Category: law firm

Legal Industry Trends for November 2019: Law Firm News, Diversity Awards and Legal Technology Updates

As we march on to the end of 2019 and into the holiday season, the legal industry continues to buzz with constant development and innovation.  Read on to learn about a few of the highlights happening in law firms across the United States, legal technology developments that are changing the way law is practiced, and things to anticipate in 2020.

Law Firm Developments, Hires and Moves

Buchalter recently announced the formation of a new Cannabis & Hemp Industry Law Group  This, in many ways, is formalizing a group that has been operating for several years. In 2013, it all began when a client of the firm was tasked with operating a medical cannabis collective.  Since then, the group has expanded to over 100 clients in the industry utilizing over twenty-five lawyers across each of its practice groups, demonstrating the broad reach of the cannabis industry.  Building on those early experiences, Buchalter’s Cannabis & Hemp Industry law group will assist businesses in the industry across a variety of areas, including intellectual property, tax, real estate and financing.  Oren Bitan, Shareholder in the LA office will co-chair the group with Martin P. Florman, Managing Shareholder of the Orange County office.  Florman says, “We anticipate significant growth of this industry over the next decade while we continue to offer clients unparalleled expertise in distressed assets, banking and the Bank Secrecy Act, and real estate related concerns in this rapidly evolving industry.”

Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, in Denver, Colorado announced the addition of four associates Omeed M. Azmoudeh (Trial Department); Stephanie Block-Guedez (Finance & Acquisitions Department); Molly Kokesh (Trial Department); and Rob McCary (Finance & Acquisitions Department).  These additions will bolster the firm’s litigation and finance and acquisitions department, and two of the associates, Azmoudeh and McCary, were formerly summer associates at the firm.

Jeff Cody Norton Rose Fulbright
Jeff Cody of Norton Rose Fulbright

Norton Rose & Fulbright recently announced the election of Jeff Cody as its U.S. Managing Partner, effective Jan. 1, 2020.  Cody will also serve as Chair of the U.S. Management Committee.  The outgoing managing partner, Daryl Lansdale, says: “Jeff has a passion for our firm, its people and our clients. Our partnership has the utmost confidence in Jeff to provide leadership and vision during a time of change and innovation in the legal profession.”

Cody has been a partner with the firm since 2001, and is based in Norton Rose’s Dallas office.  He has significant experience in complex commercial disputes in healthcare, financial and information technology industries; specifically healthcare reimbursement matters, complex stock and asset purchase and sale agreements, and information systems development projects.  Cody: “I am proud and honored to be entrusted by my partners with this leadership responsibility. I am confident in the firm and optimistic about our future in this dynamic legal landscape. With leading lawyers across the U.S. and around the world, we stand committed to delivering a superior client experience with high-quality and high-value legal advice.”

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP announced that digital health regulatory advisor Yarmela Pavlovic will join the firm as a partner in its Health and Digital and Technology Groups. Yarmela has extensive experience working with digital health, software as a medical device and assisting life sciences companies as they navigate the FDA approval process. Lisa Suennen, who leads Manatt’s Digital and Technology practice, says: “Healthcare products and services companies at the intersection of technology and health are facing increasingly complex and rapidly changing regulatory processes, requiring expert counsel to plan and engage with the regulatory bodies that make it possible for high-quality health innovations to come to market. Yarmela’s experience will be a tremendous value-add to our already significant capabilities in the digital realm.”  Pavlovic, who describes her work as  “a mix of legal and consulting” is excited to join Manatt, and says: “Manatt is the ideal next step in the growth of my practice and will help me provide an even wider array of capabilities to both startups and large companies that engage with the FDA.”

Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP recently announced the hiring of Phillip A. Casey to co-chair Calfee’s Public Utility Regulatory practice group.  Casey has more than 25 years of experience in energy law focusing on public utilities, both in house and within a law firm.  His experience includes economic regulatory matters, corporate governance, new entrant certification, and regulatory strategies across jurisdictions.  Additionally, he has incident response experience and major litigation management in this field.  Casey calls Calfee’s energy practice “an incredibly talented group of experienced attorneys” and he says, “I look forward to demonstrating Calfee’s capabilities and leadership beyond Ohio and throughout the Midwest in this new role.”

Law Firm Awards, Recognition and Achievements

Benchmark Litigation, designed to feed the need for specialized study in the labor and employment practice area, provides rankings based on law firm questionnaires, peer review interviews and client reviews.  The publication recently announced its second annual Labor and Employment guide and included three attorneys from Ward & Smith as “Labor and Employment” Stars: Ken Gray, Will Oden, and Devon Williams.  Oden and Williams lead the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice and the firm’s Labor and Employment practice, respectively.  Gray focuses his practice on employment-related litigation, advising clients from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies on breach of employment contracts, employment discrimination and wrongful discharge matters.

Ballard Spahr was recently named the “Law Firm of the Year” recognition for Litigation – First Amendment in 2020 Best Law Firms by U.S. News & World Report. This was on top of the 25 National Tier 1 rankings the firm achieved across a variety of areas, and especially noteworthy as only one law firm per legal practice earns that designation.  Firm Chair Mark Stewart sees the award rankings as evidence of the success of the firm’s efforts to grow nationally in depth and experience.  Stewart: “By executing our plan to expand thoughtfully and strategically, and keeping our focus on legal excellence and client value, we are serving more clients better than ever before.”

Jeff White Robinson Cole
Jeff White of Robinson Cole

Jeff White of Robinson Cole was recently named a  “New England Trailblazer” in the inaugural list by Law.com and Connecticut Law Tribune for demonstrating an ability to “move the needle in the legal industry.”  White, the chair of Robinson Cole’s Manufacturing Industry Practice, has significant experience on national and international issues related to the manufacturing industry, and this recognition is further evidence of his understanding of the challenges and need for change in some areas facing the industry. White: “With technological advances driving the boom in manufacturing, we need to continue to innovate in the kinds of things we’re focusing on. Our job as lawyers is to stay on top of these developments, because they’re going to have major implications that manufacturers deal with going forward.”

Under White’s leadership of Robinson Cole’s Manufacturing practice group, the group has risen to prominence as a leader in the field.  One of his signature achievements was the creation of the  Manufacturing Law Blog, which focuses on issues related to manufacturing rather than casting a wider, more business in general, net. In further recognition of his leadership in the manufacturing industry, in May of 2019 Robinson+Cole was recognized with the President’s “E” Award for Export Service by the United States Secretary of Commerce. The “E” award, established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports. Robinson+Cole was the only law firm in the country to receive the honor in 2019.

Law Firm Diversity Recognition

The law firm of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner was recognized for its long-standing commitment to diversity by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, or LCLD.  The organization named the firm a 2019 Top Performer and a 2019 Compass Award winner, one of only 21 member organizations that earned both designations this year. The awards indicate a participation in the organization’s programs, such as the Fellows and Pathfinder programs, as well as at least one pipeline program (Mentoring or 1L Scholars).

Bryan Cave is a long-standing member of LCLD, having been a member since the organization began.  BCLP participates in the organization’s Fellows and Pathfinder programs, as well as the 1L LCLD Scholars Program and the LCLD Success in Law School Mentoring Program. The recognition came recently at LCLD’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

In more good news about legal industry diversity,  the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance recognized fifty-one law firms for having a partner class in 2019 comprised of 50% or more female partners.  These firms “tipped the scales” and were identified in the New Partner Report.  The Report, a compilation of publicly available information and reported sources, revealed that 41.3 percent of new partners in 138 major U.S. law firms in 2019 were women, an increase of just over 2% from 2018.  As well as the annual increase, the New Partner Report showed that women promoted to partnership is on an upswing overall, with an 8.1% increase since 2012, and more firms across the board are promoting partner classes that are more than 50% women, showing a trend towards “tipping the scales.”  Click here for a full list of firms that were recognized for their 2019 Partner Class.

Law Firm Accomplishments and Deals

Sherin and Lodgen’s Renewable Energy Team represented Cambridge Savings Bank in developing a portfolio construction bridge and term loan for three ground-mounted solar facilities in Massachusetts.  The project, built by Kearsarge Energy, will generate 8.8 MW of energy and features a 1.6 MW advanced technology battery storage component and will be one of the first to be implemented under the SMART program.  The battery storage component is especially exciting, as industry analysts think this type of storage has the power to transform the renewable energy development and distribution in the near future.  Sherin and Lodgen’s renewable team was led by Bethany A. Bartlett, renewable energy chair, and  Colleen V. Collins, of counsel, and Tyler N. Ballew, and included syndicate partners Eastern Bank and Middlesex Savings Bank.

Global law firm DLA Piper represented  SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and SunTrust Bank in closing of U.S. $60 million credit facility for Electric Entertainment.  Electric Entertainment is a LA based production company founded by Dean Devlin.  Devlin is a well-known producer, whose credits include films such as Stargate and Independence Day, and television series like The Librarian and Leverage.  The credit facility will finance upcoming projects on WGN and the CW, and develop other film and television projects. The DLA Piper team representing SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and SunTrust Bank was led by partner Tom Ara, co-chair of the firm’s Entertainment Transactions and Finance practices, and included partner Afshin Beyzaee and associates Greg Young, Payvand Coyle and Rahul Sajnani (all of Los Angeles).

Looking at Pro-Bono work, during National Pro Bono Week in the United Kingdom, and Hogan Lovells ranked number one in Legal Week’s survey for the firm’s pro bono efforts in the UK.  The firm did a total of 27,704 pro bono hours in the UK for 2018, and the publication also recognized the firm’s contribution to a variety of projects, including the Westminster and London Bridge inquests.  Yasmin Waljee, International Pro Bono Director of Hogan Lovells called the recognition “fantastic.”  She said: ” It is not the hours of pro bono that matter but the remarkable impact of the work undertaken by all the firms listed and those that were not.”

Legal Industry Trends, Research and Upcoming Events

Legal Technology company InCloudCounsel announced two new software automation enhancements powered by proprietary research in AI and machine learning.  The developments are an Automated initial contract review; that automatically scans and flags clauses that conflict with negotiation requirements, helping to ease the negotiation stage and expedite the review process.  The next piece comes into play when negotiation is finished–an AI-powered scorecard creates an abstract summary of key terms in the agreement, scanning the final agreement identifying the key terms in the common clauses.  These tools were developed with InCloudCounsel’s proprietary technology, and assist attorneys in working more efficiently and accurately, maximizing their efforts to deliver legal services to their clients.

Hadayat Seddiqi, led the innovation process in his role as director of machine learning at InCloudCounsel.  Hadayat’s resume includes work on space exploration robots at NASA, quantum computing at the Department of Energy and DNA sequencing software with a biotech startup. He says,  “Our artificial intelligence models bring valuable tools to a field that historically has been very difficult to build similar solutions for.  Our models are understanding increasingly complex abstract language and concepts – allowing our proprietary AI to automate a growing number of narrow tasks.”

The Legal Marketing Association released its agenda for the organization’s annual meeting in Denver, Colorado on March 25 -March 27, 2020.  The committee putting the conference together, led by Kristen Bateman Leis of Parker Poe and Jonathan Mattson of BakerHostetler LLP, have put together an agenda focused around the organization’s body of knowledge, with an emphasis on wellness and mental health.  The keynote speaker, Baratunde Thurston, a comedian, writer and cultural critic whose resume includes work with the satirical Onion, advisor to the Obama White House and work on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Future Marketing Insights recently released a new intelligence report, projecting that legal transcription investments will increase, and those investments will focus on automation of legal transcription services.  The demand for legal transcription solutions is global, and accounts for revenues worth 3 billion, indicated by the FMI insights report.  This is anticipated to grow at a Compound annual growth rate of  ~6% for the next ten years.  The report indicated a heavy investment in legal tech startups in Asia Pacific, driving innovation.  Additionally, new and improved Automation and Machine Learning technologies, coupled with Natural Language Processing are expected to fuel growth. Challenges include diverse pricing models and legal formats, and customers are demanding predictability and pricing consistency.  The market is fragmented and major players are still jockeying for regional dominance–and focusing on innovation, to make the most of the technologies available.

That’s what we’ve got for now.  Stay warm and enjoy the upcoming Holiday Season!

Copyright ©2019 National Law Forum, LLC

For more recent law firm news see the National Law Review Law Office Management page.

Legal Research News; Law Firm Updates and Awards and Law School Admission Changes: September 9, 2019

Labor Day is in the rearview, and the legal world churns on, with new developments, innovations and changes coming in on an almost a daily basis.  This week’s update on the trending news in the legal industry features Clark Hill merging with Las Vegas litigation boutique firm Gentile Cristalli Miller Armeni Savarese, former FedEx Senior Vice President responsible for US Litigation joins Bradley, and six attorneys from Le Clair Ryan move to Fox Rothschild.

Read on to learn more about what’s happening.

Law Firm Hires, Moves and Mergers

Michael Best recently announced the addition of Mark Yacura to the firm’s Washington DC office.  A seasoned attorney with more than 30 years of experience, he will join Michael Best as a partner and focus on FDA Regulatory issues.  In his career, he has advised his clients on FDA approval and clearance processes, and worked on matters regarding synthetic pharmaceuticals, biotechnology diagnostics, medical devices and conventional foods, along with regulatory matters involving other agencies, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), among others.

Eric Callisto, Group Chair of Michael Best’s Regulatory Practice, sees Yacura’s experience as crucial in advising the firm’s international and domestic clients on the shifting political landscape.  Callisto calls Yacura “highly respected” and says, “it’s an honor to welcome him to our team in the Beltway.”

Conne Lensing Fed Ex Bradley
Connie Lewis Lensing

Bradley announced that Connie Lewis Lensing, formerly in house at Fed Ex, has joined the firm’s Nashville office.  Lensing had a long and storied career at Fed Ex, where she most recently served as the Senior Vice President responsible for U.S. Litigation.  In her role at Fed Ex, she pioneered the idea of an in-house law firm, bringing litigation and trial responsibilities into the corporate legal department and also  oversaw litigation across the  United States and the Virgin Islands, with an emphasis on employment matters as well as antitrust, governmental actions, and EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges.

Along with being a trailblazer of corporate legal services, Lensing also demonstrated her commitment to civil justice as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Executive Committee of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform; additionally, she has leadership roles in the organization the Lawyers for Civil Justice.

Throughout her career Lensing has seen the experience of women in legal dramatically changed.  This life experience has given her insight, and she shares her insights by mentoring young women attorneys and championing them.   Kim Martin, chair of Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group, calls Lewis-Lensing’s record of mentoring younger attorneys as “fantastic.”  She says, “We look forward to including her insights and experience in this area to further support Bradley’s mentoring efforts.”

Bradley Nashville Office Managing Partner Lela Hollabaugh calls Lensing joining Bradley “a thrill” and “a tremendous honor” to partner with Lensing as she “enters a new phase of her career as a litigator and innovator in private practice.”

Fox Rothschild LLP recently welcomed six attorneys from Le Clair Ryan to be spread across the firm’s Washington DC, Texas, and New Jersey offices.

Joining the Washington DC office are four attorneys, with Robert Fletcher and Brian W. Stolarz coming in as partners and Kristin W. Broz as counsel in the litigation group.  Ashleigh R. Eames joins the firm as an associate, working in the labor and employment practice group.  Fletcher works with corporate clients on litigation in industries such as retail, government, insurance, pharmaceutical and biotechnology.  Stolarz works with clients on white collar criminal defense, with an emphasis on False Claims Act defense and securities enforcement.  He also assists with internal investigations and securities enforcement.  Broz has experience in class action litigation, and her background also includes experience with US and international regulations, consumer protection data privacy matters. Also joining the DC office is Ashleigh R. Eames, she will be an associate in the labor and employment practice, focusing on wage and hour issues and leave and accommodation matters, as well as hiring and workplace compliance matters.

William E. Hammel joins the firm as a partner focusing on labor and employment matters in Dallas, Texas, he has broad experience across labor and employment law, and in arbitration and litigation, but he has a focus on avoiding litigation through prevention and training, utilizing internal auditing tools and conducting investigations. His Texas roots run deep, with a JD from Baylor University and a BA from the University of Texas.

Christopher L. Pizzo joins Fox Rothschild as a partner in the corporate group in the Morristown, New Jersey office. He has a diverse group of clients, frequently working in industries that have a lot of regulation, and focusing on corporate, transactional and Mergers and Acquisitions.

In other big moves, Clark Hill recently announced it was joining forces with Las Vegas litigation boutique firm Gentile Cristalli Miller Armeni Savarese (GCMAS), with six attorneys joining Clark Hill, four as members, two as senior counsel.  This combination grows Clark Hill’s presence in Las Vegas.  Donald Ridge, Member in Charge of Clark Hill’s Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas offices, says “We’re excited about the combination as the team brings significant litigation and trial experience, along with a strong presence and network in Nevada that will benefit all of our clients.”

Dominic Gentile Attorney
Dominic Gentile

The attorneys from Gentile Cristalli Miller Armeni Savarese will work out of Clark Hill’s Las Vegas office.  Dominic Gentile, a founding member of GCMAS is a trial attorney with an impressive record of representing his clients in white collar and bet-the-company litigation matters, nationally and internationally on civil, criminal, securities and commercial fraud investigations and litigations.  Gentile is involved in a variety of organizations associated with trial and litigation law, and he has a long career teaching trial advocacy and evidence at law schools across the country.  Michael Cristalli will be a member with Clark Hill, using his experience representing clients in complex criminal, corporate and civil litigation matters.  Some of the cases he worked on may seem familiar, as they have been featured on dateline NBC, CBS 48 Hours, and Cristalli has been a legal analyst on shows like Good Morning America, MSNBS and Fox and Friends.  Ross Miller is a former Secretary of State of Nevada, the youngest to serve in this role in both Nevada and in the country. In this position, he oversaw Commercial Recordings, Securities, Elections, Nevada Business Portal, and Notaries Public.   His public service also includes serving on State of Nevada Boards including the Board of Prison Commissioners, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and the State Audit Committee.  Along with this public service, Miller was the Deputy District Attorney in Clark County.  Paola Armeni will join Clark Hill as a Member, and she has a resume that includes representing clients in criminal defense and civil rights cases in Nevada state and federal courts.   Vincent Savarese has worked in federal criminal defense, constitutional law, federal civil rights and asset forfeiture, in complex litigation at the pretrial, trial and appellate stage in state and federal court. He will join Clark Hill as Senior Counsel.  Mark Dzarnoski is joining Clark Hill in the securities and investments group as a Senior Counsel having 30 years of experience.   He guides clients through allegations of criminal fraud and SEC/FTC investigations and civil enforcement actions. s.

Gentile indicates this is a merger based on shared values.  He says, “It was important to all of us that we merge with a firm that shared our client service philosophy, work ethic and values, and in Clark Hill we found the perfect alignment.” (image of Gentile?)

Law Firm Victories, Achievements and Awards

On September 3, 2019, Gilbert LLP announced that the Commercial Division for the Supreme Court for the State of New York ruled that Gilbert client, Michael Cohen, could continue his litigation against the Trump Organization, his former employer.  Cohen is arguing that the Trump Organization failed to provide attorneys’ fees and reimburse his costs in connection to a variety of legal proceedings and investigations.  Hunter Winstead, who serves as the lead attorney on the matter, indicated an intention to pursue this matter to conclusion, saying, “We intend to obtain full payment of Mr. Cohen’s claims.”

Just in time for back to school, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, announced the publication of their Third Edition of a 50 State Guide on Student Loan Servicing Regulations.  The second edition was published in June of 2018, and this edition captures the changes in the regulatory landscape of this industry, with 6 additional states enacting laws concerning student loan servicing: Colorado, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.  The third edition covers changes up to May of 2019, and captures some of the updated regulations on licensing fees, processes and actions—demonstrating the steps loan servicers need to take to remain in compliance.  Additionally, changes made in regulation requirements in Washington, DC-based on court rulings are covered by the guide. In this rapidly shifting regulatory landscape, this guide is designed to be a quick reference for student loan servicers (but does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship) with state by state summaries covering state laws, licensing processes, and loan servicers’ duties, as well as each state’s enforcement mechanisms. (link to guide?)

North Carolina law firm Poyner Spruill announced partners Karen Chapman, Sarah DiFranco, and Susie Gibbons were recognized as North Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s 2019 Women of Justice Award honorees.  This is a designation that recognizes the highest ideals of the legal profession, and women attorneys in North Carolina who demonstrate leadership, integrity, service, sacrifice and accomplishment in improving justice quality across the state.

Peter Friedenberg and Sara Jane Shanahan of Sherin and Lodgen were both recognized as a “Lawyer of the Year” in Best Lawyers.  Friedenberg was recognized for his work in Real Estate Law, and Shanahan was recognized for Litigation—Insurance.  This is a designation reserved for one attorney in each specialty and location who has received the highest overall peer-feedback for their specific practice area.

Legal Industry and Law School Developments

ScantronContinuing with the back to school theme of this edition of NLR’s Legal Industry Trends; at the end of August Berkeley Law School announced that it will now consider some applicants on the basis of a GRE or GMAT score, and those applicants can avoid the LSAT.  The GRE and GMAT will be accepted for those interested in concurrent or combined degree programs, or for those who are enrolled in graduate school at the time of their application to Berkeley Law.  Part of the reasoning behind this development is the school’s goal to admit “outside-of-the-box thinkers” and a holistic approach to application review, according to Kristin Theis-Alvarex, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.  She says, “Test scores—from any source—are important, but not dispositive.”  Dean Erwin Chemerinksy says, “Allowing these students to apply with the GRE and GMAT will further our interdisciplinary mission and help us to continue to attract outstanding law students.”  This move is part of a pilot program, and the school will evaluate the results of this decision over the next three years carefully to maintain ABA compliance.

ABA ReportOn the other end of the spectrum, The American Bar Association released its white paper, the ABA’s 2019 Profile of the Legal Profession. This report is the first of its kind from the ABA, crammed full of data about the state of the legal profession, compiling information from surveys, studies and reports about lawyers and law firms across the United States.  The report has specific sections devoted to lawyer demographics, pay, legal education, and specific information related to women attorneys, pro bono efforts and legal technology.  Some interesting points below:

  • Male attorneys still outnumber female attorneys, almost 2 to 1. Male attorneys are 64% of all attorneys while women attorneys are at 36%.
  • Most state bar associations do not track race and ethnicity of attorneys, but more did in 2019 (20 states) compared to 16 states tracking in 2009.
  • The average lawyer salary is $144,230, but increases have slowed down after the recession of 2008-09, but from 1998 to 2018 overall, lawyer salaries almost doubled, but the cost of living rose 53%.
  • Of the students who enroll in law school, 35% enroll right after undergrad and 65% take at least a year off between undergrad and law school. The most common reason cited for going to law school was a route to careers in politics, government or public service, at 44%.

Full of information and factoids, this report deserves a close reading by anyone interested in getting a handle on the legal industry.

Gartner, a leading research and advisory company, recently reported the results of a survey on cost-effective legal departments.  To provide this data, Gartner surveyed more than 140  companies in different locations,  industries and revenue size to identify those that spend in the lowest quartile of their peer group, while handling a similar workload.  Overall, the study indicated in house legal departments that invested in improving internal processes and growing internal capabilities with investments in staff training as well as standardizing legal work and developing legal ops capabilities were the most cost-effective.  In fact, 63% of in-house legal work is routine, and can be standardized, and departments that lack legal operations capabilities spend 30% more than those with those abilities.  These steps assist legal departments in bringing work in house and saving outside counsel expenditures for critical matters.

Michael Mayfield, research director in Gartner’s Legal & Compliance practice, says, “General Counsel also need to invest in the right areas to equip their teams to be successful, this is most clearly on display when looking at the differential in training spend between cost-effective legal departments and their higher-cost peers.”

That’s a wrap for this week.  We’ll have more later in the month!

Copyright ©2019 National Law Forum, LLC

Seven Tips for Writing the Perfect Lawyer Biography

At least 73% of everyone looking to hire a lawyer search online long before they ever make that first call. In addition, it is said that the attorney biography page is the most visited page on law firm websites. This makes having a good set of online biographies a requirement for driving business to your legal practice. It should be simple: just write a little bit about yourself and your accomplishments, right?

Unfortunately, it is not always that easy.

Each type of biography has its own quirks and requirements. In addition, while most lawyers are excellent communicators and writers, that can actually work against them when dealing with a finite space for sharing credentials in a marketing setting.

Here are my top 7 tips for creating excellent lawyer biographies and some important faux pas to avoid.

1. Open with a strong statement

The biography is a vehicle for selling legal services so even if it is in a third person voice, it should be about connecting your experience with the legal problems you solve. The first paragraph of your biography is important real estate for starting a conversation with the person you are trying to connect with.

You can also increase your online search results by adding in specific keywords in the first line and headings such as your first and last name, firm name, location, and most prominent practice area. Education and personal information should be saved for the end of the biography.

2. Cover the basics

Make sure to include all the nuts and bolts that people will want to follow up on to ensure that you are who you say you are. Specifically, you should cover:

  • Contact Information: Location, phone number, social media links, email address.
  • Education: Undergraduate and law school credentials, as well as any post-graduate degrees.
  • Work History: This is not always necessary but be sure to share any noteworthy positions.
  • Practice Areas: When possible be concise.
  • Published Cases or Representative Clients: Do not forget to Include high-profile clients and pro bono work soliciting permission to publish when necessary.
  • Publications: These should be publications you have written or have been interviewed by.
  • Speaking Engagements: Lectures, podcasts, and panel discussions are great to include.
  • Awards: Your biography should contain both legal and civic awards.
  • Board Memberships: Every instance should be its own entry or bullet point.
  • Bar Associations & Legal Organizations: Highlight leadership positions first, general memberships after and include years of participation if possible.
  • Clerkships: Judicial clerkships are important to list.

3. Cover the extras

Next, you will want to make sure that you include anything extracurricular that will make you stand out in a crowd. Leadership positions (even outside of a legal industry), community service, and board memberships are great additions to this section. This is also the right place to include a personal line or two about your interests, hobbies, or family to inspire further connection with your audience.

4. Have a relevant, professional photo

Here is an area where many lawyers fall short. Remember, this may be the only time your prospective new client sees you before deciding to request your help. Give your best possible first impression by investing in professional headshots that reflect your best qualities and your personal brand. Take professional headshots regularly to keep your online image current.

5. Create several biographies for the best web engagement

The professional biography that you have on your website should be different than the one you have on sites like Avvo or Martindale-Hubbell. This gives each of your biographies a unique content score with the search engines which improves your overall search results rankings. It also means that potential clients see unique pieces of content that have not been cut-and-pasted to save time.

Consider creating a bank of biographies for each of your online biographies, your website, and printed biography. Be sure to calendar a reminder to review them once per quarter for updates. In addition, develop a different “short” version that can be used when you speak, guest post on a blog, or are published in a legal journal.

6. Avoid the biography pitfalls

There are a couple of issues that I see often when I review clients’ online and offline biographies. Some of the worst offenders when creating a biography include:

  • Informal photos: Stay away from using an old repurposed image of you at your brother’s wedding. And, unless you have an MFA in graphic design, stay away from photoshopping yourself into a different setting.
  • Being too wordy:  There is no need to include everything you have ever done in your legal career in your online biography. Skip the fluff and focus on the highlights. The ideal length is between 300-500 words.
  • Big blocks of text: Too much text tires the reader, and odds are good you will lose their attention even before they hit the second paragraph. Keep paragraphs to between 2-4 sentences to incorporate white space. Be sure to read your biography out loud to note any drawn-out sentences.
  • Third person formal: Stay away from calling yourself “Ms. or Mr.” in your biography. This sounds pretentious and can be off-putting for new clients. Instead, simply use your full name once at the beginning and your first name after that. It is important to note that there is a lot of debate about whether you should write your biography in third person (he, she, them) or first person (I, me, my). The answer will come from your target audience, your practice area, and your personal brand.

7. Try creative, interactive elements

You can make your biography page stand out even more by incorporating engaging elements like vcards, printable versions, or introductory videos – as long as they are professionally produced. Another wise choice is to include a disclaimer if you list your email address stating that sending an email to you does not indicate a legal attorney-client relationship unless an engagement letter has been signed.

Conclusion

Writing the perfect lawyer biography does not have to be a difficult exercise. Like any other marketing exercise, start with your potential client and work backward. Your biography is a great opportunity to connect with people before you meet them. Create text that is search-friendly, concise, and filled with the highlights of your career. This will allow potential clients and colleagues to “cut through the noise” and recognize you for the great lawyer that you are.

© 2019 Denver Legal Marketing LLC

This article is by Meranda M. Vieyra of Denver Legal Marketing

For more on Legal Marketing, see the National Law Review Law Office Management page.

Three Ways Legal PR Specialists can Support Your Firm’s Diverse Attorneys

Law firms serving corporate clients face increasing pressure not only to make their workplaces more diverse and inclusive overall, but also to ensure that more women and people of color occupy top positions of power. Last January’s open letter from 170 general counsel serves as the most pointed example of this client demand. In it, they called on law partners to “develop, promote and retain talented and diverse attorneys”—or risk losing business to firms that take diversity and inclusion seriously.

Law firm leaders who have long paid lip service to these goals without actually changing their recruiting, professional development or performance evaluation practices face a true crisis, and mapping out a path forward that satisfies client demand, not to mention the moral imperative to create firms that better represent our society, will require a multifaceted approach. It might surprise you to learn that a sophisticated communications and media strategy is a crucial piece of that plan.

While public relations may not seem to have an obvious connection with diversity efforts, PR partners who specialize in the legal sector can provide law firm leaders with strategic, targeted support to meet their goals for equity. Effective law firm PR partners can help you:

Audit current initiatives. Most firms are doing something on diversity and inclusion, with varying results. If these initiatives are not yielding the desired outcome, it’s time to think about why. Sometimes the real problem is not a lack of effort but the flawed thinking behind a program.

For example, many initiatives intended to address gender equality target differences in women’s approach to risk-taking, negotiation, and work-life balance. While that may sound like progress, focusing on individual women’s choices furthers beliefs and stereotypes that have been debunked by decades of reliable data about fundamental gender differences. Men and women are not nearly so different as we persist in believing. They behave differently in various settings not because of inherent traits but because of organizational practices that reward and punish men and women differently. Equity initiatives that target systemic issues like parental leave and the pay gap are more likely to improve the promotion and retention of women.

As your approach to improving diversity evolves, your internal and external communications need to evolve too. PR support can help you demonstrate a more sophisticated understanding of the problems and the solutions—and show clients that you are serious about making measurable progress.

Reimagine networking. Today’s attorneys know they must provide excellent client service and master the art of business development. That typically involves some form of networking: getting out of the office to form relationships with clients and prospects, and planting the seeds for referrals and new business down the road. But old-fashioned networking—on the golf course, in the bar, at the country club—is not always a strategy that works for women, people of color, LGBTQ lawyers, and others who have come to the field from outside the old boys’ network. If you are serious about supporting your diverse attorneys, you can get proactive about professional development that helps them build their business in ways that work for them. And your PR team can help these attorneys become more active in relevant professional organizations, nominate them for awards, boost their online and social media presence, and facilitate alternative networking opportunities.

Activate a hands-on media strategy. A customized, targeted plan to promote your diverse attorneys’ immense skills and experience, as well as their innovative approaches to old problems, is key to raising their profiles and, by extension, your firm’s profile as well. PR support can help attorneys build relationships with the reporters who cover issues in their practice area so that they can become expert sources. Attorneys can partner with writers to create thought leadership articles for the publications most widely read by their clients and prospects. Nothing helps you take control of the narrative about your firm like media opportunities that highlight the skills and experience of your current and future diverse superstars.

With clients pressuring law firms to change their ways, creating a diverse and inclusive workplace has gone from a lofty goal to a strategic imperative. This necessary transformation presents leaders with significant challenges, but the good news is you don’t have to go it alone. Experts in communications and media strategy can help you take practical steps to develop and support the diverse attorneys who serve your most valued clients.  And, of course, as you would expect, PR professionals can also help you share the good news about the progress you’re making in advancing diversity and inclusion in your firm.

© 2019 Page2 Communications. All rights reserved.

This article is by Debra Pickett of Page 2 Communications.

Legal Industry News for August 12, 2019: Law Firm Updates, Hires, Awards and Legal Technology

Even though summer is still in full swing and folks are cycling through vacations, law firms and the legal industry continues to hum with activity.

Read on to see more on legal industry hires, recognitions, and new technology and research impacting the legal industry.

Law Firm Hiring, Strategic Partnerships and Expansions

Vincenzo Franco

Van Ness Feldman announces the return of Vincenzo Franco as a partner in the Electric and Renewable Energy Practices. Franco was at Van Ness Feldman from 2010-2014, and left the firm to work with Exelon Corporation, as Assistant General Counsel – Wholesale Trading Compliance and then Associate General Counsel at Exelon Corporation, where he led the compliance function for Constellation. With his return to VNF, Franco focuses on transactional, regulatory and enforcement matters representing utilities, generation owners, developers and other investors before FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). VNF Chair, Richard Agnew, indicated his excitement at Franco’s return. Agnew says, “His [Franco’s] in- house experience coupled with his knowledge of our clients makes Vincenzo an exceptionally strong addition to the firms highly regarded electric practice.”

Leading international technology and energy law firm Baker Botts LLP announced that it has formed strategic partnerships with the Cannon Houston, Station Houston and Capital Factory. These Houston organizations are designed to aid entrepreneurs and will specifically be working with Baker Botts’ Emerging Company and Venture Capital practice based in Palo Alto. The firm’s experience in advising entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies, investors and venture capitalists provides a valuable resource for the incubators and the entrepreneurs they nurture and host. Samantha Crispin, the Technology Sector Chair at Baker Botts points out this partnership will allow Baker Botts to work with a generation of Texas-based companies from their very inception. She says, “One of the most intriguing aspects of these partnerships is the expected cross-pollination of our Texas and California ECVC practices and that the most promising companies will gain exposure to potential investors, including those in Silicon Valley.”

Baker Botts Managing Partner John Martin embraces the opportunities for growth this partnership will provide. He says, “We have a history of working with emerging and technology companies throughout their full life cycle, and we expect these partnerships will expand those opportunities more broadly. Some of our firm’s largest clients are businesses with which we have worked since they were startups themselves.”

Dinsmore has expanded operations onto the East Coast, opening an office in the Boston Financial District. Three partners—Javier F. Flores, Eric V. Skelly and Brian Blaesser will lead the new office and the firm’s expansion into this region. The firm will primarily represent clients in litigation and real estate development in New England. With the opening of the office in Boston, Dinsmore now has a presence in 25 cities across the country.

Sherman & Howard announced they added two attorneys, Member James Beard and Associate Robert Thompson, to their Denver office in their Litigation, Trials and Appeals group.

Beard has been litigating complex civil and intellectual property matters for over ten years, with a particular emphasis on handling complex discovery matters. He has argued cases in federal courts across the country, and has handled matters before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. Court of International Trade. Beard says, “With its history and reputation in Colorado, the Firm is uniquely positioned to serve the explosive growth of Denver’s high-tech market.”

Along with Beard, Sherman & Howard is also adding Robert Thompson as an Associate to the Litigation, Trials and Appeals practice group. Thompson’s practice will focus on securities litigation and enforcement matters. His previous experience in house at a leading financial institution has prepared him well for representing clients in SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), DOJ (Department of Justice) and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ) investigations.  Katie Varholak, Litigation Practice Group Leader at Sherman & Howard, “Thompson’s background in finance, securities and complex corporate investigations positions him to serve a wide range of the firm’s clients.”

Kenneth A. Sherman and Virginia K. Trunkes

Robinson & Cole, a 200 attorney firm with offices throughout the northeast announced Kenneth A. Sherman and Virginia K. Trunkes joined the firm as counsel in the Construction practice.

Sherman is joining the Boston office, while Trunkes will be in the New York office. Sherman has experience assisting project owners, developers and general contractors, and others, in navigating construction disputes, and with drafting contracts, negotiation and entity formation.

Trunkes works with developers, apartment building, brownstone and condominium unit owners, and others, in negotiating contracts and adjacent-owner license access agreements. R+C Construction chair, Gregory R. Faulkner, says the attorneys are welcome additions and will help the firm strengthen its presence in the construction market, and “Their hands-on experience is an added value to our practice and further enhances our collective ability to provide the best service to our clients.”

Law Firm Accomplishments, Awards and Recognitions

McKool Smith, noted litigation firm, secured an insurance recovery victory on behalf of Pfizer in Delaware Superior Court. This victory allows Pfizer to continue to compel two excess insurers to cover the costs related to defend and settle multidistrict litigation surrounding pain treatments Celebrex and Bextra. McKool Smith principals Robin Cohen, Adam S. Ziffer and Marc Ladd represented Pfizer in this litigation. A Delaware state court judge awarded partial summary judgment, saying Arch Insurance Company and U.S. Specialty Insurance Company were unable to apply a “specific litigation exclusion” in their D&O policies, and that these insurers must help cover the cost of the $486 million settlement.

Diversity AbstractSeyfarth Shaw was recently recognized for its commitment to diversity and inclusion by the California Minority Counsel Program (CMCP) receiving the Drucilla Stender Ramey Majority-Owned Law Firm Award. The CMCP is a state-wide non-profit dedicated to opening up the legal profession to attorneys from all backgrounds, by providing attorneys of color with opportunities for business development. Seyfarth Shaw has offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Century City. The firm has a recognized commitment to diversity, and was also recently named a “Best Law Firm for Women” for the ninth year in a row, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Chambers USA Diversity & Inclusion Awards. The firm is especially proud of its “Rooney Rule” initiative, where for every open associate position, at least one diverse candidate is considered and interviewed.

Full-service law firm Pillsbury’s Corporate practice, in a review of M&A and private equity, was ranked among the Top 20 legal advisers in the US and Japan. Factset highlighted Pillsbury as a top 20 firm in Japan for M&A deals, and in the United States, the firm was in the top 20 for middle-market M&A transactions. Along those lines, Refinitiv listed Pillsbury in the top 20 for deal count for firms handling U.S. middle-market mergers and acquisitions, so far in 2019, and Bloomberg named Pillsbury in the top 20 for active law firm advising on deals valued up to 250 million. Pillsbury has over 100 experienced M&A attorneys across the firm’s twenty global offices.  Highlighted transactions for 2019 include Invitae Corp.’s acquisition of biotechnology company Jungla, Salarius Pharmaceuticals on its merger with Flex Pharma, and Intel’s acquisition of Barefoot Networks, just to name a few.

DirectWomen AwardsDirectWomen, dedicated to increasing the presence of women attorneys on corporate boards, will honor 2019 award recipients in October in New York City at the Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Award Luncheon. These awards are given to recognize the efforts made by the recipients to increase corporate board diversity. The Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Award honors women who have served on the board of a public company and have advanced the mission of diversity in the workplace. This year, Angela Braly, Co-founder of the Policy Circle and former Chair and CEO of WellPoint, now known as Anthem, among others, and Rose McKinney-James, Managing Principal of Energy Works LLC. PNC will be presented with the 2019 Board Diversity Award, which recognizes corporations that served as leaders in achieving board diversity by showing a commitment to diversity in the boardroom. Linda L. Addison, Immediate Past Managing Partner of Norton Rose Fulbright and Director, Torchmark Corporation will be recognized with the Distinguished Alumna Award, highlighting the accomplishments of an Alumnae who joined a large corporate board since completing the Institute. Finally, the Mary Ann Jorgenson Board Empowerment Award will be presented to DirectWomen Advisory Board Member Alan L. Beller, Senior Counsel, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP; Director, The Travelers Companies, Inc for his work preparing women attorneys to assume the responsibilities of board service.

Commercial Mortgage Alert once again ranked law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP at the top of their commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) tables, ranking Cadwalader as Number 1 for both Issuer Counsel and Underwriter Counsel, making it the 19th year in a row Cadwalader held that spot for Issuer Counsel. Further, the firm represented 58% of the issuer offerings floated in the United States in the first half of 2019, and 44% of the CMBS transactions on the underwriter side. Mike Gambro, co-chair of Cadwalader’s Capital Markets Group, says of the rankings, “We work with great clients who expect us to provide top-notch advice and service, and we are fortunate to have the results reflected in our position in the law firm rankings for so many years.” Cadwalader’s Capital Markets Group has attorneys based in New York, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and London.

Legal Industry Technology, Research and Software Advancements

Qorus, a sales platform connecting contacts, content, and data, recently announced a Share & Track feature to their software. This addition enables user to send documents securely without attachments, and track how their contacts engage with those documents, such as proposals, pitches, and contracts. This enables sales teams to see and analyze which part of their proposal process is most important to their prospects, and they gain insight into their materials to ensure they create content that is engaging and effective.

Computer SoftwareThe documents are sent via tracked sharing links that can be inserted into messages to clients. These links, when clicked, track the engagement with the content and launch an online document viewer and the file can be viewed securely, providing the information securely to the prospect. The sales team can see how long the prospect looked at the document, which pages were looked at the most, and whether or not the document was passed on, providing valuable feedback on what really matters to prospects. Ray Meiring, Qorus CEO, explains “This creates a powerful feedback loop that tells the team how interested a potential buyer is, and gives them insight into the prospect’s true propensity to buy – allowing them to adjust their approach accordingly.”

With the constant concerns regarding cybersecurity and with increasing regulation on a variety of levels, the introduction of Digital Defense’s Frontline InsightTM with on-demand peer analysis of security risk metrics gives companies another arrow in their quiver to secure their data. Frontline Insight is accessible via Frontline.Cloud Digital Defense’s Saas security assessment platform. This allows Digital Defense users to access information to reduce their own security risk, and provide information on how to evolve and maintain their information security programs so that they perform at top levels. By offering comparison from an industry perspective, but also integrating suggestions based on organizational and employee size, the tool can highlight vulnerable areas and threats, and assist in the development of benchmarks. Larry Hurtado, President & CEO of Digital Defense says this is a useful product for companies looking to evaluate their data security practices in comparison to organizations similar in size and scope.  He says, “Frontline.Cloud enables clients to gauge their success in ways that previously required more intensive consultative studies. Now, this information is available with just a few clicks.”

Of particular interest to law firms as they look at managing law firm succession strategies as baby boomers exit the workforce and millennials assume greater responsibility is the results of a Manpower Group Survey, indicating only six percent of millennials want to be leaders, and just four percent want to manage others. The survey indicates that millennials, on a whole, are more interested in developing their own skill sets, and less interested in learning to manage and lead others. This suggests that law firms will be among the 84% of organizations facing a leadership shortfall, and developing a leadership pipeline for law firms, as well as client relationship management, will become increasingly important as firm leadership transitions become more complex and frequent.

Intapp has recently released a white paper The Modern CMO: Advancing Marketing From Reactive to Predictive. This paper discusses how adopting a modern approach to law firm business development, and harnessing data across the entire client lifecycle can lead to insights that drive smarter and more strategic decisions in law firms. Topics discussed include the role of the CMO as a change agent, smart collaboration in action and how to transition from a reactive to a predictive approach.

Copyright ©2019 National Law Forum, LLC

This article was written by Eilene Spear of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC.
For more law office updates, see the Law Office Management page on the National Law Review.

Law Firm Security: Privacy & Data Security Laws that Affect Your Law Firm

At this point in the cybersecurity game, it’s a given that to prevent a breach, law firms must take every precaution to protect its data as well as the valuable data of its clients. What may not be as clear are the obligations that law firms, or any other third party, owe to certain organizations via industry-specific privacy and data security laws and regulations. These are put in place by foundations, government laws, and agency policies to ensure that they are not vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.

Privacy and Data Security Laws and Regulations

Although there are many organizations that are subject to these laws, this article will address the most high-profile organizations, including the following:

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

HIPAA applies to covered entities such as health plans, health care clearinghouses and certain health care providers. Because these entities do not operate in a vacuum and often rely on the services of third-party businesses, there are provisions that allow these entities to share information with business associates and law firms.

A business associate “is a person or entity that performs certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information on behalf of, or provides services to, a covered entity,” according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website.

Before information is shared with a business associate, the entity must first receive satisfactory assurances that the information will only be used for the purposes for which it was obtained, that the information will be safeguarded and that the information will help the covered entity to perform its duties. The satisfactory assurances must be in writing to ensure compliance with privacy and data security laws.

Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA)

The GLBA was enacted to require financial institutions to explain their information-sharing practices to their customers and to safeguard vulnerable customer data from a security breach.

Under the Safeguards Rule of the GLBA, all financial institutions must protect consumer collected information from a security breach. Usually, data collected includes names, addresses and phone numbers; bank and credit card account numbers; income and credit histories; and Social Security numbers.

Further, financial institutions are required to ensure that parties with whom they are doing business must also be able to safeguard data with which they have been entrusted, such as law firms. Financial institutions must “select service providers that can maintain appropriate safeguards. Make sure your contract requires them to maintain safeguards, and oversee their handling of customer information,” according to the FTC website to ensure compliance of privacy and data security laws.

The FTC provides a detailed list of tips that financial institutions, as well as third-parties, can use to set up a strong security system to prevent a data breach of a customer’s information.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)

The PCI was founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard, and Visa, Inc. with the intent to “develop, enhance, disseminate and assist with the understanding of security standards for payment account security,” according to its website.

The standards apply to all entities that store, process or transmit cardholder data. This would include law firms, of course. The website lists 12 requirements that must be maintained, including:

  1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
  2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.
  3. Protect stored cardholder data.
  4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.
  5. Use and regularly update anti-virus software or programs.
  6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.
  7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know.
  8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.
  9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
  10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.
  11. Regularly test security systems and processes.
  12. Maintain a policy that addresses privacy and data security laws and regulations for employees and contractors.

Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System issued the Guidance on Managing Outsourcing Risk publication to address concerns about third-party vendors or service providers and the risks of a data breach. The Federal Reserve defines service provider as, “all entities that have entered into a contractual relationship with a financial institution to provide business functions or activities.”

The publication indicates that a financial institution should treat the service provider risk management program commensurate with the level of risk presented by each service provider. “It should focus on outsourced activities that have a substantial impact on a financial institution’s financial condition; are critical to the institution’s ongoing operations; involve sensitive customer information or new bank products or services; or pose material compliance risk,” according to the publication.

An effective program should include the following:

  1. Risk assessments;
  2. Due diligence and selection of service providers;
  3. Contract provisions and considerations;
  4. Incentive compensation review;
  5. Oversight and monitoring of service providers; and
  6. Business continuity and contingency plans.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

The FDIC issued a Guidance for Managing Third-Party Risk where the agency makes clear that an institution’s board of directors and senior management are responsible for the activities and risks associated with third-party vendors. This includes a breach into a third-party’s system. Among other third-party organizations, the publication lists significant organizations where “the relationship has a material effect on the institution’s revenues or expenses; the third party performs critical functions; the third-party stores, accesses, transmits, or performs transactions on sensitive customer information.” All of these could involve law firms that work with financial institutions.

The publication summarizes risks that third-party entities may pose, including strategic risk, reputations risk, operational risk, transaction risk, credit risk, compliance risk, and other risks. It also summarizes a risk management process, which includes the following elements of (1) risk assessment, (2) due diligence in selecting a third party, (3) contract structuring and review, and (4) oversight.

Conclusion

Being a third-party cybersecurity risk may be foreign territory to most law firms. But many organizations have in place privacy and data security laws and regulations to protect systems that could be vulnerable to a cybersecurity breach. It behooves law firms to be aware of these laws and regulations to be able to implement the laws and regulations as thoroughly and as expeditiously as possible.

ARTICLE BY:

Jaliz Maldonado
PracticePanther
© Copyright 2018 PracticePanther

Using Technology to improve legal services? Submit to the Chicago Legal Tech Innovator Showcase! Deadline 9-29!

Is your firm combining technology and innovation to serve clients? We want to know about it! The Chicago Legal Tech Innovation Showcase, brought to you by the Chicago Bar Association’s Future of the Profession Committee and Chicago Kent School of Law is October 24th.  Submissions are due by September 29th, 2017.

A panel of distinguished judges will choose five “Best in Show” awards in each of the 2 awards categories: Law Firm/Legal Services and Company/Product/Service. Each award winner will present a 5 minute pitch at the Chicago Kent Auditorium on October 24 and have an opportunity to exhibit during the event. All submissions that meet the criteria will be listed in a Chicago Legal Tech Showcase Guide 2017

 

The Chicago Legal Tech Innovator Showcase will promote the law firms, legal aid orgs, and companies that are using technology to improve legal services in the Chicago area and highlight those whose innovations are exceptional. Whether the end result is better legal knowledge management, more affordable legal services, or improved metrics for decision making and analysis—and regardless of how the services are delivered—we want to hear what you are doing and so does Chicago’s legal community!

 

To learn more and submit go to: http://lpmt.chicagobar.org/chicago-legal-tech-innovator-showcase/

 

5 Killer Online Marketing Strategies for Law Firms

Certainly by now we can all agree that the Internet has transformed the legal industry, from how you market your law firm to how legal services are delivered. Still, for many lawyers, the Internet is a confusing place with so many options that can either make you or break you. So let me help simplify things for you. Here are five online marketing strategies that are gold when it comes to delivering leads and boosting your brand:

Laptop on a desk, Online MarketingNarrow your choices. Unless you have an unlimited marketing budget, you can’t do it all — SEO, social media, pay-per-click, content marketing, email marketing, etc. If you throw a little bit at everything — the shotgun approach — you are wasting your money. Instead, focus on two things: (1) where your potential clients are, and (2) what you can measure. You have to be able to measure your success (or failure) to discover what works for your area of practice and to be able to build on the successes.

Use Facebook ads. There are 1.4 billion monthly Facebook users and half of those log in every day. One of the most powerful features of Facebook is ad targeting, the ability to layer targeting options on top of one another to create a highly specific audience. This enables you to target locally and get your ads in front of people who need your services now. Facebook ads are low-cost, so you can experiment to see what resonates with your potential clients and then repeat what works.

Capture leads with what you know. There is a vast amount of basic information you know that prospects want. And there are a number of tools available for you to disseminate this information to them, including blogs, eBooks and free reports. Offer these in exchange for contact information as added value and the leads will follow.

Think mobile. If your law firm website is not already optimized for mobile, make that happen fast. Mobile-friendly sites perform better in search results and also provide a better user experience for prospects.

Automate your lead conversion. A comprehensive law firm marketing program that embraces multiple marketing tools – SEO, PPC, ads, email marketing, social media, blogs, etc. – means leads come in from many different sources. If you don’t have an automated way to deal with them, leads will slip through the cracks and all that hard work and financial investment will be for nothing. Small law firms lose tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars every year because they aren’t tracking their leads and quickly following up with them. Mid-sized law firms are losing millions. Lost leads also hurt your reputation with your referral sources if they supplied the referral and your team doesn’t follow through on the lead.

© The Rainmaker Institute, All Rights Reserved

Innovation, Change and Accountability: A Way Forward for Law Firm Leadership

Law firms across the country are facing a crisis in leadership, but many of them don’t know it yet.  Despite all the challenges discussed in Part 1 of this series, many law firms, especially small and mid-sized firms,  are not changing their strategies, in fact, they keep on doing the same old things.

law firm leadership and governance

Many law firms are structured where decisions are made based on consensus, and the Managing Partner is tasked with conducting the orchestra–managing the processes, focusing on firm administration and the tasks the firm is working on.  Even though this decision and execution process is clunky, no one seems to be leaving it behind.  According to Re-Envisioning, “Most MPs enjoy the positive aspects of the MP role, but many don’t seem to want accountability or to be responsible for holding others accountable for getting results.”  Tough conversations are not had, problems are not addressed, and necessary changes are not being made because Managing Partners are not empowered to focus on the right things.  David Maister, author of True Professionalism, says, “What worries me most is not that today’s law firm leaders are often imperfect in fulfilling the role, but rather than many of them aren’t even aiming at it.”

law firm leadersHow can law firms change their leadership structure to be more like a business?

As we discussed in Part 1, one of the major recommendations of Re-Envisioning is changing the Managing Partner to a CEO, in name and in function.  This requires the MP to act more as a CEO–focusing on having tough conversations to ensure client service is provided at the highest level, and that results and profits are being made.  One suggestion is that the MP/CEO have a formal job description.  Of the MPs surveyed for Re-Envisioning, 53% indicated that they did not have a formal job description, and an additional 20% indicated that one existed, but that it was not closely followed.  In fact, only 19% of respondents indicated that they had a written job description and that it was followed, and of those 19%, 93% said that they liked having a job description–that it gave them something to “focus on.”  Armed with a title change and a job description, CEO’s are better equipped to move the firm forward in the direction it needs to go.

Other changes that can help re-shape the firm’s culture can be achieved through the Executive Committee.  Hiring a Chief Operating Officer and giving him or her a strong voice on the leadership team can help the firm keep eyes on the prize.  Additionally, Re-Envisioning suggests morphing the Executive committee so “it functions like a CEO’s senior leadership team.”

To function like a leadership team the executive committee needs to do the following:

  1. Oversee firm-wide strategic priorities
  2. Members would be elected for terms by owners on a staggered basis
  3. But with no term limits for committee members.  If someone is doing a good job in a position, you want them to keep doing a good job in that position.law firm managers managing partner

What kind of firm culture should the executive committee strive for?

Innovation, Change and Accountability are things the Executive Committee should promote in the firm.  The new culture of legal services demands creative thinking, an ability to adapt to shifting circumstances, and a willingness to hold everyone accountable for achieving results.  But what does that mean in practice? Innovation as a value will reward creativity and taking risks to find better ways to accomplish things–and looks at everything, all processes and asks “why do we do it this way?” and most importantly, makes changes as needed.  With Change, the firm and its leaders are open to new ideas, conflicting opinions and constructive feedback, always looking for better solutions and embracing changes that improve results and profitability.

Finally, accountability means the CEO:

  1. Holds himself or herself to high standards and achieving results
  2. Communicates expectations of executive committee members, stakeholders/owners and members of the firm
  3. Identifies the need for change and makes adjustments when necessary
  4. Quickly and firmly addresses problematic partners and underperformers
  5. Build trust in order to enact changes
  6. Emphasize clients first, firm second, individuals third as a guiding principle
  7. Expect others to follow his or her lead and hold others accountable for achieving results and performing at a high level

It’s clear that there is plenty of work to do in law firm leadership.  To achieve the objectives of re-orienting law firm leadership to a CEO structure, and to encourage the adoption of innovation, change and accountability as firm-wide principles, law firm leadership needs to set priorities. The survey results that Re-Envisioning was based on indicate that the top 3 contributions that leaders should focus on were Strategic objectives, being a Change agent, and making the tough decisions and holding people accountable.  These objectives can help law firm leaders make the changes in their firms that need to be made.

These recommendations may seem daunting, or a huge disruption of firm life, however, they are the changes the new industry demands.  Terry Isner, President of Marketing and Business Development at Jaffe says, “Law firm leadership isn’t about boots on the ground anymore–it’s a 10,000 foot perspective with 360-degree views of the firm, its clients and the industry as a whole at all times.  It’s being able to adapt to change quickly and making hard choices that will inspire and empower greatness.”

 law firm leaders

This is NLR’s second article on the report  Re-Envisioning the Law FIrm: How to Lead Change and Thrive in the Future  developed by the Managing Partner Forum, Jaffe, and The Remsen Group and released on December 8th.  You can read the first article here.

ARTICLE BY Eilene Spear & Jennifer Schaller of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

Seven Strategies to Succeed at Law Firm Leadership

The title “managing partner” falls short of the mark in describing the work of a law firm leader. “Chief executive officer,” in my opinion, is more accurate. Terminology evolves so that some titles no longer reflect their original meaning.

Managing partner has become such a term. When a managing partner is named, is the law firm really appointing a manager in the corporate sense? A manager, after all, is a caretaker responsible for oversight of a unit or department.

A recent survey on the topic of law firm management and leadership asked those polled to distinguish between a “manager” and a “leader.” Insights that the survey respondents offered included, “Management is mechanical, while leadership is inspirational,” and “The leader sets the direction and the plan, while the manager implements the plan.”

Another survey respondent was more pointed: “Managers implement what leaders want them to do. Most law firm managers want to be loved and not to lead.” Saying that managers want most to be loved may overstate the case. But it does sum up the problem. If a law firm needs vision, inspiration, motivation, cohesion, consensus, direction-setting and the establishing of firmwide goals, it needs strong leadership committed to that work.

Leading Lawyers 

The hard realities of law firm leadership are apparent. Among them:

  • The authority of lawyer management (or leadership) is derived from the willingness of the firm’s partners to be managed (or led).
  • Partners perceive themselves as being owners of the firm, having certain prerogatives and independence, not as employees to be managed.
  • Each firm has its own personality and culture, and the management techniques effective in one firm may or may not be successful in another.

In the face of these hard realities, many managing partners retreat into the noncontroversial confines of day-to-day management, putting aside attempts to exercise true leadership. What is needed instead is a well-thought-out plan to lead your firm forward into the 21st century.

SEVEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP

1. Create Job Descriptions for Yourself, Your Successor and Other Firm Leaders.

Remember, you’re drafting a job description for a CEO, not a manager. Think of your job description as a contract with your partners. At a minimum, it should delineate the amount of time you will devote to management responsibilities. A CEO’s primary responsibilities should include strategic planning, setting the future direction of the firm, cultivating relationships with major clients, and identifying and grooming future firm leaders. To compensate for time lost from your personal practice, the job description should define your pay structure.

2. Redefine the Role of Practice Group Chair.

Practice group chairs are too often treated as lions among their prides. Often they are appointed because they are the senior member of the group or the most effective rainmaker. This does not mean they are the most effective manager, the best mentor or the most committed to the success of the firm. Practice group chairs should be elevated to the level of senior management. They should be given the full authority to manage their groups. Practice group leaders need to be chosen based on the ability and the commitment to lead.

3. Get to Know the Firm’s Client Base Personally.

No partner should “own” a key institutional client. Managing partners should reach out to client contacts and underscore the message that the firm—not only the client’s chosen counsel—is pleased to be of service. Ask the client for feedback, learn the client’s business and the industry, and strategize to help the client reach its goals. Do more for the firm’s clients than simply putting out fires.

4. Identify and Hire a Strong Chief Operating Officer.

If you are going to be an effective leader or CEO, you have to get the minutiae off your desk. Delegate day-to-day administrative responsibility to a strong, competent executive director or COO. This person should head up a team of business professionals and serve as your trusted “second hand” on the leadership team.

5. Offer Reforms to “Time and Money” Matters.

You will be asking senior management to take on a more extensive and defined role in the operations of the firm. Adjust the time demands on the executive committee and the practice group leaders to allow for sufficient nonbillable time for them to fulfill their management responsibilities. Likewise, adjust the compensation criteria for senior managers to acknowledge the time they must devote to management matters and for the firm-benefitting results that they achieve.

6. Start (or Reenergize) the Strategic Planning Process.

A strategic plan is a living document that requires modification and fine-tuning from the first day it is implemented. If you have been selected as the firm’s managing partner, presumably you have a vision of what you want the firm to become, what you want it to achieve. Sell this vision and muster a supporting coalition among the equity partners. You don’t need to win them all over, but you will need an effective critical mass and working majority. With this group at your back, start small and keep the initial goals simple. Suggest three or four one-year priority items with sufficient low-hanging fruit to show short-term wins. Consolidate your gains and move forward.

7. Maintain Your Firm’s Investment in Its Future.

The challenges of launching new initiatives, creating consensus and moving your firm forward can sometimes cause a firm leader to forget about the little things that, in the end, may prove to be just as important as greater goals. Don’t forget to implement a first-rate training and associate development program. Here lies the future of your firm. Don’t forget about marketing and business development initiatives. These provide the growth that will finance your firm’s future. Don’t forget about technology upgrades. These are the essential tools that keep your firm on the cutting edge and ahead of the pack. And don’t ignore your successor. Heirs apparent need the opportunity to learn the principles of law firm management.

The old Chinese proverb says that a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. Becoming a leader of a law firm is similar. A CEO must, step by step, patiently bring along the uninterested, the doubters and the curmudgeons to join the advocates and the reformers. Bold vision and small steps are the stuff of leadership.

Article By John Remsen, Jr of The Remsen Group
Copyright 2016 The Remsen Group