I mean, it can’t hurt. But no, we saw this with practice management, too. I remember at MyCase, I would go down to the law schools, and I would help teach classes on managing a law practice and practice management software and what that meant and what it was. So the concepts we were teaching, but we weren’t giving them familiarity with the actual software themselves. I don’t think it’s difficult to pick up, I don’t think it’s really that critical. What I think is important is understanding the importance of these concepts to the business. But I don’t think it’s critical for people coming into law firms to like, have knowledge of the systems. I mean, that would be a bonus, it would be cool. I don’t think it’s something that is required.

Crissonna Tennison

So along those lines, would you say there’s been a change in law school education, in terms of a focus on how to run a law business? Like is that something that’s showing up a little bit more in legal academia than it was in the past, or maybe when you were in law school?

Matt Spiegel

So when I was in law school, it was really not a focus. Within five or six years after I left law school, it started to become a focus again, I started getting invited into law schools that actually had practice management classes, right, like how to run a law firm. To be honest with you, in the last few years, I haven’t seen it as much. So I don’t know if there was a small shift towards it, like 10 years ago, and now it’s shifted away from it. Maybe people thought that it wasn’t a practical class. I don’t really know. But I don’t think that we’ve seen a massive shift towards it in the last five or six years. I think it’s valuable to be honest with you. I think everyone always says, you go to law school, and the stuff you learn doesn’t necessarily help you as a subject matter. It doesn’t necessarily help you, when you get out of law school. What law school does is teach you how to think like a lawyer. Right? And that’s like the old cliche, but I think it’s relatively true. If law school is focused on the practicalities of running a business and running a law firm. I think that would be incredibly helpful. But unfortunately, I don’t have that much influence over this.

Crissonna Tennison

For our listeners who are interested in checking out Lawmatics, can you kind of take them through the process of getting started using your platform? Where can they find you?

Matt Spiegel

Finding us is very easy, anybody can go to our website, www.lawmatics.com. And from there, what we always have people do is we have them sign up for a demo. And when I say signing up for a “demo,” I use that term a little bit loosely, because what you’re really doing is you’re going to be talking to one of our specialists, who’s really going to spend some time learning about your law firm trying to, first of all make sure that as a law firm, you’re ready for a tool like Lawmatics, like Lawmatics is going to make sense for you as a law firm, and then starting to understand “What do you do currently? What are your processes like?” and then starting to show you how Lawmatics might be able to help. So when we get on this demo, it’s almost like a consultation. We have a lot of best practices that we share with people during this consultation, this demo, to hopefully get these law firms thinking about things a little differently. We really like this process. And that’s the most important thing for people to do is to just come to our website, sign up for that demo, you’re going to learn a little bit about Lawmatics, you might learn a little bit more about your law firm and certain steps you might need to take in order to execute on some of the initiatives that you’re looking to execute on at your law firm. And then we will show you how Lawmatics hopefully can help you do that.

Crissonna Tennison

That’s awesome. It sounds like the Lawmatics experience can be tailored to a variety of different law firm types.

Matt Spiegel

Lawmatics is really for everyone and anyone. We see it all across the spectrum. Sometimes brand new firms that are just trying to set up their tech stack and Lawmatics is the foundation of it or law firms with several hundred lawyers who have been around for a long time, but they need to update their tech stack and they see a lot of value in it.

Crissonna Tennison

Our time is coming to a close, so are there some points you would like to showcase that align with your organization’s experience?

Matt Spiegel

Lawmatics is Lawmatics, it’s great if people want to check it out, I encourage them to do that. But what I encourage all lawyers to do, regardless of the software platform, is to just start thinking about your law firm a bit differently and start thinking about your law firm as, you’ve got to be good at customer service. You have to think about satisfying your customers outside of their case, you cannot think, “if I get them a great outcome, if I’m a criminal defense lawyer, and I just defended my client out of prison,” you can’t just assume that that’s going to be enough, that that’s going to make them really happy. What you need to do–and this is a point that I was thinking about earlier that I want to bring up now–is this is what you need to remember. And if you remember this, I think it gives you a different lens to look through almost all practice areas, right? Almost all of them fit into this mold, where it is the most important thing happening in their life. If it’s a criminal offense case, if it’s a personal injury case, if it’s a bankruptcy case, if it’s a family law case, immigration, all these practice areas, like the vast majority of practice areas out there, the case that you are handling for your client, it is the most important thing that they have going on in their life. For you it’s just another client, right? And so sometimes it’s hard to have that perspective. But if you think about it like that, if you think “Hey, wait a second, this is the most important thing happening in their life. If I had the most important thing happening in my life right now, how would I want to be treated?” If you shift to that line of thinking I guarantee you will provide incredible customer service, and that’s going to benefit your firm.

Crissonna Tennison

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, especially because if they’re dealing with something that is the most important thing in their life, and you’re the person guiding them through that, then that relationship is pretty important. So thank you for kind of expanding on that a little bit more.

Thank you to Matt Spiegel for taking the time to join us on the podcast to talk about Lawmatics and the different mindsets that can help a law firm be more successful. We really appreciate you joining us today.

Matt Spiegel

Yeah, thank you guys so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Conclusion

Thank you for listening to the National Law Review’s Legal News Reach podcast. Be sure to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts for more episodes. For the latest legal news, or if you’re interested in publishing and advertising with us, visit www.natlawreview.com. We’ll be back soon with our next episode.

Article By The National Law Review Editorial Team

For more law office management legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

Lawyer Career Change: Everything to Know

Burnout, stress, or the curiosity of exploring a new career path are some of the most common reasons lawyers change careers. After all, for some, the idea of being a lawyer might have turned out to be pretty different than the reality of working at a firm.

Before making any immediate changes, be as clear as possible about why you’re looking for a career shift and what you’re looking for in your next role. With these insights at hand, you’ll be better positioned to strategically move forward — and even keep one foot in the door behind you as you go.

Find out everything you should know about making a career change as a lawyer.

When to Change Careers as a Lawyer

Being a lawyer can consume much of your time and energy. Maybe you’re facing a big life change and looking for more work/life balance or you’re tired of big law and considering solo practice. Alternatively, your talents and personality may be better suited for another field entirely.

When considering your need for a change, ask yourself these questions:

  • What do I enjoy about my work in law?

  • What depletes my energy as a lawyer? What do I enjoy least?

  • What are my passions? When do I feel most fulfilled or energized?

  • What is my ideal work culture? Management style? Company culture?

Then, comb through your skillset. Reflect on your strengths as a lawyer. You might excel at analysis and research, or you could also be an expert persuasive communicator.

This way, you can start thinking about other careers that might match well, or even better, with those in-demand skills. A strong negotiator could be well suited for a sales career or even running a company. Skilled researchers could become regulatory investigators or corporate analysts. Practicing law develops a host of skills that can readily transfer to many careers in the public and private sectors.

Alternative Careers for Lawyers

The list goes on and on for viable alternative careers for lawyers. As you shift away from legal practice, here are a few career paths to consider:

  • Legal consulting: This path lets you continue working on your lawyer skill set at a distance from the courtroom. You could be a consultant for a company or private individuals, advising clients on tricky legal issues and offering recommendations.

  • Legal project management: Legal project managers get to be involved with legal cases, but from the higher level of a practice manager. They ensure that the firm stays on top of all legal tasks, monitoring the firm’s processes for inefficiencies, and implementing strategies to improve client satisfaction and drive revenue.

  • Legal writing: As a legal writer, you could work anywhere from a law firm to a government agency to a marketing company or even a newspaper. If you like uncovering stories and informing the public, journalism could make a good fit. If you don’t want to walk out of a law practice entirely, you could focus on case research and write legal documents.

  • Legal billing specialist: If numbers are your sweet spot, consider legal billing. You’ll research any issues related to billing, prepare invoices and proformas, and ensure a firm gets paid for its services.

Pro Tip: No matter the legal profession track, having a working knowledge of law practice management software can give you a competitive edge in the market.

How to Change Careers as a Lawyer

Changing careers is about more than figuring out your dream job, of course. Once you have a better sense of your transferable skills and what you enjoy doing most, it’s time to tap into your network.

If you have professional relationships and friendships outside of the law, it’s time to leverage them. These relationships will not only give you a fresh perspective on life outside of a law career, but they could also provide valuable insight and leads on your next career move. Be prepared to let your network know that you’re shifting gears and what you’re looking for next. To ensure that you don’t lose your connection to legal practice entirely, consider working pro bono as you figure out your next options or after you change careers. This way, you can do fulfilling work and keep your legal skills fresh.

Article By Nina Lee of PracticePanther

For more business of law legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

© Copyright 2022 PracticePanther

Five Data Quality Nightmares That Haunt Marketers and How Avoid Them

In this spooky season of vampires, witches and scary clowns, we’d like to add one more to the mix – data quality nightmares – which can be more frightful than a marathon of Freddy Kreuger movies to some of us.

We need data about our clients and prospects in order to create strategic programs that can lead to new business and increased visibility, but maintaining that data on an ongoing basis can quickly turn into a nightmare without the right resources.

Having good quality data is important for success in so many areas of your organization, including:

  • Communicating effectively with core constituencies
  • Successfully planning and executing events
  • Segmenting your target markets, clients or customers
  • Providing superior customer service
  • Understanding the needs of clients or customers
  • Effectively developing new business
  • Improving delivery and reducing costs of postal mailings

The reality is that your data will never be perfect, but there are ways you can address and improve it. The longer you wait to improve your data management, the scarier it will become. Here are some of the most common data quality nightmares we see and how to avoid them:

Data Quality Nightmare 1: Duplicate data

Is your CRM a graveyard for thousands of duplicate company and individual contacts? Data comes from all directions, so it’s important to ensure that data isn’t being duplicated. Dupes make it difficult to coordinate efforts and activities. Duplicate data occurs when customer information appears more than once in the database, or multiple variations of the same individual appear.

Secondly, duplicate data can damage your brand image. It is unlikely that a contact who receives the same information twice will be happy about it. This is an easy way to frustrate customers and prospects and can make your business appear disorganized.

Data Quality Nightmare 2: Missing or incomplete data

Are your contact details ‘ghosting you’? Without good data you can’t target or segment, and your communications and invitations won’t reach the right audiences.

Similar to inaccurate data, incomplete data can also have a negative impact on your business performance.

One way that organizations can help control this data quality nightmare, is by making certain form fields a required entry. That way, data entries will be more consistent and complete.

Data Quality Nightmare 3: Incorrect or inconsistent data

Does incorrect or inconsistent data give you nightmares? Bad CRM data leads to missed opportunities for new customers, and it could create issues for your sales cycle. There is almost no point in engaging with contacts in your database if the information is incorrect.

There are multiple ways to encourage good data habits, depending on your system and method of contact entry. If your firm relies on manual data entry, implement a firmwide Data Standards Guide to inform users how data should be entered (e.g., does your firm spell out or abbreviate job titles?). It can also be helpful to use system validation rules wherever possible to require certain information in new records such as last name, city and email address to ensure your contacts are relevant.

Data Quality Nightmare 4: Too much data

Are you in the ‘zombie zone’ trying blindly to figure out what to do with too much data and/or disparate data from disconnected systems?

Having too much data can be overwhelming – and unnecessary. It’s important to set parameters on what information you truly need about your clients and prospects, and then maintain only that information going forward. This will streamline the process and make everyone’s jobs easier by avoiding data quality nightmares.

Data Quality Nightmare 5: Lack of data quality resources

Does your team run screaming from data quality projects leaving you with a data disaster?

To encourage ongoing system adoption and utilization, data quality and maintenance must be top priorities. Resources must be dedicated – including time, money and people. Processes and procedures need to be put in place to maintain ongoing quality. Most importantly, training and communication are essential to ensure that end users don’t create unnecessary duplicates or introduce more bad data into the system.

Data Quality Doesn’t Have to Be Scary

While it’s easy to become scared by nightmare data, it’s important to put it in perspective. Focus on discreet data and projects that yield real ROI such as:

  • Start with your most relevant records like current clients. Begin cleaning your top 100 to 500 along with associated key contacts.
  • Review frequently used lists to ensure your communications and invitations are reaching the right recipients.
  • Vet bounced emails after each campaign, or better yet, regularly run lists through an automated data process to identify bad emails before a campaign to ensure that information actually reaches your targets in a timely manner.
  • Tackle time-sensitive one-off projects. For instance, an upcoming event often provides a good opportunity to get users engaged in cleanup efforts, particularly if the event is important to them.

It’s also important to remember that because data degrades so rapidly, data cleaning can’t be a one-time initiative. Once your team begins regularly maintaining your data, the cleanup will get easier over time. And remember, because data cleaning never really ends, the good news is that this means you have forever to get better at it.

Article By Christina R. Fritsch JD of CLIENTSFirst Consulting

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© Copyright 2022 CLIENTSFirst Consulting

Fall 2022 Legal Industry News Highlights: Law Firm Hiring and Expansion, Notable Awards and Recognition, and the Latest in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Happy November! As the holiday season approaches, we hope you and yours are remaining safe, happy, and healthy. Please read on below for the latest in legal industry updates, including notable law firm hirings and expansions, legal awards and recognition, and diversity, equity, and inclusion news.

Law Firm Hiring and Updates

Ropes & Gray has named 21 new partners as of November 1st, 2022. They have been selected for their roles as outstanding advisors to the firm’s clients across the globe, representing practices and specialties across sectors such as healthcare, life sciences, technology, labor and employment, and more.

“We are pleased to welcome this new group of partners, who are uniquely positioned to help our clients thrive in today’s uncertain economic environment,” said Chair Julie Jones. “These lawyers are problem solvers and big-picture thinkers, guided by a commercial approach and a deep understanding of the law.”

The firm’s newest partners are as follows: Samantha Barrett Badlam, Stephanie Bruce, Drew Clary, Dan Coyne, Sally Davis, William T. Davison, Gabrielle DiBernardi, Shona Ha, Laura Hirst, Yoni Levy, Nichole Lopez-Tackett, Jessica Marlin, Pascal Mayer, Anthony Mongone, Jessica Reece, Ben Rhode, Scott Rolnik, Alexander Simkin, Annie Sipe, PJ Sullivan, and Dan Zuckerman.

Baker Donelson has added Jill Walters to its Corporate Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group. Located in the firm’s Raleigh/Research Triangle office, Ms. Walters joins as a shareholder, providing more than fifteen years of experience counseling clients in restructuring, bankruptcy, insolvency, and complex Chapter 11 cases. Her work spans many industries and sectors, such as healthcare, manufacturing, real estate, and construction.

“I am thrilled to welcome Jill to the Firm. She is an excellent addition to our team and further deepens our bankruptcy and restructuring bench,” said Eric L. Pruitt, leader of Baker Donelson’s Corporate Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group. “Jill joins a dedicated team that has extensive litigation and transactional experience, and is advising clients in highly complex financial restructuring and bankruptcy cases.”

Morgen A. Mueller has joined Goldberg Segalla as an associate in the firm’s Chicago office. Now a part of the Workers’ Compensation practice group, Ms. Mueller focuses her practices on representing and defending insurers, administrators, and employers in all aspects of employment law, managing claims at all stages, including discovery, hearings, depositions, arbitrations, mediations, and trials.

Previously, Ms. Mueller served as legal counsel at Liberty Mutual Insurance, where she handled workers’ compensation defense cases and personal injury cases.

Davis|Kuelthau s.c. and SmithAmundsen LLC have announced that they will formally merge on November 1st, 2022, to form Amundsen Davis, LLC. The firm will offer services in a wide variety of areas, including labor and employment, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and more. Comprised of twelve offices across the US, Amundsen Davis will serve clients both nationally and internationally.

“SmithAmundsen has grown steadily and strategically over the last 25 years to add service areas and expand our geographic reach to truly benefit our clients,” said Managing Partner Larry A. Schechtman. “The opportunity to combine with a firm that is so like-minded is one we are very excited about. What will set Amundsen Davis apart from its large law firm competition is our ability to maintain a boutique firm feeling in terms of client service while providing the resources and infrastructure of a large national firm.”

Legal Industry Awards and Recognition

Julia Perkins, partner at Varnum LLP, was named Class of 2022 Leaders in the Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. This honor goes to lawyers who have had outstanding accomplishments, exhibited leadership in improving the justice system in Michigan, and have made improvements to the legal community.

Ms. Perkins is the leader of Varnum’s Family Law Practice Group. Her contributions go beyond the legal field as she has served on the advisory committee for Kids Talk Children’s Advocacy Center since 2005. Using her legal experience, she volunteers as a mediator for Lakeshore Legal Aid. Lakeshore Legal Aid provides legal services to low-income families, seniors, and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

LMG Life Sciences recognized five ArentFox Schiff lawyers’ outstanding work in the life sciences industry. The organization specifically recognizes key North American law firms and lawyers that work in the field of life sciences, taking into account case evidence, peer feedback, and client feedback for rankings.

The ArentFox Schiff attorneys that were selected, as well as their practice groups, are as follows:

  • Partner Imron Aly – Hatch-Waxman Patent Litigation
  • Partner Richard J Berman – General Patent Litigation, Patent Prosecution, Patent Strategy & Management, Hatch-Waxman Patent Litigation
  • Partner Kevin Nelson – Hatch-Waxman Patent Litigation
  • Partner Sailesh Patel – Hatch-Waxman Patent Litigation
  • Partner Stephanie Trunk – Healthcare Pricing & Reimbursement

Rhonda Tobin of Robinson & Cole LLP was one of five women recognized for Managing Partner of the Year in Corporate Counsel’s 2022 Women, Influence and Power in Law (WIPL) Awards. The WIPL Awards are meant to honor general counsel, in-house attorneys, and other law firm leaders who have demonstrated ongoing efforts to empower women in the legal profession, and who have overall made a substantial impact on the field.

Ms. Tobin is a partner at Robinson+Cole and has spent 32 years working on high-profile insurance coverage litigation. She has served as Managing Committee for 12 years and as a chair of the firm’s Litigation Section for 13 years before becoming the firm’s first woman managing partner. This year, she was also listed in the Hartford Business Journal’s 2022 Power Players Section, and she has also been recognized on the Insurance Law Trailblazers list from the National Law Journal.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Global law firm Kennedys and U.S. law firm Miller Canfield have achieved Mansfield Plus Certification from Diversity Lab, a DEI incubator. Diversity Lab adopted the Mansfield Rule, a 12-month program for law firms to boost underrepresented groups in firm leadership, in 2017. The 2021-2022 Mansfield 5.0 program required firms to consider at least 30% historically marginalized groups for at least 70% of senior promotions and enrichment roles, track and document job candidate demographics, submit three-month, six-month, and annual surveys and data collections, and build professional community with other firms.

Kennedys achieved U.S and U.K. certification as a first-time participant in the program. “Kennedys has always been committed to D&I but participating in Mansfield provided both a structure and a mechanism for accountability that allowed us to move beyond words to concrete action. It was a turning point for all of us and has allowed us to continue to identify concrete goals for the future,” says Meg Catalano, US Regional Managing Partner and Global Board Member.

Miller Canfield is a veteran of the Mansfield Program. The firm was the first in Michigan to adopt the rule, one of 27 firms to achieve certification in the program’s first year, and one of 39 to be certified five years in a row.

“When we first adopted the Mansfield Rule, we didn’t know how or if this small, but influential, group would have an impact on the profession and on law firms nationwide,” said Miller Canfield CEO Megan Norris. “We didn’t know whether law firms would be ready to adopt this level of transparency and accountability. We’re pleased to see that the movement is growing and maintaining momentum to create an opportunity for equity in law firms.”

The American Association for Access, Equity And Diversity presented Jackson Lewis P.C. with their 2022 President’s Award at a virtual award ceremony on October 13th, 2022. The award is intended to recognize organizations that have demonstrated ongoing commitment to the AAAED and their mission of expanding access, equity, and diversity.

Jackson Lewis’ Affirmative Action, OFCCP and Government Contract Compliance practice group works with clients and partners to foster a strong DEI culture within a wide range of powerful organizations and industries. The firm has collaborated with AAAED on a number of initiatives, from providing faculty for the AAAED Professional Training Institute to participating on an AAAED amicus brief team to submit two briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina.

“We are thrilled to be recognized for the President’s Award,” says Matthew J. Camardella, co-leader of the firm’s Affirmative Action, OFCCP and Government Contract Compliance group. “I would like to thank Firm Chair Kevin G. Lauri and Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Principal Kimya S.P. Johnson for continuing to invest in our partnership with AAAED and its mission to promote and protect policies that ensure equity and inclusion in all spheres of opportunity.”

Article By Chandler Ford, Crissonna Tennison, and Shelby Garrett of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

For more business of law legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

Top Legal Industry News Updates for Fall 2022: Law Firm Hirings, Legal Industry Recognition, Women in Law, and More

Welcome back to another edition of the National Law Review’s legal news roundup! Please read on for the latest updates in law firm hiring and expansion, pro bono efforts, industry awards and recognition, and a spotlight on women in law! Additionally, be sure to check out the latest episode of our Legal News Reach podcast: The Perfect Storm: Law Firm Marketing & Business Development Budgeting with Beth Cuzzone, Global Practice Leader of Intapp.

Law Firm Hiring and Expansion

Kristian R. Sullivan has joined the Patent Prosecution & Litigation practice group at Womble Bond Dickinson. Based in Houston, Mr. Sullivan has a great deal of experience in intellectual property services, including the drafting of IP-related agreements, performing freedom-to-operate analyses, and the securing of important IP assets. He has worked across a great number of industries, such as energy, automotive, technology, and construction.

“The Houston economic market has a high concentration of clients in the advanced manufacturing and oil/gas industries. As such, there is a demand for patent prosecution attorneys with mechanical engineering experience to do this work,” said Jeff Whittle, Womble Bond Dickinson’s Houston Office Managing Partner and Energy Sector Co-Lead. “Kristian’s strong mechanical experience, including in oil and gas, will be a boost for the Houston office and add further depth to the firm’s Patent Prosecution & Litigation group and growing Energy sector team.”

Sidley Austin LLP has added James Lu as a Partner in the Corporate practice group. Mr. Lu, who focuses his practice on representing venture capital and private equity investors at leading companies, is based in the firm’s Century City office. He has a great deal of experience in many areas, primarily public and private securities offerings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and cross-border transactions.

“James is the trusted advisor that every client — and law firm — wants on its team. He combines market leading intelligence from two continents with a range of transactional expertise,” said Dan Clivner, co-leader of the firm’s global M&A and Private Equity practice. “Many of our partners have worked with James and couldn’t be happier to call him ‘our partner.’”

Danette R. Edwards, former Senior Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP’s Securities Litigation practice as a Partner. Ms. Edwards, who has vast experience leading enforcement efforts at the SEC and litigating complex cases involving anti-fraud and other securities laws, joins the firm at its office in Washington, D.C.

“Danette is a strong addition to our Securities Litigation team because she offers our clients exceptional experience on all types of SEC-related matters,” said Bruce G. Vanyo, chair of Katten‘s Securities Litigation practice. “Her impressive skill set and extraordinary background strengthens Katten’s already widely recognized reputation for defending high-stakes securities matters for some of the country’s most prestigious companies.”

Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost & Botwinick, PC has announced the addition of three new associates: Alma A. Godinez, Angelica M. Mercado, and T. Matthew Wolfe II. Ms. Godinez focuses her practice on personal injury matters involving medical malpractice, products liability, and other accidents. Ms. Mercado practices family and matrimonial law, with experience drafting motions and emergent applications related to matrimonial and non-dissolution matters. Mr. Wolfe II focuses his practice on wills, trusts, estates, and taxation matters, with a particular emphasis on topics such as family wealth transfer and preservation planning, charitable giving, and retirement planning.

“We are pleased to welcome these three exceptional young professionals to the firm and we know that their experience in several of our key practice areas will enhance our ability to serve our clients,” said Patricia M. Barbarito, Co-Managing Partner of Einhorn Barbarito.

Legal Industry Awards and Recognition

Jason Rubinstein, Partner at Gilbert LLP, has been named to the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Representing tenants facing evictions and assisting injured individuals to obtain important medical treatments, Mr. Rubinstein has made a special effort to prioritize pro bono work throughout his career. Beyond this work, at Gilbert, he has focused his practice on insurance recovery and strategic risk management.

“The work Legal Aid does for persons living in poverty in the District is unparalleled,” said Mr. Rubinstein of the honor, “and I look forward to helping to provide the leadership and legal assistance necessary to assist those in need.”

New York Law Journal recognized IMS Consulting & Expert Services as the winners of the “Best Of” 2022 award survey. They were named a Top 3 recipients in the “Best of” category for Online Jury Research Provider. Winners for this award were selected based on the results of a crafted ballot containing several dozen categories for attorneys and firm administrators to vote on.

IMS’ Vice President of Client Services, Chris Sizemore, commented, “We’re thrilled to be selected by our clients as one of New York’s top legal service providers. IMS consultants help reduce uncertainty before and at trial by understanding the psychology of the jury to identify and refine persuasive themes that will better connect with decision makers in the case—juries, judges, and arbitrators.”

On September 22, 2022, Bruno R. Marasso, partner at Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, was installed as President of the Justinian Society of Lawyers. Mr. Marasso has received numerous awards previously, including the Emerging Lawyer award by Law Bulletin Publishing Company every year since 2017, a Rising Star by Super Lawyer every year since 2018, a naming to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for 2021, and a naming to the list of Best Lawyers in America for 2023.

On his recent appointment, Mr. Marasso shared, “Romanucci & Blandin has a rich history in serving the Justinian Society of Lawyers and I am proud to continue it with my term as President. As Justinians, we pride ourselves in contributing to both the legal profession and to the community and I am humbled to serve in this role.” Mr. Marasso recently served as Vice President of the Justinian Society of Lawyers and focuses his practice on the areas of automobile collisions, wrongful death, premises liability, and institutional misconduct.

Diversity and Inclusion in the Field

The Arab American Foundation has selected Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick Associate Ali W. Latif for inclusion on their “40 Under 40” list for his role in empowering the national Arab American community. Ms. Latif is a trilingual Palestinian-American based in Columbus, Ohio who specializes in business, immigration, and environmental law. Prior to joining Shumaker, Latif owned his own firm, where he represented marginalized clients. He still prioritizes disadvantaged communities, spending hundreds of hours providing free legal services for low-income clients with the Legal Aid Society of Columbus. In 2019, he received the LASC/CBA/CBF New Attorney Pro Bono Award.

Shumaker Partner and Diversity and Inclusion Committee Co-Chair Cheri Budzynski says, “We are excited that Ali has the opportunity to be celebrated for his passion and leadership in connecting and empowering Arab Americans. As part of the firm’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, we recognize that our legal system needs to adapt to represent diversity and the people of our nation.”

Corporate Counsel Women of Color has chosen Foley & Lardner Senior Counsel Lauren Champaign to receive their “Next Gen Emerging Millennial Leader” award, which celebrates young attorneys with exceptional legal talent and community orientation. A commercial litigator specializing in securities, product liability, antitrust, and consumer finance, Ms. Champaign also co-founded Foley’s Racial Justice and Equity Practice Group.

Ms. Champaign has previously volunteered with numerous legal aid organizations, such as the D.C. Legal Aid Society’s Housing Division, and served as the Deputy GOTV Director for President Obama’s Philadelphia re-election campaign. There, she contributed to increased voter turnout and eventual victory, and as a Regional Field Director for Obama for America, she was featured in the Washington Post and PBS Now for her organizing work in South Carolina and Chicago. Ms. Champaign and her five fellow awardees will be feted at an October 7th ceremony during Corporate Counsel’s Career Strategies Conference.

Barnes & Thornburg Partner Robyn Maguire has been included on Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s “Top Women of Law” list, which showcases women leading the legal field through education, mentorship, and innovation. Ms. Maguire practices complex civil litigation in Boston, where she manages product liability, real estate, and land use disputes.

Ms. Maguire is an active member of her local pro bono and volunteer community, assisting clients with housing and asylum matters and submitting amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for issues related to immigration and employment discrimination. She chairs the Town of Hingham Zoning Board of Appeals and is an executive committee and board member for Lawyers for Civil Rights. She has previously been recognized as a “Rising Star” and “Super Lawyer” in Massachusetts Super Lawyers and on the “Top Ten Verdicts” list in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Maguire and her fellow nominees will be profiled in the magazine’s November issue and honored at an awards ceremony.

Article By Crissonna Tennison, Shelby Garrett, and Chandler Ford of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

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