Scan a list of legal trade headlines right now, and one or more are likely to reference “new law,” which has come to broadly mean leveraging technology to provide legal services in novel ways. Some law firms may ignore this trend and continue their “old law” approach – which could soon drive them out of business. Instead, firm leaders and administrators should embrace this shift and the tangible benefits that come with it.
The end of doing everything in-house
“New law” will be the death knell of vertical integration at law firms. The idea that everything must be done within the firm, whether it relates to the actual practice of law or not, is now irrelevant. A law firm’s core business is to provide legal services, and any other function outside of that should be examined to determine if it’s in the firm’s best interest to do it in-house. Law firms are not experts at everything, and many aspects of running a business can and should be left to outside experts.
For example, what law firm would deny the value of using artificial intelligence to parse endless reams of electronic data to prepare for discovery? Very few. Similarly, firms might be able to shift functions such as billing and marketing, and even reception and recruiting to companies that specialize in those tasks.
New law means asking questions about a firm’s core activities
In the “new law” era, firms will have to make decisions about what they want to do in-house and what to outsource. Four questions can guide that analysis:
How important is this function to the firm?
What is the cost of the firm doing it versus outsourcing?
How good are we as a firm at doing this?
Do we have the right people in those roles, or could we use outside experts?
Applying these questions to any operation within the firm will reveal whether it’s something that should continue in-house or if there are alternatives. For example, is it cost-effective to have a billing department when outside companies specialize in this and can offer the same service at a reduced (and variable) expense?
Consider whether a firm understands a role enough to identify and hire the best people, and if the firm performs that task more efficiently than a company that specializes in that service. It may be more effective to outsource that function in order to increase a firm’s client satisfaction and service.
Law firms must determine what is considered an essential service that must be done in-house. A firm working with wealthy clients may prioritize having staff in roles that deliver high-touch and personalized service. Billing and marketing, however, could perhaps be outsourced. By contrast, a law firm might make use of a virtual receptionist service to handle large volumes of inquiries and ensure no balls are dropped in answering calls and scheduling consults that lead to new clients.
“New law” offers firms the ability to be deliberate in deciding which functions must be done by someone working for the firm and which can be best left to outside providers. No one approach will work for every firm — and that’s the point. Whatever it takes for a firm to provide excellent service while increasing profitability is what should be done.
Make the shift or fade away
Many firms might see “new law” as a threat — but, in fact, it’s an opportunity. Those who make this shift away from vertical integration will benefit from increased profitability while also ensuring their clients receive the best possible service at every interaction.
Firms must stop thinking they can do it all. Lawyers know the law, and that should be the focus of the firm. Anything else that’s added must be weighed and considered against what’s most beneficial to the firm.
There is also a risk of not going through this shift now. Firms that engage in this process will likely become leaner, more competitive, and outbid those who don’t. A firm that trims overhead and broadens profit margins is far more flexible when it comes to pricing its services. Clients know that and will start to see the difference when reviewing RFP responses.
Quite simply, leveraging “new law” now means a firm will solidify its future in an increasingly competitive marketplace for legal services.
All lawyers use paper, but no firms make their own because of the cost and quality issues of doing so; any other non-core services that a firm performs should be similarly evaluated.
In late January Good2bSocial launched the Good2bSocial Academy. Designed to be an easily accessible way to enhance understanding of digital technologies in a law firm/legal marketing context for marketing, business development and communication professionals in a law firm environment, the course features webinars, articles and videos on an easy to navigate dashboard which can be completed at the attendees own pace. On the course’s design, Guy Alvarez, Founder and CEO of Good2bSocial and the course instructor, says, “We wanted to design a course that would provide legal marketers with a verifiable base line of knowledge of digital marketing concepts in the legal marketing realm—with the idea that this course could serve as a benchmark for legal marketing departments vetting potential hires, and make it easier for CMOs to get approval for team training.”
Good2bSocial’s popular Digital Marketing Certification is available on the Good2bSocial dashboard. The course is divided into eight sections, outlined below, with assignments and feedback from Alvarez along the way. After completing the eight sessions, course participants will create a final digital marketing project to earn the digital marketing certificate and upon completion of the course, students will gain access to a private Linkedin Group to network with other alumni.
The eight sessions are:
Session 1: Introduction to Digital Marketing
Session 2: Content Marketing
Session 3: Social Media Marketing
Session 4: Social Media Advertising
Session 5: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Session 6: Search Advertising
Session 7: Email Marketing
Session 8: Measurement & Analytics
The Introduction to Digital Marketing for Law Firms section includes webinars, articles and videos providing a foundation and shared language for participants. Concepts discussed include Inbound marketing for law firms, the buyer’s journey, and client journey mapping, all with a legal marketing focus.
Inbound Marketing for Law Firms
Inbound Marketing for law firms is introduced through a conversation with Anna Norregaard the Principal Channel Executive for Hubspot, and other articles and resources are also included. Norregaard draws a distinction between inbound marketing and content marketing and how content marketing enhances visibility across channels, while inbound marketing uses the increased visibility to convert that additional visibility into leads and opportunities.
Norregaard breaks inbound marketing down into four phases:
Attract: through strategic content creation, blogging and social media, bring new visitors to your firm’s website so they can get to know you.
Convert. Once the visitors have arrived at your site, you convert them into a lead by enticing them to fill out a form so you can capture their information, encouraging them to do so by providing valuable content like webinars or case studies.
Close. In this stage, you turn the leads into business development opportunities through segmentation–by providing regular and appropriate follow-ups, you can nurture the lead to closing.
Delight. In this phase, consider how you communicate with your clients and how the relationship provides them with value aside from the services purchased–how can you keep clients appraised of what you offer that they might find useful?
The Buyer’s Journey
In order to effectively understand what content will be effective for inbound marketing, analyzing and constructing a buyer’s persona can help contextualize the buyer’s journey for your firm’s clients and develop content that matches the concerns of potential buyers. Broadly speaking, the Buyer’s Journey includes the Awareness Stage, the Consideration Stage and the Decision stage. By identifying common characteristics of your buyer at each stage, you can create content that addresses the concerns and positions your firm as the solution.
Client Journey Mapping for Law Firms
One way to develop the Buyer Persona and conceptualize the Buyer’s journey is to go through a client journey mapping process. Client Journey mapping has been a hot topic in law firms, as traditional buyers of legal services have become more concerned with pricing and consistency. Client Journey Mapping provides an overview of the client experience, and what those interactions look like at each touchpoint. Looking at this process from an external perspective can drive the focus outward, to the client, and encourage the firm to be more receptive to feedback from clients. Additionally, this shift in focus can help identify which touchpoints are critical to clients when making a buying decision and can encourage the firm to be more empathetic. By placing perspective on the client’s experience, the firm can create experiences tailored to the client and extend the relationship, perhaps even broadening the relationship to include more facets of work.
By curating a variety resources in a variety of formats, Alvarez has used his expertise to find assets on the topics under discussion and putting them in a user-friendly, easily accessible dashboard. Alvarez says, “Good2bSocial has been providing training to individual law firms for over 10 years, and through this experience we’ve learned what elements are most useful for marketers in the legal industry. We’ve taken that firsthand knowledge and we’ve packaged it in this course designed to meet the demand—only enhanced by the tight job market and the COVID-19 pandemic– for digital marketing training in an online, on-demand format.”
Like most industries during the COVID-19 pandemic, law firms have been forced to take their operations online. In a field dominated by face-to-face interactions which build trust and create mutual understanding, the absence of this basic human function poses a major challenge. Simple technology so far has been the key replacement for today’s attorney-client relationships, but law firms need more than email and cell phones to run their practices these days.
Much like lawyers, doctors have faced similar challenges of needing to continue to provide quality care and service, while doing so virtually. Luckily for doctors, the infrastructure of telemedicine was already at their fingertips, though adoption of the service was extremely low before the onset of COVID-19. Virtual visits are now estimated to top 1 billion by the end of 2020 based on Forrester’s analysis. What can lawyers learn from telehealth’s initial growing pains and subsequent successes in order to make their practices efficient and effective?
The Rise of Digital Care
Telemedicine is broadly defined as the use of electronic communications and software to monitor and treat patients in lieu of an in-patient visit. At its simplest form it sounds like a quick and convenient way to meet with your doctor, and in an on-demand world, it seems to be a no-brainer from a patient’s perspective. So why was adoption so low upon the initial roll out?
Lack of Awareness
66% of people interviewed by J.D. Power in 2019 said they were not aware of telehealth services or it was not available to them.
Fear of Costs
Many insurance providers made it harder for patients and doctors alike to use telemedicine by only offering certain visits via telehealth. Doctors were also getting paid less and more slowly for these appointments.
Desire for in-person care
When you’re not feeling well, being reassured by another human can be some of the best medicine which often does not translate very well to an app experience.
Of course many of our habits and rules went out the window in March of 2020 and adoption of telehealth has increased out of pure necessity. Just as patients still need to visit with their doctors regularly, clients still need services from lawyers. Here are a few ways COVID-19 is affecting law firms.
How Lawyers Can Replicate Success
Law firms can’t wait 10 years for the adoption of a digital practice, and building one from scratch isn’t in the cards either. By automating your firm with law practice management software, you can have your business up and running in a virtual capacity in no time. Let’s look at how you can have immediate success with this technology as opposed to the slow burn of telemedicine.
Lack of Awareness
One of the quickest ways to grow your client list is through word-of-mouth recommendations. In the same J.D. power survey of telemedicine users, they found that “positive recommendations from others led nearly two-thirds (65%) of telehealth users to try the service.” The key to gaining a customer by word-of-mouth is to first provide quality service, and in a remote world, that often means quick response times and seamless interactions. Today’s law practice management tools allow you to be alerted when any changes are made to a clients account, resulting in faster service. If your client feels that attention, they’ll be more likely to recommend your firm to their peers.
Fear of Costs
Unlike medical patients who often have to deal with cumbersome insurance plans and third party collections teams, your clients should pay their invoices as if they were checking out at an online retailer. With increased transparency thanks to the speed and accuracy of online payment functions which many law firms are adopting, clients won’t feel apprehensive or overwhelmed about the money they owe.
Desire for in-person care
While telehealth can’t replicate the reassuring touch of a doctor, it does open up a great line of communication. Today’s case management tools elevate your client communication by storing all your messages in one place. The days of sifting through binders, then scrolling through email, and finally browsing a rolodex are over. Everything from start to finish of a case or matter can be accessed instantly with today’s technology so you can maintain a full picture of your clients’ needs as if you were in the room together.
Just as doctors have embraced telehealth and finally seen the tools take off, law firms will see the same benefits as they begin to transition online. Practice management software can help your firm gain word-of-mouth clients in a digital world through quick service thanks to real time updates, create client trust through financial transparency, and ensure smooth communication via powerful CRM’s.
I have been providing marketing advice to professionals for over 25 years (time flies when you are having fun!). I started my career on Wall Street, advising stockbrokers on promoting financial product to clients, then moved to the accounting world, working with CPAs on marketing their services and now I work with lawyers. Besides general marketing on behalf of the firm, I also work directly with the attorneys on their business development efforts and promotion
The first tool for promoting a professional services provider is their online bio. I started marketing professional services when websites were still the new thing. One of the first websites I designed included an audio component to the CPAs bios; the website later won an award for that unique feature. I wanted to have something “cool” and that made the accountants stand out more and overcome the stereotype that accountants were “kinda boring.” I remember the clients’ feedback that they liked to hear their advisor’s voice and not just see their picture in their bio, that it helped hearing what they had to say and connecting in a different way. It helped prospective clients make the decision to want to work with a particular accountant.
My advice to the professionals I worked with has always been to stand out, to have a unique feature that would make a professional be different than his or her competition. Not to look or sound like everyone else because it was the industry norm or what everyone else was doing. But to try to find something that will help connect to the audience, to the people that were eventually buying their services and to understand what they were looking for and what determined their ultimate decision.
Recently, I had to make the decision to choose a doctor for a delicate medical procedure. I had to move fast so I started doing research on the doctor that was recommended to me and that would soon have my life in his hands. Of course, the first place I landed was the hospital’s website. I liked his credentials, his training and experience but his picture was outdated and didn’t match his personality nor his credentials. Something about it put me off, although he was smiling in the picture and looked handsome. When I choose doctors, it is very important for me to have a connection with the person behind the credentials, to feel comfortable and safe. Probably, similar to how people usually choose other advisors as well but even more important.
My first appointment with him was through a telemedicine/video call to discuss my diagnosis and the procedure he would perform and to schedule it. At first the video feature didn’t work and I thought it was his choice; which I found odd and fed into my initial discomfort when seeing his picture. Luckily, we both realized that it was actually a glitch and he offered to call me on Facetime – a nice touch on his part (as usually doctors keep their personal numbers private). I almost didn’t recognize the person from the picture on the hospital’s website! He looked so different and his personality was totally opposite from the reaction I had to the “professional” picture! He was warm, friendly, passionate about his skill, patient to answer questions and also had a very down to earth air and not the unapproachable demeanor some doctors portray. He was someone I would pick as a friend but also, someone I could trust that indeed he was a good doctor.
I also started digging deeper to learn more about him. I was hoping I could find pictures from his personal life or in other professional instances. And I did! Those pictures, similar to the video call, uncovered a different person than what his “professional” picture on the hospital’s website showed. Somebody I was so comfortable with putting my life in his hands that I didn’t need to go for a second opinion.
This doctor performed the procedure and all is well. Before being discharged from the hospital, I gave him my professional advice: to have his picture on the website replaced with a new one, to reflect his personality and what his patients need to see in him. I told him my feedback, which he was surprised to hear but seemed to really appreciate it. I couldn’t help the marketing professional in me.
I believe the same applies to any professional that relies on a bio with a picture to make a first impression on their audience. It is important to recognize what would connect them to their clients and potential clients.
Your bio picture does matter! It is a small tool in the marketing toolbox but it has a huge impact. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words!
Managing your law firm staff in the office or remotely can and should look remarkably similar; however, there are unique challenges to working virtual. Understanding this and adjusting your management approach will be the difference between a productive, seamless transition, and one that potentially costs your business. We’ve rounded up 5 ways you can navigate successfully managing remote staff during a pandemic.
Ensure a proper workspace setup
You want your employees to have a comfortable setup that allows them to be productive in the office and working from home should be no different. While some of the usual office luxuries may not be possible (e.g. two computer monitors), ask your staff about what they need at home to create a similar environment. Do they have a desk and proper chair to work from? What type of lighting is available? If they’re relying on their personal computer, is it functional for work purposes? What about a printer? Is there access to high-speed internet? Some employees may not feel comfortable asking for at-home office supplies, and these are just a few of the questions that need to be addressed to allow your employees to work happily and efficiently.
Minimize loneliness and isolation
One of the downsides to working remotely is a sense of isolation, which can lead to anxiety and depression. Consider that employees may live alone, further exacerbating the possibility of loneliness. Identify ways for your team to interact throughout the day, ideally via video and phone versus email or text messaging. Don’t make conversations all about business; make time for small talk. Maintain office structure with designated times for breaks and lunch and consider holding virtual lunches together. Encourage employees to go for brief walks throughout the day to stay energized. Host team building activities such as workouts in the evening or happy hours via Zoom or similar platforms.
Overcome communication challenges
When working virtually, you automatically lose the opportunity to quickly pop into someone’s office and bounce an idea off them, but communication challenges go beyond that. Despite everyone’s best efforts, there will likely be more emails and texts, which, if not carefully crafted, can result in an unintended tone. Combat this by picking up the phone or getting on FaceTime, Skype or another video-oriented platform. It may take more effort and organization but will avoid employees questioning what you meant and an endless back and forth over email. Schedule time to brainstorm and strategize versus just talking about to-dos. While not as natural as having a quick chat in the office, it ensures continued creativity and interaction.
Don’t forget about encouragement and celebrations
It’s important that your staff stays motivated and focused on personal growth. In addition to team meetings, carve out time for one-on-one conversations, too. This will allow you to address any questions or concerns employees have that they aren’t comfortable bringing up in a group setting. It’s also an opportunity to discuss their goals and how those can be achieved. Don’t let evaluations go by the wayside simply because you’re not meeting in person.
Promote camaraderie by acknowledging milestones as you would in the office – five-year anniversary with the firm, birthdays, etc. This maintains positive employee morale and helps to minimize the isolation factor addressed earlier.
Establish a culture of ownership and accountability
Your team’s organization and productivity is only as good as yours. Implement systems to keep staff accountable. For example, schedule regular check-ins at the same time each day/week and use project management software such as Asana to keep everyone on top of projects and tasks. If you need to cancel a team call, reschedule immediately rather than telling employees you’ll get back to them. This allows them to plan their day and prevents wondering when they’ll be able to talk to you about a particular client or issue. Your team will take clues from you on how to best navigate working remotely so be an example they should emulate.
Remember that not every employee is suited to work from home, and you need to do what you can as a manager to set them up for success. This will benefit everyone in the long run.
The legal industry continues to respond to larger forces in society, and along with our usual focus on law firm moves, hires, and accolades, we take a look at the specific ways law firms are pledging to combat racism and fight for social justice in their communities and across the country.
Law Firm Moves, Hires and Recognitions
Down in Texas, Erin England joined Katten’s Dallas office as a partner in the firm’s commercial finance practice. England represents alternative lending institutions and banks in negotiating and structuring domestic and international commercial transactions. She also has experience in the real estate finance industry, representing lenders and borrowers in real estate and construction loans involving retail space and industrial properties.
“In the last two years, we’ve added leading attorneys like Erin in key growth areas such as commercial finance,” said Mark S. Solomon, managing partner of Katten’s Dallas office. “As an active member of several organizations committed to the hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse lawyers, Erin also shares in Katten’s deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, which is a fundamental part of the culture in our Dallas office.”
Michael Gaston-Bell of Katten
Also joining the Katten Dallas is Michael Gaston-Bell, who is the first labor and employment attorney in the firm’s Dallas office. His previous experience includes representing clients on Title VII, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) workplace matters in state and federal court, and working with corporate leadership on complex and often crisis level employment issues, including internal investigations, unfair competition and major transactions in health care, entertainment, banking, military contracting and retail industries.
“Michael is a talented attorney who will offer our clients in Dallas and across the country exceptional employment litigation counsel,” said David Crichlow, national chair of Katten’s Commercial Litigation group. “He has the skills to succeed and a track record for being a true advocate of his clients who often face tough, complicated issues.”
Katten opened the firm’s Dallas office with seven partners in 2018 and has grown to over 40 attorneys in the past two years.
George Howard joined the Restructuring & Reorganization practice of Vinson & Elkins (V&E) in their New York City office as a partner. Howard represents distressed debt investors, asset purchasers, companies, banks and secured lenders in out of court restructurings, chapter 11 reorganizations, distressed M&A, cross-border insolvency proceedings, and secured financing transactions.
“We are focused on growing the firm’s restructuring team particularly to meet increasing client demand for company and debtor side representations,” said V&E managing partner Scott Wulfe. “George is a great addition to the team not only because of his significant debtor experience, which perfectly complements our existing strengths but also because he is a natural team player and a great cultural fit for V&E.”
Matt Jones Ropes & Gray
Ropes & Gray’s Chicago office added Matthew (Matt) R. Jones to the firm’s employment, executive compensation, and benefits practice group. Jones advises private equity firms and their portfolio companies on executive compensation in relation to complex commercial transactions. Jones also advises clients on Securities and Exchange Commission executive compensation arrangement reporting obligations.
“We are very excited that Matt has joined the firm,” said global private equity practice co-chair Neill Jakobe. “Chicago is a priority market for our clients and our firm, and it is critical that we continue to attract the top talent in this market. Matt is an exceptional fit from a strategic and cultural perspective and he will further enhance the value we deliver to our clients locally, and globally.”
Christopher Passodelis Jr., James M. Sander, Brandon T. Uram and Megan L. Tymoczko-Korch joined Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, working remotely from the firm’s Southpointe office in Canonsburg, Pa., with plans to move to the downtown Pittsburgh office this fall. All four attorneys practice in the firm’s Business Department, handling business transactions and corporate services and tax. Uram focuses his practice on transactions and business litigation.
“Chris, Jim, and Megan bring an entrepreneurial spirit and many decades of diverse experience representing businesses large and small to our firm. Brandon is a creative and fierce advocate for clients who are faced with litigation,” said CEO Susan S. Brewer. “As Steptoe & Johnson grows its presence in western Pennsylvania, they will play a key role in helping us meet our clients’ needs.”
Immigration attorney Sarah Hawk joined Barnes & Thornburg (B&T) as a partner, along with Of Counsel Terra Martin and Paralegal Elizabeth Wei. She has 20 years of corporate immigration experience representing universities, corporations, and individuals, and leads the firm’s Southeastern immigration practice.
“In this critical time, we couldn’t ask for a better resource for our clients than Sarah,” said B&T’s labor and employment department leader Kenneth Yerkes. “COVID-19 has complicated many employees’ immigration statuses, whether it stems from remote work, reductions in force, border closings or shortened internship programs.”
David F. Johnson of Winstead was named to the Board of Directors for the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS). Established in 1974, the TBLS is a certifies lawyers and paralegals in their specific area of law, bestowing certification upon demonstration of expertise, after passing a rigorous exam and demonstration of completion of CLE continuing education credits. Out of 110,000 attorneys licensed to practice in Texas, only 7400 are board-certified. Johnson, who writes extensively on Fiduciary law in Texas, is also Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law, Civil Trial Law, and Personal Injury Trial Law. He will serve a three-year term on the TLBS beginning July of 2020.
Law Firm Contributions to Social Justice
Law firms have responded in a variety of ways to the recent protests, civil upheaval, and calls for change surrounding the murder of unarmed minorities at the hands of police. Many law firms announced Juneteenth observances, and encouraged their employees to use the day as a chance to reflect on how to best encourage tolerance and justice in their lives and through their legal work.
Below is a sampling of some initiatives, pro-bono efforts, and other steps towards positive change announced by law firms.
One thousand attorney law firm BakerHostetler announced the firm’s intention to develop firm-wide plans to become a more “inclusive, diverse and successful place to work and thrive.” The firm announced plans to partner with civil and human rights organizations to develop an environment welcoming of honest conversations about race and discrimination, as well as resources to educate firm-wide to effect change. As an initial step, the BakerHostetler Foundation is donating $100,000 to the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to justice, ending mass incarceration and police reform. Along with the donation, BakerHostetler acknowledges “like many other law firms, we have work to do to increase diversity among our attorneys and leadership, and we will not stop working to address these issues.”
A global law firm focused on technology and innovation, Orrick has also announced plans to advocate for racial equality and diversity in the legal industry. Along with increased resources devoted to the firm-wide pro-bono program, Orrick Cares, Orrick has also announced the Orrick Racial Justice Fellowship Program. This program will allow at least five attorneys within the firm to devote a year each to focus on social justice and civil rights issues.
Additionally, two associates with Orrick, Tatyanna Senel and Yasmina Souri rallied almost 1,000 attorneys to provide pro-bono representation to protesters in Los Angeles. Senel and Souri helped formalize a working relationship between Orrick and the National Lawyers Guild, an established bar association with a mission of using the power of the law for the people, by bringing together lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers to work together on a wide spectrum of issues, and create change on the local, regional, national and international levels. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is one of the most progressive bar associations in the country, as well as one of the oldest, and the first to be racially integrated. Additionally, Senel and Souri activated their own networks to rally friends and colleagues to the cause. Senel says, “We’re [Senel and Souri] both passionate about the message, and we felt like there was something we could do with our law degrees.”
According to the LA Times, almost 3,000 protesters were arrested in Southern California during the upheaval surrounding George Floyd’s death. Through this partnership, NLG is able to deploy almost 1,000 attorneys with varying levels of expertise to provide legal defense to protesters arrested. Criminal Defense attorneys will handle the more complex matters, while attorneys with limited or no experience in criminal law will handle lower-level issues, like curfew violations. Additionally, the volunteers will provide training on how to act as a legal observer.
Wiggin and Dana LLP, in response to racial inequalities brought to the forefront by recent events, has announced the Wiggin Opportunity Initiative, a pledge to provide $10 million in pro-bono legal services to minority-owned businesses over the next decade. Managing Partner, Paul Hughes, said, “While born of current events and frustrations, the firm wants to do something that will outlast the spotlight of this particular moment and support long-term improvement in opportunity and equality in our communities. By leveraging the particular skillset of our sophisticated lawyers in a sizeable, sustained and focused effort over time, we hope to make real change in a way that we could not achieve by more modest, incremental efforts.”
The next step in the initiative is to identify, through collaboration with community partners businesses that could benefit from the initiative. The legal services will be available across a variety of practice groups in order to meet a variety of needs in the business community. With a ten-year commitment, the firm is hoping to develop long-term relationships with the minority businesses to form partnerships to amplify the success of the businesses, to best impart lasting change on the landscape.
WilmerHale is a full-service, international law firm with 1,000 attorneys is focusing their racial equality efforts on police reform. WilmerHale announced their intention to donate at least a quarter of a million dollars to organizations working on police reform efforts, and select two fellows to work with civil rights groups addressing issues related to systemic racism, criminal justice and holding police accountable.
Focusing on WilmerHale’s proven track record in Police Department Counseling, the firm has established a pro bono client initiative focusing on police reform and social inequities affecting minorities, focusing on police accountability—using WilmerHale’s long-standing expertise in advising police departments in Baltimore and Chicago under Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation to assess practices and bolster public safety by helping departments adopt best practices. WilmerHale indicates these steps are just the beginning, saying: “These are our initial steps in our efforts to ensure meaningful change. We plan to build on and expand this work.”
Many law firms have announced their intention to contribute financially as well as look internally and find ways to make their own workplaces more inclusive, by formalizing initiatives to increase diverse attorney representation across the industry. In fact, to further this goal, over 125 law firms have joined the Law Firm Antitracism Alliance, with the purpose of:
. . . leveraging the resources of the private bar in partnership with legal services organizations to amplify the voices of communities and individuals oppressed by racism, to better use the law as a vehicle for change that benefits communities of color and to promote racial equity in the law.
Through coordination of Pro-bono efforts, law firms will partner with legal services organizations to “identify and dismantle structural or systemic racism in the law.”
Akin Gump, wrote an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the respondents, in conjunction with the American Historical Association, the Organization for American Historians and the Fred T. Korematsu Center for law and Equality, along with over 40 individual historians, supporting the legal challenge to the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind the DACA program. The brief looks at the historical context of decisions such as these, with a focus on the coded language and implicit bias used by the government to support policies. The brief indicates, in part:
. . . [A]mici seek to ensure that this Court understands the ways in which racially coded language has been used by government actors, both past and present, to mask illicit discriminatory motives—particularly in the immigration context, including the rescission of DACA.
Pratik Shah, co-head of Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, pointed out that many DACA recipients have only ever known the United States as their home, and all who earn DACA protection had done so by furthering their education or serving in the military. He says, “The Court’s decision that the administration cannot arbitrarily upend the lives of hundreds of thousands who arrived in our country as children . . . is a victory for both the rule of law and common decency.”
In the first episode of our Techplace Tickler series, Danielle Ochs, Tom Lidbury, and Traer Cundiff discuss various eDiscovery-related issues that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people are working remotely. They cover data security concerns while working from home, remote document review, and best practices for collecting, capturing, and transferring data remotely.
John McDougall discussed creating Deep Content, LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) and topic clusters with us yesterday, detailing how these SEO concepts present great opportunities for law firms who are looking to position their attorneys as subject matter experts. John explained how Google’s recent algorithm changes such as BERT, which is designed to help users find true topic experts, provide a bounty of opportunities for legal marketers who properly position their lawyers’ expertise to achieve top search results. Today John is going into more detail on the concepts of webpage dwell time, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (EAT), and law firm branding.
NLR: In your book, you talk about the intersection of “dwell time” and the idea of the “long click” as ways Google is using AI (Artificial Intelligence) to try to figure out the relationship between the search term and the webpage that term led the user to. Do you see any other areas AI will impact SEO on the horizon?
JM: Google has been modifying its search engine, to improve its ability to understand complex queries for some time.
Hummingbird in 2013 was a rebuild of their main “engine” partially in response to there being more searches via voice.
RankBrain in 2015 added more machine learning to improve Hummingbird even further (for searches they had never seen before and complex long-tail queries). They said it was the 3rd most important factor with content and links.
Now with BERT in 2019/2020, they can already understand the intent of a search much better.
Considering they keep increasing the ability to provide relevant results that match the searcher’s intent, I would assume it will change SEO, yet again…
I would expect writing tools to get much more robust. This might be based on “big data” from social profiles, and through analyzing massive volumes of the world’s information written by experts that can be given to a writer/attorney on a silver platter. That might help in one part of SEO.
It is exciting to watch as long as you can stay nimble, follow the “algorithm weather channel” and adjust quickly when new updates are released.
NLR: Another core theme of your book is the role of brands, and the idea of EAT, or expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. How do these ideas enter into a keyword strategy for law firms?
JM: As an expert in a particular field of law, you should be associated with certain keywords which show you are a thought leader in that topical area. With SEO being MUCH more competitive and complex than ever, you may need to be more realistic and pick keywords that better match what you can write about comprehensively.
This can also affect the design of law firm websites and brand positioning. If you have fifty practice areas on your home page, you might consider featuring ones where you will be doing extensive writing and SEO work.
NLR: Can you explain the idea behind the Eric Schmidt quote: “Brands are how you sort out the cesspool,” which you discuss in your book?
JM: There are “black hat” SEO people that are the cesspool. They do sketchy things to try and trick Google into “liking” websites. Those tactics used to work on small law firm’s websites that did not deserve rankings. Thankfully, using brand signals like how many times people search for your brand and mention/link to your brand, Google is better able to rank sites that have a real-world value beyond SEO tactics. The book, Content Marketing and SEO for Law Firms, offers several examples of brand signals and how they apply in a law firm context.
NLR: What audience did you write your book for and who do you think will be the best audience for your January 15th webinar?
JM: Anyone trying to improve their law firm website and marketing will benefit greatly from Content Marketing and SEO for Law Firms, but firms that take action on it will get the most out of it. These content and SEO actions can be small to start but the key is to be consistent.
The content marketing and SEO guide is primarily written for law firm marketers, but it’s also for attorneys because they need to have an idea of how marketing strategy can directly affect the growth of their firm. The sections the attorneys should consider as “must-reads” are marked with a gavel icon.
This webinar will have enough insight on strategy that both law firm marketers and attorneys/department heads should attend.
Thanks, John for your time and insight. For those who haven’t had the opportunity to hear John speak at various legal marketing events or read his previous publications to gain insight from his 20+ years of experience, the following webinar and his new book are great opportunities to get actionable advice on how to build an SEO roadmap for legal marketers in 2020:
Last month, a photojournalist for The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University’s campus newspaper, captured photographs of student protestors who rushed a lecture hall where former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was speaking on campus. One of the pictures the photojournalist published featured a protestor sprawled on the floor. Students involved in the protest reacted with sharp criticism: being photographed in public had caused the protestor trauma, they argued. In addition, the reporters who used the student directory to attempt to contact protestors for quotes had invaded those students’ privacy.
In response to this pressure, editors at the newspaper took the photographs down and published an apology — steps that were immediately scorned by seasoned media professionals who explained that reporting on public events, through gathering quotes and taking pictures, is one of the most basic functions of journalism.
As with many stories that go viral, overheated Twitter commentary led to cross-generation attacks, straw-man arguments and handwringing over the death of traditional media. But when you push aside the noise around this story, it becomes clear that what happened at Northwestern illuminates an interesting disconnect between young people on the cusp of the Millennial-Z generations and the rest of us: we have different ideas about the purpose and function of traditional media.
What does this have to do with legal marketing? The oldest members of Generation Z are preparing to enter law school in the fall of 2020, which means firms are just a few years out from welcoming this new crop of lawyers. Forward-thinking law firms have long understood the value of media training in helping their attorneys build fruitful relationships with reporters and manage individual and firm brands across multiple channels. The Northwestern case, however, demonstrates that firms must also be prepared to offer some basic media education to their business development curriculum.
Younger lawyers may have a steep learning curve if they want to launch their careers with a productive media strategy. Here are three lessons firms will need to figure out how to teach them:
It’s hard to understand what you don’t consume. As social media has become such a central part of the way we broadcast and receive information, it fills the role traditional media used to play in some people’s lives. Not only does this mean that fewer people are reading the newspaper and relying on quality objective journalism to understand the world, but that inexperience with traditional media also breeds ignorance about what reporters, including specialists in the legal media, do all day and why they do it.
A young attorney who does not read the most important media outlets in the legal industry may not have a proper understanding of how law leaders use the information and data reporters publish to make business decisions and innovate at the practice and firm level. While managing partners may not always be pleased with the coverage of their firm, they understand and accept that the health of the industry relies on these sources of objective information. What’s more, for every article that makes a law partner squirm, there is one that amplifies a firm’s accomplishments for the entire industry to see.
Those media mentions are worth their weight in gold, but you have to respect and understand the institution of legal journalism as a whole to ever have a chance at winning one for yourself or your firm.
Not all media is the same. The media landscape of 2019 exists across four categories: paid, owned, shared, and earned. Paid media is sponsored content and pay-to-play awards and features. Owned media is the content your firm creates and distributes through your website and newsletter. Shared media is social media and all the content it spreads so rapidly. And earned media encompasses mentions in traditional media outlets.
A sophisticated communications strategy creates a plan for all four categories and, importantly, recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of each one. The first step to making sense of it all is to recognize the tension between control and authority. Media that allows your firm complete control over the content — your Twitter feed, for example — does not carry much authority. Consumers understand that anyone can make any claim they like on the internet. Media outlets that carry authority in the industry — such as Bloomberg Law or the Wall Street Journal — are not going to offer you much control over the content. Their independence is what gives them authority.
Attorneys who are too focused on controlling the message will miss out on the chance to see their work featured in an outlet that prospective clients and recruits actually trust.
Your right to privacy is not unlimited in scope. While individuals, of course, have the right to live their private lives free from interference, attorneys engaged in work on behalf of law firms and companies, which in many cases involves actions that are matters of public record, should expect to occasionally face questions about that work. Fearing these encounters or, worse, painting this healthy professional interaction as some kind of victimization, is bad for both the legal industry and an attorney’s own career development. Attorneys who understand the role traditional media plays in their business development make themselves available to reporters and are ready to speak off the cuff about their cases, clients and the broader context of legal questions they spend time on.
Savvy lawyers have confidence that their integrity and expertise will stand up to scrutiny by a reporter, and they extend professional courtesy to journalists doing the hard work of chronicling a complex and dynamic industry.
As the media landscape continues to evolve, marketers and firm leaders will have to work harder than ever to play in all four media categories — paid, owned, shared and earned — and prepare their attorneys to build productive relationships with the reporters who can help them reach their desired audience.
With fall officially upon us, the legal industry continues to whirl with change, innovation and movement. Read on to learn about some of the developments from the past two weeks, covering law school changes, law firm updates and legal technology developments.
Law Firm Moves: Mergers, Practice Group Additions and New Hires
Boston law firm Anderson & Kreiger LLP recently announced Lon F. Povich has joined the firm as Counsel. Povich is former Chief Legal Counsel to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.
Mr. Povich says: “As I return to the private practice of law, I wanted to join a firm that offered challenging work in both the public and private sectors as well as an inclusive and supportive culture that prioritizes practicing law with the highest professional standards.”
As Chief Legal Counsel, Povich oversaw the confirmation process for 130 judges across the commonwealth, including 4 on the Supreme Judicial Court. Additionally, he counseled on the regulation of new industries, such as gig economy staples like Uber, short term rentals like Airbnb and the legal marijuana industry. Povich also contributed to the 2018 criminal justice reform bill and the 2015 reforms for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA). David Mackey, Managing Partner at Anderson & Kreiger says, “Lon will bring to the firm experience with the wide variety of issues he dealt with in the Baker administration as well as a diverse set of experiences in the private sector and as a federal prosecutor. We know that he will be an excellent colleague and he will further strengthen our ability to serve our clients.”
James V. Drew has joined Katten in the firm’s New York office as a partner in its Insolvency and Restructuring practice. Drew has fifteen years of experience advising clients across a variety of industries on insolvency matters. He has particular experience in “conflicts counsel” or as an independent director role on investigations or litigations of claims and causes of actions on behalf of debtors, secured and unsecured creditors and indenture trustees. Additionally, he has experience handling matters as lead counsel for debtors, lenders and other creditors, equity holders, liquidators and defendants in avoidance actions or bankruptcy litigation.
Steven Reisman
Steven J. Reisman, the head Katten’s New York Insolvency and Restructuring practice, says, “Jim is a highly skilled attorney who is respected by his clients for his practical advice and business-minded approach to addressing their most pressing insolvency and restructuring issues.”
DLA Piper attorneys Claire Hall (Los Angeles), Richard Hans (New York), Marc Horwitz (Chicago) and Isabelle Ord (Los Angeles) are leading the firm’s new LIBOR Transition practice, assisting companies with impact assessment and advising on benchmark reform implementation across multiple jurisdictions and products. This transition from interbank offered rates to alternative reference rates poses challenges to companies that are operational, legal, related to taxes, accounting and compliance. DLA will assist companies with these challenges by monitoring developments across industry working groups and addressing benchmark transition across jurisdictions like ISDA, SFIG/SFA, LSTA, SIFMA and the ARRC.
Hans points out that DLA Piper, with its track record of advising some of the largest financial services companies and institutions on operations and strategic planning, is well suited to assist with the LIBOR transition. He says, “Our LIBOR transition team will be able to assist clients in creating and implementing strategic and customized action plans that lay out the steps needed to implement benchmark transition.”
Karen Mangasarian
Karen Mangasarian has joined Haley Guiliano, a boutique IP law firm as a Partner. She will join the firm in their New York office, but she was attracted to the firm’s presence in not only New York, but also Silicon Valley and London. She says: “I was attracted by Haley Guiliano’s entrepreneurial spirits and business value-based approach to intellectual property, as well as its commitment to diversity and the mentoring of junior lawyers and technical advisors.”
Mangasarian has over twenty years of experience in life sciences practice, including patent filing and prosecution, freedom to operate and landscape analyses, and contested proceedings in the USPTO and other patent offices. Mangasarian earned her JD from New York Law School while working as a post-doctoral fellow in microbiology at the New York University Medical Center. She has also studied pharmacology, earning a Ph.D., and a BS Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.
Jim Haley, head of the Life Sciences practice at Haley Guiliano, says “Karen is a marvelous addition to our firm and to our Life Sciences practice.”
Full-service business law firm based in Portland, Oregon, Ater Wynne will merge practice into Buchalter, bolstering the latter’s presence in the Pacific Northwest. Ater Wynne’s 22 attorneys will join Buchalter on in October, bringing Buchalter to roughly 300 attorneys in nine locations across the country, and adding Buchalter’s second office in the Pacific Northwest in under three years.
Todd A. Mitchell, Ater Wynne’s Managing Partner will become Managing Shareholder of the Portland office and a member of Buchalter’s Board of Directors. Mitchell calls the move “an opportunity to provide stronger counsel to our clients in Portland and the surrounding region,” and he says the two groups have a strong cultural fit.
Adam J. Bass, President and CEO of Buchalter, has overseen more than 130 attorneys added to the firm and has opened offices in California and in Washington State. He calls the move a chance to “stay ahead of the curve. This move is about looking to the future and the right cultural and business fit.”
Law Firm Awards, Recognitions and Achievements
Zuckerman Law principal Eric Bachman was named to the prestigious “Top Lawyers in America” list for 2020 by Best Lawyers in the field of Labor and Employment. Lawyers are nominated for this achievement, and then evaluated by their peers based on professional expertise. Bachman was included in the 2020 Edition of Washington D.C.’s Best Lawyers.
Bachman is the Chair of the discrimination and retaliation practices at Zuckerman Law, and prior to his work with Zuckerman he served in senior roles at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel where he worked on class actions and whistleblower protection act settlements.
Preeminent workplace law firm Jackson Lewis once again was listed on the BTI Litigation Outlook 2020 report, earning “Powerhouse” rankings in Complex Employment Litigation and the Employment Litigation categories. These rankings are based on in-depth interviews with legal decision-makers, involving data from more than 9,000 corporate counsel client interviews.
Jackson Lewis is on track to have a record number of trial victories in 2019, and this is in part due to the firm’s forward-thinking approach through innovative programs like its Advanced Trial Techniques Academy, which enhances the already strong litigation strength of the firm’s attorneys.
Firm Co-Chairs Kevin G. Lauri and William J. Anthony: “Jackson Lewis remains committed to staying abreast of national litigation trends faced by employers and delivering the best possible results, by both providing exceptional client service and retaining a deep bench of top-notch litigators.”
BTI reaches out to legal decision-makers at large organizations, with more than $1 billion in revenue, targeting decision-makers in the industries that have the largest legal spend, consulting Chief Legal Officers, Chief Legal Operating Officers and other executives with a say in the selection of outside counsel. BTI’s 2019 report indicates an expectation of growth in litigation for the third year in a row. More information about the BTI Litigation Outlook 2020 report can be found here.
The law firm of Sills Cummis & Gross received top ranking as one of the “highly recommended” New Jersey litigation firms in the 2020 edition of Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys. This is the third year in a row Sills Cummis & Gross received this honor. Focusing solely on litigation in the United States, this guide is published by Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. Firms recognized are chosen based on interviews with the country’s leading private practice lawyers and in-house counsel. Thirteen members of Sills Cummins & Gross were also included.
MoginRubin LLP is representing a class of non-bank ATM operators across the United States arguing that Visa, Mastercard and its affiliated banks conspired to fix ATM fees, requiring anticompetitive overcharges for network processing fees, resulting in higher ATM surcharges and foreign transaction fees when customers use ATM’s not associated with their bank.
The proposed class represents 60% of the U.S. ATM market and includes the following: ATMs of the South, Inc., Business Resource Group, Inc., Just ATMs USA, Inc., Wash Water Solutions, Inc., ATM Bankcard Services, Inc., Selman Telecommunications Investment Group, LLC, Scot Gardner d/b/a SJI, Turnkey ATM Solutions, LLC, Trinity Holdings Ltd, Inc., and T&T Communications, Inc. and Randal N. Bro d/b/a T&B Investments. Roughly five years ago Visa and Mastercard attempted to have the case dismissed, even taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, however, the Supreme Court found that the companies had changed their argument after the court granted certiorari and dismissed the writ as “improvidently granted.”
Jonathan Rubin of MoginRubin LLP calls the rules governing the fees “absurd” designed to punish consumers who choose less expensive networks or the defendant’s competitor’s networks. He says, “The independent ATM operators and regional networks are providing a necessary service that banks are unwilling to provide or to invest in, but Visa and Mastercard are using their market power to impose anti-competitive fees and bleed the operators and consumers for their own profit,” he added. “Mastercard and Visa have no business telling independent ATM operators what to charge.”
Legal Industry News, Law School Updates
Leading legal publisher Fastcase announced today the acquisition of NextChapter, the cloud-based bankruptcy software for attorneys and paralegals.
Bankruptcy Paralegal Janine Sickmeyer used her expertise in preparing bankruptcy cases to create NextChapter, teaching herself to code and building the application from the ground up, launching in 2016. The service became known as “the turbo tax for bankruptcy filings” and its success was built on the efficiency created by understanding the best workflows and practices into an easy to use, full-circle solution used by several thousand law firms across every district in the U.S. Upon Fastcase’s acquisition of NextChapter, Sickmeyer will become Managing Director and Founder of NextChapter and Director of Practice Workflow at Fastcase. She calls the acquisition “a dream come true” and she voices her admiration for Fastcase leadership. She says, “it’s invigorating to collaborate and continue to build NextChapter’s company and products alongside them. Fastcase and NextChapter share the same core beliefs on customer-focused products. I know this opportunity will allow us to continue serving our mission.”
The UCI Law Graduate Tax Program and Alteryx Inc. Announce Tax and Data Analytics Partnership, designed to train future tax attorneys on ways big data analytics can work in tax law.
Students in the UCI Law Graduate Tax Program will learn on the program already used by in-house tax departments–Alteryx Designer, and will learn how to use the data analytics platform to generate data-based legal tax advice, earning a certification for successful completion. This practicum is the first time Alteryx will work with a law school, and the group will provide software licenses to students who participate in the program. Omni Marian, Professor of Law and the Academic Director of the UCI Graduate Tax Program, says the program is a way to prepare students for the way practicing tax law will be in the future. He says, “Alteryx for Good’s generosity allows us to help our students to become future leaders of the legal tax profession.”
Bachelor’s Degree Center which provides a free guide to bachelor degree programs across all disciplines, recently released four guides to the best Paralegal bachelor degree programs in the United States, including the 25 Best for 2020, the 15 Best Online Paralegal Programs, the 10 Fastest Online Paralegal Programs, and the 10 Most Affordable Paralegal Bachelor’s Programs.
The top 3 Best Paralegal Bachelor’s Programs for 2020 are:
Auburn University
Quinnipiac University
Montclair State University
The Top 3 Online Paralegal Bachelor’s Programs for 2020 are:
Tulane University
University of Central Florida
University of Massachusetts Lowell
The Top 3 Most Affordable Paralegal Bachelor’s Programs for 2020 are:
Bellevue University
Charter Oak State College
Peirce College
The guide points out that while law schools have been graduating new attorneys facing an uphill battle in the legal marketplace, paralegals are still very much in demand. A standard entry into the profession is a two-year associate degree, however, many paralegals combine work with further study, and a bachelor’s degree in legal studies can be the key to moving ahead in the profession. Whether an online program or a traditional program, this guide provides important information so students—non-traditional or otherwise, can make the best choice for their situation.
That’s it for now. We’ll be back in a few weeks with more updates on the legal industry.
Bachman is the Chair of the discrimination and retaliation practices at Zuckerman Law, and prior to his work with Zuckerman he served in senior roles at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel where he worked on class actions and whistleblower protection act settlements.
Bankruptcy Paralegal Janine Sickmeyer used her expertise in preparing bankruptcy cases to create NextChapter, teaching herself to code and building the application from the ground up, launching in 2016. The service became known as “the turbo tax for bankruptcy filings” and its success was built on the efficiency created by understanding the best workflows and practices into an easy to use, full-circle solution used by several thousand law firms across every district in the U.S. Upon Fastcase’s acquisition of NextChapter, Sickmeyer will become Managing Director and Founder of NextChapter and Director of Practice Workflow at Fastcase. She calls the acquisition “a dream come true” and she voices her admiration for Fastcase leadership. She says, “it’s invigorating to collaborate and continue to build NextChapter’s company and products alongside them. Fastcase and NextChapter share the same core beliefs on customer-focused products. I know this opportunity will allow us to continue serving our mission.”