Law Firm Marketing Consultant : Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, sales training, practice development, training, marketing consultant, legal consultant, individual lawyer coaching, business development, client team, practice development, business development, law firm coach

Discrimination claims filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year rose to the highest in the agency’s 44-year history, after a Supreme Court ruling that changed the way complaints may be filed.  This area of practice has been building all year -- see Law Firm Marketing Should Focus on Employment Law

A record 95,402 claims were filed during the year ended Sept. 30, the EEOC said. That was 15% more than in 2007, and represents a burgeoning area of law practice.

“The EEOC has not seen an increase of this magnitude in charges filed for many years,” acting agency Chairman Stuart Ishimaru said in a statement. “While we do not know if it signifies a trend, it is clear that employment discrimination remains a persistent problem.”

The surge in age-related claims signifies that layoffs caused by the U.S. recession have started to affect workers with seniority. Several recent EEOC claims have settled for between $350,000-$800,000 and an additional $130,000 - $150,000 in attorney fees, according to Michelle Binks, a Chicago human resources examiner.

“It’s possible we have yet to see the full impact of the recession on discrimination charge filings as the economy continues to spiral downward since fiscal year 2008.” In short, it looks like we may be headed toward another record-breaking year in which more than 100,000 workers file discrimination charges," said EEOC spokesperson David Grinberg.

To read the full story, visit the LawMarketing Portal at http://www.lawmarketing.com/pages/articles.asp?Action=Article&ArticleCategoryID=58&ArticleID=899

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Excerpted from the National Law Journal:

Attorneys Frank Natoli and Moshe Lapin launched their new law firm Natoli-Lapin LLC in 2008, building a niche in low-cost legal services for entrepreneurs, artists and others launching new business ventures.

"We're growing pretty fast," Natoli said. "For us, it was perfect timing. There are more entrepreneurs right now because so many people have lost their jobs. We're the go-to guys for that scenario."

Natoli credits the firm's success thus far — it soon will have collected 250 clients — to its business model.

• First, the two-attorney firm follows the virtual law firm model, wherein most business is conducted via the Internet and telephone rather than in a traditional office setting. This keeps overhead extremely low; 80% of the firm's revenue is profit, Natoli said.
• Second, the foundation of the firm is unbundled, flat-fee basic services geared toward new business owners. For example, the firm's Web site advertises incorporation filings for a single-member limited liability corporation starting at $395. It also offers trademark, patent and copyright services in flat-rate packages. The firm handles only basic filings, and hands off the business to other attorneys if a matter becomes complicated.
   

Clients have responded favorably to the firm's flat-rate offerings, he said, and he and Lapin are busier than they expected to be when they started out. While the firm's staple clients are start-up business or solo entrepreneurs, established businesses have sought out its services because of the low prices.

Natoli acknowledged that his firm isn't alone in offering flat-rate legal services, but claimed that it is unique in pinpointing the entrepreneurial community.

That focus is a smart move, said law firm marketing expert Larry Bodine of Larry Bodine Marketing in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

"Nobody wants to hire a generalist," he said. "You don't want a guy who knows a little bit about everything. It's a benefit to have a specialty like entrepreneurs. That's big right now because people are losing their jobs" and starting their own companies.

Solo practitioners and small firms have been increasingly open to flat-fee arrangements, Bodine said, although he warned that it might not be the best idea to post rates on a firm's Web site, as Natoli-Lapin does. Advertising bargain basement prices could create the perception that your law firm is akin to a legal clinic, he said.

"Generally, you don't want to talk money until you have them on the phone," Bodine said. "You are going to attract people who are shopping around just based on price, and that isn't necessarily what you want."

But it's the fees disclosure that brings in clients who are sometimes intimidated by the process of retaining a lawyer, Natoli said. Figuring out how to set prices low enough to lure clients but high enough to sustain the firm was a learning process that took six months, however. The firm didn't necessarily make money on the first matters it handled because its initial flat rates weren't high enough. However, Natoli remains optimistic about the future of the firm and believes that more attorneys in small firms will have to take creative approaches to thrive.

"I think you will see more of these types of practices emerge," he said. "There are a lot of displaced attorneys out there, and they are going to have to look outside the box."

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As marketers, for the last 9 days we've all been transfixed by the protests in Tehran, made accessible by Twitter messages leading to online videos. It's been dubbed the first protest movement enabled by technology. But the New York Times notes that you can't always trust what you read on Twitter.

This underscores the doubts raised in my article  Twitter Not Effective for Law Firm Marketing. He's an excerpt from the Times:

Buyer Beware. Nothing on Twitter has been verified. While users can learn from experience to trust a certain Twitter account, it is still a matter of trust. And just as Twitter has helped get out first-hand reports from Tehran, it has also spread inaccurate information, perhaps even disinformation. An article published by the Web site True/Slant highlighted some of the biggest errors on Twitter that were quickly repeated and amplified by bloggers: that three million protested in Tehran last weekend (more like a few hundred thousand); that the opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi was under house arrest (he was being watched); that the president of the election monitoring committee declared the election invalid last Saturday (not so).

Watch Your Back. Not only is it hard to be sure that what appears on Twitter is accurate, but some Twitterers may even be trying to trick you. Like Rick’s Café, Twitter is thick with discussion of who is really an informant or agent provocateur. One longstanding pro-Moussavi Twitter account, mousavi1388, which has grown to 16,000 followers, recently tweeted, “WARNING: http://www.mirhoseyn.ir/ & http://www.mirhoseyn.com/ are fake, DONT join. ... #IranElection11:02 AM Jun 16th from web.” The implication was that government agents had created those accounts to mislead the public. ABCNews.com announced that Twitter users who said they were repeating (“retweeting”) the posts from its reporter, Jim Sciutto, had been fabricating the material to make Mr. Sciutto seem to be backing the government. “I became an unwitting victim,” he wrote.

Twitter Is Self-Correcting but a Misleading Gauge. For all the democratic traits of Twitter, not all users are equal. A popular, trusted user matters more and, as shown above, can expose others who are suspected of being fakers. In that way, Twitter is a community, with leaders and cliques. Of course, Twitter is a certain kind of community — technology-loving, generally affluent and Western-tilting. In that way, Twitter is a very poor tool for judging popular sentiment in Iran and trying to assess who won the presidential election. Mr. Ahmadinejad, who presumably has some supporters somewhere in Iran, is losing in a North Korean-style landslide on Twitter.

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Former associate Venus Yvette Springs, an African-American lawyer at Mayer Brown’s Charlotte, N.C., office has filed a Title VII discrimination suit that claims the law firm used her as a “marketing tool” before firing her in 2008.

So what? says Heather M. Milligan, Director of Marketing at Barger & Wolen in Los Angeles, and author of The Legal Watercooler. She derided  the claims in the lawsuit, saying, "I hate to break the news to anyone reading this: EVERY lawyer in the firm is a potential “marketing tool” for the marketing department."

Springs, a magna cum laude graduate of Duke Law School, alleges that when she was hired in 2007 there were only two other African-Americans at the firm’s Charlotte office and no others in the real estate practice group where she worked. (For a copy of the complaint, visit Above the Law).

“Springs was hired, in whole or in part, because the Charlotte office needed to increase its number of African-American attorneys,” the suit says. “Upon information and belief, firm documents refer to the hiring of an African-American as a ‘marketing tool.’ Springs was used as a marketing tool, asked to attend on behalf of Mayer Brown bar and other functions where diversity would be perceived as a positive.”

Springs says she was fired despite high marks from her superiors in part to make way for a white female employee hired to bring in business from Bank of America. Above the Law reported that there were significant layoffs at Mayer Brown in November. Charlotte and New York were hit hard when the firm let go of 33 attorneys just before Thanksgiving. Mayer Brown said in a statement that they believe her claims have no merit.

"Grow up," Milligan wrote. "We’re all tools of the firm because we are part of the firm’s success or lack thereof (yes, even I am a tool of the firm). "I hate to break the news to anyone reading this: EVERY lawyer in the firm is a potential “marketing tool” for the marketing department.

• You write well? I’m making you editor of the blog. Tool.
• You speak well? You are off to that conference. Tool.
• You present well? You are representing the firm at the exhibit hall table at the industry conference. Tool.
• You social?? I’m sending you to any and every cocktail party, table of ten I need to fill. Tool.

"We all have a role to play. Those who embrace these roles will find success within the firm's political structure, and through their business development efforts. Those who reject it ... well, good luck finding a new job once your lawsuit hits the Internet."

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McDermott Will & Emery issued its second layoff memo this year on Thursday. The grim news: the loss of 25 lawyers and 47 administrative staff.

The elimination of 72 people is on top off a reduction of 149 jobs in February, which included 60 attorneys. The combined hit represents about 8 percent of the 1,100 attorneys the firm had in February. 

The lack of work in the recession remains the culprit. As Chairman Harvey Freishtat explained in the memo: "This difficult decision results from a careful review of the current and projected needs of our clients. While we are seeing signs of recovery in some practice areas, demand for transactional-related services continues to lag."

The firm, as usual, did not break down the layoffs by office. But some of the victims included first-year associates who started last fall.

For more info see the Chicago Tribune article.

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Ed Schechter, who built of Duane Morris from an unheard of middling firm in Philadelphia to the 25-office, 700- lawyer powerhouse it is today, resigned, ending his eight-year tenure as chief marketing officer at Duane Morris. 

The handwriting was on the wall when regime change occurred, and Shelly Bonovitz stepped down as firm Chairman in 2008.  Sources tell the Legal Intelligencer  that the firm may have forced Schechter's hand. 

Under Ed’s leadership, Duane Morris Marketing Program was Ranked No. 1 among the Top 50 Law Firms in Marketing and Communications. Additionally, he was recognized as "Marketing Director of the Year" in the 2007 Hubbard One Excellence in Legal Marketing Awards. See
http://www.lawmarketing.com/pages/articles.asp?Action=Article&ArticleID=581.

Schechter told the paper he had been thinking about resigning for a while, and that he felt he had nothing left to accomplish at Duane Morris. The firm didn't have a CMO before it hired Schechter eight years ago, and he built up the marketing department basically from scratch. 

There were two obvious changes at Duane Morris that might have pushed Schechter out, but he and the firm denied that either played a role in his departure. The firm laid off several marketing staffers in August 2008, a few months after John Soroko succeeded Sheldon Bonovitz as the firm's chair; Bonovitz was a marketing visionary. 

Soroko says the firm plans to fill Schechter's position but that it will take "great care" in doing so.

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In the latest sign that the recession in the legal profession may end soon, businesses will once again begin increasing their law budgets in the second half of this year according to the study BTI Mid-Year Spending Update and Outlook.

Key findings of the study include:

• Corporate legal spending at large companies will grow nearly 5% over the next 6 months, bringing overall market growth to only negative 1.4 percent for the year.
• Clear signs of renewed legal spending after a sharp decline of 7% since year-end 2008.
• Leading the growth in spending will be the practice areas of regulatory compliance, employment, securities and bankruptcy/corporate restructuring law.
• Year-to-date, the hardest hit core practice areas have been corporate, securities and finance, and intellectual property.

The legal profession was clobbered by the recession beginning in 2008. As of today, 102 major law firms are listed on the Law.com Layoff List. Larger firms have laid off 10,015 people this year (3,851 lawyers, 6,250 staff) according to LawShucks.

For the full story, visit the LawMarketing Portal at www.lawmarketing.com

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As you know I work a sales trainer, teaching lawyers how to get new business and coaching them on how to originate new files. 

I also operate the LawMarketing Portal, Apollo Business Development, the LawMarketing Listserv, Apollo Webinars, the LawMarketing Store, edit Originate! -- the business development newsletter, and write this blog.

You may need to know that I am relocating my office from Tucson, Arizona, back to Glen Ellyn, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.  I expect to re-open for business on Thursday, May 21. 

For shipping and deliveries the new address is:

691 Wingate Road
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

My phone number and email address remain the same. I'll see you soon in the city of deep-dish pizzas and the president of the US.

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Whatever you do, don't miss the legendary Steve Barrett in the LIVE webinar this Thursday: Getting a Return on Investment From Your Marketing Initiatives

Are you spending on law firm marketing and getting less to show for it? Are you unable to show any ROI at all?

Steve is see-in-the-dark smart about marketing and has been the CMO at (count 'em) Philadelphia's Drinker Biddle; Seattle's Perkins Coie; Paul Hastings in Los Angeles; and Choate Hall in Boston. He's been a force to reckon with in law firm marketing for 20 years.

Take a guess at which of the following initiatives are high-yield, and which are a total waste of money:

Join us This Thursday  as Steve reveals the answers.  He will also discuss how to create a "velocity" spreadsheet of clients that are growing, leaving, new or shrinking, how client teams generate revenue and making cross-marketing work.  The bottom line of all his points is pursuing initiatives that give you a return on investment.

Who should attend:

• CMOs and Marketing Directors
• Marketing Partners
• Members of the firm Executive and Management committees.
• Any lawyer who wants to spend a buck, and make ten back.

Don't put it off.  Register now.

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In a horrendous tragedy resulting from the recession in the legal profession, a 59-year-old lawyer with Kilpatrick Stockton who was due to lose his job for economic reasons was found dead in his Washington office this morning.  He shot himself in the head, according to police.

Mark I. Levy  was discovered by a co-worker about 8 a.m. in his 11th-floor office at Kilpatrick Stockton, in the 600 block of 14th Street NW, police said. They said evidence indicates that Levy shot himself in the head with a .38-caliber handgun.

The firm, headquartered in Atlanta, had no comment on his death today beyond a statement calling him a "highly respected" colleague and offering condolences to his family. He was a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration.

Kilpatrick Stockton, which employs scores of people in offices in the United States, Europe and the United Arab Emirates, announced Tuesday that 24 lawyers would be laid off.

According to the Washington Post, police learned that Levy had been told that he was among those being let go, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case. Stockton Kilpatrick's Web site says Levy was head of the firm's Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Practice.

The Post said Levy's layoff was effective today and he was given four months of severance pay.

Diane Prucino, a co-managing partner of the century-old firm in Atlanta, confirmed the layoffs Tuesday in a statement quoted by the Fulton County Daily Report.

"These actions are driven by the economic downturn," she said, adding that the belt-tightening at Kilpatrick Stockton was "structured to further the long-term success of the firm and to enhance the achievement of our strategic goals."

The Post reported that Levy left a note in his home, saying he loved his family and instructing his wife on how to handle finances and other matters. He apparently had spent some time recently getting his affairs in order. Levy's teenage son found the note this morning and called Montgomery County police. An officer was at the home when someone called from the law firm. The officer spoke with the caller, and learned of the suicide. The Montgomery officer then broke the news to the family, according to the source.

Computer records show that Levy swiped his entrance card to get into the building at 607 14th Street from a parking garage about 5:30 a.m., the source said, adding that Levy was the registered owner of the handgun.

According to his biography on the firm's Web site, Levy, a Yale Law School graduate, joined the Justice Department in 1993 as deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Division, overseeing 60 lawyers handling appellate litigation. He argued 16 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court during his career, the Web site says.

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