Legal Marketing -- by Larry Bodine

Why an Associate Needs a Mentor

Michael Cummings and I explain in this podcast why an associate needs a mentor to be successful at business development.

Click http://recordings.infiniteconferencing.com/pmforum_012506.html
to listen to or download this short podcast.

For an associate to become a rainmaker, he or she needs someone to be personally invested to see that you succeed. They introduce you to clients, debrief you after meetings and teach you how to present. But you need to pick the right person, and Larry and Mike identify who that is.

Mike concludes by giving you the 5 things you need to do to become a successful rainmaker in 2006.

Mayer Brown hires Prof. Volokh, a leading law blogger

From Kevin O'Keefe's blog:

"Did Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw bring UCLA Professor Eugene Volokh into the firm's litigation practice group as an academic affiliate because of the Professor's leading law blog? I wouldn't bet against it."

"No doubt Volokh has all the right stuff being a former clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, having written textbooks, law review articles etc. But I see Volohk's blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, having taken him to a whole new level - rockstar status among both lawyers and non-lawyers on the net. I'd want the guy on my team for the name recognition alone," O'Keefe wrote.

"Maybe Professor Volokh can give Mayer Brown's marketing team a nudge into the blog world. The Mayer Brown publications section on their Web site may contain some great content but it's being wasted in PDF's not being properly indexed by subject on the search engines. Mayer Brown is also ignoring the ability of RSS feeds to get their lawyers' intellectual capital in front of their target audience."

CMO Jon Asperger, are you listening?

Winners of the Law Technology News Awards

Hot off the presses:

ALM’s Law Technology News®, the legal profession’s leading technology publication, today announced the law firm and in-house law department winners in its third annual Law Technology News Awards program. The awards recognize the best technology use - and users - in the legal profession. Winners in the four law firm categories are:

• Rodney A. Satterwhite, Partner and Chief Counsel/Knowledge Management, McGuireWoods LLP
• Matt Kesner, Chief Technology Officer, Fenwick & West LLP
• Kirkland & Ellis LLP/Jeffer, Magels, Butler & Marmaro LLP
• Janine P. Sylvas, IT Director, Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC.

Rodney A. Satterwhite, Partner and Chief Counsel/Knowledge Management, McGuireWoods LLP, was selected as this year’s "Champion of Technology." A former information technology consultant, he was cited as a “true visionary who utilizes technology to provide more effective service to the firm’s clients”, while ensuring that new technologies bring real benefits to the day-to-day work of the firm’s lawyers.

Matt Kesner, Chief Technology Officer, Fenwick & West, received this year’s "Most Innovative Use of Technology by a Law Firm" award. Kenser and his practice support team created the firm’s innovative “FIND” (File Identification Narrowed by Definition) technology which permits small groups working independently to review documents in easy to-use Web-based environments, from anywhere in the world. The cost-efficient technology significantly reduces the amount of data that lawyers must review in e-discovery and improves the accuracy of the review process.

Co-counsel Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Jeffer, Magels, Butler & Marmaro LLP, were named winners of the "Most Innovative Use of Technology During a Trial" category, for their joint work in Michelson v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc., a major case that required integration of multiple courtroom technologies, as well as massive pretrial technological preparation.

Janine P. Sylvas, IT Director, Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC, is the recipient of this year’s "IT Director" award. Sylvas was recognized for her efforts in creating an emergency alternative office in Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina forced her firm to leave New Orleans. Her epic difficulties - and successes - continued for weeks, as she coped with events that included the looting and vandalization of the firm’s home office.

The judges also noted the extraordinary efforts of two additional technologists in assisting their New Orleans-based firms in Hurricane Katrina and Rita recovery efforts: Kenneth J. Orgeron, Chief Information Officer, Jones Walker and James Zeller, formerly of Chaffee McCall. Law Technology News will make $5,000 donations on behalf of the winners of the program to the Mississippi Center for Justice and New Orleans Legal Assistance. Both organizations provide free legal aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

These winners will be honored at an awards dinner on January 30 at the New York Hilton. Law firm nominations were solicited throughout the year from the magazine’s 40,000 subscribers, and through the publication’s Web site. The recipients were selected by an independent panel of three jurors, all members of LTN's Editorial Advisory Board: Andrew Z. Adkins III, director of the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Fredric Lederer, professor of law and director of the Courtroom 21 Project at the College of William and Mary, and David Whelan, director of the Cincinnati Law Library Association.

Additional information on the awards and winners will be available in the March issue of Law Technology News and on the magazine’s Web site at www.lawtechologynews.com.

Law Technology News provides timely information and insight into the latest technologies, products and services available for the legal marketplace. Each month, LTN features new product announcements, as well as monthly articles and columns written by industry experts and senior law firm decisionmakers.

Patrick McEvoy Shows Lawyers Niche Marketing

Here's a program you won't want to miss: "How To Create a Precision Niche Marketing Campaign That Will Start Bringing Results in 21 Days or Less." It's presented by my admired colleague Patrick McEvoy at 90 Minute Teleseminar - Thursday February 2nd at Noon Eastern Time.

If you register by Friday (January 27) the cost is a bargain: $147.

The program is designed for partners, lawyers and law firm marketing directors who are serious about growing their practices by more than 20% this year. The teleseminar, including all printed course materials, instructions and telephone bridge access code sent to you in advance.

Description: Here's your chance to create a precision niche marketing campaign that will work for you in 2006. Take the mystery out of the niche marketing process by discovering"

• The "Gigantic 4 Part Obstacle" you face in your niche marketing efforts that will NEVER go away.
• The ten biggest mistakes ALL law firms make in their niche marketing efforts.
• The difference between "tactical" and "strategic" marketing and why it's killing your niche market development plans.
• Just how much a new niche client is really worth to you--and the answer will surprise you.
• Seven things you MUST do in your niche marketing and sales efforts to get results quickly.
• The real problem with law firm niche marketing that no one wants to talk about and--how you can solve the problem simply and mathematically.
• How to use "Relevancy Based Marketing" in your niche.
• The five step formula for getting niche prospects to call you.
• Follow up tools that massively increase niche penetration rates.
• How to attain your 2006 marketing goals with absolute assurance using the "Execution Imperative."

To attend, click here.

If you're not familiar with Patrick McEvoy, he is a former practicing Canadian Chartered Accountant and has consulted with over 11,000 CEOs and business owners during the past 24 years. He has been in senior management with KPMG, Ernst & Young and Orion Capital along with establishing and owning many of his own successful business ventures outside the accounting and consulting fields.

Today he is the president of Rainmaker Best Practices in Toronto Canada, a boutique marketing consultancy. Patrick is a prolific writer and is often quoted in the press and in newswire stories concerning his views about the state of the worldwide accounting profession.

Attendees also get their choice of one of the following: 1. One website critique certificate. I'll personally critique your existing website and discuss the results with you via telephone, or 2. One 20 minute niche strategy consulting session conducted via the telephone.

If you wait after Friday, the program costs $277 including all course materials plus valuable bonus materials. There are only 15 seminar spots available. When they're gone...well, they're gone for good. 

Personality: Why 25% of Lawyers Can't Sell

Only 20% of lawyers are natural born marketers, according to Dr. Larry Richard, a Director of Hildebrandt International, in Somerset, N.J. He found that an additional 55% of lawyers can learn to be rainmakers.  “They will makre efforts to do marketing; so your goal should be to reduce their discomforts,” he said.  The remaining 25% are hopeless at marketing and should be ignored.  “The trick is to figure out who they are and not to waste time on them,” he said.

“Personality is a key factor in business development,” Richard emphasized. Lawyers are very different from general population in 6 of 18 traits – and no other profession has more than 2 deviations.  For example, 2/3 of lawyers are introverts, but in contrast, ¾ of the general population in the U.S. are extroverts.  In analyzing lawyer personalities, Richard employs the Caliper Profile, which has been used for more than 40 years to measure 18 different personality traits. 

Further, lawyers differ dramatically from marketers.  Lawyers are analytical, detached, introverted and reflective. Marketers, in contrast, are creative, enthusiastic, extroverted and interactive.  “The good news for marketing is that lawyers are a quick study—you don’t have to do a lot to teach them,” he said at the Marketing Partner Forum in Florida.

The six traits that distinguish lawyers are...

For the rest of the story, visit The LawMarketing Portal.

Five Tips on Marketing to General Counsel

Barbara Kolsun, SVP and General Counsel of 7 for All Mankind, a denim clothing company in New York City, outlined her 5 tips for how law firms can get business from corporations.  She spoke today at the Marketing Partner Forum in Florida. 

1. Lean and Mean

In-house staffs are leaner than ever and our instructions are to do as much of the work in-house as possible.  Outside counsel fill in the gaps from litigation to highly specialized areas like immigration and patent law.

2. Show What You Can Do

In-house lawyers need to earn CLE credits.  Law firms should offer CLE breakfasts, lunches and cocktail hours offering credit (including ethics).  It's a great way to audition and show the depth of your practice.

3. Law Firm Sales and Branding

Focus on what you're really good at, not on what you'd like to be good at.  For example, a law firm with a history of representing fashion clients held a session on breaking into the fashion industry, featuring young designer Zac Posen and veteran Norma Kamali to discuss business issues involved in fashion.  Invitees included general counsel of design companies.

4. Evaluating Law Firms

"I use firms I know, but am open to new blood, usually highly recommended by other in-house counsel.  Examples include: trademark and copyright, immigration, high profile litigation, patent, anti-counterfeiting, foreign associates," Kolsun said.  Her criteria are:

1. Cost
2. Expertise
3. Reputation
4. High profile litigation
5. Insurance issues
6. Staffing
7. Consolidation of outside counsel
8. Willingness to tell you the truth
9. Willingness to take direction and communicate with the GC.

5. Law Firm Web sites

They should be easy to find, easy to navigate and contain basic information like telephone numbers, location of branch offices (including cross streets and nearest subway stop), texts of recent opinions in important cases litigated and bios of lawyers.

What to do when a Scandal Hits your Firm

Greenberg Traurig was a politically well-connected law firm long before Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist who pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion, joined it about six years ago, according to the New York Times.

The article should be a wakeup call for all law firm leaders, according to blogger Rich Klein, President of Riverside Public Relations.  Klein asserts that the firm did the right thing -- starting an internal investigation and firing people tied to Abramoff -- but it wasn't enough.

1. The firm should have taken the opportunity in 2004 to issue a statement along with its investigator to announce the investigation's completion -- and that tough actions, including terminations, had taken place.

2. The firm also should have told the world that it created new systems and written policies that would deter and even prevent the kind of behavior exhibited by Abramoff and others.

But it's too late for that now because the firm's name will likely come up repeatedly as the Abramoff case continues, and besides, the firm name is all over the Internet already.

"In short, it's a powerful message that every firm needs a system of checks and balances to ensure all partners and employees are acting ethically AND lawfully," according to Klein.

One Marketer’s Trip Through Hell

The following is a true story.  Only the names of the marketer and the law firm have been omitted.  The marketer has more than 25 years of marketing experience, including 9 at law firms. Most professional staff marketers at law firms have horror stories to recount, but this one makes others pale in comparison. An experienced veteran, this marketer had previously worked at a major metropolitan firm with more than 500 attorneys with numerous offices.  The average tenure of a law firm marketer is 3 years, but this marketer was able to endure less than two years at this 350-lawyer firm in a major metro area. After you read the story, you’ll know why.

---

It is a long, ugly story. In a nutshell, my 15 months at the law firm provided me with the worst professional experience in my legal marketing career. I was the third CMO in 2 ? years and in spite of working my heart out to make the job a success, I literally became their “intellectual punching bag.” They were taking their anger at the previous CMO out on me. She had quit after less than a year and tried to recruit their best associates as she was leaving.

It was a totally schizophrenic environment. I was told I was doing my job too well and that caused the partners to revolt. Huh?  I never knew what was wrong. I was just wrong. Even when I thought all was going well. Here’s an example of one of many encounters: the Managing Partner called me into an office with the COO.  The Managing Partner (“MP”) told me that another partner complained about me and we had to address the issue.

Me: I’m sorry to hear this. Can you tell me about problem?
MP: No.
Me: Can you tell me the partner’s name?
MP: No.
Me: Can you tell me the practice group?
MP: No.
Me: Can the three of us meet with the partner so he/she can tell me what happened?
MP: No.
Me: If I don’t know the who, what and why, I can’t know how to fix it.
MP: Well, that’s your problem.
Me: I’m sorry, I’ll make an effort to be more sensitive in the future.
Exit.

I swear this is a true encounter and one of many similar encounters.

Made up rules as they went along

The firm has no formal marketing policies or guidelines, so they made up rules as they went along. The MP would also change the rules in the middle of the game. Naturally, I was not advised. As a result, I actually became quite adept at crisis management. I also took to carefully monitoring every activity that came into and out of my department.
• The MP cancelled contracts that were approved by the Executive Committee in the middle of their run.
• The MP entered into sponsorships only to delay payments until the organization threatened the firm with collections agencies.
• The MP would overrule practice group leader marketing budget requests and led the PGLs to believe that the decision to veto a marketing expense was mine and not hers.
• If I recommended an expenditure of $10,000, the MP would demand that I make it $25,000. When the Executive Committee would not approve the higher figure, the MP would turn around and demand that I reduce the expenditure to $7,500, even though she knew that $10,000 was the minimum.

And so on.   

Although the Executive Committee approved my hiring, the MP hated me from day one. She was totally indecisive and easily swayed, whereas I am very comfortable making decisions and taking control of given situations. She decided to create a Marketing Committee and appointed partners who were demonstrably hostile to any marketing effort and completely ignorant of even the basics of law firm marketing. The head of the Committee believed that “glad-handing” was the only way to market and didn’t know the difference between a design firm and a P.R. firm.

I would go to meetings and be completely ignored. They would talk around me as if I weren’t there. Naturally, being me, I wouldn’t let them ignore me and even went out of my way to offer meeting agendas so that they would have something to work from. I circulated marketing articles that I thought would be helpful and informative only to find them thrown away in the meeting room garbage can. However, one of the members of the committee decided to make crib notes on 10 marketing books she thought would be useful to the Committee. She produced 47 pages of notes, with chapters, sub-chapters and sub, sub chapters.

Add to this mix, a back-stabbing, undermining manager who wanted the CMO position but was considered not capable of doing the job and you start to get the picture. For the record, I tried to fire her and had enough data on her to fire anyone else, but was not allowed to do so. She was and still is very close with a male member of the Executive Committee and therefore untouchable.

In spite of this, I accomplished quite a bit in the 15 months that I was there:
• I completed and launched their first national advertising campaign
• Restructured the marketing department
• Hired 5 marketing professionals in six months
• Redesigned and repositioned the firm’s intranet newsletter
• Developed an internal attorney referral site for cross-selling purposes
• Finished and launched their Web site
• Worked with the Strategic Planning Committee on issues of law firm leverage, making presentations to the offices and practice groups on the strategic use of leverage in generating revenues
• Created a marketing budget accountability process
• And more.

I was determined to make the best of an ugly situation, but it was grueling and I put on 30 pounds out of sheer frustration. I was treated so badly that I didn’t even know how to address it.

I stayed only because during my tenure at the firm, I found and bought wonderful house. It is my dream house. I fell hopelessly in love with the place, pure love at first sight, and I decided that I would do whatever it took to buy it. If you’ve ever fallen in love with a house, you will understand why I would do nothing to compromise or jeopardize this purchase. The house continues to be one of the great joys of my life and is my sanctuary from a cold, cruel world.

Backstabbing manager

They fired me two days before the backstabbing manager returned from vacation and turned the department over to her. I was told to leave immediately. I was stunned. I heard rumors that they would pull something like this, but gave the firm credit for more class. I was wrong. They treated me like a criminal. They wouldn’t even let me transfer my files or notify people that I was leaving. The HR Director let me get some of my personal things and some of my staff assured me that they would take care of my things. Members of my staff were equally stunned and couldn’t even talk.

I did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment. It is my understanding that most of the partners were not told.  I’ve never been fired before and became extremely depressed and extremely angry. I wasn’t fired because I wasn’t competent. I was fired because the firm and I were a bad cultural fit and an incumbent was hell-bent on getting my job, and there was nothing I could do about it.  I am consoled by the fact that she was not given the position and was named “Acting Director” until they decide on another CMO.

There’s so much more to my trip through Hell, but I think you get the picture. By two months after I lost the job, I was over the anger and depression and was truly glad to be free of the place. I want to find a firm that needs a proactive CMO to run their department. I have an impressive resume and an otherwise sterling track record in legal marketing. Hopefully, I won’t be out of work for too long. For now, I am enjoying the rest and catching up on my readings and writing.

Ruberto Israel's Novel Invitation

It's not every day you get a passport in the mail.  It was scratched, beat up and pretty authentic looking.

On closer examination it was a passport to Boston, inviting me to the open house of the law firm Ruberto, Israel & Weiner in the Italian North End of Boston on Feb. 9.  Very clever!

"From the chowder of the seaport to the delicacies of Chinatown, from the franks of Fenway (photo of hot dogs displayed) to the pasta of Prince Street, sample the flavors as you mingle with friends and colleagues," read the inside text.

I love it when a marketer comes up with a new twist on an old method.  Kudos to Marketing Coordinator Crystal Garcia for the novel approach.

Law Blog NewzDigest

There's a new e-mail newsletter that collects the posts of the top bloggers in law -- the Law Blog NewzDigest.  In one glance you get an overview of what legal bloggers are saying from a variety of angles.

"PinHawk NewzDigest emails deliver targeted news from media sources and from other original content providers, such as government agencies, corporations, trade associations and special interest groups," is how the publisher Joe Bookman describes it.

In one neat package it covers:

• General law blogs
• Marketing (including the Professional Marketing Blog)
• Technology
• Intellectual Property
• Niche practices
• Blogs from large firms
• Comments on Large Firms
• Greedy Associates

You can get a two-week free trial.  Annual subscriptions are $199.

The beginning of the year is a great time to reach out to your top clients, prospects and business friends and simply reconnect, according to Thom Singer of Austin.

As he states in his blog, you can't sit down in person with everyone in your network, but you can do it with the top 25 people in your inner circle.

During January and February you should not eat alone. If you find yourself at 11:30 roaming your office looking for a co-worker to go to lunch with, then you are wasting valuable time, according to Thom.

But you need to plan ahead. Pick up the phone and call your contacts. Tell them that you would like the chance to get together and "catch up." Start today to fill your calendar for the next few weeks. Try to leave one day open each week for important meetings that come up last minute.

Once it is scheduled in your calendar, treat it like gold. Even if it is just a friend, do not cancel unless it is a real emergency. Too often people will have something come up and cancel appointments at the last minute. Remember, the other person might have had other things come up too.... but they moved those other meetings, not yours.

And Thom adds this warning: If you are not visiting with the key members of your network regularly, maybe your competition is spending time with them.

Lessons for Lawyers: Communicate, communicate, communicate

Thanks to Patrick Lamb, author of the wonderful In Search of Perfect Client Service blog, for this delightful cartoon:

Wall Street Journal Covering Law Again

The Wall Street Journal is back to covering the law again, in print and online. Launched on Jan. 3, WSJ.com  introduced its new Law Page [paid subscription required] "covering law, business and the business of law. We will be writing about news, trends and buzz for lawyers at firms and in-house law departments, as well as the business people who work with them."

"The centerpiece of our page is a newly launched Law Blog. Updated throughout the day, our blog culls the best writing from around the Web – stuff you don't want to miss but don't have the time to find – along with our own reporting."  Ex-Forbes writer Peter Lattman will write the blog.  Other features include:

• "The FLaw" looks at law-firm management.
• "Rearview Mirror" analyzes how a court decision from several months back is playing out for businesses and their attorneys.
• "Doing Things Differently" spotlights on people and firms taking an unconventional approach toward their law practice.

Ashby Jones, a former reporter at The Deal, a former litigator and clerk to a federal judge will write The Flaw column.  Readers can reach Ashby and Peter at lawblog@wsj.com.

Initial posts on the law blog cover Videogame maker Take-Two Interactive Software, whose games include the popular and controversial Grand Theft Auto, settled SEC charges that it engaged in fraudulent accounting practices; University of Illinois law professor Larry Ribstein muses on the SEC’s new financial penalties policy on Ideoblog; and that Abercrombie & Fitch’s corporate office has attracted an SEC investigation.

It's good to see the Journal returning to law coverage.  And it creates a huge public relations target for  law firm marketers.

In the Twilight Zone Transition to Complex Sales

In a warning to law firms everywhere, consultant Laura Lee Ricci of Milwaukee says in a report I just read, "Some industries, like legal services..may soon transition to complex sales, though they are now working in the transactional and consultative types of sales." 

This is from What Changed Your Sales Cycle and Why, her 12-page white paper. Symptoms of the shift include:

• Longer sales cycles.
• Complex RFPs.
• Large opportunities -- for three to five-year assignments.
• Intense competition.

Complex sales are awful.  They have more layers of review, a longer decision-making process, and decision makers not selected until after the proposals were submitted.  You'll recognize a complex sale when you get a giant RFP that was written or issued by a consultant hired by the potential client.  "some consultants will tote the same RFP template from client to client," Ricci says.

The bad news is that these RFPs are ultimately decided on price.  The law firm that was most willing to slash its prices and throat gets the job.  The good news is that only 20% of corporations are issuing RFPs for legal work, according to a 2005 Martindale-Hubbell survey (it's a 1.8MEG PDF).  Of course, I advise law firms to avoid bidding in RFPs at all.

What's a law firm to do in a complex sale?  Ricci advises:

• Form a team that will express and share a strategy,  probe for pushback from the prospect and improve the offering.
• Prove value to the prospect, eliminate items they don't want to pay for, and educate the client about the value-add.

My advice is to stay close to your client using consultative sales -- and pre-empt an RFP.  In consultative sales a lawyer probes for a client's business problem and offers an anticipated solution.  Watch out for regime changes with new CEOs and GCs, who will bid out legal work.  But if you know your client's business intimately, you can keep and expand your legal work before the sale become complex.