Category: law firm

A Paralegal’s Guide to Legal Calendar Management

Law firms of all sizes are increasingly relying on legal technology to address their day-to-day responsibilities. From family law to criminal law to personal injury law, law practice management software can help law firms run smoothly and efficiently.

The benefits of this legal technology aren’t limited to lawyers — it extends to the paralegals they work closely with.

The demand for paralegals is growing at an average of 12% each year, and paralegal technology can be used to support their efficiency and workflows. Many of the manual tasks that paralegals do, such as creating, organizing, and filing court documents, can be automated to free time to focus on more critical tasks.

What Do Paralegals Do?

Working under the supervision of an attorney, a paralegal’s work is merged with and used as part of the attorney’s work for the client. Paralegals cannot give legal advice or perform any legal duties that fall under the scope of the licensed attorney, and they must be clear in their non-lawyer status with clients and the public.

The typical duties of a paralegal may include:

  • Conducting client interviews and maintaining client contact

  • Locating and interviewing witnesses

  • Conducting investigations and statistical and documentary research

  • Performing legal research

  • Drafting legal documents, correspondence, and pleadings

  • Summarizing depositions, interrogatories, and testimony

  • Attending executions of wills, real estate closings, depositions, court or administrative hearings, and trials with the attorney

  • Authoring and signing correspondence, as long as the paralegal status is clearly indicated and does not contain independent legal advice or opinions.

In a law firm, a paralegal’s time for legal work — not clerical or administrative work — may be billed to clients the same way as an attorney’s time, but at a lower hourly rate.

The paralegal profession originated in law firms, but now, paralegals may be employed by government organizations, banks, insurance companies, and healthcare providers.

Aside from basic technology tools for sending emails, making calls, or creating documents, there are resources specifically designed for paralegal work. Some of these include:

  • Case management software: One of the responsibilities of a paralegal is helping firms track client case information. Case management software supports paralegals and other staff to collaborate on cases in real time.

  • Billing software: Client billing is a time-consuming process at the end of the billing period. Paralegals may use billing software to help automate bill generation, collection, and review. Online billing allows clients to receive bills directly and gets the firm paid faster.

  • Client intake software: With manual client intake, clients fill out paperwork and the information must be transcribed digitally. This process is inefficient and error-prone, even with a fillable PDF. Automated client intake technology captures vital details for paralegals, and forms can be shared with a link. The information can be synced with other technologies to avoid duplicate data entry.

  • eSignature software: Signatures are required for most legal documents. Instead of hand-signing and scanning documents, e-signature technology allows paralegals to collect, sign, and store documents with a click of a button.

Paralegals may use some or all of these legal technologies, depending on the size of the firm and its practice areas.

Calendar management is the systematic process of organizing tasks, meetings, and events with the goal of maximizing the return on investment for the time put in. The work can be time-consuming, but it’s essential to the function of the firm.

A well-managed calendar should support attorneys to ensure success. Calendar management has the power to make or break the attorney’s daily workflow and long-term success, which is why it’s one of the most important skills for a paralegal to perform effectively.

Legal calendar management is a resource that manages deadlines, meetings, and events in a centralized location. Paralegals, attorneys, and other staff can have shared access and individual alerts or notifications to ensure that crucial tasks never fall through the cracks.

Prior to digital legal calendar management, attorneys had to calculate deadlines manually — a time-consuming and error-prone process. Legal calendar management automatically calculates deadlines to expedite the process and ensure accuracy.

With automated workflows, legal calendar management allows legal professionals to build workflows for each type of case or practice area of the firm.

For busy professionals juggling multiple responsibilities and clients, this ensures that important deadlines are not missed.

Just like you would schedule a meeting or task, paralegals should block focus time to manage and organize their calendars. Use these best practices to simplify how you manage your calendar.

Use a Coding System

Color coding creates an organizational schematic for the calendar. For example, using colors for different categories like client, internal, recurring, reminder, and travel helps everyone quickly identify the tasks that are relevant.

Implement a Centralized, Firm-Wide Calendar

Law firms should have a centralized calendar that’s used throughout the firm and managed by an experienced paralegal. This ensures that the firm staff has access to crucial information and deadlines from anywhere.

The calendar should be flexible and allow for different departments to toggle their view of desired information.

Legal calendars have a lot of moving parts that may involve multiple parties. This is why it’s important to create guidelines or rules for everyone in the firm when updating the calendar. For example, who submits case information? Who verifies the deadlines and completes follow-ups?

Incorporating this information in your firm’s workflows will ensure all staff members understand what they’re responsible for, and when. This process should be standardized, to alleviate bottlenecks or help with onboarding and training new staff.

Get The Entire Firm On Board

A new process takes time to implement and may come with learning curves. However, an efficient, organized legal calendar can’t be accomplished without buy-in across the firm.

There can be friction among staff when implementing new technology, especially if the firm has been more traditional. Take a top-down approach that begins with senior partners and managers. They can take the lead to bring everyone on board and get them excited about the capabilities of the new technology. No one likes change, but preparing the team can reduce friction and make the implementation process more efficient.

But remember, the best technology in the world is still just technology. It’s up to your firm and staff to use it to its fullest. Establishing clear roles and responsibilities for leaders and staff, providing training, and both giving and receiving feedback ensure that the legal calendar management software’s features and tools are used appropriately for your firm’s needs.

Article By Kamron Sanders of PracticePanther

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

© Copyright 2022 PracticePanther

Practical and Legal Considerations for Extending Cash Runway in a Changing Economy

The funding environment for emerging companies has fundamentally shifted in 2022 for both venture capital and IPOs, particularly after a banner year in 2021. Whether these headwinds suggest significant economic changes or a return to previous valuation levels, companies need to be realistic about adapting their business processes to ensure they have sufficient cash runway to succeed through the next 2-3 years.

This article provides a comprehensive set of tactics that can be used to extend cash runway, both on the revenue/funding and cost side. It also addresses areas of liability for companies and their directors that can emerge as companies change business behaviors during periods of reduced liquidity.

Ways to Improve and Extend Cash Runway

Understanding Your Cash Runway

Cash runway refers to the number of months a company can continue operations before it runs out of money. The runway can be extended by increasing revenue or raising capital, but in a down economy, people have less disposable income and corporations are more conservative with their funds. Therefore companies should instead focus on cutting operating costs to ensure their cash can sustain over longer periods.

As a starting point, companies can evaluate their business models to determine expected cash runway based on factors such as how valuations are currently being determined, total cash available, burn rate, and revenue projections. This will help guide the actions to pursue by answering questions such as:

  1. Is the company currently profitable?
  2. Will the company be profitable with expected revenue growth even if no more outside funding is brought in?
  3. Is there enough cash runway to demonstrate results sufficient to raise the next round at an appropriate valuation?

Even if companies expect to have sufficient cash runway to make it through a potential economic downturn, tactics such as reducing or minimizing growth in headcount, advertising spend, etc. can be implemented as part of a holistic strategy to stay lean while focusing on the fundamentals of business model/product-market fit.

Examining Alternative Sources of Financing

Even though traditional venture capital and IPO financing options have become more difficult to achieve with desired valuations, companies still have various other options to increase funding and extend runway. Our colleagues provided an excellent analysis of many of these options, which are highlighted in the discussion below.

Expanding Your Investor Base to Fund Cash Flow Needs

The goal is to survive now, excel later; and companies should be open to lower valuations in the short term. This can create flexibility to circle back with investors who may have been open to an earlier round but not at the specific terms at that time. Of course, to have a more productive discussion, it will be helpful to explain to these investors how the business model has been adapted for the current environment in order to demonstrate that the new valuation is tied to clear milestones and future success.

Strategic investors and other corporate investors can also be helpful, acting as untapped resources or collaborators to help drive forward milestone achievements. Companies should understand how their business model fits with the investor’s customer base, and use the relationship to improve their overall position with investors and customers to increase both funding and revenue to extend runway.1

If the next step for a company is to IPO, consider crossover or other hybrid investors, understanding that much of the cash deployment in 2022 is slowing down.

Exploring Venture Debt

If a company has previously received venture funding, venture debt can be a useful tool to bridge forward to future funding or milestones. Venture debt is essentially a loan designed for early stage, high growth startups who have already secured venture financing. It is effective for targeting growth over profitability, and should be used in a deliberate manner to achieve specific goals. The typical 3-5 year timeline for venture debt can fit well with the goal of extending cash runway beyond a currently expected downturn.

Receivables/Revenue-Based Financing and Cash Up Front on Multi-Year Contracts

Where companies have revenue streams from customers — especially consistent, recurring revenue — this can be used in various ways to increase short-term funds, such as through receivables financing or cash up front on long-term contracts. However, companies should take such actions with the understanding that future investors may perceive the business model differently when the recurring revenue is being used for these purposes rather than typical investment in growth.

Receivable/revenue-based financing allows for borrowing against the asset value represented by revenue streams and takes multiple forms, including invoice discounting and factoring. When evaluating these options, companies should make sure that the terms of the deal make sense with runway extension goals and consider how consistent current revenue streams are expected to be over the deal term. In addition, companies should be aware of how customers may perceive the idea of their invoices being used for financing and be prepared for any negative consequences from such perceptions.

Revenue-based financing is a relatively new financing model, so companies should be more proactive in structuring deals. These financings can be particularly useful for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and other recurring revenue companies because they can “securitize the revenue being generated by a company and then lend capital against that theoretical security.”2

Cash up front on multi-year contracts improves the company’s cash position, and can help expand the base where customers have sufficient capital to deliver up front with more favorable pricing. As a practical matter, these arrangements may result in more resources devoted to servicing customers and reduce the stability represented by recurring revenue, and so should be implemented in a manner that remains aligned with overall goal of improving product-market fit over the course of the extended runway.

Shared Earning Agreements

A shared earning agreement is an agreement between investors and founders that entitles investors to future earnings of the company, and often allow investors to capture a share of founders’ earnings. These may be well suited for relatively early stage companies that plan to focus on profitability rather than growth, due to the nature of prioritizing growth in the latter.

Government Loans, Grants, and Tax Credits

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and grants can be helpful, particularly in the short term. SBA loans generally have favorable financing terms, and together with grants can help companies direct resources to specific business goals including capital expenditures that may be needed to reach the next milestone. Similarly, tax credits, including R&D tax credits, should be considered whenever applicable as an easy way to offset the costs.

Customer Payments

Customers can be a lifeline for companies during an economic downturn, with the prioritization of current customers one way companies can maintain control over their cash flow. Regular checks of Accounts Receivable will ensure that customers are making their payments promptly according to their contracts. While this can be time-consuming and repetitive, automating Accounts Receivable can streamline tasks such as approving invoices and receiving payments from customers to create a quicker process. Maintenance of Accounts Receivable provides a consistent flow of cash, which in turn extends runway.

To increase immediate cash flow companies should consider requiring longer contracts to be paid in full upon delivery, allowing the company to collect cash up front and add certainty to revenue over time. This may be hard to come by as customers are also affected by the economic downturn, but incentivizing payments by offering discounts can offset reluctance. Customers are often concerned with locking in a company’s services or product and saving on cost, with discounts serving as an easy solution. While they can create a steady cash flow, it may not be sustainable for longer cash runways. Despite their attractive value, companies should use care when offering discounts for early payments. Discounts result in lower payments than initially agreed upon, so companies should consider how long of a runway they require and whether the discounted price can sustain a runway of such length.

Vendor Payments

One area where companies can strategize and cut costs is vendor payments. By delaying payments to vendors, companies can temporarily preserve cash balance and extend cash runway. Companies must review their vendor agreements to evaluate the potential practical and legal ramifications of this strategy. If the vendor agreements contain incentives for early payments or penalties for late payments, then such strategy should not be employed. Rather, companies can try to negotiate with vendors for an updated, extended repayment schedule that permits the company to hold on to their cash for longer. Alternatively, companies can negotiate with vendors for delayed payments without penalty. Often vendors would prefer to compromise rather than lose out on customers, especially in a down economy.

Lastly, companies can seek out vendors who are willing to accept products and services as the form of payment as opposed to cash. Because the calculation for cash runway only takes into account actual cash that companies have on hand, products and services they provide do not factor into the calculation. As such, companies can exchange products and services for the products and services that their vendors provide, thereby reserving their cash and extending their cash runway.

Bank Covenants

In exercising the various strategies above, it is important to be mindful of your existing bank covenants if your company has a lending facility in place. There are often covenants restricting the amount of debt a borrower can carry, requiring the maintenance of a certain level of cash flow, and cross default provisions automatically defaulting a borrower if it defaults under separate agreements with third parties. Understanding your bank covenants and default provisions will help you to stay out of default with your lender and avoid an early call on your loan and resulting drain on you cash position.

Employee Considerations

As discussed extensively in our first article Employment Dos and Don’ts When Implementing Workforce Reductions, the possibility of an economic downturn not only will have an impact on your customer base, but your workforce as well. Employees desire stability, and the below options can help keep your employees engaged.

Providing Equity as a Substitute for Additional Compensation.

Employees might come to expect cash bonuses and pay raises throughout their tenure with an employer; in a more difficult economic period this may further strain a business’s cash flow. One alternative to such cash-based payments is the granting of equity, such as options or restricted stock. This type of compensation affords employees the prospect of long-term appreciation in value and promotes talent retention, while preserving capital in the immediate term. Further, to the employee holding equity is to have “skin in the game” – the employee now has an ownership stake in the company and their work takes on increasing importance to the success of the company.

To be sure, the company’s management and principal owners should consider how much control they are ceding to these new minority equity holders. The company must also ensure such equity issuances comply with securities laws – including by structuring the offering to fit within an exemption from registration of the offering. Additionally, if a downturn in the company’s business results in a drop in the value of the equity being offered, the company should consider conducting a new 409A valuation. Doing so may set a lower exercise price for existing options, thus reducing the eventual cost to employees to exercise their options and furnishing additional, material compensation to employees without further burdening cash flow.

Transitioning Select Employees to Part-Time.

Paying the salaries of employees can be a major burden on a business’s cash flow, and yet one should be wary of resorting to laying off employees to conserve cash flow in a downturn. On the other hand, if a business were to miss a payroll its officers and directors could face personal liability for unpaid wages. One means of reducing a business’s wage commitments while retaining (and paying) existing employees is to transition certain employees to part-time status. In addition to producing immediate cash flow benefits, this strategy enables a business to retain key talent and avoid the cost of replacing the employees in the future. However, this transition to part-time employees comes with important considerations.

Part-time employees are often eligible for overtime pay and must receive the higher of the federal or state minimum hourly wage. And if transitioned employees are subject to restrictive covenants, such as a non-competition agreement, they might argue their change in status should release them from such restrictions. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, courts have shown reluctance to enforce non-competes in the context of similar changes in work status when the provision is unreasonable or enforcement is against the public interest.

Director Liability in Insolvency

Insolvency and Duties to Creditors

There may be circumstances where insolvency is the only plausible result. A corporation has fiduciary duties to stockholders when solvent, but when a corporation becomes insolvent it additionally owes such duties to creditors. When insolvent, a corporation’s fiduciary duties do not shift from stockholders to creditors, but expand to encompass all of the corporation’s residual claimants, which include creditors. Courts define “insolvency” as the point at which a corporation is unable to pay its debts as they become due in the ordinary course of business, but the “zone of insolvency” occurs some time before then. There is no clear line delineating when a solvent company enters the zone of insolvency, but fiduciaries should assume they are in this zone if (1) the corporation’s liabilities exceed its assets, (2) the corporation is unable to pay its debts as they become due, or (3) the corporation faces an unreasonable risk of insolvency.

Multiple courts have held that upon reaching the “zone of insolvency,” a corporation has fiduciary duties to creditors. However, in 2007 the Delaware Supreme Court held that there is no change in fiduciary duties for a corporation upon transitioning from “solvent” to the “zone of insolvency.” Under this precedent, creditors do not have standing to pursue derivative breach of fiduciary duty claims against the corporation until it is actually insolvent. Once the corporation is insolvent, however, creditors can bring claims such as for fraudulent transfers of assets and for failure to pursue valid claims, including those against a corporation’s own directors and officers. To be sure, the Delaware Court of Chancery clarified that a corporation’s directors cannot be held liable for “continuing to operate [an] insolvent entity in the good faith belief that they may achieve profitability, even if their decisions ultimately lead to greater losses for creditors,” along with other caveats to the general fiduciary duty rule. Still, in light of the ambiguity in case law on the subject, a corporation ought to proceed carefully and understand its potential duties when approaching and reaching insolvency.

1 Diamond, Brandee and Lehot, Louis, Is it Time to Consider Alternative Financing Strategies?, Foley & Lardner LLP (July 18, 2022)

2 Rush, Thomas, Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment, TechCrunch (January 6, 2021)

Article By Natasha Allen, David W. Kantaros, Nikhil T. Pradhan, and Graham P. MacEwan of Foley & Lardner LLP

For more financial institutions and banking legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

© 2022 Foley & Lardner LLP

Legal News Reach Episode 4: The Perfect Storm: Law Firm Marketing & Business Development Budgeting with Beth Cuzzone, Global Practice Leader of Intapp

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 4 of Legal News Reach! National Law Review Managing Director Jennifer Schaller is joined by Beth Cuzzone, Global Practice Leader of Intapp. Together, they discuss the best budgeting strategies for legal marketing departments as firms emerge from the pandemic with a new set of priorities and perspectives.

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

Jennifer Schaller

This is Jennifer Schaller, and I’m the Managing Director of the National Law Review. We’ll be speaking with Beth Cuzzone, who’s the Global Practice Leader of Intapp. Beth, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what you do at Intapp?

Beth Cuzzone

Thank you for asking, Jennifer. I think it’s an important table-setting question. So I recently joined Intapp in 2022. It’s a global technology firm, and it partners with investors and advisors to help them run their businesses. And it basically follows those companies through the lifecycle of their companies, whether it’s intake or relationship management, or deal management, or billing or marketing or risk, and so many other operational functions. But my role Intapp sits in the marketing and business development corner of those companies. So as a Global Practice Leader, I’m responsible for working with a team of subject matter experts who help clients align their strategic priorities with our solutions. It’s been an interesting and challenging shift, because I spent more than 30 years of my career in the very types of companies that Intapp now helps. So it’s been an interesting and exciting and challenging change all at once. And I think it also gives me a unique lens into what we’re going to be diving into today.

Jennifer Schaller

Okay, wow, it sounds like a spot-on match here we have today. So let’s dig into it. We’re talking about law firm budgets. So for this upcoming budget cycle, for firms who are either almost done with it, or in the process, or close to wrapping it up. What’s different this year than in previous years in law firm marketing and business development departments?

Beth Cuzzone

In one word, everything. If we take a step back and look at the easy formula that law firms have used traditionally when creating their budgets, there hasn’t been a lot of secret sauce. In its simplest form, and I am oversimplifying it for illustrative purposes, but in its simplest form, law firms for years and years and years, and year over year, would take into consideration their former budget number and give it an increase that aligned with the firm’s increase in their revenue for that year. And then the real work would begin on saying, Okay, we’re going to give ourselves a 2 or 3% increase, because we increased our revenue by 8%. So we’re going to take some slice of that, and we’re going to increase what we did last year, and then they would reallocate that number. And so if it was my budget was $1,000 last year, and you know, now I’m going to increase it by 3%, it’s going to be $1,300. And now let me just play around with the line items and see where we want to spend a little more, where we want to spend a little less. Given the years that we’ve had coming up to the 2023 budget season, we had 2020, when the pandemic hit, we had 2021, where we were still experiencing the effects of that. And then in 2022 as people tried to move back into some normalcy of spend market, you know, marketing, outreach, awareness, credibility, relationships, going back into the office, that sort of thing, the budgets are a little bit all over the place. So to answer your question, why is this coming year’s budget different? It’s because you don’t have last year’s budget that you get to just reset.

The interesting thing is that I think it actually is going to provide opportunities to relook at the way you think of your budget and think a little bit about very specific line items. You know, I do think one of the places that people are going to spend a lot of time thinking about is digital marketing. And, you know, a question I had for you is, have you seen an uptick in the digital marketing spend from law firms, where we were pre-pandemic, to pandemic to where people are moving towards?

Jennifer Schaller

That’s kind of a multi-layered question. I mean, over the last five years, there’s obviously been a switch to more digital. There’s a couple of different things going on in the larger digital advertising industry. Advertising rates right now as a whole are pretty suppressed digitally. So that’s impacting us a little bit, just because the baseline is down. But if you’re in a specific niche, like the National Law Review, where you know, we very much have the traffic and the audience, there’s always going to be a demand for it. What’s going to be super interesting to see is when cookies go away. People keep talking about that, because that’s going to make the content on the website far more relevant, as opposed to having retargeting ads and things like that. But the date keeps changing on that. So, you know, we’ll let you know when we know. And related to publishing end of it, there’s been a bit of a sea change on that. There always was sort of a pushback or a stigma somewhat attached to pay-for-play publishing. But a little bit of a difference with that is, over time, most marketing professionals, especially in legal, understand that there’s costs involved in running a quality publication, if you want to have analytics, if you want to have a responsive staff who’s around to make edits, that you have to pay for that, and that, you know, if you don’t have money coming in from subscriptions, if you’re a no login website, that there’s going to be cost. So there’s been a bit of a change there. There’s more receptiveness to it. And I think maybe because law firms themselves understand what it takes to publish, they’re a little more forgiving, and understanding that we have costs too, if that makes any sense.

Beth Cuzzone

It makes complete sense. It makes complete sense. And again, there’s no direct answer to some of these complicated questions that we’re asking each other today about where people are spending and where it’s going versus where it’s been when we’ve had this pause on so many levels. And like you said, I also just think that the lens of the marketing and business development departments and law firms are really starting to appreciate that looking at digital assets as a way to create awareness and credibility is going to be a leader in their budget.

Jennifer Schaller

Well, yes, especially since events have changed and gone away. And a lot of sponsorships have changed. And given that pandemic ripple effect of live events versus sponsoring tables at events, which used to be a part of legal marketing department spends, what’s becoming more the standard for law firm, legal marketing department and business development spend, is it changed? Is it reallocating? How is that working?

Beth Cuzzone

That’s a great question. So typically–I heard somebody say once, law firms are like snowflakes, everyone is different. And I know that when I look at industry statistics that talks about the swing of spend, that has to do with you know, the percentage of revenue of law firms, that it goes anywhere from 2 or 3% to 18, 19, 20%. And the reason that they have that swing is because in some marketing and business development department budgets, they include personnel when others don’t, okay, or in some marketing and business development, department budgets, it’s all marketing, whether it’s for the HR department, or legal recruiting, or the firm, and others. Those are each very separate departments and separate budgets. So there is this huge spread across the industry. But I think for most firms, we’re going to find that there’s that 3.5 or 4% to 8% budget target of revenue. And that’s kind of where people settle in. There are outliers on both sides. And interestingly, there’s often some surprises. I find that sometimes some of the smaller, mid-sized firms have larger percentage budgets. But I think that’s because they can’t enjoy the scales of economy that larger firms can. If you’re looking at your budget, and we can talk about this in a little bit, you know, in 2020 when the pandemic started, all discretionary budget items were removed from law firms, whether it was in marketing and business development or not. So it was like, “Unless we’re contractually obligated to pay something, we’re taking it off the table.” And so now firms are getting that opportunity to rebuild it. And again, that approach and that budgeting exercise is a real opportunity for these firms to say, “What haven’t we been asking ourselves?” Or, “What haven’t we done that we’ve wanted to? What’s not in our budget? What should be or what are the opportunities out there in terms of places or people or technology or intersections that we’ve never tried before?” So I think there’s some of those questions that are happening, too.

Jennifer Schaller

Yeah, I think if anything, this is just helpful to know, to have legal marketers or even law firm administrators, or management know how to ask questions about legal marketing budgets, that there is such a wide range, but the wide range prompts people to ask the question, “What’s in that figure and what’s not?”  I’ve never really had it broken down that well before. So thank you for taking the time to spell that out. Because it’s not spelled out a lot of different places. Many people will appreciate that.

When you’re talking about law firm marketing budgets, what’s the difference between acquisition marketing and retention marketing and preparing budgets? Should law firms dedicate more resources to one or the other? Or is it some sort of blend?

Beth Cuzzone

That is a very forward-thinking question that you’re laying out there. Because I think that law firms basically had two types of buckets, if you will: they thought of it as awareness and credibility building, or relationship building, it was one of the two. And so they had some things around awareness and credibility, we talked a little bit about it earlier, you know, it’s that one to many, the website, you know, the content, the newsletters, the big events, that sort of thing. And then the relationships are kind of those one-on-ones. It’s the spending time going out and sitting down with a prospective client to learn something, or having an entertainment budget or doing some small roundtables with thought leadership, or sitting down with different decision makers at a particular client site so that you’re staying close to them. And it was a little bit all over the place. And the shift that I’m starting to see happen is that law firms are starting to break down their budgets into exactly what you said: acquisition marketing, which is, “How are we getting new clients?” versus retention marketing, which is, “how are we keeping and growing the clients that we have, or the brands that we have, or the relationships that we have?” And by doing that, they’re also starting to do account-based marketing. And they’re able to put their budgets together and say, “We’re going to spend 70, or 60, or 80% of our budget on our existing relationships, because we know that it costs six to eight time more money, resources, people budgets to get a new client than it does to keep and grow an existing one. So when you look at the scale of acquisition versus retention, retention is going to get that bigger budget. And then the acquisition is going to have a smaller wallet share of the overall budget. But within that big budget, you’re going to start that retention budget, you’re going to start to see that being broken down a little bit by account-based marketing as therefore account based budgeting. Again, this is a little bit around the corner. And this is I think what firms are going to be dealing with over the next five years of exactly being able to measure their return on objectives or their return on investments and where their money is really being spent. Because they’re going to be tying it down to very specific objectives and very specific strategies, if you will.

Jennifer Schaller

Okay, so what would be some of the areas that there would be an overlap, like between acquisition and retention marketing, would that fall in the digital area? Or where would that be?

Beth Cuzzone

That’s a perfect example, please look at what we’re talking about like a Venn diagram, right, you’ve got your acquisition, you’ve got your retention and then there’s the place where they overlay. Digital assets are a perfect example that fall into both. It’s helping you in the marketplace. And it’s helping you find your next big relationships and clients and referral sources. And those are the same assets that you can use to add value and stay close to some of your existing relationships, places where they start to separate a little bit, again, is really by account or by client, client-based marketing versus account-based marketing. And so you might have a firm where you say, we’re going to spend a lot of our travel and entertainment budget on going to each one of their offices and doing junior executive training. So that we’re aligning ourselves with the next generation of decision makers, and that’s how we want to spend our money and our time and our budget and our resources and our people on that particular client this year, sort of thing. So it all depends, again, on the strategy. And it also depends a little bit on the firm.

Jennifer Schaller

Yeah, would it vary by practice group, or just like, if you had a firm that was, you know, just intellectual property law based, would there be differences in the ratio or the mix or network?

Beth Cuzzone

That’s a great question. So there are some firms and also practice areas where there’s annuity streams, if you will, right. There’s just an ongoing, “We represent this particular finance institution on all of these sorts of loans. And, you know, we do 5, 10, 15 a year for them.” Think about if you were actually a litigator, and you were representing financial institutions where you didn’t know how many you were going to have in a year or whether you were not going to have any for two years and how they think of you and they call us when it’s about the company or they don’t call us when it’s about the company so you have to again, look at the firm, its strategy, the cadence of those open matters, the cadence of when they’re being asked to help clients and then try to align your budget and the activities in your budget around those very objectives. Does that make sense?

Jennifer Schaller

Yeah, it does. A lot of what you’re breaking down is really helpful because people throw numbers out there, but they don’t go into the details of what moves the numbers up or down, like your example of depending on if the law firm is including the expenses for HR, or including the salaries of the marketing department in there, that should make a big difference. And nobody really spells that out. So that was very helpful.

Beth Cuzzone

What kinds of trends are you seeing…there’s this nuance that’s happening now Jennifer, where there was a period of time “back in the day” where all law firms took out one-page ads in some of the biggest business-to-business publications and journals, or like yours, very, very niche, industry-specific news-related channels. And it was “we want to be top of mind” with whoever the reader is, whether it’s our peers, whether it’s our competition, whether it’s a referral source, whether it’s a potential client, whether it’s somebody on the other side of the table, and over time, that awareness campaign started to move into that content campaign. And I’d really be interested to see how are law firms maintaining that mindshare in the marketplace? What are you seeing?

Jennifer Schaller

Some big change from print, and what’s really changed–COVID was sort of terrible for the world, but in a lot of ways good for law firms and legal publishing. Because there were so many rapid developments of a legal or administrative or regulatory nature going on, there was just a lot of content to be written on and a lot of people looking for that content. So there was inherently a lot of traffic just being driven by COVID and all the related changes to it. Now that that’s leveled out a little bit, what we’re seeing from law firms is when they do their informative writing, meeting, talking about cases that happened and why that’s important to a particular industry, or new regulations that are on the horizon, what’s a little bit different is they’re starting to impose–not impose, but impart–their personality a little bit more. We’re seeing more content come in where it talks about people’s journey in the legal profession, how they balance working from home or transitioning out of working from home in a little bit more with the content. So before there was very little of that. I mean, there was some. It’s pretty prevalent now where we’ll see many law firms just have entire blogs and podcasts and a whole kind of vertical dedicated to life balance, people’s career paths, and things like that, which is a bit different than what we’ve seen before. I think it provides a good opportunity for law firms to tease out their competitive differences just by letting people know who they are, because ultimately, with law firms, they’re buying the person and their knowledge and their background. And this is kind of a more forward way of doing it than what’s been done in the past.

Beth Cuzzone

You know, it’s so interesting to hear you say that. I don’t think I really put such a fine point on it until you just mentioned it. All law firms do the same thing. For the most part, a general practice firm does the same thing as the next general practice, you know, an IP boutique does the same thing as the next IP. But how you do it, who you do it with and the culture is what your differentiator is. And you’re right, as I’m thinking a little bit about the sorts of information that I’m seeing, either the types of information or the personality in which people are writing, it really is giving firms a way to showcase their culture and who they are and their differentiator as opposed to all sounding like really smart law firms.

Jennifer Schaller

It’s that and I think it’s a little bit recruiting as well. I mean, the whole world has experienced quite a bit of turnover. Law firms have always had more turnover than other industries. So we’d have some stuff coming in where folks are interviewing their summer associates. And they’re doing that on a couple different levels. I think it plays to people who may be interested to know how a person got a summer associate position at an Am law firm, but also, you know, it’s a big hug to that person, and it shows in a recruiting sense that that law firm really cares about folks at all levels of the organization. We wouldn’t have seen that 10 years ago, so that’s just really different.

Okay, so let’s get into the fun part: budgeting tips! You’ve been doing budgets for years, you work with an organization that helps law firms kind of balance competing things for their attention and help tease out what’s probably the best bet for the firm. Do you have a few tips to share with our readers, or our readers and our listeners today, concerning law firm budgets, what to include what to not get pushed back on?

Beth Cuzzone

Yes, I think that there are a few best practices out there that law firm marketing and business development departments want to be thinking about as they’re either negotiating their budgets with firm management, or if they’re actually putting it together. We talked a little bit about the fact that historically firms have used the previous year and that budget number is a benchmark. Ironically, in 2022 law firm marketing and business development budgets increased by more than 100%. And again, it’s because in 2020, and 2021, they were decimated, it was the place where there was the most discretion in the budget, there were things like they weren’t going to be doing sponsorships, they weren’t going to be holding webinars, they weren’t going to be traveling to see clients or things–like take it all out. So then when we started to move towards this normalcy of, “let’s get back to business in 2022”, with a kinder, gentler, more softer approach, they had to increase their budgets by more than 100%. So the first thing I would say is, do not prepare your 2023 budget based on your 2022 budget, because you’re going to show that there’s already been 100% increase, and there will probably be very little wiggle room. I would also scrap 2020 and 2021. So I think one of my tips or best practices is, use 2019 as your benchmark, not 2021 or 22. For the reasons we’ve just talked about.

The other thing, you just mentioned this in the way you asked the question, is that there is a very complex ecosystem in law firms, and the marketing and business development budget is one of many competing priorities. And I think understanding that budgeting is a long-term game, not one you win every year. And so what I’m trying to say is, take a panoramic view of where the firm is, what they’re trying to accomplish, what some of their major goals are for the next year or two, look left and look right at what other operating department budgets are going to be impacted by that, and prepare your budget within the context of what’s happening. So don’t ask for the greatest budget increase among every operations department, every year. There becomes a fatigue, where it’s like, “Nope, just give them the 2%, we’re not going to listen to why they deserve more every year, year over year than every other department.” So I think walking in and being able to communicate, “We understand that lateral growth is one of our top strategic priorities, and that you’re going to be spending a lot of our budget on legal recruiting. So this year, I’ve put in some particular items and activities that will support legal recruiting, and I’ve moved my budget request from a 6% increase to a 2% increase.” And again, you can negotiate two or three years in advance, then say, “I just ask that when we’re looking at my budget in two years, or in three years that we appreciate that I’m asking for a smaller increase this year, given where we are, what we’re doing.” You know, it also goes a long way when there’s been a down year.

So, so far we’ve said, use 2019 as your benchmark, don’t ask for the greatest budget increase among every operations department every year, try to negotiate for two or three years in advance at your firm, but also negotiate two or three years in advance with your partners or vendors, depending on what you call them. You know, to be able to say, “Listen, we want to do this. And we can’t be all-in this year because our budget isn’t going to allow us, but can we negotiate an 18-month relationship with you and spread it over a 24-month period?” Negotiate a little bit! These are companies that want to partner with you. I also think it never hurts to ask and get comfortable with, again, just partnering with your vendors. That’s why I always call them partners and not vendors. Be comfortable with partnering with them and saying, “Look here are two or three things I’m trying to accomplish. And I only see one of those things in the proposal that you sent to me. Are there some things that you can put in here that are revenue neutral? Or are there ways that you can reallocate our spend and help me hit these other budget objectives?” They’ll work with you. So negotiate with management and then partner with your vendors.

I’ve been talking with a lot of firms. And another thing that I’m seeing firms really start to do is ask themselves, “Where is the lowest risk and the highest return?” and vice versa, and making sure that your budget is representing that like, “Boy, this is the lowest risk and a really good return. So we’re going to do more of this. And this is a really high risk, very questionable return. We’re going to do less of this.” And by the way, having those conversations with your management committee or your manageing partners or your executive committee about the ways that you’re looking at risk versus return, or contextually where you are in the firm’s operational churn, if you will, those sorts of things will help you in the long run.

Jennifer Schaller

It’s really great that you point out the need to let your vendors know what your goals are. It’s very challenging sometimes when people are like, “What’s the price? You know, what, what, what is your best price?” What is important to you? It’s not really a negotiating technique, we want to know where to focus to best meet your needs. And if we have no concept of what your goals are, or what you’re trying to highlight, it makes it infinitely more challenging.

This year, or any historically, are there budget items that you would suggest CMOs pay more attention to this year than in previous years or anything that’s unique about this year that they might want to highlight other than the points that you made about using 2019 as a base point versus the previous two years? Which were just weird. Is there anything else different?

Beth Cuzzone

You know, I think this is the time everybody is peeking over the horizon wondering, “Is there a downturn? Is there a recession? Is there a down year coming? What do we do?” You know, you’ve got, you’re asking yourself all of those questions. I think this is also a year, when you’re looking at your budget, to look at things that are driving efficiencies, scalability, revenue generation, right? There’s a difference between cost and investment. Make sure that your budget has a nice healthy mix of, “These are things where we want to spend money to get more money. And then these are places where we want to spend money so that we can meet an objective,” and I call them return on objectives, and return on investments. “We want to be known in this new market. We want to open up an office in Texas. And so we’re going to be spending a lot of time and money and energy and budget on really getting the word out creating some top of mind awareness in Texas.” That’s an objective, right? If it is that we really want to get a little closer to the bottom quartile of our clients in terms of revenue and say, “How can we help them with more problems than we do now? How do we take them and really try to grow the wallet share that they spend on outside counsel?” That’s a return on investment. So you know, have that healthy mix on return on investment, and return on objective.

Jennifer Schaller

Fair enough. So briefly, your firm Intapp? How do they help law firms with their budgeting process? Are there specific things that they’re set up to do to help?

Beth Cuzzone

Thank you for asking me that and for being so gracious. Because yes, I think the answer is yes. So Intapp can help law firms create insights to find revenue, find where there’s work that’s more profitable, find where, you know, there’s whitespace, and opportunities, or be able to basically measure things, and have this one source of truth in your law firm, where you’ve got all of these technologies that help all of these different operating departments that all connect, that’s why it’s called Intapp, there’s an integration to this, and they all integrate and talk to each other. And those kinds of insights can inform law firms about the kind of money that they’re spending and the kind of return that they’re getting. And it can be as simple as looking at your marketing campaign open rate for your last email, all the way to looking at some very strategic insights of “here are some spaces or places in our firm where we could be working closer with clients, or an industry where we haven’t saturated as much as we could.” So it can go from tactical to strategic, and that’s what Intapp does. That’s why it’s such an amazing company.

Jennifer Schaller

So is Intapp more process or technology based or kind of marrying the both of them when they work with law firms?

Beth Cuzzone

That’s another great question. So it’s a technology company. And I think the thing I’ve been most surprised with is the brainpower that sits in Intapp and all of the people that are there to help clients successfully deploy, or change management professionals that help you get more engagement at your firm, or help you with use cases of smarter ways to use the technology.

So Intapp sells technology that has professionals that help you with the people in the process as well. It’s a little competitive secret.

Jennifer Schaller

Sounds like a good match. As always, we appreciate Beth’s time sharing her thoughts with us and her experience and kind of the trends that she’s seeing and marrying it with the experience that she’s had over the years. Thank you very much.

Beth Cuzzone

It was so great to see you, Jennifer. So great to see you. Thank you for inviting me and be well. True North.

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 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

Transforming Business: Exploring Pathways for Women to Join and Impact Corporate Boards

Womble Bond Dickinson hosted a “Transforming Business: Exploring Pathways for Women to Join and Impact Corporate Boards” panel discussion at the Post Oak Hotel in Houston. WBD Chair & CEO Betty Temple joined 50/50 Women on Boards Houston Founder & Chair Susan Knight (moderator), TechnipFMC Executive VP, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary Victoria Lazar and Duy-Loan Le, a Board of Directors member for Wolfspeed, National Instruments, Ballard Power Systems and Atomera and a retired Senior Fellow at Texas Instruments. The panelists also offered insights into how women can make a lasting impact on corporate boards, and this article is based on that discussion.

The issue of women on corporate boards is a classic glass-half-full/glass-half-empty conundrum.

On one hand, the percentage of women on corporate boards reached an all-time high in 2021, and female board representation has grown substantially in the past decade alone. On the other hand, women still make up only 27 percent of Russell 3000 company boards of directors, according to a recent report by 50/50 Women on Boards. Only nine percent of those companies have gender-balanced boards.

Women Representation on Corporate Boards

Percentage of Female Directors on S&P 500 Boards

2021: 30 percent
2020: 28 percent
2011: 16 percent

Percentage of Boards with Two or More Women Directors

2021: 96 percent
2011: 58 percent

Source: 2021 U.S. Spencer Stuart Board Index

Le said, “In the field of technology, especially in the boardroom, often I’m the only woman.” This was particularly true when she joined her first public board 20 years ago, she said, and while Le sees more women in corporate leadership today, she still feels as if she is in a predominantly male world.

Getting appointed to a corporate board—or even a civic or non-profit board—isn’t easy, particularly for women. But the pathway to board membership is clearer than ever for women, thanks in large part to the work of women who have blazed that trail.

Self-Assessment Key to Finding the Right Board

To those outside the boardroom, a board of directors may seem like a closed, secret society. But the panelists said that joining a corporate board actually is much more akin to applying for a job, albeit a job that isn’t publicly advertised.

“The first step on a board journey is to show interest in leadership,” Lazar said.

“It is a journey – it’s not something you can do overnight,” Temple said. Looking back, she said she would have changed her initial approach to board service, even though she was actively counseling public company boards as an attorney at the time.

“I would try to build a resume for a board with the strengths I have to be a fiduciary to a company. They want you to be strategic—to think about the business and where it is going. So you need to be thoughtful about how you can help,” Temple said. For example, if candidates have proven experience in finance, legal, human resources, communications or policy matters, they should showcase those skills.

Temple said, “Boards are looking for specific skillsets so you can be an asset on day one. It’s difficult to be a director-in-training.”

But first, she recommends candidates do a self-assessment of their areas of strength and experience, so they can find corporate boards that are the best fit.

“The key is not to spread the net too wide but focus on where you can have a real impact,” Temple said.

“The key is not to spread the net too wide but focus on where you can have a real impact.”

BETTY TEMPLE, CHAIR & CEO OF WOMBLE BOND DICKINSON

Knight said that board opportunities can include non-profit, advisory, private equity and private company boards, too. “The common thread is that you have a fiduciary responsibility,” she said.

While board members come from a variety of professional backgrounds, many are attorneys or have legal experience.

“There is a large population of potentially qualified board members who are attorneys. It’s a good time to be an attorney looking to serve on a board,” Lazar said. However, she cautioned that companies neither want nor need a “Second General Counsel” on the board. Attorneys have the skills and background to guide companies strategically and help them spot potential problems before they arise. This background is particularly valuable during a corporate restructuring, Lazar said. But lawyers on the board shouldn’t try to micromanage or second-guess the company’s in-house legal team.

She also said attorneys need to bring more than legal experience to the board room. Other skills and experiences are invaluable to board service and should not be ignored.

Finally, Le said building strong relationships is critical to being considered for board service. Candidates who demonstrate a selfless desire to help others are best positioned to earn the type of trust necessary to be selected.

“In all of my experiences, boards came to me – not because I’m better than anyone else, but because they know me,” she said. “Reach out, spread your wings and help other people without expecting anything in return. That’s how people come to know you and want you to be part of their team.”

“There is a large population of potentially qualified board members who are attorneys. It’s a good time to be an attorney looking to serve on a board.”

VICTORIA LAZAR, EXECUTIVE VP, CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER & SECRETARY OF TECHNIPFMC

Finding the Board that Fits

Women absolutely need to assess their personal skills, strengths and experience when they decide to pursue board membership. They also need to pay close attention to the companies they wish to serve and the other board members they would be serving with. The panelists said the first opportunity for board service may not always be the right opportunity.

“I needed to meet the people I was going to be serving with in person. Do we share the same values? Can I collaborate with them? The chemistry was very important,” Le said.

Lazar said networking is a great way to build the types of relationships that lead to board service.

“There are hundreds of ways to meet people who are in position to recommend you for a board,” she said. These include professional organizations, community and civic groups, economic development organizations, bar associations (for attorneys) and more. Getting involved in such organizations can offer valuable leadership opportunities, as well as the chance to get to know corporate board members.

“Work your network and work your resume, so when you have the opportunity, you have demonstrated leadership. Be ready when they tap you on the shoulder,” Temple said.

“Work your network and work your resume, so when you have the opportunity, you have demonstrated leadership. Be ready when they tap you on the shoulder.”

BETTY TEMPLE

What to Know about Board Service

Finding the right fit and getting on a corporate, civic or non-profit board is just the beginning. The panelists all have extensive experience with board service and shared some of their recommendations for finding success as a board member.

For example, Le said board members need to protect themselves from legal liability when they agree to become a board member.

“I’d never serve on a public board without directors and officers (D&O) insurance,” she said, noting that if board members exercise their best judgment and put the company’s interests first, they generally have nothing to worry about.

Temple also noted that board members need to be prepared to serve on committees. Public companies are required to have Audit, Compensation, and Corporate Governance/Nominating & Governance committees. Women who want to serve on boards should consider how their skillsets and experience can benefit those committees. For example, having a background in human resources or corporate compensation is great experience for serving on a compensation committee. Likewise, candidates with experience in ESG or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) may be a good fit for a corporate governance committee.

“Committees are a big part of board service, and it is a lot of work – and it’s not just the meetings. Before the meetings, we get hundreds of pages to review,” Le said. “The decisions you make are consequential. Your decisions impact individuals and their lives.”

Lazar also noted that private company boards can be far different from those at public companies. At public companies, the separation between the board of directors and corporate leadership is established by federal law. But at a privately held company, the barriers between board members and corporate leadership may be blurred. Board candidates at a private company need to investigate the boardroom dynamic up front before they agree to join.

Hiring a CEO

Hiring (and firing) a CEO is perhaps the most basic, fundamental role of a governing board. At the very least, it is one of the three core functions of the board, along with strategy and compliance.

Leadership transition can be smooth—such as when a well-liked CEO decides to retire, and the board has ample time to find a replacement and no shortage of good candidates.  But there are instances where the board and CEO part ways on contentious terms—Carly Fiorina’s 2005 ouster from Hewlett-Packard is one high-profile example of when a board and its corporate leader were completely unable to co-exist.

No matter the circumstances, board members must be prepared to deal with leadership transition at any time.

When somebody says, ‘We need to make a move,’ you have to be ready to voice an opinion and be an active participant in the process. It’s one of the most important and difficult decisions a board can make,” Lazar said.

“Sometimes, leadership isn’t about expertise—it’s about dealing with people.”

DUY-LOAN LE, BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBER FOR WOLFSPEED, NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS, BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS AND ATOMERA

Le has been in the boardroom during those difficult meetings. She said she experienced a situation where the board had to replace the CEO, who also was the company’s founder and largest shareholder and who initially did not want to leave.

This situation required interpersonal skills, not cold business logic. The CEO/Founder had given so much to the company, and he needed an exit strategy that wouldn’t humiliate him. Le was able to navigate that difficult path during their long, emotional phone call.

“It can be intense. If that situation hadn’t been navigated properly, it would’ve blown up in our face,” she said. “Sometimes, leadership isn’t about expertise—it’s about dealing with people.”

Whether women are looking to serve or are already in the boardroom, the panelists encouraged them to believe in themselves.

“Why wouldn’t you be qualified? Everyone has to do it for the first time,” Lazar said. “Focus on what you have and what you bring.”

“If you’ve been appointed to a public company board, then you’re there – you’ve got it. Just be a great board member and keep doing the right things,” Temple said.

“I remember the feeling the first time I walked into a board room. It was all white men, a generation older than me. But I thought, ‘I have an advantage.’ Because none of these men have lived the life I’ve lived. And what’s the worst that can happen – that they kick me off the board?” Le said. “From there, just do what Betty said and carry yourself with confidence. You are just as good as anyone in that room.”

For additional research and resources, go to the 50/50 Women on Boards website. 50/50 Women on Boards is dedicated to promoting gender balance and diversity on corporate boards.

Article By Elizabeth O. Temple of Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP

For more corporate and business legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright © 2022 Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP All Rights Reserved.

Top Legal Industry News Highlights for August 2022: Law Firm Expansion, Legal Awards and Recognition, and the Latest in Women in Law

Thank you for reading the latest edition of the National Law Review’s bi-weekly legal news roundup! In these last weeks of summer, we hope you are remaining safe and healthy. Read more below for updates on law firm hiring and expansion, industry awards and recognition, and spotlights on women in the field of law.

Law Firm Hiring and Expansion

Moore & Van Allen PLLC has added Julianne Farnsworth as counsel and as a member of the firm’s Litigation practice group. Presently based in the Charleston office, Ms. Farnsworth dedicates her practice to complex civil litigation, representing clients in areas such as business torts, environmental law, employment law, and other areas. She has practiced before state and federal courts across the U.S. and is additionally certified as a mediator in the state circuit and federal courts of South Carolina.

“We are pleased to welcome Julianne who has been a top litigator in the Charleston area for over 30 years,” said Trudy H. Robertson, co-managing member of the firm’s Charleston office. “Julianne’s experience and reputation will be valuable assets for servicing our litigation clients across the full spectrum of business areas and industries.”

Trey Baker, a former senior advisor for public engagement at the White House, has joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP as a partner in the Government Services and Finance Department. In his former role, Mr. Baker specialized in outreach to civil rights organizations and minority communities, focusing on criminal justice and law enforcement reform. He has also served for four years as the city manager for Grenada, Mississippi.

“Trey’s deep well of government experience and strong foundation in the D.C. market will prove invaluable to our clients – both locally and nationally,” said Roscoe Howard, managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. “His passion for community engagement, evidenced by the breadth of his work at the local and federal level, brings a unique skill set to our talented group of legal professionals. We’re happy to have him.”

Honigman Law, LLP has advanced its recent growth efforts, announcing the launch of Honigman Law Israel, an Israeli subsidiary focusing its efforts on U.S. mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, venture capital, real estate, and more. For prospective candidates, the subsidiary offers the opportunity to continue practicing complex U.S. legal matters while located in Israel. The HLI team has already added its first five attorneys: Sam Katz, who practices in corporate and capital markets; Inbar Rauchwerger, who practices in mergers and acquisitions; Aviv Avnon, who practices in finance; David Snyder, who practices in tax law; and Rachel Rhodes, who practices in corporate and capital markets.

“We’re honored to bring on these five top-notch attorneys from some of the most prominent law firms in the U.S. and expect to bring in many more highly qualified individuals through this initiative,” said Honigman CEO and Chair David Foltyn. “We have continued to see incredible demand for our transactional counsel, which in turn requires that we continue to grow with the most talented lawyers. With HLI, we have created a win-win opportunity for A+ attorneys who want to reside in Israel for personal reasons but did not have a path to doing so, and for Honigman, which can deepen and expand the great talent we can devote to our clients.”

Much Shelist, P.C. has added three new attorneys: Jonathan Friedland, Jeremy Waitzman, and Hajar Jouglaf. Mr. Friedland joins the firm’s Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights group, and Mr. Waitzman and Mr. Jouglaf join the firm’s Corporate & Finance group. The trio has formerly worked together to represent businesses across the U.S., focusing their efforts on mergers and acquisitions, insolvency, and bankruptcy matters. Together, they counsel clients across many industries, including manufacturing, information technology, retail, and hospitality.

“Jonathan, Jeremy, and Hajar impressed us from the very beginning of our conversations,” said the firm’s Managing Partner Mitchell Roth. “They bring legal prowess and business savvy that will be immensely valuable to our clients, and they share our commitment to top-tier service.”

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC has added Jeffery D. Mulrooney as Of Counsel to the firm’s Business Department. Mr. Mulrooney has a great deal of experience managing intellectual property matters, with particular emphasis on patent, trademark, and copyright applications across all industries, including medical devices, material sciences, consumer products, and more. At the firm, he will focus his practice specifically on intellectual property and transactional matters.

“Jeffrey’s focus on copyright, trademark, and patent law is a great addition to our Pittsburgh office,” said Steptoe & Johnson CEO, Christopher L. Slaughter. “We are always looking for the best attorneys to meet our client’s needs and with the explosive growth in technology industries across our footprint, Jeffrey’s background will be a great asset to our clients and our firm.”

Industry Awards and Recognition

Two Romer Debbas partners, Michael R. Feldman and Alison L. Weisman, have been honored by Best Lawyers. The award is based on peer reviews and feedback and acknowledges attorneys at the beginning of their law careers for “upstanding professional standards and excellence in private practice.” Mr. Feldman and Ms. Weisman were specifically recognized as rising industry stars in the field of real estate law.

Michael Feldman is a partner and manager of the residential real estate department at Romer Debbas’ New York office. His practice focuses on residential and commercial real estate transactions. Alison Weisman is a partner in Romer Debbas’ commercial real estate department. She concentrates her practice on representing buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, and developers in various real estate and lending transactions. She is also a trained mediator.

Greenberg Traurig was nominated by JUVE Verlag, a business law publisher based in Germany, as the Law Firm of the Year in the Labor and Employment category. The firm was nominated for its “positive, dynamic development over the past year.” The award ceremony will take place on Oct. 27 in Frankfurt where the winners will be announced.

197 attorneys at Ballard Spahr received 330 recognitions in this year’s The Best Lawyers in America guide. Of additional note, 58 Ballard Spahr attorneys have been featured in the Ones to Watch category, which is intended for lawyers at the beginning of their careers. Ballard Spahr attorneys also received 7 recognitions for Lawyers of The Year:

Best Lawyers uses annual surveys to assess lawyers in the field, asking attorneys to evaluate their peers based on professionalism, integrity, and legal skill. Lawyers of the Year receive the highest overall peer feedback for a given practice area and region.

Women in Law

Clifford Law Office partner Sarah F. King is scheduled to present “The Power of Visual Persuasion” at the Society of Women Trial Lawyers’ 2022 Fall Conference in Nashville, TN. A medical malpractice attorney based in Chicago, Ms. King will be sharing her insights on technological innovations and visual storytelling in virtual and physical courtrooms. She has previously presented at events such as the Michigan Association of Justice Medical Malpractice Seminar and the American Association for Justice Annual Convention, and is an active member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

The Society of Women Trial Lawyers conference provides an opportunity for women practitioners across the U.S. to enhance their trial skillset while building valuable professional and personal connections. This year’s event will be at the Thompson Nashville Hotel on Thursday, October 6, 2022.

The Texas Diversity Council will recognize Foley & Lardner partner Michelle Ku as a 2022 Top Women Lawyers Award winner at a virtual ceremony on September 27, 2022. Ms. Ku is a business litigator known for taking on high stakes trials at the local, state, and federal levels, covering issues related to antitrust, government investigations, class actions, tax, and intellectual property. She and her fellow awardees were selected for their professional success, legal industry impact, integrity, and commitment to supporting other women in the field.

Alyson Brown of Hunton Andrews Kurth has been selected for the National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 for the second year in a row. Inclusion on the list provides access to a national network of leading figures in the Black legal community and requires a reputation for professional excellence and leadership as determined through peer nominations and a third-party research process.

Ms. Brown is a Richmond, VA based employment attorney. At Hunton Andrews Kurth, she handles issues related to unfair workplace practices, labor law compliance, and employment litigation. In addition to her experience arguing before the National Labor Relations Board, Brown is a Program Committee Member of the Richmond Bar Association and Board Member of the Downtown Richmond YMCA. She has recently been listed on the 2022 Virginia Access to Justice Pro Bono Honor Roll.

Article By Chandler Ford, Shelby Garrett, and Crissonna Tennison 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

Draft SEC Five-Year Strategic Plan Emphasizes Importance of Climate Disclosures

Recently, the SEC issued its five-year strategic plan for public comment.  This strategic plan covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from adapting to new technology to plans for increasing internal SEC workforce diversity.  Significantly, this draft strategic plan stated that “the SEC must update its disclosure framework,” and highlighted three areas in which it should do so: “issuers’ climate risks, cybersecurity hygiene policies, and their most important asset: their people.”

The SEC has already undertaken steps to enact these proposed updates to its disclosure requirements for public companies.  Notably, this past March it proposed draft climate disclosure rules, which provoked a significant response from the public–including widespread criticism from many companies (as well as praise from environmental organizations).  The fact that the SEC chose to highlight these rules in its (draft) five-year strategic plan indicates the depth of the commitment it has made to these draft climate disclosures, and further suggests that the final form of the climate disclosures is unlikely to be significantly altered in substance from what the SEC has already proposed.  This statement reinforces the commitment of Chairman Gensler’s SEC and the Biden Administration to financial disclosures as a method to combat climate change.

“The markets have begun to embrace the necessity of providing a greater level of disclosure to investors. From time to time, the SEC must update its disclosure framework to reflect investor demand. Today, investors increasingly seek information related to, among other things, issuers’ climate risks, cybersecurity hygiene policies, and their most important asset: their people. In order to catch up to that reality, the agency should continue to update the disclosure framework to address these areas of investor demand, as well as continue to take concrete steps to modernize the systems that support the disclosure framework, to make public disclosures easier to access and analyze and thus more decision-useful to investors. . . . Across the agency, the SEC must continually reassess its risks, including in new areas such as climate risk, and document necessary controls.”

Article By Jacob H. Hupart of Mintz

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

©1994-2022 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. All Rights Reserved.

Children’s Advertising Rules Apply in the Metaverse Too, CARU Says

CARU, the Children’s Advertising Review Unit of BBB National programs, issued a compliance warning last week reminding industry that the self-regulating body on children’s advertising and privacy intends to enforce its advertising guidelines in the metaverse, just like in the real world.

CARU’s August 23 compliance warning puts companies on notice of what perhaps should have been obvious: its guidelines for advertising to children apply in the metaverse, too. The warning heavily analogizes the metaverse, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) worlds to other digital spaces like smartphone apps and online videos. CARU emphasizes the need to:

  • avoid blurring the lines between advertising and non-advertising content;
  • clearly disclose the use of brand-sponsored avatar influencers;
  • avoid manipulative tactics that induce children to view or interact with ads or to make in-game purchases; and
  • use clear, understandable, easily noticeable and prominent disclosures, repeated if necessary to ensure children notice and understand them.

The metaverse is a new area of focus for CARU and BBB National Programs: two recent posts, Know the Rules: How to Be Age Appropriate in the Metaverse and Advertising And Privacy: The Rules Of The Road For The Metaverse, emphasize the need to make sure advertising is truthful, non-deceptive and clearly identifiable as advertising, especially in brand-sponsored worlds. CARU recommends that advertisers and operators anticipate and stay aware of how their child audiences interact with the metaverse experience, including how, when and where ads will be shown to them and how influencers will engage in the space.

Article By Phyllis H. Marcus and Samuel J. Thomas of Hunton Andrews Kurth

For more communications, media, and internet legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright © 2022, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. All Rights Reserved.

Why Selecting the Right Company Swag is so Important for Your Business and Brand

I recently went to use a pen that I got at a conference from a law firm service provider. It’s my favorite pen. It writes perfectly, it never leaks, it has the perfect consistency and it is a bright color, so I can always find it in my purse.

On the flip side, I have another pen, from a top 10 Am Law ranked law firm with profits of more than $3 million per partner per year that ran out of ink the second time I used it. It’s flimsy and plastic. I was surprised that a firm of this caliber would give out hundreds of these pens to their clients, recruits and prospects.

It’s incredibly important that each touchpoint your target audience has with your brand is truly reflective of your brand.

That means even the pens you hand out at a conference (when we go back to conferences), the coffee you serve, the way the bathrooms look and the tidiness of the reception areas (including ensuring the plants in the reception area are healthy looking) need to be well thought out.

And the kind of swag (or promotional items or tchotchkes as I prefer to call them) you choose to represent your company is much more important than you may think. It’s part of your outward facing brand and can be an easy way to gain positive visibility for your organization.

Let me give you an example. I was a guest in a summer share a few years ago in the Hamptons. One of my housemates walked into the house wearing a baseball hat that said “MoFo.” I said, “do you know what that stands for?” and you can guess yourself what he replied. I told him that MoFo was actually a global law firm. He was shocked. He said he had been given the hat by a lawyer friend of his about 10 years prior and didn’t know (or ask) what the abbreviation stood for. He just assumed it stood for – well you know what.

This is a great example of how the wording and branding on a swag item can make all the difference.

Once I told him MoFo was the name of a major law firm, the hat lost its “cool” quotient to him. Later that summer I saw his once beloved hat thrown on a heap of beach gear in the basement. The MoFo hat had been demoted.

Company SWAG is the abbreviation of “Stuff We All Get” (I personally didn’t know that until I researched this article). It is free stuff and giveaways that employers give out to their current employees, alumni, recruits and clients.

As with so many things in marketing, one size doesn’t fit all, so it’s important to have multiple promotional pieces from which you can choose. Many firms keep closets full of promotional items and have an online catalog to make it easy for employees to choose items when they need them.

It should go without saying that your company branding should appear on every promotional piece.

So, how do you choose awesome company swag that your clients and other target audiences actually want?

There’s a huge difference between being thoughtful with your company swag items and just putting your company logo on the cheapest or coolest items you can find. The benefits of doing the former go way beyond what you might think.

Investing in high-quality swag has the potential to earn you extra brand impressions, build awareness, cultivate strong company culture, and build good rapport between your brand and your prospects.

  • Make sure it’s well-made: The number one rule when considering company swag is making sure it’s high-quality. While the initial excitement of a new or free thing might last a week or so, if it’s not something of true value, people will be over it just as quickly. When you take the time to pick out swag items that are worthwhile, people are going to use it far beyond the first week, giving your swag more longevity and the chance to garner more impressions. If it falls apart, so does your reputation.

  • Think outside of the office. Find something that is useful even outside of the office – it doesn’t always need to be a pen or a flash drive!

  • But sometimes the tried and true works. I have an umbrella from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison given to me for Employee Appreciation Day many years ago when I worked there. This is the Mercedes Benz of umbrellas. It still works after two decades! It even has a cool wind technology that doesn’t allow it to bend during crazy storms. I carry it with me whenever there’s a bad rainstorm. We always had high-end umbrellas stowed away as giveaway items at several law firms when it rained for client events. Don’t underestimate the power of a good quality basic like an umbrella or a tote bag. Just put your logo on it so you get free publicity. You want your brand to be associated with high-quality items, because you are a high-quality company.

  • Keep your company culture at the forefront when choosing swag items. This one really doesn’t need an explanation. Make sure the items you select truly represent you and your organization.

  • Consider thoughtful details. When planning what kind of items you want to order for company swag, think about which items you can use to relay small details about your company and/or its culture.

  • Make sure your logo/brand name is on each item – and that it’s not too big and not too small. Remember promotional items are walking advertisements for your organization. I still get stopped on the street sometimes when I wear a tote bag from one of my prior law firms – someone will inevitably ask me if I am a lawyer and it’s a nice starting conversation point. I am not a huge fan of doing special logos for an anniversary or special event – I think it’s smarter from a brand and cost perspective to stick to the basics, especially if you are not a household name.

  • Extra points if you can work yourself (or your clients) into the item. Intellectual property law firm Amster Rothstein & Ebenstein has one of the coolest promotional items I’ve seen in years. It’s a metal straw – but it’s not because it’s trendy as a metal straw – it’s because they helped the client obtain the patent for that straw. They actually have the patent number on the item – which is super cool too. So, if you did something novel like this – by all means please use it as your promotional item. And if your clients create items that you can use – even better. Why not support them? It helps to build stronger relationships. One of my prior firms had a program where they would source promotional items and startups from small businesses the firm represented. What a great way to support small businesses and your clients!

Taking the time to pick out the right swag will enhance your brand and reputation, promote your company culture and promote positive buzz your organization.

I’d love to hear more about the promotional items your firm is using.

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.

SEC Proposes to Clear-Up Clearing Agencies’ Governance to Mitigate Directors’ Potential Conflicts of Interest

Clearing agencies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will have to make governance changes to their boards of directors under a new rule proposed by the SEC on August 8, 2022.

The SEC proposed the new rule1 to mitigate the conflicts of interests inherent in clearing agency relationships. The rule follows episodes of market volatility in 2021 that included large fluctuations surrounding COVID-19 and the meme stock craze.

The new rule would amend Section 17Ad-25 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) to require additional management and governance requirements for clearing agencies that register with the SEC. The proposed rules provide specific new governance requirements on clearing board composition, independent directors, nominating committees and risk management committees. The rule also requires the board to oversee relationships with critical service providers and includes a board obligation to consider various stakeholder views and inputs.

Rationale

The SEC’s rationale for proposing Rule 17Ad-25, titled Clearing Agency Governance and Conflicts of Interest, is to reduce the risk that conflicts of interest inherent in various clearing agency relationships substantially harm the security-based swaps or larger financial market. The SEC is proposing this rule to mitigate conflicts of interest, promote the fair representation of owners and participants in the governance of a clearing agency, identify responsibilities of the board, and increase transparency into clearing agency governance.

The SEC noted that those episodes of increased market volatility revealed certain vulnerabilities in the US securities market and the essential role clearing agencies play in managing the risk if securities transactions fail to clear.

The SEC observed three potential sets of conflicts of interest that the proposed rule attempts to address.

  1. The proposed rule addresses the different perspectives the various stakeholders involved in clearing agencies might have. In particular, a clearing agency owner’s potential interest in protecting the equity and continued operation of the clearing agency diverges from a participant’s potential interest in avoiding the allocation of losses from another defaulting participant. For instance, in the event of a loss, clearing agency participants might prefer to limit access to clearing, while owners may choose to expand the scope of products offered to collect fees.

  2. Larger clearing agency participants’ priorities may diverge significantly from the interests of smaller clearing agency participants. In particular, when a small number of dominant participants exercise control over a registered clearing agency concerning services provided by that clearing agency, those participants might promote margin requirements that are not commensurate with the risks they take, thereby indirectly limiting competition and increasing profit margins for themselves. In other words, a registered clearing agency dominated by a small number of large participants might make decisions designed to provide them with a competitive advantage.

  3. Certain participants may exert undue influence to limit access to the clearing agency based on their own interests, and thus could limit the benefits of the clearing agency to indirect participants.

Rule Requirements

The proposed rule would impose these seven requirements:

  1. define independence in the context of a director serving on the board of a registered clearing agency and require that a majority of directors on the board be independent, unless a majority of the voting rights distributed to shareholders of record are directly or indirectly held by participants of the registered clearing agency, in which case at least 34 percent of the board must be independent directors;

  2. establish requirements for a nominating committee, including with respect to the composition of the nominating committee, fitness standards for serving on the board, and documenting the process for evaluating board nominees;

  3. establish requirements for the function, composition, and reconstitution of the risk management committee;

  4. require policies and procedures that identify, mitigate or eliminate, and document the identification and mitigation or elimination of conflicts of interest;

  5. require policies and procedures that obligate directors to report potential conflicts promptly;

  6. require policies and procedures for the board to oversee relationships with service providers for critical services; and

  7. require policies and procedures to solicit, consider, and document the registered clearing agency’s consideration of the views of its participants and other relevant stakeholders regarding its governance and operations.

The proposing release will be published on SEC.gov and in the Federal Register. The public comment period will remain open for 60 days following publication of the proposing release on the SEC’s website or 30 days following publication of the proposing release in the Federal Register, whichever period is longer.

FOOTNOTES

1 https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2022/34-95431.pdf

Article By Susan Light of Katten. Jacob C. Setton, an associate in the Financial Markets and Funds practice and candidate for admission to the New York State bar, also contributed to this advisory.

For more SEC and securities legal news, click here to visit the National Law Review.

©2022 Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

How To Help a Jury Understand Complex Litigation

We hear this quite a bit from our clients. An attorney, when introducing us to his pending complex litigation matter, tells us up front, “This is a complicated case.” It’s code for, “I don’t think jurors will understand this case.”

We hear it again in opening statements: “This is a complicated case.” So now, the attorney knows it’s a complicated case; the consultants know it’s a complicated case; the jurors know it’s a complicated case. Great. What now?

Here are a few ideas to help you connect your complex litigation to the jurors and make them more comfortable hearing it.

Change the Question

Instead of asking, “How can I make jurors understand my complex case?”, how about asking, “How can I simplify my case for the jurors (and the judge and the witnesses)?” This basic reframing can change your focus—instead of concentrating on the complexity, you and your team begin to think about simplification. There’s a big difference.

Don’t Tell the Jury It’s a Complicated Case

When you tell a juror the case is complicated, they hear one of two things: “They think I’m too stupid to understand this” or “This is going to be way above my head.” The first can cause them to feel offended and the second tends to stop them from listening. Finding ways to explain the unfamiliar in familiar terms helps them understand the concepts underlying your case. Characterizing the case does no good for anyone.

Tell the Jury a Story

 

 

 

Try thinking about your case as a story: What tale do you want to tell? Or think of it this way: If someone at a dinner party asked about your case, what would your side of the story sound like?

We all think in stories, especially from the jury box. Jurors want to know what happened between these opposing parties that landed them in court, not a list of evidence and intricate facts. Instead, tell a story that answers jurors’ questions about motives for the lawsuit and the significance of your case, which should (again) simplify the details. Talking in stories makes your complex litigation more jury-friendly.

There’s a saying that goes, “What you focus on expands.” Ultimately, the key to helping jurors understand your complicated case lies in focusing not on its complexity, but on its simplicity.

Article By Robert Gerchen of IMS Consulting & Expert Services

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

© Copyright 2002-2022 IMS Consulting & Expert Services, All Rights Reserved.