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

A giant nutrition label grabs your eye at the Minnesota airport. It's not for an energy drink or pack of lunch meat, its an advertisement for a "100% Lean Law Firm.  Newbreedlaw.com."

As a general counsel or client executive, I'd like what I see: 0g fat. Equally divided among six key practice areas. Putting clients first: 100%.  And my favorite: Obnoxious lawyer schtick: 0%.

It's the innovative new ad campaign by Halleland Lewis Niland & Johnson. The airport ads are so clever it makes people stop in their tracks and pull out their cell phone cameras.

Marketing genius Dustin Sanick, of the ad agency Kohnstamm Communications Inc. in St. Paul, explained: "The campaign highlights the specific practice groups and how their client-focused approach along with their applied business practicality maximize their clients' business results.  The ad doesn't bloat the groups, but keeps them 'lean" for their clients."

It's  smart marketing approach, because most law firms promote all their dozens of practice groups, and as a result doesn't promote any of them at all.  By targeting six practices, the firm has created a comprehensible idea for clients to wrap their minds around.

It helps that the firm was founded as recently as 1996, and thus is not burdened with hundreds of years of stultifying tradition.

The firm's unconventional website states, "A look around our firm will tell you a great deal about the way our people work. All attorneys have offices of equal size. We’ve invested heavily in the quality and efficiency of our common and meeting spaces. We focus not on hierarchy, but teamwork — because you get better results that way."

Partner Keith Halleland sums it up, "What could be harder than creating a brand around a law firm?  But Kohnstamm's relentless PR efforts have truly helped take us to a whole level of business."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

"We are painfully familiar with client complaints that large law firms charge too much for new associates who know too little about the practice of law to be worth it," said Prof. Silvia Hodges, who is a full-time faculty member at Emerson College in Boston, where she teaches professional/legal services marketing. She is also an adjunct associate professor of law at Fordham University in New York.

"The clients may have a broader complaint. For all their glittering academic records, these young lawyers not only don't know much about the realities of the practice, they know even less about the business world.

The new LexisNexis survey reveals that law school students are feeling the impact of the current turmoil within the legal industry. More than half of law school students surveyed (54%) say that the current state of the legal industry has made them consider career alternatives, while almost two-thirds (65%) believe law school does not teach the practical business skills needed to practice law.

As a former litigator, I remember that law school was several years of reading statutes and appellate court opinions. Absolutely nothing was taught about running a law firm and getting clients. It makes sense that the survey found that one fifth (21%) of students say that based on the changing legal marketplace, they regret attending law school.

"Law schools have also started down this road. Some have long offered joint J.D. and MBA programs but as a practical matter that effort is too long and too expensive to attract all but the most obsessed. Instead, by my count, at least 17 schools have created courses that purport to teach basic practice management concepts," Hodges says.

She makes sense when she says a model "law business" survey course should include:

• A taste of business concepts and strategy
• Finance and economic indicators
• Firm governance and organization to firm ownership
• Law firm economics
• Client relationship management
• Marketing and business development
• Human resources

"The financial collapse of 2008 has given this discussion new urgency, and a do-or-die burden on legal practitioners. The young generation is called to take a fresh look at their profession and how they approach client needs, because, to vary the cliché, it's the business model, stupid. And no one wants a stupid lawyer," she says.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

The LMA national confererence is coming up on March 10-12 in Denver.  However, some marketers are having trouble getting approval to go because of the poor economy and cost-cutting at their firms.

It's not cheap.  Registration for a regular member is $995, and non-members pay $1445.  Rooms at the Hyatt Regency are going for $209 to $249.  This makes law firm CFOs choke, because they understand nothing about law firm marketing.

To the rescue, the LMA has created "A Customizable Letter To Your Manager" that marketers can customize and use in support of their attendance. See page 8 of the document at  http://bit.ly/7zeuWJ  Here's an excerpt:

I appreciate that my attendance will represent a considerable investment in terms of time and money so you’ll also find a breakdown of expected costs and my plan for keeping the expense to an absolute minimum. You’ll also read my plan for providing you and the team with a full post-conference report to ensure we get maximum value from the investment.

The LMA Annual Conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for the entire legal marketing community to learn from the leading practitioners in the sector. The event is in its 24th year and regularly attracts more than 1,000 attendees from firms just like ours.

 

This year’s event is especially important because in such changing economic times, we need to learn how to best respond.

This is persuasive stuff!  If you get to go, I hope to see you there. I already got the OK from my boss, my wife/CFO who guards the family grocery money.  But then, she used to me a marketing director herself, so it was an easy pitch.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The Association of Corporate Counsel just launched a secret database where in-house lawyers can anonymously rank their law firms on a scale of 1 to 5. It combines the controversial features of Yelp.com and Avvo.com. 

It’s like Yelp.com, the popular restaurant-ranking website where customers post their frank and sometimes devastating comments about where they dined.  Launched on October 20, 2009, the ACC Value Index has been a year in development and already has 1,000 evaluations, reviewing almost 300 law firms.  The difference from Yelp.com is that the law firms have no ability to see the reviews about them. See Information for law firms on the ACC site.

So, it’s time to get friendly with your in-house counterparts, and ask them to print out what’s being said about your firm.  The average overall rating is currently 3.88 with a maximum rating of 5.00 and minimum rating of 1.50, so not many law firms are getting top ratings.

The value Index “is also an instrument to help shape the thinking and dialog between firms and in-house counsel about what constitutes ‘good value’ in legal services,” according to an ACC document.

The one-page evaluation inquires into only 6 areas:

1. Understands objectives/expectations
2. Legal expertise
3. Efficiency/process management
4. Responsiveness/communication
5. Predictable cost/budgeting skills
6. Results delivered/execution.

In-house lawyer can score their law firm 1=poor, 2-fair, 3-good, 4=very good and 5=excellent.

The form also asks “Good value; would use this firm again?” with the options “yes” or “no.”  In-house lawyers can make and review comments online by visiting http://www.acc.com/valueindex  or sending an email to accvalueindex.@acc.com.

Just beneath that in-house lawyers can publish their free-form comments, and put a caption or title on it.  Commenters can choose whether to show their full contact information or remain anonymous.  In some ways it resembles the easily-gamed rating system at Avvo.com uses, where a profile is created about a lawyer – whether he wants one or not – and a ranking between 1 and 10 is produced. 

For the rest of the story visit the LawMarketing Portal at http://bit.ly/49KDpx

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In this snippet from my presentation at the Get A Life Conference in Chicago, you'll hear how you can:

• The three places where new business comes from for law firms.
• Why effective legal selling is not "selling."
• Questions to ask in a new-business call.
• Why you should not make cold calls.
• The No. 1 way for a lawyer to establish their credibility.
• How to find the time to do marketing and business development.
• Why you should join a trade association - not a bar association.
• Why doing business development activities will generate results.
• How to get new files by visiting clients.
• Learn who the lawyers are that clients will buy services from.

It's on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl8G3LYCMoM

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Blogger Adrian Dayton, author of the “Marketing Strategy and The Law” blog, interviewed me about business development strategy for law firms.

Among the topics we covered are:

• Three key elements of a marketing plan.
• Practice group profitability.
• Proving a return-on-investment for marketing initiatives.
• Focusing on clients by industry, not by practice group.
• LinkedIn, which has 850,000 lawyer profiles.
• Blogging, which includes some 4,000 attorney blogs.
• How a narrow focus makes a blog succeed.
• Caveats about lawyers going online.
• The role of Twitter.
• A prediction for the future.

You can read it on the LawMarketing Portal at www.lawmarketing.com.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The recession in the legal profession appears to have bottomed out, according to a new Hildebrandt Peer Monitor Report for the second quarter of 2009.

The bright spot is that demand growth, defined as growth in billable hours, for bankruptcy is up 22% compared to a year ago. Business bankruptcy filings increased from 14,319 nationwide in Q1 2009 to 16,014 in Q2, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

However, hours billed to litigation, patents, IP litigation, labor & employment, M&A, tax, corporate and real estate are all down.

"However, litigation appeared to be strengthening, especially for more premium matters. If this trend continues into the second half of the year, it will help mitigate – though not completely make up for – the shortfall in other practice areas,” the report states.  “Demand growth, should show signs of recovery in the second half of the year if the general economy continues to improve. However, any such improvement, if it occurs, will be modest at best.”

For more on this story, visit the LawMarketing Portal at www.lawmarketing.com

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

What is it about the nature of some professionals that stops them being great in business development? UK marketer Peter Kane examines 10 of the big issues – and at the same time suggests ways to help. The areas are also song titles on his  iPod.

"I’m willing to give you an insight into my muddled musical taste in the hope it will provide an easy way for you to remember each issue. Let’s kick-off with a classic..."

Strangers In The Night – Frank Sinatra

One myth around business development is that you need to constantly reach out to people you have never spoken to before – something which quite understandably scares the pants off the average cautious lawyer. But, the reverse is true. People should start by selling through their best contacts and clients.

Exhaust those first. Then and only then, begin the arduous and expensive journey to engaging cold prospects.

Not only is it easier and more natural to invest in relationships with people whom you already know – it is also a lot quicker. Developing deep personal trust and credibility takes years. If someone has no awareness of you or your firm at the moment, chances of winning work from them are slim.

The Only One I Know – The Charlatans

Many lawyers have deep expertise in a particular area which is a big plus when delivering technical work. However, when valuable conversations require breadth to focus on a clients’ business – rather than simply a particular specialism, the lawyer can feel exposed, so retreats into their comfort zone leaving the client frustrated.

As Catriona Tulley, who has worked in business development with 3i and KPMG, notes, “Sometimes it’s better to know a little about a lot rather than a lot about a little. Combine this with a fear of being exposed, and some people cling to the comfort blanket of what they know.”

To see the other eight issues and the rest of the story, visit the LawMarketing Portal at www.lawmarketing.com.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Incisive Media researched the Fortune 100 to find out which law firms they used in 2008 in each of the following practice areas:

• Corporate transactions
• Torts and negligence
• Commercial law and contracts litigation
• Employment and labor litigation
• Intellectual property.

The 46 law firms that were mentioned most often are listed below. The list organized by the largest companies can be found here. You can buy the entire list of who-counsels-whom from Incisive Media for $900.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

From the Wall Street Journal:

"In the last few months, law firms have become increasingly aware that training lawyers in marketing and business development is a key way to drive business. According to a February survey of 120 marketing directors at large law firms -- conducted by legal market researcher, BTI Consulting Group -- business development is one of the few marketing areas where law firm executives are most willing to increase spending. Nearly 70% said they planned to provide more marketing coaching to lawyers.

"Marketing coaching fills in where law school falls short on training. Firms are enlisting coaches who work one-on-one with their lawyers on how to keep up with existing clients and court new ones. While it's certainly not a new concept to the legal world, this kind of strategic networking becomes critical as business wanes. "As business falls off everywhere, all of us need to have an eye on where the next thing is coming from," says Edward Winslow, partner at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP, an 85-lawyer firm based in Greensboro, N.C.

"Larry Bodine, an Illinois-based law firm business-development consultant, has been working nights and weekends to accommodate his new influx of clients, which has tripled from 20 to 60 lawyers since January. "Business development is not something taught in law school," he says. "Basically you spend three years reading appellate court opinions and you don't learn anything about building a clientele," he says.

"While many firms are looking outside to hire coaches, others are ramping up internal efforts. At Boston-based Nixon Peabody, where the marketing budget is down 20% this year, chief marketing officer Mark Greene says there has been a distinct shift in how resources are allocated, with more emphasis on coaching individual lawyers. "A year ago the department was more focused on marketing in the traditional sense of brand creation," says Mr. Greene. "We have shifted resources toward one-on-one relationship building."

For more about business development training, visit www.ApolloBusinessDevelopment.com

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks