Marketing of philanthropic activities is not a new concept and now appears to be the norm for most law firms with their involvement in various charitable campaigns, fundraising events and pro bono work. What is surprising is the low profile these activities have on law firm websites and the lack of a consistent approach within the profession. An informal survey of 15 large to mid-size law firm websites found Corporate Responsibility under the following sections:

• “About Us” section – 10 sites
• “Student Recruitment” section – 4 sites
• “Home Page” – 1 site had a direct link on its home page

In a previous column, I talked about managing expectations when you hire a marketing consultant or agency. Being clear about why you’re hiring a consultant and ensuring that everyone in your firm understands those expectations will get the relationship off to a good start. 

But how do you go about choosing the right marketing consultant for your needs? First, Beware the Brother-in-Law! So many law firms find their suppliers through their families. In-house marketing staff cringe when they hear the words, “My brother-in-law can do that.” That choice is being made not because of what is best for the firm, . . . [more]

As we begin the new year, a lot of my clients are developing their 2011 marketing plans, and that means I’m getting a lot of questions about what they ‘should’ do to market their practices this year. Here’s part of an inquiry I received from an existing client:

I simply must know what works for lawyers in my practice area, in a similar geographic area. What I need to do is to focus on best practices of other attorneys specifically in these areas of law, and replicate them to the extent possible….

In other words, I need a direction: cable

We are all creatures of habit and, at some point in our lives, we have tried to change our habits – whether to become more physically active, stop smoking or save money, there are countless ways we look to make change in our lives. Unfortunately, we often fail because the goal isn’t realistic and we don’t figure out how to make this change a part of our lives.

Trying to change a habit can be scary because we look too far ahead, rather than focusing on the task at hand. There is a reason many support groups use the “one . . . [more]

Lawyers frequently lament to me that they wish they could focus on the practice of law, rather than being perpetually barraged with new and un-billable marketing and technology demands. There is a palpable longing for the halcyon days when such a pure life was allegedly attainable. The fundamental approach to marketing in the golden age — still deeply rooted in many lawyers’ DNA — was “Do good work.” 

Full-stop. Put another way, the prevailing ethos was “by one’s expertise shall ye be known.” Smart lawyers excelled. Smart lawyers who also happened to have a way with people were superstars. 

Against . . . [more]

So, congratulations on the merger and keeping a lid on the news until recently. I didn’t see one leak of this news. It’s quite a feat keeping the media at bay. I know; I’ve worked on two mergers. They get one whiff of merger negotiations and they pounce on your most vulnerable chatterbox. I would bet you had plenty of partners who were DY-ING to tell the story. Those of us on the marketing side of law… well, we like a little drama and plus, we can be controlling too.

Media can be relentless. They try all points of entry . . . [more]

Our firm recently launched a LinkedIn Campaign for Lawyers which encouraged all lawyers to create and maintain a profile on LinkedIn. Hicks Morley has a company profile on LinkedIn that contains the profiles of approximately 80 members. While a company account is beneficial to set up as a way to gain access to these profiles, the real marketing benefit comes from the exposure of individual lawyer profiles.

LinkedIn was chosen as the primary social media marketing tool for the following reasons:

• Business oriented professional online directory 
• Key resource for subject matter experts, referrals & new clients
• Ability to connect with

This time last year I wrote a post making Web Law Predictions for 2010. My success rate was admittedly mixed – the idea of law firms jamming cell phone transmissions was, in hindsight, a little odd – while my predictions in other areas were surprisingly accurate of the way things played out. The rise of the mobile legal web, rapid mainstream adoption (and increased noise) of social media channels, the game-changing impact of tablet computing, and the ramped up production of “real time” spam were all favorable predictions, in my view. I found the process to be a fruitful . . . [more]

Recently, I have encountered a number of lawyers who have found themselves unemployed due to cuts or downsizing at their firms. Some of these lawyers were baffled that they had been let go; they had experience and were good lawyers who did their work well, kept their noses to the grindstone, made sure the work they were given by their practice groups or supervising partners got done, and met their billable hour requirements. They didn’t waste time socializing and kept out of the way, focusing on their billable work. But the very things that these lawyers thought should have kept . . . [more]

Location-based tools and offerings have been a growing trend on the web. We haven’t yet felt the full impact of this movement in the legal world, but recent developments by Google, Facebook and others will likely accelerate the process. Here are a few examples of location services and their potential impact in the legal context: 

Google Places 

In late October 2010, Google introduced “Place Search”, a new kind of search result that places more emphasis on local businesses with a “bricks and mortar” presence. The change alters the results web users see when they perform a Google search for the . . . [more]

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to corporate counsel over the past few weeks. The examples they give of how their external law firms “don’t get it” never cease to amaze me. For instance, the GC of a large financial institution said she was once told by her litigation counsel, “Look, it’s our factum; that argument stays in.” Not only did the argument not stay in, but neither did the law firm! 

I’m sure most readers will think, “No one in our firm would be that stupid.” So let me ask you this: if an important client offered to . . . [more]

So, what are the other firms doing? 

How many times have your heard that? It seems in this industry we are only concerned with what everyone else is doing – looking back rather than ahead.

Let’s look at an example that was shared with me recently. In a meeting discussing an important, and potentially problematic client issue, it became apparent that the lawyers in the meeting were focused solely on what other firms were doing to deal with the same issue. 

On the plus side, the practice group understood that being proactive and providing solutions is exactly the type of . . . [more]