Tag: law firm management

Six CRM and Data Quality Success Strategies to Make Us Thankful

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, a time for gratitude and sharing, let’s not forget our CRM system and data quality, which can sometimes be left in a state of disarray amidst the festive preparations. Just like a well-prepared Thanksgiving meal requires careful planning and execution, maintaining clean, correct and up-to-date data is crucial for crafting effective marketing and business development strategies.

Here are six strategies to help you manage your CRM data, ensuring your business development efforts are as successful as a Thanksgiving feast:

  1. Consistent Data Entry: The perfect Thanksgiving feast takes planning to ensure that the meal is served on time and the turkey isn’t overcooked or undercooked. Similarly, inconsistent CRM data can lead to problems, so establish clear data entry guidelines and implement data validation rules to ensure that your CRM system and data remain well-organized.
  2. De-duplicating Records: Tackling duplicate records in your CRM can be as daunting as cooking for a large Thanksgiving meal. Leverage technology and data stewards to detect and merge duplicate records, enhancing data accuracy.
  3. Completing Missing Data: There’s nothing worse than realizing you forgot a key ingredient for your Thanksgiving meal and realizing it after all the stores are closed. You also don’t want to find out that you missed connecting with key constituencies because of incomplete or dated data. Implement data capture protocols to ensure all fields are populated and use an automated data quality service to help identify and enhance incomplete records.
  4. Data Integration: Just as some of your guests may like to mix the turkey and gravy with the mashed potatoes and stuffing, integrating data from different departments can enhance sucess. Create system integrations and use automation and data stewarding to ensure data is consistent.
  5. Investing in Data Quality Resources: Nobody likes lumpy gravy, so we spend a lot of time mixing it to make sure it’s consistent and smooth. It’s also important to invest in resources like data stewards and processes to make sure your data is consistent to facilitate searches and reporting.
  6. Collaborative Data Management: When preparing a large Thanksgiving meal, sometimes it’s good to have more than one cook in the kitchen. Managing data quality issues should not be a solo task either. For a strategic approach, consider partnering with professional service firms that specialize in data quality.

Much like our Turkey Day traditions and celebrations, maintaining your CRM data should be an ongoing affair.

© Copyright 2023 CLIENTSFirst Consulting
For more news on CRM and Data Quality Strategies, visit the NLR Communications, Media & Internet section.

Episode 5: What’s New In Law Firm Thought Leadership? with Alistair Bone, Vice President for Passle

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 5 of Legal News Reach! National Law Review Web Content Specialist Shelby Garrett sits down with Alistair Bone, Vice President with Passle,  to catch up on the latest in law firm thought leadership trends. What are four strategies for content marketing success? How can current events play a role in brand development? And why is thought leadership more important—and competitive—than ever?

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

Shelby Garrett

Thank you for tuning in to the Legal News Reach podcast. My name is Shelby Garrett, Web Publication Specialist with the National Law Review, and in this episode I’ll be speaking to Alistair Bone, Vice President for Passle. Would you mind sharing a bit about your background in legal and what you do at Passle?

Alistair Bone

Thank you very much for having me on, firstly, it’s nice to be kind of the interviewee as opposed to the interviewer. Typically, as you might have come across, there’s the CMO Series podcast at Passle and I’ve been heavily involved with that, which is always enjoyable, so nice to be here. A little bit of background for me is that I was previously a professional sportsman playing rugby, I was very fortunate to have done that. But sadly, that all came to an end about three years ago. I then went into headhunting in the world of law, which kind of sparked the initial interest in law firms and professional services. And I learned a huge amount there. But then my sort of interest was really sparked in technology and how that can kind of really enable law firms to further what they’re doing. And that’s where Passle came along. For me, I love relationships, I love meeting people, I am very much a people person, and this kind of seemed to bring all those different worlds together for me. So yeah, that’s kind of how I ended up Passle, and I’m absolutely loving what I’m doing here.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, I’m really excited to speak with you today. Passle sounds like an amazing tool for professionals, content creation can be an extremely overwhelming process and I think that Passle really removes those roadblocks and kind of simplifies the whole process so that professionals can easily share their expertise

Alistair Bone

Bang on, I mean Passle is a software that has been used by professional services. As you mentioned, we work with Magic Circle firms, Am Law 100, the Big Four accountancies, and fundamentally it’s a platform that makes that critical challenge of demonstrating the firm’s expertise, getting it out to the market nice and quickly and effectively and fundamentally enjoyably.

Shelby Garrett

Amazing, let’s get into a little bit of discussion about thought leadership. Could you give us a nice little definition and why it’s currently a priority for law firms?

Alistair Bone

Yeah, of course, it’s a really nice place to start and hopefully I can give a little bit of an overview. When you come to sort of thought leadership, you know, in professional services, being able to demonstrate your firm’s knowledge and value to the market is really key. Thought leadership definitely sits at the heart of all successful professional service marketing. Really, when you start thinking about it, nearly every growth initiative, business development target, or marketing activity centers around how well that firm can demonstrate the knowledge of its experts. Fundamentally, they want to put out that knowledge to the market. Now, when you start to consider that in terms of what’s happening, we’re really seeing that shift of firms becoming far more global, and certainly more digital. So therefore they’re really starting to prioritize that expertise online and really invest into the thought leadership infrastructure. That said, it’s not happening with everybody. But of the general sort of trends, what we’re really seeing is that the places that have really proved progressive, CMOs are doing very well with it, but also firms are trying to really sort of position themselves in a space or a city and sort of elevate what they’re doing. So hopefully, that’s a nice little bit of an overview of sort of thought leadership and what we’re seeing in the world right now.

Shelby Garrett

When firms start to look into thought leadership, what are ways for them to measure their success, in really cultivating that?

Alistair Bone

So when it comes to how they’re able to sort of really prioritize their thought leadership and what they’re doing, there’s definitely a few reasons sort of behind that in terms of how they can kind of start to prioritize it, and why they might be prioritizing it. For some firms, it’s sort of central to their ethos in their output of what they’re trying to achieve. So if you take, for instance, Reed Smith, they are a global player, they see themselves as a global player in the market, and they want to be first to the market in terms of commenting on what’s happening now, what are those new initiatives, what’s changing in the marketplace. So that’s one way that people are doing it. Again mentioned sort of beforehand, but it can be just that people are wanting to sort of position themselves in a space where they see a really big opportunity. As all law firms know, their clients are really hungry to understand what’s happening in their various markets. And something that at the moment, we’re really seeing that sort of trend of why people are prioritizing it is areas such as your ESG, or your E-Sports are really nice places that people can focus their thought leadership and elevate the sort of teams around that.

A different example is actually, you know, we’ve just launched with Goulston & Storrs, who are a Boston based firm, they’re very established there, but they really want to be recognized in the New York market. And so again, for them thought leadership’s going to be key there to kind of really elevate themselves. So hopefully that’s kind of a nice little bit of a wrap up. I think the other thing that we really noticed with people prioritizing their thought leadership is, we on an annual basis do something called the Digital Performance Index. Now we take a look at a whole host of online activity from law firms, you know, right through from their website, how they’re performing on LinkedIn, etc. And naturally being a thought leadership expert, so to speak, we focus in on that and what we see there is that a lot of firms really sit in sort of amongst their competitors in an area that we would really say is fierce competition. The average attorney in the US and the UK creates one piece of thought leadership a year. So again, firms who want to get themselves out of that fierce competition to be seen as a category leader as kind of mentioned previously, they’re the ones that that are sort of starting to prioritize thought leadership.

Shelby Garrett

Sounds like the measure of success might vary depending on what the goals of the firm are. But is there anything that you’ve noticed that separates successful thought leadership programs from ones that are struggling?

Alistair Bone

Yeah, certainly, I think when you start to measure in what actually makes a successful thought leadership program, as said before, like, those are the reasons that maybe are what made people want to do it. But what’s going to make it successful? I think, before maybe answering that, it’s worth talking about what is a thought leadership program, because it might differ for people. But fundamentally, you know, it’s that sort of concerted effort by firms to demonstrate their expertise to the market. So we’re really fortunate that we get to work on a global scale with the likes of Freshfields, Deloitte, and they’re all having really huge success. On the flip side, we also see what doesn’t work. But fundamentally, success comes down to what we call the four pillars. Within those four pillars, there is the author, there is governance, there’s something that we call “Create Once and Publish Everywhere,” and then your feedback. So that’s a little bit of maybe an introduction in sort of that thought leadership and what makes it successful.

When it comes to considering the author, if we take the first pillar, you really want to ensure that your thought leadership is author-centric when you’re making that publication. So how can you empower them and motivate your authors, your lawyers, your consultants to create that content in a really easy sort of well understood way? The second pillar would be governance. And so it’s really important to be able to make sure that there’s no friction in the process of actually creating the content. So you know, how do you get those nice, quick, efficient approval processes for the content you’re putting out there, you know, making it a matter of hours, as opposed to days? Because you want to be timely, you want to be putting it out there in a really nice format that’s responding to what’s happening in the market. When we come on to “Create Once and Publish Everywhere,” there’s a really nice term we like to refer to, “Cope.” So it’s about actually, you know, how are you guaranteeing the reach of that content, you know, you’ve created this great piece of thought leadership, where’s it going from there? So of course, you know, the lawyers have really strong networks on LinkedIn, it’s a really nice place to push that out. But equally there’s all the sort of online publications. There’s obviously yourself, the National Law Review, great place, you know, want that content on there. But also, if I hope you don’t mind me mentioning, there’s obviously JD Supra, Mondaq, Lexology—again, nice places that you want your content on. So again, how can you really push that out to the market? And then finally, there’s feedback. And in some ways, once you’ve done all of the above, this is actually the most critical part because there’s no point in creating thought leadership and that content and pushing it out there if people don’t know the benefit of what they’ve done. And actually, it’s got to be in a nice layered way. Because when you think about it, there’s multiple stakeholders who want to understand the feedback. So if we take the authors, you know, that’s very personal, they want their clients, they want their prospects, they want to know who’s been engaging with it. If you take it from the firm’s perspective, the management know, they’re probably looking at that bottom line, you know, who’s bringing in the money for them? So are they getting engagement from those key people? And the third and final sort of layer is actually the marketing business development. So again, when you have a look at all of that feedback put together, that starts to demonstrate the success of all of that time that you’re investing into it. So yeah, hopefully, that’s a nice way to understand it. But fundamentally, success comes with aligning themselves to those four pillars and making sure you’re doing each in the best way possible. And that’s what gets, you know, a real virtuous circle of content creation going.

Shelby Garrett

Amazing, that was really great context and a really full theory of success. For firms that might be looking to really transform their thought leadership programs, is there a good place to start? We talked about the four pillars. Is there one first step that they can really use to jumpstart this?

Alistair Bone

I think there’s a few different places that they can start with, but in some ways, it’s actually quite simple. I’ve mentioned those four pillars there, and actually it’s about assessing those four pillars. Are you engaging your authors? You know, is it very easy for them, if you remove those barriers to entry to make sure that they can create their content? Again, when it comes to governance, you know, have you addressed those workflows? Is it again, a simple process for them to be able to actually create that content? And then get that out there? Once it’s done, where are you putting it out? And finally that feedback, are you actually providing feedback to people? I think by taking that step back and taking a look at the sort of overall process of your thought leadership program, and looking at those four pillars, that really allows you to then hone in on actually, “Okay, we’re not enabling and empowering our authors to create content. That’s why it’s not actually happening. So therefore, we need to do that and then we can start to go from there.” It may be that you’re doing all of this, but there’s no feedback. You know, maybe you give something small once a year. I know that if I was doing something I’m putting time and effort into and I got no feedback and didn’t really know the value that I was adding to people, then I probably wouldn’t want to continue doing it. So again, it’s just a nice way to kind of really address it. So I think that’s a really nice place for people to start when it wants to come to, you know, transforming their thought leadership program, or even beginning it.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, that’s a really great point. I feel like there’s a lot of excitement when starting something new, but you have to take that kind of honest and realistic assessment of what you currently have going on to develop that full game plan. Thank you. That was amazing.

We talked about measurements of success, but are there additional tools and resources that are available for firms that are looking forward to making these changes?

Alistair Bone

I mean, if you look at it from our perspective, on the Passle website, I mentioned it at the top, but the CMO Series podcast is a really nice place for anybody at any level in smart marketing and business development to listen to what’s happening in the market be it from, you know, what it’s like to be a new CMO, be it data, developing your team. So that’s a really nice resource hub. If you think about thought leadership, we have various resources in terms of one-pagers that you can come on, and you can learn a little bit more around what’s happening. Similarly, feel free to reach out, you know, we’re always here to have conversations and discuss what we’re doing here at Passle and how we’re helping a number of different firms with their thought leadership programs and forming that infrastructure for them as they move forward.

Shelby Garrett

Absolutely. Yeah, your website is a great resource, I listened to a couple of those podcasts and you guys have quite the range of guests as well, that are very happy to share their expertise, which is great.

Alistair Bone

Yeah, we’re really fortunate from that perspective. And it’s been a really nice thing to do. I say, normally, I’m sat interviewing people, but it allows myself and my colleagues to ultimately make some great friends throughout the legal world. So it’s been a real success.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, with those connections you’ve definitely built a lot of knowledge that’s accessible for people in that podcast as well, which is wonderful.

Moving away from the firm focus, but kind of looking at more of a macro lens, what are some of the current trends that are happening in law firm thought leadership programs?

Alistair Bone

I think, you know, if we take it back to the start, the biggest trends that we’re noticing is just people, one focusing on key areas. So, you know, be it new practice areas, such as their ESG, or their E-sports, that’s where people are certainly starting to focus in on. I think the other place is that people are looking at it as career development, which is a really nice place to, you know, help elevate what attorneys and lawyers are doing, as they kind of come through that natural path where you become associate, senior associate, you’re not necessarily doing a lot of business development until you get to partner. So again, it’s a nice chance for you to start to be seen in the network and be seen as those experts. The other place that I think people are starting to focus in on is realizing that there’s always a place for your big white papers. They’re fantastic. There’s so much time, effort, money goes into them. They provide a huge amount of knowledge, but what the market wants on the whole, and certainly what us as individuals out there want in this world now is that nice, short, digestible, timely content. So actually, you don’t want to be writing much more than maybe sort of 200, 500 words. So again, that’s a nice shift that we’re starting to see that people understand that value from that perspective.

Shelby Garrett

 Yeah, absolutely. I have a background in public libraries and having this information available online with these different topics is just so valuable for everybody sharing that information, and your expertise.

Alistair Bone

It’s that chance to kind of dip into different areas of people’s expertise. You know, something’s changed and, you know, the interest rates have moved here in the UK, how’s that affecting your mortgage rate? And what’s the law behind that? Or, you know, unfortunately, there was the big storm, you know, Hurricane Ian down in Florida recently, you know, maybe an employment lawyer might want to put out some recent content or something around, “What are your employment rights around working from home?” or whatever it might be. So it’s a really nice way to kind of start engaging with people, you know, don’t have to look at it in the lens of simply being the law and client alerts and that sort of thing. So as you said, you can dip into these different things and learn something.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, absolutely. The new iOS update for Apple with the ability to delete text messages and e-Discovery that’s, like, so intriguing to me. And yeah, just as like a public person. I think that’s like, extremely interesting.

When we’re looking at all of these big changes, like you’ve mentioned the hurricane, have you seen law firms kind of shift their content marketing approaches, in light of that?

Alistair Bone

I think on the whole, we are seeing people just start to engage in maybe a slightly different way. I mean, I’ve been fortunate enough on some of those podcasts to have great conversations with people in the industry for a long time and they kind of talked about what they’ve seen the marketing functions of law firms do and the real shift. But I think now people are starting to realize that ultimately it really is about elevating your attorneys and what you’re doing and therefore how can you push out, ultimately their knowledge? I think the other thing to consider in the world we’re all now living in is that a lot more people will be working from home, you know people, or law firm should I say spend a huge amount of money on the infrastructure of offices, office spaces, people aren’t necessarily coming into it, you’re not necessarily having your clients come into it so that online presence is becoming ever more important. So again, what you’re putting out there on the website, what your attorneys are able to do, what your consultants are able to do becomes that bit more important. So yeah, there’s definitely I think that more of a shift online to being able to elevate what people are doing.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, that kind of ties into with the smaller or the shorter pieces that are being created, you could kind of shift your topics more quickly. Looks like we are nearly coming to a close. But I do want to pull this all together and talk about where Passle exactly fits in and helping these law firms create and share their thought leadership. I know you kind of walked us through the tool that you guys have and your Chrome plugin previously. But if you could explain that a little bit more for our listeners?

Alistair Bone

Sure, well, I’ll give a very brief overview of how Passle works for people who don’t know. Passle is a piece of software that quite simply goes onto the laptop. And as they removed all the barriers of entry for the attorneys, the consultants, your experts to create the content. So it can be used in a host of different ways. Not only you can write content but you can do your podcasts, you can do your videos, you can host PDFs, you can embed different content, there’s so much that you’re able to do with it. And once you’ve got over the fundamental hurdle of people being able to create the content, you can then do a host of different things then in terms of starting to form that infrastructure on the website. So be that plugging into the attorneys’ profiles or consultants’ profiles, plugging it into the practice areas. Yeah, kind of the world’s your oyster, once you get up and running with it, which is, which is really cool. If you want to launch with Passle, the way that we always do it, because we know this is tried, tested, and works incredibly well is we do a Proof of Value that we run over the course of two months. It’s all about that behavioral change, you know, taking a group of 20, 25, attorneys, consultants, experts within your firm, and getting that shift of going from, “I don’t understand thought leadership, I don’t know how to create content, I don’t necessarily want to, I haven’t done it before,” to overnight, shifting them into actually understanding the benefits that come from thought leadership and what they can do with it. So that’s kind of the launch process. I don’t want to bore people too much with it. But hopefully, that’s a bit of an overview of Passle and where it kind of plugs in. But it’s a very exciting time for us. And we’re very fortunate to be working with some of the world’s global firms and some real leading players there.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, absolutely. I, when you were talking about the four pillars, I certainly could immediately connect it to what you were showing us earlier through your demonstration.

Alistair Bone

I think that’s the thing with Passle is that once you have the opportunity to see it, everything clicks, and you understand the value that it’s going to bring and how easy it is because it’s not just on the attorney side. If you take the marketing, the BD, the communications team, we obviously elevate everything that they’re doing and make it very easy for them. But also because it’s all focused in on one sort of screen. You know, when you have that Passle posts, that completes the content you’ve created approved, the marketing, the BD teams get a notification, it’s all in one place, they can top and tail it, do what they want to before it’s going live on to the website. So you remove that arduous process of back and forth again, which is a really nice place to be. So it’s not just about the attorneys. It’s actually about the marketing, the BD, comms teams and elevating everything they’re doing as well.

Shelby Garrett

It certainly is daunting for lawyers to create their own content. And it’s a large task and Passle makes it a bit of a smoother process I think, at least from what I’ve seen.

Alistair Bone

Everybody has the impostor syndrome, whatever you do. Once you get over that hurdle, you know, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, absolutely. How has Passle’s technology been able to help firms succeed over the years? I know we’ve covered it throughout. But if you could really like, bring that all together in a nice little package for us?

Alistair Bone

Yeah, sure. I think what might be the best thing to do, and I thought it might be able to answer it earlier but didn’t have the chance to was, you know, what actually makes a successful thought leadership program? So maybe if I can demonstrate some of the successes people have had, that kind of demonstrates what’s happened over the years. I think success can be defined in multiple ways for different people in terms of what your ultimate outcome is from a thought leadership program. But what we’ve seen is it really differs over time. So in the initial instance, you know it’s that overnight change the behavior change in in the attorneys, you know, you go from individuals never having created content to writing and understanding value. We launched with a law firm here in London called Forsters. One of my fantastic stories I absolutely love from it was one of their senior partners who didn’t like technology, had never used it, didn’t want to engage with it was part of our launch, the Proof of Value. Not only did he write four pieces of content, which again was a huge change, he started using LinkedIn. And even then he got himself an Instagram account, because he understood the value of technology all of a sudden, obviously slightly different to your work stuff. But again, a really nice story of kind of people seeing that change. You then kind of start to look at what’s happening over the next couple of months. And as you get deeper into that sort of thought leadership program, and more success starts to come in terms of the impact on people’s diaries. You know, they’re starting to have conversations with clients, they’re starting to meet prospects, you know, they get engaged with all of the right people. Additionally, and I sort of want to touch on it, as well is there’s that career development I mentioned earlier when you were sort of saying some of the trends, but there’s a real understanding for sort of the associates,  senior associates of how they can help develop their career. So again, a really nice example there was there’s a lawyer, a senior associate called JJ Shaw at a firm called Lewis Silkin in the sports team there and he was sharing with us that actually, you know, from creating content, putting it out there to his network, he started to have people come back to him asking him to post panels to sit on different talks, which is amazing, because all of a sudden, he’s being seen as that go-to expert, and people are actually engaging with what he’s doing. So again, a really nice development tool. And then I just think longer term, it’s fundamentally about winning business. And once you start winning the business, everything you’re doing with that big thought leadership program makes sense. So again, we’ve got a lot of anecdotal examples. One that I know I can share with the public was from Alvarez & Marsal, one of the big US consultancies, and we were fortunate enough to sit down with Linda Orton, who’s the former CMO there. And she shared with us that Mike Carter, who was again, a former Senior Director there had done this post around anti-money laundering, he put it onto LinkedIn, she’d actually invested a little bit of spending into that to sort of elevate what was happening, you know, something like 50 quid, not a huge amount of money. That then led to a conversation, which then led to business and over the past couple of years, that’s actually generated 12 million in revenue. So all of a sudden, admittedly, there’s a whole host of work that went into that. But it’s that understanding that by being seen as those go-to experts elevating what you’re doing, you know, the business starts to come. So hopefully, you know, I know, I’ve broken it down there, but that gives an idea of how actually, we’ve helped firms over the years, and particularly now, just really forming that thought leadership infrastructure for people.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, amazing. I can certainly see the building the confidence aspect of the technology that you have making it simplified, but also seeing those results really would build your confidence in creation.

Alistair Bone

And it spans throughout firms, because someone else sees that and they want to get involved and do something around it. So it’s really nice.

Shelby Garrett

Yeah, it’s wonderful. Before we wrap up today, are there any final thoughts that you would like to share with us?

Alistair Bone

There’s probably one or two, I just want to keep it really succinct. I think just the main thing is that thought leadership really is for everybody, and is something that everyone should be considering at the moment, I think, whether it’s that you’re really wanting to stand out in a specific field or elevate some of the great work that you’re already doing, you know, whether that is the marketing or BD teams or for the attorneys, there’s so much that you can invest into it. And you know, that online presence has never been more important. So I think those two things are probably the key takeaways for me that hopefully it resonates with people as they listen to this. And you know, if there’s anything that you want to do in terms of understanding more than please feel free to obviously reach out to me via email or on LinkedIn or equally you can visit home.passle.net. There are plenty of places that you can get some information, but hopefully this has been some worthwhile information for people to listen to.

Shelby Garrett

We can’t thank you enough for joining us today and sharing your thoughts. Thank you to our listeners as well for tuning in. We will see you all next time.

Conclusion

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

For more Legal Marketing News, click here to visit the National Law Review.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

Text Messaging for Lawyers: Building Stronger Client Relationships

In today’s world of instant gratification and text savviness, lawyers should consider changing the way they communicate with clients. Some people detest answering calls, and with the rise of robocalls, this aversion is only getting worse with all generations. Add in the fact that today’s consumer expects a response within seconds, it’s clear that text messaging is becoming the new way of communication for most businesses.

For lawyers that are accustomed to emailing their clients, this may come as a curveball. Especially, considering that the legal industry has an average open rate of 18.30 percent for emails. Phone calls and emails are no longer the preferred method of communication, which is why you should be texting your clients.

Benefits of Texting

Marketers have been studying the effectiveness of text messaging and spreading the news of its benefits so much that 62 percent of business marketers plan to use automated text messaging in the next year. What is it that has these marketing experts so convinced?

  • Change of Preference – The vast majority of consumers prefer to communicate via text instead of calls or email. If a business is trying to send a message to prospects, it’s important to know it’s actually going to be seen.
  • Faster Delivery – When time is of the essence, delivering a message via text is the fastest way to ensure your recipient sees your communication. Email open rates are at an all-time low, so those messages may go days without being seen, if they’re seen at all.
  • Faster Response – With faster delivery comes faster response times. Studies have shown text response rates are eight times faster than that of email.

Business Text Messaging

Business owners have already started incorporating text messaging in both their marketing and client retention strategies. Studies have shown that the new generations will ignore calls, even from known contacts, and typically only use email to reset passwords and register for services. As a workaround, businesses are enlisting the help of text messaging services to reach out to potential customers.

Instead of only investing in generating prospects, more and more businesses are using technology to help retain customers by enabling text help and communication. This feature is often embedded on the business’s website and allows the customer to text a business directly from their phone for quick, personalized help.

Text messaging has increasingly grown in popularity across several industries. Studies show that businesses that respond to a customer’s inquiry within five minutes increase their chances of converting that prospect by nine times. In addition, studies show that the majority of consumers will go to the business that responds first, regardless of affiliation, pricing, or worthiness.

With statistics like this, industries across the spectrum are seeing the need for lightning-fast responses which can only be achieved through text messaging. The legal industry is no exception.

Text Messaging for Lawyers

The legal industry is not one that has historically been quick to respond to change, so it’s no wonder that some lawyers are hesitant to adopt text messaging in their communication process. Common objections to this method of communication seem to be propriety and confidentiality, while others are admittingly stuck in their old ways.

While the third issue is difficult at best to overcome, there are clear solutions and arguments for the first two which are detailed below.

Is It Appropriate to Text Clients?

This question comes up often when lawyers are trying to decide if text messaging is a professional mode of communication. However, instead of viewing it from a proprietary standpoint, a lawyer should be asking the legal duty they have to communicate to their client efficiently. As the younger generations are coming of age and becoming clients, it’s important to adapt to their preferred mode of communication.

If a client only has a cell phone and no easy access to email, the lawyer should accommodate the client and reach out to them in the best way possible. For most, that means adopting text messaging as a primary mode of communication.

Are Text Messages Confidential?

Text messages may not be confidential in nature, creating challenges for texting clients. Instead of avoiding text messaging due to this potential issue, lawyers should ask their clients to use screen locks and other security features on their phones. In most cases, clients are just as dedicated to protecting their privacy as their lawyer.

While expectations should be discussed in advance, it’s easy for conversations to slip into gray areas. If a conversation may be veering into a confidentiality issue, the lawyer may suggest switching to a phone or in-person conversation.

Best Practices for Text Messaging Clients

As lawyers make the transition to using text messages more often, the standards for best practices will grow. Thus far, the top tips for texting clients include:

  • Adopt a legal practice management software that provides users with a business number to text clients within the platform and safely stores all correspondences with each contact.
  • Never negotiate terms of attorney-client relationships or anything that feels like a grey area. Remember: business text messages are supposed to be quick and informal.
  • Discuss expectations and appropriate topics for texting. Make sure clients understand some topics are off-limits for text messaging and should be saved for in-person meetings.

Keeping with the Times

While many lawyers may remember calling their client’s on wall-mounted phones and landlines, times have quickly changed. The legal industry has to get on board if it’s going to serve clients effectively and retain clients.

Despite the concerns, the benefits of text messaging outweigh the cons, and law firms will likely see an increase in client retention and improved communication once they adopt text messaging. With a minimal upfront effort, lawyers can start texting their clients while maintaining confidentiality and professionalism, allowing clients to receive the best, and most convenient, representation possible.

 

This article was prepared by PracticePanther. For more articles about client relations, please see here.

The Attorney-Client Relationship Post-Pandemic with Baker Donelson [PODCAST]

Rachel and Jessica discuss law firm management and attorney-client relationship-building in the third episode of the Legal News Reach podcast with Jennifer Keller and Adam Severson with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC.

Read on below for a transcript of our discussion, transcribed by artifical intelligence:

Rachel

Hello, and welcome to Legal News Reach, the official podcast for the National Law Review. Stay tuned for discussion on the latest trends in legal marketing, SEO law firm best practices and more.

Rachel
I’m Rachel

Jess

And I’m Jess. We’re the hosts for legal news reach and web content specialists here at the National Law Review.

Rachel

In this episode, we’re excited to talk to Jennifer Keller and Adam Severson with Baker Donelson. So Jennifer and Adam, would you like to introduce yourself to our listeners?

Jennifer 
Sure, sure. And thanks so much for having us. Again, I’m Jennifer Keller, the president and chief operating officer of Baker Donelson. In that role  I manage the provision of legal services through our departments and practice groups. I also manage our firm’s professional development, recruiting and marketing and business development functions. And I’ve been with the firm and since I got out of law school.

Adam Severson

And I’m Adam Severson, I’m the firm’s chief marketing and business development officer. I’m in Nashville, Tennessee, and I’ve been with the firm  10 years coming up in January and prior to that held similar leadership roles at a couple other Amlaw 100 firms

Rachel 
We’re excited to have you both on today, I’ll just jump into a topic that’s been weighing pretty heavily on everyone’s minds for the past year, has your office found any silver linings of the pandemic? How has your office adjusted to that?

Jennifer
Well, I’ll start we have 21 offices and about 650 lawyers. So certainly the pandemic has been a very interesting time for us. And I think all law firms, no matter what their size, or location, I think there have actually been a few silver linings coming out of the pandemic, I would say probably the one you would hear from most law firm leaders as the predominant one is that it has expedited the acceptance of change in a lot of areas, you know, the use of technology, remote work, or alternative work arrangements, collaboration in new and different ways, both with each other inside of firm and with our clients. So I just think in those circumstances, we were forced to pivot and didn’t really have a choice. And so that acceptance of change was sped up a good bit.

Adam 
Just to build on that acceptance of change. You know,  I think we found ourselves, you know, in the marketing and business development team forced to think more creatively about how we position the firm, and how we collaborate and sort of a superspeed way, with our attorneys, we were one of the first firms to launch a Coronavirus Resource Center. And so to sort of launch that, and then be in a place where we did more client alerts in 45 days than we did in the prior 12 months. So the way that we had to rise to the occasion was a silver lining really, because it forced us to think creatively, but also sort of led to this kind of element of teamwork and collaboration that was really inspiring, I think, in some respects, and also exhausting.

Rachel

To sort of build off of that exhausting feeling, we sort of faced that. A lot of our clients started producing way more content than they had just recently. So we had to do a lot of work just to keep up with everything. Can you like talk a little bit more about the challenges that the firm faced and you know, creating that Coronavirus, Resource Center, getting everyone to do all those client alerts? You know, what was that process like?

Adam 
Well, I think fortunately, it was helpful to demonstrate the strong infrastructure that we had in place in the firm. And so from the Resource Center perspective, you know, our web platform technology is really strong and allowed us to adapt almost real time. Some elements of the page were I don’t want to say self sufficient, but like, the content was fast and furious, because the marketplace demanded so many new elements of content and changes, you know, happening pretty rapidly, people that were evaluating whether or not they should close their offices, they were, you know, trying to determine, you know, is we have a large healthcare practice. And so looking at all the considerations that they were having around their hospital systems in the life, and so our healthcare attorneys were getting asked all these questions and being peppered and so we need to then sort of share that horizon scanning in those issues, you know, with a broader client base. And so it was, you know, in many ways out of necessity to meet client demand that we were, you know, putting ourselves in that position.

Jennifer
Some of our most busy groups during that time that people whose practices really were dramatically influenced by the pandemic, Labor and Employment health care tax. Once the relief money started flowing, you know, we’re meeting in many instances that eight or nine at night on Team calls pretty perpetually throughout, and some still are meeting really regularly now. And they were just doing a lot of things on those calls and producing a lot of content without even really knowing that it’s content. And so part of what you really are training people to do during that interesting time is to to sort of capture the work they’re already doing as content and getting that out on the platform.

Rachel
So one of the things that we’re wondering now that we’ve sort of gone through a year of this pandemic, and law firms have made all these changes, how do you think law firm management law firm marketing, will change moving forward? Like, will these changes stick? Will they continue to change? Or how do you see that going?

Adam
Well, there’s a lot to unpack first and foremost, you know, there’s one constant, and that is change. And so I think that we are, you know, well aware that change will continue to occur. And I think trying to figure out and try to be a step or two ahead of some of those changes, is something that we aim to do, the way in which those take place, you know, for our clients, I think is, you know, we’re a little bit derivative of those changes. So whatever change happens in the marketplace, we’re then selected, hopefully, as counsel in some form or fashion after a bank decides to buy another bank, or, you know, any rollout of a new piece of legislation then leads to potentially like Health Corps, right, but the healthcare regulatory issues that our clients might be facing. And so, you know, we’re trying to, you know, figure out ways to be ahead of, you know, whatever those changes are, you know, in fact, just this morning, I was talking with one of my colleagues about some of the value added programs that exist for hospital systems. And you know, that we’ve seen a significant uptick in how we’re being called upon to look at that from a variety of different angles. And so we’re now trying to proactively reach out to our clients to talk about those issues. And so we do that, in a number of ways, whether it’s a virtual cup of coffee to sort of check in with somebody could be a more robust CLE program for, you know, a hospital system with a host of hospitals, where we’re sort of presenting as the subject matter expert doing almost a client specific webinar. And then we’re also doing, you know, programs more broadly, you know, for anybody who either happens upon Baker Donelson.com or gets an invite from, you know, our invite list for for one of those programs.

Jennifer 
And I think from the law firm management perspective, there’s a lot of interesting work going on right now, in analyzing the changes in law firm management that the last 18 months have brought us.  I think that we definitely know that focuses on things like inclusion and mental health, and different work arrangements, different use of real estate kind of collaboration, remotely, just handling that pace of change, that’s all gonna stick, you know, that’s going to be with us for days to come, we’re just going to have to continue to figure out how to take steps ahead in those areas. And so I think what you’re gonna see looking 5 to 10 years ahead is younger, more diverse teams of leadership in firms a lot more input from what we have come to see right now is kind of non traditional leadership in firms. And they’re calling it holistic law firm leadership. And so it’s looking at law firm leadership is instead of just focused in on, let me look at this practice group, or this department or this silo of ours looking at how do we bring someone in, nurture them through their entire career, retain them all along the way, having that client focus in mind, certainly, as well as the firm focus in mind. And really, we know that we’ve got to get a lot of different viewpoints, and you know, making sure that we’re able to do that. So I think we’re gonna see a lot of change in law firm leadership in the days to come. And we are definitely going to need to keep the focus on the things that became really important during the pandemic.

Jess
What transitions besides the CLE offer, or your guys’ webinars have you experienced in your journey to become more digital as far as like day to day tasks that you guys have?

Jennifer
You know, I would say, you know, one of the things that was so interesting, and now that I look back on it, I mean, it seems like it was a blur, but we were in one of the first areas to be really hit by the pandemic, going back into March of 2020. And we took our entire law firm from being largely office space with very few people who were working remotely more than about 20 percent of their time to working solely remotely and about 24 hours. Amazing to think about, I think it was just a miracle actually, at this point in time, but a lot of preparation and work went into being able to do that. But I would say that, you know, it was a huge transition to get really a couple of things. One is our folks to rely on a paperless system of document retention and file keeping, some of them had dipped their toes into it, and we’re using it less than we would like. But we went to a scenario where they had to largely rely much more on those kinds of things. And knowing that they might not be able to get back in the office for an extended period of time, took away that safety net, that they had the big file full of 25 boxes. And so you know, we also experienced, I think, another huge change, which is our legal assistant, working remotely, and tapping into that data in the same way, and then figuring out besides just the file itself, what are all the tools that we have at our disposal to make things operate remotely. And it’s not just a document retention system, it’s the signature systems, it’s the filing systems, it’s the research systems, it’s all of those things that have to come together, we have right now four to five generations of lawyers working together, one or two generations of which are extremely nimble with the technology and the rest of us had a lot to learn. And we continue to learn. So I think we are still in that transition, and are still working toward that transition. And now we’re in this awkward spot where, you know, we’re we we have returned to the offices, but we have a lot of remote work still going on. And so kind of figuring out the happy place where we’re all going to be both from a technology and just presence standpoint, I think is a really interesting thing. But lots of transitions still to come.

Adam
You can see I’m working from my home. I find myself in the office in person, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, if you would have asked us a couple years ago, like oh, are we going to be working remotely a couple days a week? I think we all would have scoffed at the notion.

Jess
I know they started the virtual hearings, you were just talking earlier about a WebEx, these different softwares for your remote workers, probably scanning all your paperwork. And if you had paper files before, would you say that this technology has benefited the notoriously paper, book heavy law firm industry?

Jennifer

Oh, sure. I mean, you know, I think sometimes I think this has allowed us to see the benefits that can be wrought with it. You know, I shudder to think what would have happened had we had a pandemic 1015 years ago, without the luxury of the technology that we have now, without the ability to scan and DocuSign and have the the variety of platforms for the video technology that we have that allow us to do the hearings and the breakout rooms and all those things. I mean, what in the world would we have done without that. But I think also, you know, surprisingly, there’s been benefit to growing the trust and interface relationships with your clients, you know, them feeling like they, they can be sure that you’re going to be there no matter what the circumstance and that you’re going to be able to pivot to service them, that gives them a real sense of comfort and peace about the relationship.

Adam
You know, and one thing too Jessica, that I think is important to think about – I’m always encouraging our lawyers to stay in front of their clients. And, you know, the the days of old, I mean, I remember a couple September’s ago, like I flew to Chicago for a lunch meeting. And I coordinated schedules with three of my colleagues and we all flew to Chicago. And you know, we all got in a cab together and we went down to the loop and we had our meeting and we and we came back to the airport and back to our offices and in some ways kind of  killed the day to go have a lunch meeting and they’re benefits, certainly, you know, to that approach. But but to think now that with in some instances, like 20 minutes notice, I’m able to pull colleagues from four different offices together and be at a platform like we are right now to address whatever issues might be facing a client and brainstorm with them on how we might be able to hopefully meet and exceed you know, their expectations and help solve the problem that they’re facing. Instead of the the sort of, I wouldn’t say colossal waste of time, but a lot of dead time to just scheduling that lunch meeting. You know in and of itself and then coordinating travel calendar. You know, and everything else and to know that, you know, we can we can help you and service you in some ways more easily. And I don’t think there’s a replacement for, you know, in person contact and relationship development, but, but I think we’re certainly much more mindful of, kind of everybody’s like their personal time and their personal space, but also like the ability to kind of bring teams of people together, maybe more quickly than we would have thought, you know, we would have thought initially in the sort of the older way of doing things.

Jess
I’m so glad you mentioned all those points, because I know attorneys, law office staff, they’re expected to be ready for clients pretty much 24 seven, I think attorneys actually work 24 seven, it’s good that, you know, we can use technology to better serve clients needs, whether it’s a law firm, or you know, a site like ours publishing legal news, I can see a lot of benefits as well.

Rachel

So we’ve talked a lot about the attorney client relationship in regards to how that has changed post COVID. And how important that is to law firm success. And I was wondering if you could just speak a little bit about what new tactics have had the biggest impact on your client relationships since the pandemic broke out?

Adam
In some respects, the tactics are exactly the same, you know, we want to be in front of our clients, you know, we created a deliverable in the marketing and business development team called the virtual client development playbook. So that playbook looked at a lot of the content that we had created for some of our clients development workshops, and try to figure out like, how can we do that better in an environment that we’re in because many clients, as much as we might want to go see them for lunch, they don’t want to see us to make sure that we think about that relationship one being empathetic to where our clients at, right? And so are you comfortable having lunch or coffee, and if you’re not, you know, having a meeting like this is exactly something that that we want to use that playbook is really, if you didn’t have lunch, then you would never see your client as sort of a ridiculous way to think about the world. And so I think we’ve thought differently, about, you know, how we do that and trying to be, you know, mindful, you know, we distributed Starbucks cards to a number of our attorneys to then share with their clients as a means to sort of trigger a virtual cup of coffee to talk about what they’re seeing on their desk, and the way in which, you know, they’re working on projects. We’ve, had a number of client happy hours, nobody would, you know, bat an eye for a second to sort of take a client out to happy hour to talk about what’s going on with them. But it almost seemed a little awkward, you know, to have a virtual happy hour where you’d raise a glass with, you know, a client contact or a friend.

And now I think I’ve probably been on more than a dozen virtual happy hours, and, you know, to have conversations to see what people are are dealing with, and one of the things I think that I’ve really encouraged people to think about so much of client development is about in relationship development is about finding commonality. And so whether you like to read books, or you like to travel, or you like sports, or a particular sports, and if it’s football, or whatever that is, and in this pandemic, has really given us, you know, one thing that we’ve all experienced, and we’ve experienced it in different ways, and sort of how it’s impacted us, it’s certainly been different, but that’s an element of commonality. It’s like a easy conversation starter to, you know, sort of break the ice, like, oh, are, you know, are you guys back to the office? Or not? Are you working remotely a couple days a week? Or are you there the entire time, are you guys enforcing masks at your office right now or not. All that is asy sort of coffee fodder for you to sort of see like how you’re dealing with that. For good or bad, like, people got a lot of opinions about that. And so you can then hear what those opinions are and kind of build off of that and have a conversation to sort of develop some report and then sort of lead into some of the challenges that they’re facing in the workplace. And hopefully, Baker Donelson can help them solve some of the challenges that they’re facing.

Jennifer
I think one really interesting thing that we’ve seen is that there’s a whole group of folks who are more comfortable in this environment, to go to  Chicago on a whim sort of thing and there’s a whole group of folks who love this and are making their way through this. We’ve also seen that there’s there’s a lot of folks who find that this environment is easier or more convenient. Introducing their colleagues. And so instead of having a colleague feel like they’re taking a day to get to Chicago to see someone, why don’t you get on quickly with me, I’ll introduce you to Adam will talk through his practice and kind of how I’m thinking he might be able to help you. And that’s a very seamless thing for folks to do. And so not so much a fancy tactic as it is just we found new things that people find as their way of doing things.

Rachel
Yeah, I think the thing that I find really interesting, just listening to your guys’s experience is just things have changed a lot. But some things haven’t changed. Like, I think one of the big sort of things people were worried about being in the pandemic was Are we going to be able to do like make remote work actually work. And I think you know that giving out Starbucks cards and still being able to get the interaction like with the, with the virtual happy hours and the coffee, you can still do all those things, but we’ll do it in a more efficient way. You know, you might not fly halfway across the country to do it. So I think, yeah, that’s gonna be a pretty big positive change moving forward, that we can actually make remote work actually happen. We are wondering if you could speak a little bit about how your firm has typically used D&I efforts to engage with clients. And you know what exactly D&I efforts are and how you’ve made that work.

Jennifer
That was actually you know, a little bit of fortuitous timing, I suppose on our part, we have a new CEO who has been in place for a couple of years now. And one of his main initiatives was to take our prior D&I efforts which were which were very solid in the industry, but she ramp those up with some very significant commitments on our firm’s part. So we rolled out a D&I compact, which sort of projects our firm’s goals through 2025 with respect to D&I and we set out some really very clear numerical expectations for ourselves to have at least 20% diverse attorney’s in our firm, 10% diverse shareholders, 8% diverse equity shareholders and 10% diverse management team. And we have been methodically working toward incremental parts of those goals, we actually have a very significant document that we have shared both on our website and with many of our clients proactively, to show them what we’re doing. We have a lot of clients who have a lot of diversity commitments of their own, and we want to be able to help them meet those, you know, some of the things that make diverse attorneys successful, certainly includes good work.

Adam
Jennifer alluded to some of the goals that we have, but it’s difficult to hit those goals if you don’t know where you are. And so part of what we’ve done, you know, in that is a client specific dashboard that we can roll out and then that we share with our clients. D&I is one of those areas that I think we all recognize that we can all be better in that space. And so to have some of those metrics, as well as some of the more specific and concrete things that we can do, you know, to do that, coupled with data, I think, is been something that our clients have been appreciative of, because it is an area that I think has been important for everybody. I mean, who’s gonna say diversity isn’t important, but without sort of a clear roadmap and some specificity to it, I think, you know, we’re not going to get to where we need to be as a firm and candidly, as an industry.

Rachel
So we also have sort of a  Q&A section here. So if you guys have any questions for us, we’d be happy to dive into those as well.

Adam
Well, you know, you mentioned before that the, you know, attorney client relationship is sort of paramount in any law firm success. And given that y’all are talking to other law firms and other industries, you know, maybe give us an example of how you’ve heard firms wowing their clients.

Jess
Giving them valuable content, valuable information. That’s always number one. I have prior experience working in a law firm, I think there’s this general distrust for attorney offices. And when you give them that invaluable information that can help them I mean, that just creates an instant bond, so to speak, that they’re more comfortable working with attorneys, and the fact that you guys take that extra initiative to do like the coffees or you know, the quick virtual meeting that can help them right away. I mean, that is gonna completely solidify that client with your firm moving forward. You know, they’ll refer anybody to your office, once you show them that you’re there to help them and help them understand things that are pretty complex to understand. Another tactic we’ve seen Law Offices use are the webinars –  we have a legal events calendar on the site. I feel like we’ve been cranking out tons of events on there so that people can learn something new in a specific area of interest and get that information from the professionals that really know their way around that topic. I think those are the two biggest ways that clients will definitely always keep coming back because they’re wowed by that effort.

Jennifer 
So what are you hearing from in House Counsel about changes in their buying patterns?

Rachel
Recently, we did an article on some of the takeaways from the Thomson Reuters marketing partner forum, a lot of information was shared just on, you know, legal spend after COVID, or during COVID, or how it’s going to change moving forward. And some of the big takeaways from some of the attendees included just like pivoting and adopting new technologies. So as we discussed, the shift from in person events to virtual ones, basically gave law firms the opportunity to sort of try these new strategies without making much of a financial investment. And then also one of the things that sort of came out of it was the chance for legal marketers and law firms really show their value to clients and sort of plan for more sustainable growth moving forward. So that basically includes, you know, like an increased focus on analytics, sharing readership data with people. We have a pretty robust analytics system here on our website that our clients can use to really show what articles are doing well, like, what are the trends? Where are people reading these articles? How are they accessing them? Are they sharing them on social media? And from what we heard at the event was attournies are really looking for more of that data of how you know we’re doing all these articles. We’re doing these webinars, but what is the payoff of this stuff? So that’s really the two big takeaways that we’ve seen in terms of that.

Adam

How do you think firms can really set themselves apart from other firms in the marketplace to differentiate themselves?

Jess
So that’s certainly a good question. When you have either very large law firms where you’re spread out across the country, you really get in that competitive market of how do I look different, you know, how do I come up on a search may be better, a lot of that is SEO tactics. I think it’s also the way the content is shared with the clients, usually you can tailor your marketing and your social media presence to what your identity is, as a law firm, sometimes having a more personal edge to it can be helpful. Especially with COVID, or work life balance, working from home or partial flexibility in a law office environment. You know, if you share working from home, it’s nice to be in touch with clients at any time, you know, that shows that you’re more willing, you’re right there to support them, when you’re more personable in that attorney client relationship that also builds that trust that we kind of went over earlier, just because they’re not talking to a robot attorney, they’re talking to somebody who understands where they’re coming from, and sharing a lot of that on social media with a professional spin can really draw them in and then keep following you makes that client come back over and over and looks at the content that you’re taking the time to put out there, identifying your business values and creating a brand identity, it’s going to be the best way to stand out compared to other law firms who maybe are doing a more generic post here and there. And also just continuing that attorney client relationship, you know, a follow up after a webinar, something that’s recurring, that people can keep seeing, and they feel like they’re still in touch with you no matter what, it’s not a once and done Oh, the attorney, you know, worked with me on this and that’s it, you know, they want to keep coming back. And that also benefits the law firm to have these clients return as well.

Jennifer
You know, I think one of the biggest challenges for firms at this point is the transitory nature of the industry. And it’s it’s attempting to you to get and retain the best talent. And so what are some some things that you’re hearing that firms are doing to attract and retain top talent?

Rachel 
Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think it’s one that we’re also paying attention to here at the NLR.  Jess and I and one of our other colleagues, we recently did an article on changes law firms are adopting amid the covid 19 pandemic. And that includes trends and remote work and litigation. And I think one of the big things that I just keep hearing is that remote work is definitely here to stay. I think, even if attorneys are only coming in the office a couple days a week. I think a lot of attorneys want to keep at least some part of that remote setup. Because I think what the pandemic has showed us that remote work can actually work and that that’s something that attorneys like and not even just attorneys, a lot of other people in other industries want to keep working remotely. And one of the things that we’ve seen is that some attorneys will consider either leaving their firm or finding a new job that will allow them to have that flexability.

Jess
I know we’ve talked to a law firm before and that was one of the managing partners big changes that she had to implement was the flexibility. Some law firms may not be comfortable working completely from home, but having some type of flexible work schedule. It’s very attractive to most people at this point. Remote work was probably pretty close to being unheard of unless you had a very particular type of job. I feel like that’s completely flipped on its head now because the pandemic.

Rachel
Jennifer and Adam, thank you again for joining us.

 Adam

Absolutely.

Jennifer
We’re very appreciative for your having us and sharing your information and ideas with us.

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

Copyright ©2021 National Law Forum, LLC

Article By Rachel Popa and Jessica Scheck of
The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC

For more on legal marketing, visit the NLR Law Office Management section.

Lending Options for Law Firms Even More Relevant During a Crisis: A Q&A with Esquire Bank’s Ari Kornhaber

Plaintiffs’ law firms take cases on a contingency basis and frequently face defendants with deep pockets who can afford to wait their cases out. The COVID-19 crisis has added even more uncertainty to the litigation process and cash flow for law firms.

Large amounts, often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars can come due for plaintiffs’ law firms incurring expenses during drawn-out cases, especially for cases with multiple plaintiffs and cases where expert testimony is required.

For contingency cases, the large sums of law firm capital that are tied up in case costs for many years can limit law firms’ ability to utilize that capital for business expansion or to invest in other fee-generating cases.

Unlike traditional businesses, law firms cannot simply raise capital for operating expenses. Current legal ethics rules prohibit non-attorneys from taking ownership interests in law firms, which eliminates the use of securities as a funding option and while attorneys can borrow funds, it often must be from a non-traditional lender because a potential litigation victory generally falls outside the scope of what is considered acceptable collateral.

This often leads law firm management to pursue alternative lending options from non-traditional lenders like litigation financers or specialty lenders, who emphasize their core differentiator is that they can use a law firm’s case inventory as collateral – however, this often comes with a less-competitive interest rate than traditional banks.

Ari Kornhaber, Esq., Founder, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Development at Esquire Bank provides insight on financing options for plaintiffs’ firms and how to ensure your law firm approaches it the right way.

NLR: How have you seen contingency fee law firms maintain their businesses throughout the pandemic?

Kornhaber: The pandemic has forced many trial lawyers to take an honest look at themselves and often rethink their business models. Decisions that made sense pre-pandemic may not make sense now, especially in today’s low-interest-rate environment. As a result, contingency fee law firms are examining whether their current approach to law firm capitalization makes sense. Many lawyers that I speak to are taking a more proactive approach to how they run their business.

NLR: As we emerge from the pandemic, what are plaintiff’s firms worrying about most?

Kornhaber: Now more than ever, lawyers who run contingency fee law firms are concerned about the future. There is a general feeling out there that their businesses haven’t fully felt the effects of the pandemic yet, due to the nature of the business. Cases that are signed up today won’t generate revenue for months or years. The decline in intakes months ago, won’t truly be felt for months, a year, or more. This has self-financed law firms particularly concerned, as their nature is to be debt-adverse. For these self-financed firms, the combination of intakes being down and cases taking longer to settle means they will have to dig deeper into their own pockets. Meanwhile, other law firms with access to capital are using this time to move their businesses forward by investing in new legal technology, infrastructure, and talent.

NLR: What are some key takeaways self-financed law firms should know about their borrowing options?

Kornhaber: The current economy has created a low-interest-rate environment. Going to your bank and asking them what they can do for you is the first thing self-financed firms should do. It is important to note that banks covet law firms as customers because they come with low-cost deposits. Also, trial law is an industry that is classified as ‘recession proof’. Banks and lenders are trying to put their best foot forward for new law firm clients – so there is no better time than right now to speak to a bank to see how they can help.

The catch, however, with speaking to a traditional bank is that they rarely use the value of your case inventory as collateral for lending purposes. This means they will look at your previous financial performance to come up with how much they can lend you – ignoring the revenue your law firm will generate via the cases that are in your inventory today and tomorrow. The final amount of credit offered is often not enough for many lawyers.

NLR: What about specialty litigation finance companies?

Kornhaber: Specialty finance companies play an important role in the equation, as they can often lend to law firms that the traditional banks often ignore. Specialty legal finance companies are more likely to take on these ‘riskier’ clients, but usually at much higher interest rates and fees as compared to banks to compensate for the additional risk.

Higher risk law firm clients frequently have exhausted their options with the ‘mega banks’ and are struggling to fit into the box suited for other types of businesses. A next step after traditional lenders is law firms often speak with finance companies and lawyers are often surprised at the interest rates, fees, and terms they are offered. Often by the time they get to a lender like Esquire Bank, the first question that’s asked out of exhaustion and frustration is – what kind of interest rate can you give me? Although our interest rates are some of the lowest in the industry, there’s a lot more to the conversation. There is real value to working with a financial business partner that has a deep understanding of the business of law and the unique financial challenges faced by contingency fee law firms.

NLR: What factors should be considered when assessing case-cost financing?

Kornhaber: First, project your firm’s cash flow for the next 12, 24, and 36 months. Take into consideration the reduction of new case intakes and possible court delays to figure out what your financial position is going to look like over the next few years. Ask yourself what you need to survive, then what you need to thrive and invest during a ‘down market’ to come out on top. Being realistic is extremely important.

Understand how much money you have out on the street today in your case costs, then figure out how much more money you’ll need to spend on case costs over the next 12 months. This helps you to understand what you will need to commit from your self-financed ‘piggy bank’ to continue your winning record for your clients.

Then, figure out what your average balances are in your depository accounts. If you take this information to your lender, they may try to help you in a meaningful way, especially if you’ve been with them for many years.

Finally, ask yourself if you really need to pay for your clients’ case costs using your firms’ after-tax dollars and whether you could instead, use that money more effectively in other activities that will help your law firm grow. Law firms that leverage case-cost financing often report that they achieve better results for their clients because they have the financial backing to go toe-to-toe with their deep-pocketed adversaries without having to think twice about bringing in the best, most expensive experts. That leads to the greatest results and ultimately justice and maximum compensation for their clients.

  • Ari Kornhaber is the Executive Vice President & Head of Corporate Development at Esquire Bank. Join Ari and a panel of experts at Esquire’s upcoming complimentary webinar, ‘Bold Moves: Growing your Contingency Fee Law Firm Post-Pandemic’ on June 15: Save your spot.

Copyright ©2021 National Law Forum, LLC

ARTICLE BY Tracey Goldvarg of The National Law Review / The National Law Forum LLC
For more articles on plaintiff firm financing, visit the NLR Law Office Management section.

Law Firm Marketing Professionals Face High Levels of Stress, Pandemic Pressures, and Lack of Respect: Report

Law firm marketing and business development staff are stressed-out and the COVID-19 pandemic has only ratcheted up the pressure, the 2020 Legal Marketing Mental Wellness Report published by fSquared Marketing, a consultancy that specializes in working with law firms, shows.

In a survey of 400+ law firm marketing and business professionals, 96% agreed there is significant stress in the legal marketing field. 71% reported often feeling overwhelmed at work and 79% said that their work-related stress had increased during the pandemic.

“Legal marketers have seen their workloads increase this year, as they maintain firm communications and respond to the challenges of this crisis,” observes Lynn Foley, CEO of fSquared Marketing. “They are working hard to ensure their firms are providing timely updates, maintaining strong relationships with clients, and adapting to remote working and new communication channels such as webinar presentations and virtual conferences. At the same time, many professionals have had the threat of layoffs hanging over their heads or seen their marketing budgets slashed and projects put on hold.”

“During this time of COVID-19, they furloughed my co-coordinator. The amount of work in the department has not changed so I have taken on all her work as well.” one respondent to the survey said. “…They also reduced my pay. I am happy I still have a job, but I feel like my work product has suffered and my stress level has skyrocketed.”

Legal Marketing is a demanding profession, even in less difficult times. In 2019, fSquared Marketing ran a similar survey that illuminated many of the issues which re-emerged in the 2020 report including overwork, a lack of respect and a lack of understanding of the marketer’s role by lawyers.

“The 2020 report builds on our team’s previous research,” says Foley. “We expanded the survey this year and– in partnership with the Legal Marketing Association (LMA)—we were able to more than double the number of responses collected.”

Stress is Impacting the Health and Wellness of Staff

It’s widely recognized that there is a mental health crisis in the legal industry. A landmark 2016 study by the ABA and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation found that 36% of lawyers qualified as problem drinkers and 28% report mild or higher depression symptoms. Through initiatives such as The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and increased media attention, the industry is starting to take this issue seriously and take steps to improve itself.

Yet law firm professionals have often been overlooked. As this 2020 report makes clear, marketing and business professionals at law firms are also under considerable levels of stress. Nearly 80% of respondents said that their stress, on a scale of 1-10, was a 7 or higher. And 67% said that stress was negatively impacting their ability to concentrate on the task at hand. 63% of respondents said that stress from work was affecting the quality of their sleep and 48% said that stress from work gave them psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches or stomach pain.

“Overwork is part of the problem,” notes Foley, “but this report also reveals compounding factors, such as a lack of understanding of the marketer’s role and, in too many cases, a lack of respect from lawyers.”

Marketers Dismissed as “Non-Lawyers” But Still Essential

Many respondents pointed to a divide between the lawyers and law firm professionals, often dismissively labelled as “non-lawyers”, as a source of stress. 67% of respondents said that lawyers do not understand their role or the work they perform. 40% agreed with the statement: “There is a lack of respect for me/my role by the lawyers”.

“Most of the stress I experience comes from feeling like the lawyers won’t let/don’t trust me to do my job,” said one respondent.

Another respondent said: “I don’t see how lawyers who don’t even value my contribution to the firm would ever value my mental health.”

At the same time, Marketing professionals are well aware of the value they bring to the table: 93% felt that they “have an important role to play at their firm”.

Legal Marketing Might Be More Stressful Than Marketing in Other Industries

Of those respondents who had previously held marketing positions in other industries, 72% felt that marketing in legal was more stressful.

Marketers who worked in-house at a law firm were more likely to report feeling overwhelmed and disrespected than external marketing consultants with law firm clients.  Not surprisingly, in-house marketers also reported lower levels of job satisfaction than their external counterparts.

Taken together, this indicates that there are factors endemic to law firms that increase workplace stress. Several respondents pointed to a culture of perfection, the rigidly hierarchical nature of most firms, and the billable-hour model as culprits. “This job is custom-built for stress,” noted one respondent.

“We work at the request of lawyers, who don’t think about marketing or business development during the work day. Therefore, they contact us after the work day.  So by definition, our work needs to be completed after hours and on weekends.  Holidays are nonexistent. PTO is nonexistent. All that exists is a gigantic, gaping maw of legal work that needs to be done.  There is no escape.”

Skills Training the Most Requested Type of Law Firm Support

Access to training was the number one resource that legal marketers thought would help them to alleviate stress. 79% of respondents said that access to marketing/business development/technical training would help them to limit their stress.

Training was seen as more useful for managing stress than access to mental health professionals and mindfulness coaching. Access to external marketing resources to provide assistance on a project basis was seen as the second most useful form of law firm support for mental wellness and stress management.

“Marketing is a fast-changing field and it can be challenging to stay on top of new tech, changing client expectations, and methods,” notes Foley. “Law firms that provide their professionals with regular access to high-quality training will help their marketers to manage the pressures of the job while also empowering them to deliver meaningful results for their firm.”

Towards a Better Model

Research in workplace psychology has consistently found that employees perform to their highest potential when they feel respected, challenged but not overwhelmed, and valued for their contributions.

COVID-19 will continue to send shockwaves through the economy at large with implications for the legal market. Law firms that foster resilient, supportive cultures have an advantage in weathering downturns and periods of turmoil and emerging from the other side of the pandemic in a dominant market position.

“I know from firsthand experience how stressful it can be to work in-house at a law firm,” notes Foley. “This is always going to be a demanding profession within a high-pressure industry, but incivility and burnout benefit no one. This report shows how widespread these issues are in our industry. But they aren’t universal, and that is a cause for hope. Many law firms have fostered cultures of work-life balance and mutual respect. It’s possible and demonstrably profitable to ensure that law firm professionals feel understood, included, and valued for their contributions.”

© Copyright 2020 fSquared Marketing
For more articles on the legal industry, visit the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

How Lawyers Can Leverage LinkedIn to Build Their Practice, Part 2 of 2

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Continuing from our previous post, here are 5 more tips for leveraging LinkedIn to build your client and referral base:

5. Include All Your Web Links. You can add up to three links to your firm’s websites. There are default settings, but these are also customizable. So instead of www.TheRainmakerInstitute.com, I customized it to say “law firm marketing experts”, but it still links to my website. This is another place where you should use your keywords like: “Scottsdale bankruptcy attorney” or “Chicago divorce lawyer” and link it to your website, blog or even your Facebook fan page.

6. Make Your Profile Public. Remember, it’s called “social media” for a reason—you need to be social. Be sure to make your LinkedIn profile “public”, which means all the information you put in it is available to search engines to make it easier for people to find and connect with you.

7. Don’t Use The Same Copy For Your Summary As Your Bio. The summary is not a place to talk about all the things you have done in your life. This is the place to position yourself as the go-to attorney in your particular practice area and geographical region.

8. Use LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups can be a very effective way to increase your visibility among niche audiences, like your target market. It takes a little while to get used to how this works. I recommend you start by ‘listening’ before diving in. There are some places you should start with, such as alumni groups and groups in the industry segments you follow. We run several LinkedIn groups you can join for free including: Phoenix Arizona Attorneys, Personal Injury Attorney Network and the Rainmaker Law Firm Marketing Group. Simply log into your LinkedIn account and search under groups. Once you understand how groups work, start your own focusing on your target market or potential referral sources (like CPAs, financial advisors or business brokers).

9. Add LinkedIn To Your Email Signature. Most attorneys put their contact information in their email signature; add a link to your LinkedIn account. Here’s mine: http://Rainmaker.MyLinkInvitation.com. I would welcome the opportunity to connect with you on LinkedIn.

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As soon as you start networking with LinkedIn, you increase your chances of reaching new clients and referral partners. However, be prepared, and be willing to work at it. This is not something you can “set and forget”.

If you’re not into social media or can’t make the commitment to put in the time and effort to network in several sites at the same time, this is the ONE social media site you should focus on. You may not see it at first, but with the combined use of the strategies and tips I have shared here, you will start to see your online network mature over time, leading to more prospects and referral partner relationships.

To read Part One – Click Here

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute