Category: Legal Marketing

Legal News: Law Firm Hires, Professional Recognition and Legal Innovation

With plenty of adjustments and creativity, the legal industry churns into August.  The legal industry has shown remarkable ingenuity as law firms adapt to the challenges of COVID-19 and the ancillary impact of the pandemic.  Below we highlight some law firm hires, law firm innovations and accolades, and legal technology news.

Law Firm Hires and Lateral Attorney Moves

Labor and employment lawyer Ryan McCoy rejoined Norton Rose Fulbright as a partner. McCoy split the past seven years between Baute Crochetiere Hartley & Velkei and Alston & Bird, previously spending eight years as part of Norton Rose Fulbright’s dispute resolution and litigation practice from 2005 until 2013.

McCoy represents clients from the healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail, insurance, transport and insurance industries, focusing his practice on wage and hour class actions, discrimination suits, wrongful termination and retaliation, commercial litigation, and complex insurance coverage. He has also defended clients before the American Arbitration Association in wage and hour violations, sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, disability discrimination as well as meal and rest period disputes.

“Ryan impressed us as a young lawyer, and we are thrilled to have him return in his prime. The client demand for employment and labor law seems to be at an all-time high during this unusual time for businesses,” said Shauna Clark, Norton Rose Fulbright’s U.S. head of employment and labor.

“I am delighted to return to Norton Rose Fulbright and collaborate once again with these talented lawyers. The firm’s unmatched global reach and wide range of offerings will benefit my clients significantly,” McCoy said.

Patent attorney Pierre R. Yanney joined Bressler, Amery & Ross law firm as a principal in its Corporate and Commercial Transactions Practice Group. Previously, Yanney was a principal at Baker & Hostetler law firm.

Mr. Yanney focuses his practice on all aspects of patent law, ranging from patent litigation, opinions and counseling, to Patent Office prosecution, and has experience in handling a wide range of technologies including RFID, cellular systems, medical electronics and devices, signal processing, communication systems, electronic tolling, and elevator control systems.  Yanney has prosecuted more than 2,000 patent applications and written more than 100 patent opinions, in addition to arguing several cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Patent Trial & Appeal Board.

“I’m excited to welcome Pierre Yanney to our New York office. Pierre is known for the breadth and depth of his IP experience. It’s rare that you come across someone like Pierre who can write a patent application, get it allowed at the Patent Office, and also litigate patents in district court. His talents and business insights will be a positive addition to our active Corporate and Commercial practice,” said Bressler New York Managing Principal, Mark Knoll.

Labor and employment attorney Scott Nelson joined Hunton Andrews Kurth as a partner in the law firm’s Houston office. Nelson previously was a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and led Baker McKenzie’s domestic U.S. Employment Counseling and Litigation practice.

Nelson’s practice focuses on complex employment litigation, specifically wage and hour class and collective actions, ERISA litigation, and trade secret and restrictive covenant matters. He also counsels clients on employment law compliance, including international employment law issues, restrictive covenants, wage-and-hour matters, internal investigations, executive terminations, mass layoffs, employee policies, employee training and due diligence.

“Scott’s thorough understanding of the many complex issues our clients face and his impressive track record of experience handling ERISA litigation and advising on international employment law matters complement the strengths of our comprehensive labor and employment practice,” said Emily Burkhardt Vicente, co-chair of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s labor and employment group. “We are pleased to welcome him to the firm.”

Bergeson & Campbell attorney Timothy D. Backstrom passed away on July 24. Backstrom joined Bergeson & Campbell in 2007, and was an expert in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, also contributing to the law and regulation of fuel and fuel additives under the Clean Air Act.

“Tim was an incredibly gifted lawyer, respected by his peers, loved by his fellow colleagues here at Bergeson & Campbell, P.C., and a wonderful man, husband, and father.  He is survived by his wife Lydia Cox Backstrom, his (step) son Christopher Blancato, his brother Paul Backstrom (Kathy), and his cousins Dan and Don Backstrom,” Bergeson & Campbell said in a statement following his death.

Backstrom grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin, later moving to the East coast to earn his undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his law degree at Yale Law School, and then went on to work for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of General Counsel on pesticide, toxic substances, and air quality issues for 25 years, developing a deep understanding of FIFRA.

“We will miss Tim’s uncompromising commitment to legal excellence, his passion for the law, his exuberance for any work composed by Gustav Mahler, and his unrelenting belief that the rule of law will ultimately prevail over the societal challenges we are now experiencing,” Bergeson wrote in a statement.

Law Firm Innovation

Winston & Strawn announced the formation of an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Advisory Team, designed to help companies navigate their ESG profiles. The advisory board will be co-chaired by Winston & Strawn partners Mike Blankenship and Eric Johnson, and utilizes the firm’s experience across disciplines to oversee the ESG issues companies are facing during these challenging times.  Blankenship identifies the correlation between successful businesses and their attention to ESG values, saying, “successful businesses are placing ESG principles at the forefront of their core values and leveraging those principles to chart a path for financial success and future growth to the benefit of all their stakeholders, including employees, customers, vendors, local communities, and stockholders.”

The team includes Chicago partners Mike Melbinger, Eleni Kouimelis, Cardelle Spangler, and Rex Sessions, of counsel Stephanie Sebor; New York partner Tara Greenberg, London partners Peter Crowther and Anthony Riley.  The group will focus on ESG disclosure and messaging, Board oversight of ESG risks, shareholder activism, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.  With an eye to these principles, the Winston & Strawn ESG team will “work closely with clients to develop and execute ESG-related initiatives that best fit their specific needs to the benefit of all of their stakeholders,” Eric Johnson says.

Hughes Hubbard & Reed law firm launched a coronavirus and CARES Act tracker that monitors enforcement actions across the country, targeting Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud, fraudulent COVID-19 cures, as well as violations of state and federal laws. Hughes Hubbard & Reed is monitoring coronavirus government agency filings, and will update the tracker frequently.

To date, Hughes Hubbard & Reed has identified 110 coronavirus and CARES act cases brought by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, with 12 state attorneys general bringing cases. Pennsylvania’s attorney general’s office has been the most active with COVID-19 related legal actions. Forty percent of cases involve alleged criminal violations, and 30 percent of coronavirus related cases include a suspension of securities trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission, with the number of cases growing steadily since April.

The tracker can be accessed here with detailed information on each case, including links to court filings and relevant statutes.

DLA Piper law firm received the 2020 Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), recognizing the growth of the firm’s pro bono practice focusing on the needs of immigrant children facing abuse, neglect and abandonment. The NLADA also recognized the firm’s collaboration with the American Bar Association to develop habeas corpus petition template pleadings and practice advisories for unaccompanied children.

“We are honored to play a role in advocating for the rights of vulnerable individuals and families seeking a better life in the US,” said Lisa Dewey, pro bono partner and director of New Perimeter, DLA Piper’s nonprofit affiliate that provides long-term pro bono legal assistance in under-served regions around the world. “I am proud of the dedication to serving immigrants that our lawyers have demonstrated through their pro bono service, and we look forward to continuing this important work.”

Jay Bender, a partner at the Birmingham, Ala. office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings law firm, received the Alabama Commendation Medal from the Alabama Army National Guard for his work on the “Honoring American Veterans in Extreme Need Act of 2019” (HAVEN Act; H.R. 2938).

Bender was presented the award by Amy Quick Glenos, an of counsel attorney at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., and a reserve component soldier and captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, Alabama Army National Guard, for which she also serves as trial counsel.

The HAVEN Act was signed into law last year, changing bankruptcy laws to protect disabled veterans experiencing financial hardship. Bender worked pro bono alongside other Bradley attorneys on the law, serving as co-chair of the Legislative Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute Task Force on Veterans and Service Members Affairs – of which Mr. Bender is a founding member.

“We congratulate Jay on this prestigious recognition of his many years of work and unwavering commitment to protecting disabled veterans in financial distress and ushering the HAVEN Act into reality,” said Bradley Birmingham Office Managing Partner Dawn Helms Sharff. “This recognition is reflective of Jay’s outstanding work and the importance of this landmark law in helping disabled veterans and their families achieve financial stability.”

Tycko & Zavareei law firm won a $11 million settlement representing a healthcare whistleblower in a False Claims Act lawsuit.  Jonathan Tycko of Tycko & Zavareei and Felix Gavi Luna of Peterson Wampold Rosato Feldman Luna law firm represented the whistleblower.

The settlement involved allegations that a testing laboratory owned by Cordant Health Solutions paid kickbacks to two major clients of the laboratory to encourage further testing referrals to the laboratory from those clients. The whistleblower, who was a former employee of Cordant, filed the lawsuit under the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act five years ago. Cordant agreed to pay the government $11,942,913 to settle the claims. The government awarded the whistleblower approximately $2.4 million, or 20 percent of the settlement amount.

“This settlement shows that the False Claims Act works,” Tycko said.  “Through the qui tam provisions of that law, our client was able to bring the kickbacks to the attention of the government in a way that led to both criminal and civil remedies.  We are proud and humbled to represent brave whistleblowers, such as the individual who brought this case.”

“We are grateful for how seriously the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and all the government lawyers and investigators who have worked on this matter, took our client’s allegations, and for the work they did to reach this settlement,” said Luna.

Bryan Cave Leighton & Paisner recently announced that Denver associate, Ivan London, was recently elected to serve on the Board of Advisors for Western Energy Alliance.  Comprised of 300 member companies, the Western Energy Alliance focuses on environmentally responsible exploration and production of oil and gas in the region.  The Western Energy Alliance supports policies to encourage investment and job growth in the region.  London’s practice with Bryan Cave focuses on regulation in energy, environmental and with other natural resource matters.

Legal Technology Innovations

At the end of July, Clariviate Plc announced an agreement to combine with CPA Global, a global leader in IP software and tech –enabled services.  The transaction will be all-stock with an enterprise value of approximately $6.8 billion.  The transaction is expected to go through regulatory approvals, is expected to close fourth quarter of 2020. By combining efforts, CPA Global and Clarivate will provide an IP solution that provides market-leading software, data, technology and services throughout the IP lifecycle, from academic research to IP portfolio management.

Jerre Stead, CEO of Clarivate indicates the company’s share similar core values and expects the partnership to lead to more innovation.  He says, “This is a transformative combination with a strong strategic fit between the two companies. It will create a full-service IP organization which will provide customers with a wide range of products and services to help them make faster and smarter critical decisions.”  Simon Webster, the CEO of CPA Global, echoes the sentiment, calling the move “a natural next step.”  He says, “The fit between our respective product offerings across the innovation and IP lifecycle, the commonality of our vision for the future of the industry, and the alignment of both companies’ cultures and values makes for an extremely exciting future for our customers, employees and shareholders alike.”

Leading accounting firm BDO USA, LLP launched Athenagy, a business intelligence platform for legal professionals, designed to provide the legal department with transparency and critical insight throughout the litigation cycle.  Athenagy is designed to integrate with Relativity®One and can provide critical insight into where data lives and what it does through the steps of a legal hold, providing information to legal professionals.

Daniel Gold, managing director of BDO Managed Services practice, says “Athenagy solves persistent problems that legal departments face when it comes to managing their data. By providing transparency and detailed analytics throughout the data lifecycle, Athenagy is empowering legal professionals to make better, more informed decisions at every step of the e-discovery process, and beyond.”

That’s it for now.  We’ll have more soon.

 

Copyright ©2020 National Law Forum, LLC

Crisis Management – Your Law Firm or Bar Association’s Reputation is Its Largest Uninsured Asset

Partnership splits, sexual misconduct, data theft, management transitions, accusations of mal- and misfeasance, mergers & acquisitions and layoffs are just a few of the situations today’s managing partners and executive directors face.

It’s been said that a bar association or law firm’s reputation is its largest uninsured asset – an asset that can be seriously damaged with an ineffective crisis response.

Traditional media leap on stories like those listed above.  And with the presence today of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, not to mention a 24/7 media environment, the reputation you’ve built up with years of good work can be shattered in an instant.

Today, your brand can face a significant reputational challenge in the time it takes to bang out a feverish 140-character tweet. When it comes to social media, in particular, law firm and bar leaders no longer have the luxury of gathering around a table to discuss strategy. There’s simply no time.

Effective Crisis Response Is More Than An Emergency Plan

Often, law firms and bar associations will dutifully create an operational crisis plan, but lack a concomitant crisis communications strategy. So, what should your organization do?

The heart of crisis communications planning focuses on preparing for the most significant, gut-wrenching threats – both operational and reputational – that might affect your firm. To identify those threats, a “Vulnerabilities Audit” with top management (managing partner, CEO, CIO, CFO, CMO, GC, H.R.) will enable your team to assess the risks the firm faces, both in terms of their likelihood and the severity of the consequences they might have on the firm’s reputation or operations. The second part of the plan focuses on how your organization will communicate about those threats.

Having a crisis communication plan is an excellent first step.  But a plan is no good gathering dust on a shelf.  Many organizations next do crisis/media training to make certain they have trained executives who understand the needs and demands of today’s media, enabling the firm to deliver its messages clearly and with credibility.

The most-prepared organizations also do tabletop drills to test the plan and put their staff through the rigors of real-time crisis simulation, thereby improving the chances of responding effectively when the real thing hits.

Organizations that want to stay ahead of the curve also keep a sharp ear to the rail with a comprehensive monitoring program that closely watches news content delivery platforms — print, broadcast, web, mobile and social. And many progressive organizations have third-party crisis counsel audit their current plan as it evolves, to make certain there are no chinks in their armor.

What’s The Payback?

From a reputational perspective, how your firm or bar association communicates during a crisis will likely be just as important as how the incident is managed operationally.  Good planning and training will mean:

  • A more coordinated, consistent and authentic communications response.
  • Improved communications with internal and external key stakeholders.
  • Improved communications with legacy media and social media resulting in more accurate coverage.
  • Better coordination among crisis team members, less redundancy and reduced stress.
  • Enhanced ability to maintain normal operations while simultaneously managing the crisis event.
  • Reduced damage to the organization’s reputation, with the possibility it may even be enhanced.

Your response to a crisis event must be rapid, strategic and authentic.  Especially in today’s media landscape, where news breaks first on social media, “managing the message” is a necessary skill set for law firm and bar association executives (and not necessarily one of the skill sets that got you into the C-Suite).

When your organization’s reputation is on the line, so is your bottom line. Strategic crisis management and crisis communications planning is your brand’s most effective insurance policy.

© 2020 Hennes Communications. All rights reserved.

For more on managing law firm reputation see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

13 Signs It Is Time to Hire an Outside Marketing Professional

Marketing is the backbone of your law firm’s growth. Think of it this way: a bad attorney can still drum up a substantial amount of business with an impressive marketing plan, but an excellent attorney’s skills will not save them from a weak or nonexistent marketing plan. If you are wondering if you have outgrown your current marketing plan, look for these signs that you need an outside professional.

1. Marketing Takes Up More Than 15 Minutes of Your Billable Time

As an attorney, you should spend most of your time doing what you do best. If you spend more than 15 minutes per day writing and scheduling tweets, checking marketing metrics, or optimizing your blog posts, you are wasting time that should be spent researching, meeting with clients, or preparing for court. Outsource these tasks to a professional.

2. Your Returns Have Plateaued

Seeing big returns on your law firm’s marketing efforts is exciting, which is why plateaus are so disappointing. Without in-depth marketing education and experience, you are unlikely to know what it takes to overcome those plateaus. And while there is a wealth of online information on how to do it yourself, it is a better use of your time and skill to involve a professional consultant that can highlight new ways to bring in potential clients.

3. You Want to Take Your Marketing to the Next Level

No matter how brilliant and creative you are when it comes to selling yourself and your practice, you would be amazed at the opportunities and ideas that a professional can bring to the table. Whether it is identifying a potential sub-market that could grow your law firm, or developing new branding ideas that speak to a different demographic than your typical client, an outside marketing consultant can enhance your current strategy and increase your return on investment.

4. A Big Change or Event is Approaching

An important event or big change in your firm is a massive marketing opportunity, but can also be a massive source of stress. With so many small details to consider, as well as pressure for the event to be successful, a holistic marketing company can provide you with wrap-around support for your event. Not only can they show you the best ways to market your event, but may also offer event planning services, subcontractor management, and even discounted purchasing on your behalf.

5. Your In-House Team Has Become Complacent

In-house marketing teams can work as well-oiled machines, properly allocating their efforts across different team members and projects. In some cases, though, they become complacent and stop giving your firm the time and effort necessary to bring in new clients. Instead of trying to motivate a team that has lost passion for seeing your law firm succeed, consider adding an outside marketing eye to your mix. Often legal marketing consultants offer hourly consultation rates that are perfect for when you simply want a fresh perspective and a new direction without a long-term commitment.

6. You Are Striking Out on Your Own

Starting your own law firm is a significant accomplishment. Avoid the trap of saving money by engaging in DIY marketing. Although it may seem like a good way to cut costs at the outset, shoddy marketing and tone-deaf messaging can actually do far more financial damage than the amount you might save. From logo design and business cards to innovative pay-per-click campaigns and social media marketing, it is better to start out on the right foot with a solid marketing team or consultant that can give you a solid foundation for the future.

7. Circumstances Call for Rebranding

No one is perfect, and every law firm has had its fair share of blunders. However, when a huge mistake smears your name and causes any Google search of your firm to reflect poorly on your brand, it is time to call in a professional legal marketer. They can help mitigate reviews, consult on best next steps, and develop a re-branding strategy that can save your business before negative press starts affecting your bottom line.

8. You Do Not Have Time to Pursue Further Credentialing

In the legal world, reputation is key to success. For many lawyers, this means participation in cause marketing, leadership in relevant associations, and pursuing awards and credentialing opportunities. Unfortunately, not every lawyer has the time, means, or energy to research these opportunities and develop them. A good outside marketing consultant will be able to review your experience and professional strengths and use them to find appropriate places for you to speak, guest author, and submit yourself for public recognition for the good that you do.

9. You Want Help Understanding Your Marketing Analytics

Whether you work with an in-house marketing team or do your own law firm marketing, detailed analysis is a vital part of knowing what is working with your marketing strategy. This can become very frustrating, especially if you are receiving or running reports that you do not understand. Instead of trying to give yourself a full marketing education, turn them over to a specialist. An outside legal marketing consultant can review your analytics with you, highlight the areas that are meeting expectations and give suggestions on how to improve those areas that are slow.

10. Blog Upkeep is Getting Away From You

Companies with blogs get, on average, 67% more leads than companies without blogs, according to Demand Metric. It is not enough to create a new post whenever your schedule allows; blogging has to be a scheduled and highly prioritized part of your marketing plan. If your updates are becoming more and more infrequent, a marketing specialist can create a content calendar and even help you hire a ghostwriter to ensure that the posts keep coming.

11. Your Presentation and Publication Schedule Is No Longer Manageable

If you are not on top of your presentation and publication schedule, a marketing specialist can help you organize, prepare for, and promote these important parts of your marketing strategy. Remember, every presentation you make and every publication you produce is a chance to reach new clients. It makes sense to hire someone who knows how to best identify new avenues for this kind of credentialing and can take the time to ensure that everything is in order so that you are set up for success with no stress on your part.

12. Client Prospects Are Drying Up

Every law firm has slower spells and busy times. Still, if you are noticing a downward trend, it is time to analyze whether it is a normal dip in activity or a problem with some element of your marketing plan. If you have already exhausted your current networking and marketing efforts but business is still not picking up, a marketing professional can give some much needed insight.

13. Your Online Properties Are Out-of-Date or Poorly Managed

Your image is everything. Attorney websites with broken links, attorney bios that have not been updated in years, and abandoned blogs can lead clients to think you are no longer practicing. Hire a marketing specialist to consolidate online properties and manage their upkeep.

Choosing the right marketing expert can breathe new life into your client prospects and take your success to the next level. With the right support, your law firm can be flexible and relevant, able to identify new opportunities that will keep your law firm growing into a legacy worth having.

© 2020 Denver Legal Marketing LLC

For more on marketing for law firms, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

How to Build a Legal Blog from the Ground Up

Blogging is one of the most straightforward ways to share your legal expertise, strengthen your reputation amongst peers and potential clients, and become a valuable resource to your community. Once you know basic SEO principles and have a writing schedule that you stick to, it can be fairly simple. You already have the expertise. Now, learn how to share it by creating an engaging, educational, and helpful legal blog.

Before All Else, Know Your Law Firm’s Target Market

Being an expert in your area of practice is one thing; effectively sharing that knowledge with your target market is another. One issue that legal professionals run into while blogging is failing to write to their audience. When writing to non-lawyers, avoid using legal language that lay people do not understand, cite sources in a way that does not interrupt the flow of your writing, and avoid an overly formal tone.

You already know who your target market is: your clients and potential referral sources. If your goal is to connect better with potential clients, write in a way that appeals to their needs and is easily readable. It is easy to write about complex, multifaceted issues in a technical and legally accurate manner, but it is an art form to write about those same topics in a way that a person with no legal background can digest.

If your target market is lawyers—as is the case when you rely primarily on other attorneys for referrals—feel free to write in a way that connects with other attorneys. Still, avoid jargon and make sure that your work is clear and concise, as unnecessary “filler” bogs down your writing and can lose readers.

Regardless of who you are marketing your blog to, make sure that your tone matches your branding as well as your intended audience. If you are not writing in a way that connects with your audience, the time you put into your blog will not pay off.

Top SEO Tips for Law Firm Blogs

Knowing just a handful of common SEO tricks and techniques is enough to get you started. As you expand your legal blog and spend more time using it as a marketing tool, you may wish to invest in marketing services that allow you to expand your reach. To begin, use these techniques in your writing:

Diversify Your Law Firm Blog Posts

This is a tough balance to strike. You want to be narrow enough that people know what type of topics to expect every time they visit your blog, but you also want to be diverse enough that people do not get bored. Mix up your content between evergreen topics and trending topics. Articles that are not contingent on timely topics bring in readers over years, while trending topics can bring big boosts of readers as they are relevant to current events. Both are necessary to maintain high traffic and get new eyes on your website.

In addition, consider diversifying blog post lengths. Data from HubSpot indicates that long-form posts perform best, with the target range being around 2,000 words. Still, if 200, 500, or 1000 words will suffice, padding it out to 2,000 words is a waste of your readers’ time. What this does mean is that you should spend considerable time crafting in-depth posts that answer questions and offer clear value to readers. The shorter posts can also be helpful when the point is clear and they are meant to be quickly read through.

Make Law Firm Blog Posts Engaging and Attractive

No one clicks on a blog post and wants to be hit with a wall of text. There are many ways you can make your posts easy to digest, attractive, and welcoming. Make use of subheadings and bold text within your posts, which not only break up your information, but signal important key topics to search robots. White space through paragraph breaks is a great way to increase readability of longer posts.

In addition, posts with relevant images get 94% more views than those without images. To avoid copyright issues, use royalty-free image sources like:

You can also create or commission infographics that sum up the main points of your post into an easy-to-share format.

The Power of Consistent Action

When you commit to blogging, commit fully with a realistic schedule. When lawyers begin blogs, they often plan on posting whenever their schedule allows. Unfortunately, this often translates into occasional posts or an empty blog. A blog that has not been updated for weeks or months tells potential clients that you may not be active, that you may be too busy for new clients, and that you may not even be in business anymore. By creating a consistent blog schedule, you can get into the habit of producing high-quality content and steadily increasing your readership each week.

Your legal blog could help you reach an entire new audience. From new professional connections to new clients, the benefits of a legal blog are endless.

© 2020 Denver Legal Marketing LLC\

For more on legal marketing, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

Legal Industry Highlights: Law Firm Hires, Awards, and COVID-19 Innovation in May 2020

While the world has been hunkered down at home, participating in Zoom calls and getting jobs done from kitchen tables and home offices across the country, the legal industry has continued to innovate, respond and move forward, even during these troubled times.

Read on for a sampling of legal industry changes from May 2020.

Hiring and Law Firm Moves

Last week, Perkins Coie announced that Jill Louis joined the Corporate & Securities practice as a partner in the Dallas office, in a move that further augments their capabilities in the Lone Star state. Randy Bridgeman, the co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Corporate & Securities practice praised Louis’s entrepreneurial spirit and her in house and leadership experience.  He says, “Jill’s background in M&A and representing private equity-backed healthcare, infrastructure, and technology companies will be highly valuable to our clients across Texas and beyond.”

Jill Louis Corporate Lawyer
Jill B. Louis Perkins Coie

Louis has experience working with public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, franchise transactions, corporate governance matters and working in industries including retail, technology and healthcare.  She has worked with large and small companies, from startups to Fortune 50 corporations, and has worked both in house and in private practice during her career. Dean Harvey, the Dallas office managing partner, says, “Jill’s arrival aligns with our ongoing strategy of expanding our corporate offering in Dallas to support our growing technology and privacy capabilities.”

Up in the northeast, Pierce Atwood added bankruptcy and creditors’ rights attorney Alex F. Mattera to the firm’s Boston office. Mattera focuses his practice on creditor and debtor rights, commercial bankruptcy, bankruptcy litigation and insolvency. He represents secured creditors, focusing on the collection and workouts of defaulted and troubled loans, creditors’ committees, debtors, trustees and other parties involved in bankruptcy.

“Alex’s expertise in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, particularly his loan workout experience, will really help us serve our lending and business clients. This is the third major recession Alex has been through,” said Pierce Atwood Business Practice Group Chair Keith J. Cunningham. “That kind of experience is so valuable in times like these. We couldn’t be happier to welcome him to the firm.”

Mattera has presented and sat on panels for the American Bankruptcy Institute, as well as Massachusetts Continuing Education and the Boston Bar Association.

 “Alex’s expertise in workouts and collections will provide the firm even greater depth on the backend of loan transactions as we continue to provide a comprehensive suite of services to creditors and banks,” said Bruce I. Miller, Pierce Atwood’s real estate lending partner.

Devon Williams Named Managing Partner Elect
Devon Williams Ward and Smith

With an eye to the future and succession planning, North Carolina firm Ward and Smith elected labor and employment attorney Devon Williams as the firm’s co-managing director elect. Williams will assume the new role at the end of 2020. She will serve alongside Brad Evans, who has served as the Ward and Smith’s managing director since 2017. Williams is preceded in the co-managing director position by Ken Wooten, who is retiring from Ward and Smith at the end of this year.

“Succession planning is essential to all businesses, including our own, and choosing a strong leader enables seamless continuity in client service, and maintains stability within the firm,” Wooten said. “I think it says a lot about our firm that we’re selecting a millennial leader to take us into the next decade. Devon will bring a unique, and much needed perspective to the perennial concerns of a fully-engaged law firm.”

Since joining Ward and Smith in 2012, Williams has led the firm’s Labor and Employment Section and co-chaired the Raleigh Geographic Team.

“I’m grateful for and enthusiastic about the opportunity to build upon the legacy the firm has experienced under Ken’s leadership while working in tandem with Brad to continue our efforts to innovate efficient legal solutions for our clients, and attract and retain top-tier talent,” Williams said.

As co-managing director of Ward and Smith, Williams will maintain her labor and employment practice, where she advises employers on wage and hour issues, federal contractor compliance, prevention of employment discrimination, employee discipline and retaliation and harassment claims.

Life sciences attorney Frank Rahmani joined Sidley Austin as a partner in the firm’s Palo Alto, Calif., corporate practice, and will be a member of the Global Life Sciences practice. Ramani counsels CEOs, boards of directors, founders and investors on financings and public offerings, strategic collaborations, licensing matters, technology acquisition and spin-off transactions.

“Frank has a well-earned reputation as a trusted adviser, which is built on enduring relationships and breadth of experience representing high-growth, cutting edge life sciences and technology companies and investors at all stages,” said Martin Wellington, managing partner of Sidley Austin’s Palo Alto office. “He has great energy, a high-quality practice and a clear vision for growth that aligns with ours. Frank’s arrival signifies our strategy to build out Sidley’s presence in Northern California.”

Womble Bond Dickinson retired partner and North Carolina trial lawyer Allan R. Gitter passed away May 17 at the age of 83.

Allan Gitter Womble Bond Dickinson
Alan Gitter

Gitter joined Womble Bond Dickinson in 1962, when Womble had about a dozen attorneys.  Gitter was the lead attorney in over one thousand cases filed in North Carolina state and federal courts between 1964 and 2009. Many lawyers who are now partners with the firm tried their first cases with Gitter, including Gemma Saluta, Murray Greason, Rachel Keen, Jim Morgan, Rick Rice, Bill Raper, Ellen Gregg, Alison Bost, Brad Wood and Chris Geis.

Gitter was inducted as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1982, and served as an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates. He loved legal research and the law, but his interests also included coaching the Tiny Demons Pop Warner football team and his work at the Children’s Center, a facility devoted to the education and care of children with chronic health issues.  He put himself through law school in part with his work as a night radio deejay on the campus radio station, employing his trademark sign-off at the end of the night:  “Remember never to buy bad dreams.”

Gitter is survived by his wife of 32 years, Sandy; three children, Alison, Kent, and Ryne; two step-children, Wendy and Rob; multiple grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Law Firm Innovation, Awards and Accomplishments

Redgrave LLP, a law firm focused on information governance and eDiscovery law,  formed a Restructuring Discovery Team, working closely with law firms and advisors on litigation readiness and discovery for all types of restructurings. The Redgrave team handles data collection, preservation and review efforts during pre-petition and after a bankruptcy has been filed.

“We are proud to be the nation’s leading eDiscovery law firm, and we are very excited to formalize our experience in restructuring discovery,” said Redgrave partner Christine Payne, head of the firm’s restructuring team. “Many people do not realize how different discovery can be in the restructuring and bankruptcy contexts, as opposed to typical civil litigation. There is significant client need in this area, and we want to support that.”

Managing Intellectual Property named three Texas Bracewell partners as IP Stars. Albert B. Kimball, was recognized for patents and trademarks, and Constance Gall Rhebergen and Douglas W. Rommelmann were recognized for patents.

IP Stars covers IP practice areas in over 70 jurisdictions, making it one of the most comprehensive guides in the industry.

In a decision that could provide a roadmap for local Marijuana dispensaries, A Kutak Rock team including litigation partners Andrew King and Fred Davis, and intellectual property counsel Sara Gillette representing Conway, Arkansas-based Harvest Cannabis Dispensary (“Harvest”) secured a preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute.  Natural State Wellness Dispensary, LLC (“NSW”), and Natural State Enterprises, LLC, were using the name “Harvest” in for cannabis facilities across Arkansas, something the preliminary injunction now prohibits.

After an evidentiary hearing conducted over Zoom, Circuit judge Susan Weaver rejected the argument that  The NSW Entities were authorized to use the name “Harvest” through their connection with Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation, Inc, a company using the Harvest mark in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida prior to the opening of the Arkansas Harvest dispensary.   The court looked at precedent set by the USPTO and other federal courts, indicating products containing more than 0.3% THC are illegal under the Controlled Substances Act and therefore do not enjoy Trademark rights under the Lanham Act. Furthermore, Harvest adopted its name in 2017 and opened its facility in October of 2019, providing the dispensary with state-law trademark rights in Arkansas.

Kutak Rock partner Andrew King: “The Faulkner County outcome is the first of its kind, where a local cannabis dispensary prevailed under state trademark law against a multi-state operator for which federal trademark protection is unavailable. This outcome could provide a road map for local cannabis companies in states where cannabis has been legalized.”

Law Firm and Legal industry Response to COVID-19: A Sampling

COVID-19 has upended business as usual across the country; injecting terms like “flatten the curve”; “PPE” and “Contract Tracing” into everyday conversation.  The National Law Review has covered some of the steps firms and other legal industry groups have taken to have a positive impact during these challenging times.  For example, DLA Piper has signed on to the Ascend’s Five Point Action program, demonstrating a dedication to mitigating the disparate impact of COVID-19 on minority communities.  Additionally, to broaden the reach of Coronavirus information and regulatory developments, Cornerstone Research worked with Stanford University to provide a database of legal articles and memos.  Below are some more instances of law firms and other legal industry groups taking steps to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19.

Health Care Contact TracingMintz Law Firm provided pro bono counsel to Partners in Health (“PIH”), a Boston global health nonprofit, helping with the development of the Massachusetts COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative (“CTC”). The CTC is an initiative that works with PIH, the Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority and Massachusetts Department of Public Health to train, hire and deploy workers who will work with individuals exposed to Coronavirus.  This veritable army of “contact tracers” will provide individuals with information about the virus, social support to facilitate self-isolation or quarantine, and provide appropriate next steps so individuals can stay healthy and protect their families; ultimately enhancing the Commonwealth’s ability to respond to COVID-19.  Dr. Joia Mukherjee, PIH’s chief medical officer, says on contact tracing:

Access to this information helps contacts to know how to protect their loved ones, and to get tested or cared for themselves,” she said. “Without knowing our own status, without being able to specifically protect our loved ones, we are all living in the dark. (And) we know that there is significant anxiety in this darkness.

An interdisciplinary group of Mintz attorneys worked with PIH to facilitate this partnership on a pro-bono basis, helping this critical work get off the ground.  Attorneys involved were Dianne Bourque and Ellen Janos, Members in Mintz’s Health Practice,  Elissa Flynn-Poppey, Chair of the Government Law Practice, Julie Korostoff Chair of the firm’s IT Transactions & Outsourcing Practice, Andrew Matzkin, a Member in the firm’s Employment practice, and Corporate Associate Daniel Marden.

“Mintz is pleased to have been able to assist PIH in its efforts to change the course of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth,” said Mintz Member Ellen Janos. “It has been deeply rewarding to work on such a critically important project.”

Another group working to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 is the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (“DAPP”), a group with a mission to diversify the legal profession by expanding opportunities for women of color law students to secure summer positions at law firms and corporations following their first year of law school, an activity that greatly increases the likelihood of an offer of paid employment after graduation.  DAPP was founded by Tiffany Harper and Chastity Boyce, both women of color who graduated from law school during the previous recession, and are passionate about mitigating the negative effects on women attorneys of color.

Recognizing the disruption that COVID-19 has had on everyone, and specifically law firm internships, DAPP is launching a fund and fellowship for students who are unable to complete their law firm internships this year.  Started with seed money from the organization, DAPP has a goal of 100,000 to fund this program, and is requesting support from law firms, corporations, bar associations, and other nonprofit organizations in the form of earmarked donations.

“As law firms and businesses are forced to cut their summer internship programs, we hope they’ll consider contributing to this fund to support our work of infusing the pipeline to the legal profession with talented, highly qualified women of color in order to address the dismal statistics surrounding the number of women of color who are hired, retained and promoted at large law firms across the nation,” said Harper.

Students who receive the stipend will receive financial support as well as intensive professional development; involving volunteer legal work to facilitate skill development and meaningful training for participants.  Additionally, the awardees will be matched with lawyer mentors, be provided with professional development and coaching.

“This is not a time to give up on diversity and inclusion efforts; it’s a time to refocus our efforts on preparing the next generation of lawyers for the challenges they’ll face in a diverse, global marketplace,” added Boyce.

Copyright ©2020 National Law Forum, LLC

For more Law Firm News updates, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

Supporting Diverse Attorneys: How Marketing Pros Can Become a Business Development Ally

The path to partnership, which many attorneys aspire to achieve, can be a long and challenging road. In order to get there, an attorney’s ability to generate new business is a critical component. The partnership track can be even more difficult for diverse attorneys, as this group tends to lag behind their counterparts in business development. It begs the question: Why do diverse attorneys face challenges in business development, and how can marketing and business development professionals better support their diverse attorneys?

During the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) Southwest Region Conference in September 2019, Tasneem Khokha and Holly Barocio from GrowthPlay, presented on how we can better understand and counsel diverse attorneys, and examined the main challenges these attorneys face in building and sustaining their book of business.

Some of the key challenges Tasneem and Holly discussed, include:

  • A lack of, or much smaller network of, potential business as compared to their counterparts.
  • Feelings of being labeled as the token diverse attorney to add to a pitch.
  • Feeling as though they lack a common ground with decision-makers because of different life experiences.
  • Feeling pressure to have to work harder in order to “prove” themselves.
  • Feeling uncomfortable asking for opportunities as compared to their counterparts.

So how can marketing and business development professionals help their attorneys navigate these concerns? It starts with listening and understanding. No one can make the experiences that diverse attorneys face disappear, but marketing professionals can help them turn these challenges into opportunities and set them up to handle future experiences with ease. It’s important to remember the underlying characteristics of great business development, which are:

  • Being an authentic relationship builder.
  • Having the ability to provide solutions to problems, even if you aren’t always rewarded for your efforts.
  • Avoiding pitfalls, such as rushing to sell too soon.

While some diverse attorneys may inherently have a smaller network, if they are armed with the skill set to build authentic relationships and provide solutions to problems, they will be viewed as someone others can trust – a key characteristic of someone who can build a strong book of business. As a marketing and business development professional, being able to authentically counsel diverse attorneys is invaluable. Here are some techniques:

  • Not having commonalities with decision-makers because of different life experiences is not a make or break situation. You can find commonalities in anything – love for sports? hobbies? pets? You’d be surprised the connections people can make if they listen and pay attention to the person they are talking to.
  • From a poll of the audience, some diverse attorneys may feel that being the token diverse attorney is a negative and does not allow them to be recognized for their skills and experience. Be candid and acknowledge the elephant in the room, but advise them to take the ball and run with it. Encourage them to open up about whether they like the work or prefer to do something different, but they must seize the opportunity.
  • Another common concern is that diverse attorneys are less inclined to ask for opportunities. For marketing professionals, be there to help connect the dots and nudge diverse attorneys to openly discuss what excites them and what they want more of. Diverse attorneys may feel siloed, but you can help connect them with others in the firm who can propel them further in their careers.

© 2020 Berbay Marketing & Public Relations

For more on legal business development, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

Coronavirus and Law Firm Event Marketing: Cancelled, Postponed or Just Different?

Given the current circumstances associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19), a law firm has three choices when it comes to executing on their 2020 event calendar: cancel, postpone, or just change the format. My vote would be for you to change the format wherever you can to stay top of mind and relevant to your client base and referral sources while still practicing a responsible form of “social distancing.”

In-person business development and communication through event marketing involves creating an experience that attendees look forward to, get value from, and associate with your brand. Through hosting various types of business development activities, you can set your law firm up as a networking hub for diverse practices, become a thought leader in your legal niche, and establish a history of credentialing activities that will keep you top-of-mind in your legal community. Virtual events for law firms can, and will, do the same.

It is known that law firm marketing has evolved rapidly in the last decade. In a recent study, 67% of legal marketing professionals and 45% of attorneys listed firm-hosted events as one of the most effective ways to get new clients.  Even with all of the new marketing strategies and techniques, face-to-face connection remains one of the most effective ways to network and gain new clients. In the time of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that is requiring all industries, even the legal industry, to take a second look at how they will continue to operate effectively under quarantine conditions, law firms need to be flexible in how they market. Event marketing can still take place in the spring and summer of 2020, it will just look a little different than originally anticipated. Excluding large luncheons, parties, and galas, for the most part, technology can allow a law firm to move forward with most of their planned events.

Virtual Business Development Events for Law Firms

Every type of business development event attracts different stakeholders, networking opportunities, and ways to strengthen your law firm’s market dominance. Some types of business development activities for law firms that can be transformed into virtual events include the following:

  • Seminars. Conferences that provide training or updates on legal changes in your area of practice. Many seminars and conferences have scheduled downtime and social time, allowing attendees to network and nurture connections that may lead to future referrals. This networking aspect of a seminar can be done in a virtual manner through private chat rooms or even through a special area of your website that allows for “booths” to be created for information sharing.
  • Legal CLE events. Continuing legal education is an essential part of attorney growth, and since continuing legal education is required for lawyers in most parts of the United States, these events offer clear value to attendees. Speakers at continuing legal education events also have the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise, strengthen their image as an authority in their field, and connect with others in relevant areas of practice. CLEs have been webcasted and recorded for years and the coronavirus outbreak really should have no effect on your law firm’s CLEs schedule. All that is necessary to proceed is to tell your audience it will be a webcasted program rather than a live program, hire a professional videographer, and then add then video and handouts to your website.
  • General education events. These events strengthen a firm’s credibility within the community and demonstrate the firm’s expertise to its target client base. For example, an immigration attorney could host an online Q&A seminar through their Facebook page on recent changes to immigration laws and invite affected community members to attend through that medium. An estate planning attorney may host an informal brown bag luncheon that is webcasted on long-term care options to caretakers of aging family members.
  • Brown bag lunch and learns. Lunch and learn events take advantage of the fact that many attorneys have extremely busy schedules. These events last between 30 and 60 minutes and take place over the lunch hour, letting attorneys fit education or networking into their busy day. Brown bag lunches can also take place in a virtual environment. Attorneys can provide a memorable brown bag experience online through the sharing of relevant documents beforehand that they will go over and using screensharing to direct attention of attendees. Law firms will want to make sure that they pay special attention to small things such as consistency in their lawyer screen names and the background portrayed in their videoconference (i.e. what is behind you or what is around you that the other participants will see and does this portray your law firm in the best way possible).
  • Panels. Panel discussions let attendees learn from multiple experts simultaneously. Question-and-answer sessions provide additional value, allowing attendees to get answers to specific, relevant questions. Panels are easy to convert to a digital format. Be sure to have your moderator use the first name of the person that they are addressing when a question is asked as the conversation has to be directed a bit differently than it would in person when you can connect with body language and eye contact. Also, the audience should know beforehand how their questions can be posed and if they are required to have their computer on mute to control outside noise.
  • Collaborations. Collaborating with businesses relevant to your area of practice expands attorneys’ opportunities for networking. For example, an estate planning law firm may collaborate with a senior activity center to help attendees better understand the needs of aging clients, or an intellectual property law firm may run a seminar with a venture capital firm. These types of collaborations can be moved into a digital format by prerecording them for the audience. The business can easily gather questions that come up from attendees and send them to the attorney or law firm afterward so individual phone calls can be made to the guests as follow-up.

Rather than seeing the need to change the format of their existing events to be virtual as a problem, marketing savvy law firms are seeing this as an opportunity. They are utilizing their existing commitments to being modern law practices with functional, time saving technology to continue to connect with their audience. They are using videoconferencing, webcasting, and video recording to continue to host relevant programming for their community. The real challenge in pivoting an event marketing strategy to be entirely digital for the next 3-6 months will be working with the right type of marketing and videography professionals to engage the audience and drive attendance.

Preparation and Follow-Up

Event success, even for virtual events, is more than just choosing the event for your audience. It is critical to have a clear strategy about how to prepare for your event, execute a successful activity, and follow-up to ensure that it is doing the business development work you expect it to.

Know what success looks like. Prior to the event, you should know which benchmarks you want to reach and have ways to measure those. For example, you may want to hit a certain number of attendees, have representatives from a set number of firms, or yield a specific number of networking connections.

Promote your event strategically. Look into different ways to promote an event including traditional invitations through mail or email, social media, and broadcast or print advertising. Be sure to create a custom hashtag to encourage social media engagement before, during, and after the event.

Expect the unexpected. From technology glitches to presenter snafus, being underprepared can end up turning your potential networking opportunity into a PR nightmare. Make sure to give yourself time to work out all the kinks well in advance of your event date and hire a professional to guide you through the process.

Strategize follow-up activities. Following up with attendees after an event provides valuable information on how successful the event was and whether or not it is worth repeating. Some firms use automated email sequences to gauge the results of an event. Reviewing social media engagement, lead generation, attendance numbers, and other metrics provides valuable insight into the success of the event.

Conclusion

Event marketing in 2020 will need to look a little different for law firms but it still remains an effective tool for fostering professional networking and client connections. With the wide range of events to choose from and also the technology available to today’s law firms, there are many options to help firms continue with their previously planned activity calendar. In addition, when law firms are strategic about how they structure, prepare for, and follow up from their virtual business development event, it can be an incredibly powerful form of marketing that is inexpensive, engaging, and memorable.

© 2020 Denver Legal Marketing LLC

For more on managing events during the coronavirus situation, see the National Law Review Coronavirus News page.

How to Get Loyal Clients

For the purpose of running a successful law practice, all clients are not created equal. As a lawyer, a critical element to running a fruitful practice is managing your time in an efficient manner. How and where you invest your time can make all the difference.

As a history buff, I love thinking about government, war, and political change what discussing topics that are relevant in business today. The Declaration of Independence states “all men are created equal.” While this may apply to how we treat others with respect and dignity, we can choose to be more selective with whom we invest our valuable time with.

Invest in Clients Who Have Already Invested in You

Imagine you’re standing in front of an apple tree teeming with fresh apples. Some of these apples are literally right in front of your face, while others are way up high in the tree. For the sake of efficiency, which apples would you select? The lower apples may seem like an obvious choice. And yet, many attorneys are still climbing ladders for those elevated apples. When discussing low hanging fruit with my attorney clients, I always start with a discussion of their existing clients. Our goal is to uncover opportunities, which will produce the highest possible value for the time invested.

As we all know, before you can begin selecting apples you must first plant the seeds and water the trees. As this relates to leveraging existing clients, there is a myth that must be eradicated first. The myth is simple; if you service your client properly, they will be loyal to you. If you believe this for even a moment, welcome back to the ‘80s!

Learn How to Develop Client Loyalty with Intent

Times have changed and so must you in the way you manage your client relationships. Statistically, it’s six times more work and energy to find a new client rather than to keep an existing one. That being said, we all have to step up our game to insure that client loyalty is developed with intent. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to develop a client retention and loyalty plan.

3 Steps to Plan for Client Retention and Loyalty

Before groaning at the idea of writing a plan, I assure you this shouldn’t take more than an hour to accomplish and can make the difference between success and failure in maintaining and building your law practice. Here are the three important elements of a client retention and loyalty plan:

Step 1: Rank Your Clients in a List

Develop a list of your key clients and rank them as an “A, B or C” client. As I stated earlier, all clients are not created equal, so be careful in how you rate these folks. I suggest three qualifiers for determining what makes up an “A, B or C” client.

Ask yourself the following questions about each client — and be honest.

  • How good is my relationship?
  • Can I develop and expand this relationship?
  • Are we friends socially or is our relationship more transactional in nature?
  • Does the client call me for general business advice or just about the deals?
  • Have I helped my client in ways beyond providing legal advice?

Next, try to determine how much opportunity the client has to grow or how connected this client may be.

  • Does the client have a solid network of decision makers that she can introduce me to?
  • Is the client’s company growing and expanding?
  • Are there opportunities to cross-market and share work with my partners?

The last factor in determining who to invest the most time with relates directly to the amount each client has invested with you and if you like or dislike this client.

  • Does this client invest a significant amount of dollars with you or did they invest almost nothing a few years ago?
  • Was this client a complete nightmare to deal with?
  • Did the client cost my firm money due to poor follow-through?
  • Did the client continually question and argue my rate?

Based on these three factors and any others that you believe to be important, invest 20 minutes to create a master list of your top A, B and C clients so that you can move on with step two of this plan.

Step 2: Use the Ranked List to Determine Which Clients to Invest In

Develop a list of contact and relationship building points to help ensure that we are investing the right amount of time with the right clients. Based on their ranking, you are going to do more for the higher-ranked clients and less for the lower-ranked clients. To be clear, if you have a “B” that you want to make an “A” then be sure to increase the amount of touch points with that specific client.

Here are a few examples of different touch points that you can use to develop stronger and stickier relationships:

  • Schedule a lunch or coffee meeting with your client.
  • Go out for drinks and get to know one another better.
  • Send a card on her birthday and for the holidays.
  • Take your client to a game or concert. (It’s important to know what she’s into.)
  • Call your client to see how you can help her business.
  • Email or call your client to congratulate her on something she’s accomplished professionally or personally.
  • Email your client with an article that is relevant to her business. (You can use RSS feeds for this.)
  • Invite your client to a firm event or another high level networking event.
  • Be a resource for your client. Find her a new vendor, strategic partner or an actual new client.

Use these ideas as a guideline to create your “A” column, where a number of these type activities would be used. The “B’s” would receive less contact and the “C’s” less again. For example, you might want to have lunch with your “A” clients four times a year, call each one monthly, email each one monthly and find a solid contact for her twice a year. Again, the “B” clients would get less of your attention and time, unless you want to make that client an “A-lister.”

These are just a few of the many things you can do to stay in constant contact and help ensure longevity with your clients. The side effect of this activity will be to open up more doors for additional business and much needed referrals. The stronger the relationship becomes, the less likely it is that a client will leave over price and the more open to referrals she will become.

Step 3: Make Time to Communicate with Your Clients

While it’s great to set up a plan like this, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on if you don’t implement it. My best suggestion here is to find 30 to 60 minutes a week and schedule time as “client loyalty and development time.” Without making the time and setting it aside, it will never happen for you.

There will always be work and distractions keeping you from this important task. Look at your calendar and find a spot weekly where you are least likely to be distracted or busy. You can even do some of this work on the train, in the evenings or on the weekends.

Develop Client Relationships to Retain Clients

What is a better use of your valuable time: choosing between retaining and developing relationships that already exist and have high potential for growth OR attending local networking events to essentially meet groups of strangers?

Though there is value in both activities, investing time with people who already know, like, and trust you bears fruit much more quickly.

© Copyright 2020 PracticePanther

ARTICLE BY Practice Panther.
For more on legal client management, see the Law Office Management section of the National Law Review.

How Firm Marketing Leaders Can Shake Up the Law Firm “Caste System”

Marketing professionals and other non-lawyers are all too familiar with the age-old hierarchy that pervades law firms and treats attorneys differently from everyone else. Reminiscent of a caste system, this throwback aspect of law firm culture offers attorneys and staff two separate benefits packages, two separate leave policies, two separate dining rooms.

While this system never could have been called equitable, a few professional generations ago firm leadership could provide an understandable justification for it. Law firm staff worked a predictable nine-to-five schedule, while the lawyers put in hundreds more hours per year, working many “all-nighters.” Lawyers’ jobs were highly specialized, while the firm’s non-lawyers performed administrative tasks that were not central to generating revenue.

What a difference a few decades make. Technology has changed the nature of every role within the firm, allowing lawyers to at least assert some work-life balance by working remotely while non-lawyer staff members likely spend longer hours than ever in the office. In addition, today’s forward-thinking firms have expanded the c-suite to include chief marketing officers, chief information officers and chief financial officers. Increasingly they are also hiring internal operations managers and other pricing experts who can speak the same language as the procurement professionals GCs count on to save their companies money. Each of these members of the team bring highly specialized training and skills to their role — and make a measurable impact on the bottom line. And whether managing partners genuinely value their skills, or are simply responding to client demand for their expertise, the result is the same: these professionals now have a seat at the table with clients.

Given this new reality, it no longer makes sense to cling to a law firm culture that renders non-lawyers second-class citizens. And yet old habits die hard. CMOs may finally be getting (a portion of) the respect they deserve, but what about the members of their teams who execute marketing strategy and play a crucial business development role with existing clients?

To be sure, marketing professionals still face an uphill battle in demonstrating their value to firm leaders. But the upheaval in the old system has created an opportunity for CMOs and marketing directors. With the right strategy and messaging, they can use their newfound platform to advance a discussion about firm policies and shed light on the fundamental work of non-lawyer professionals. Here are three ways to get started:

Rebrand your legal marketers as a business development team. Think carefully about how you talk about what you do when you interface with other stakeholders in the firm. Craft your messaging to emphasize the ways in which marketing directly generates revenue. For many large firms, a significant portion of new business comes from expanding engagements with existing clients, and marketers are on the front lines servicing those client relationships and creating opportunities for attorneys to sell across practices.

And make the case with data. Marketing leaders can use many available tools — from the simple to the sophisticated — to collect and process information about their campaigns and initiatives, and understand what really gets results. Firm leaders respect and respond to hard numbers that help them assess how your department is converting firm resources to new opportunities for business development.

Speak up about policies that don’t pass the smell test. The broader culture is extremely sensitive to matters of diversity and equity, and while law firms may be later arrivals to this conversation, their corporate clients are paying close attention. Is the cost savings of a two-tiered benefits package (assuming there is one) really worth the potentially damaging optics of a negative news story on the firm’s throwback culture? Is your diversity and inclusion initiative really embracing inclusion if only lawyers — and not professional staff members — are invited to participate? Legal marketing leaders can use the credibility they have gained to make the case for reexamining problematic policies and suggesting alternatives.

For most legal industry veterans, it’s impossible to imagine law firms that don’t elevate lawyers high above the rest of the staff. And while we probably won’t be saying goodbye to this outdated aspect of firm culture anytime soon, the demands of the marketplace have introduced some much-needed wiggle room into long calcified roles. Don’t miss this opportunity to help firm leaders appreciate the crucial contributions of legal marketers.

© 2020 Page2 Communications. All rights reserved.

For more on law firm marketing, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

Law Firms Are Increasingly Using Case Studies to Build Client Trust

Case studies are one of the most powerful forms of marketing communication.  This is hardly a controversial stance; a survey of 600 marketers by the B2B Technology Marketing Group found that case studies were viewed as “the most effective tactic and format”. But while they are widely deployed in the tech industry, case studies are far less common in legal.

That’s changing, as more law firms realize the immense potential. For this reason, case studies were included in the “2020 Legal Marketing Trends Report”, which identifies the year’s most significant developments.

There are many differences between marketing a SaaS platform and marketing a law firm, of course, but let’s look at the commonalities. In both industries, marketers need to demonstrate that a service solves a problem. They need to articulate an approach and show how this provides value to clients.

Too many law firms expend all their efforts telling prospective clients why they are great. Case studies show why a firm is the best choice. They go beyond vague claims about “client service” to show what that looks like in action. They offer concrete evidence that a firm has what it takes to solve complex problems and they do so in the form of a compelling narrative with a problem, a cast of admirable characters, and a resolution.

Why has the legal industry been so slow to embrace case studies? Client confidentiality is a real concern. But often this barrier is less absolute than imagined. Ask your clients—you might be surprised how many are willing to speak openly about their experience with your firm.

It is interesting that law firms, which are built on the expertise of their people, tend to avoid telling stories and putting a human face to their marketing. You can often find more emotive storytelling from a financial tech company than from a corporate law firm. Part of this is the legal industry’s aversion to risk and the widespread belief that it’s better to be safe and boring than flashy and gimmicky.

The truth, however, is that people are expecting more concrete information from the companies and firms they interact with. The internet has trained us to check reviews, rating, testimonials, and case studies before making purchasing decisions. We no longer accept marketing claims at face value. Instead, we look for social validation.

Purchasing legal services is not the same as filling up a shopping cart on Amazon, of course. It’s far higher stakes. This means that social validation and concrete evidence are even more important.

In 2020, we’ll see more firms investing in video case studies. Video production is costly and some firms will have sticker-shock. But others will see the value in investing in core marketing content that can be repurposed for blog posts, newsletters, advertisements, podcasts, pitches, and proposals.

To choose your firm, clients need to know you and they need to trust you. Trust begins with a good story.

© Copyright 2020 fSquared Marketing

For more on building law firm client trust, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.