The law firm newsletter has long been a mainstay of client engagement and business development at law firms. As firms moved from paper brochures to electronic communications, readership statistics became increasingly accessible, but the news was not always good.

Whenever there is a significant case or legislative amendment, law firms race to send out an update, but we hear an increasingly common lament, “nobody reads our legal updates”. According to Mailchimp benchmarks, the legal industry is slightly above average with a 21.14% open rate and 2.71% click through rate. While not the worst statistics – there are industries which fair . . . [more]

Increasingly, law firms are learning to appreciate the value of individual lawyer marketing plans. But paperwork is only the first step. A plan is useless without implementation. Yet how does a firm convince a busy lawyer to implement on those plans?

Too often, in firms that require personal plans, lawyers will begrudgingly prepare them but pay little more than lip service to them thereafter. Some firms put carrots and sticks in place in an effort to ensure implementation. For example, they might tie in part of compensation with successful accomplishment of a lawyer’s personal plan. This has mixed results, as . . . [more]

As 2018 ended and 2019 began many of us made New Year resolutions. Resolutions are typically about making a change to an undesired behavior or to accomplish a personal goal. The goal is not always directly to improve ourselves (eat better, go to the gym more, spend less) but could be about how we treat others or how we do business. One year I made a resolution to stop drinking craft beer because the big brewers were having a hard time. That one didn’t last very longJ.

By the time you read this, many New Year resolutions will have failed. . . . [more]

It’s common that the type “A” personality attracted to the practice of law would similarly be enticed to take on leadership positions when on offer. These may be external – such as a board opportunity, or internal – such as a chance to serve on a committee, as head of a practice group or client team, on the executive or as managing partner.

Often, the decision to pursue or accept these positions is made from an emotional standpoint. We want to be seen as desired. We want that title on our biography. We want to be seen as someone who . . . [more]

Canada’s Anti-spam law (CASL) is ambiguous and very onerous to comply with. The Parliamentary INDU Committee, that studied the law, has made numerous recommendations in order to provide needed clarity to the law. In December 2017 their report stated “The Act and its regulations require clarifications to reduce the cost of compliance and better focus enforcement.” The Government has responded confirming they intended to act on the recommendations.

While we wait for that certainty the CRTC has issued a further Guidance document, Guidelines on the Commission’s approach to section 9 of Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), Compliance and Enforcement Information . . . [more]

Content marketing is pretty simple, it involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote you or your brand but is intended to stimulate interest. It is a proven strategy for finding new leads and for being thought of as an authority on the topic. For lawyers, especially those early in their career, it has become almost a rite of passage.

I was recently asked to review a book authored by a number of lawyers across Canada. The material was excellent but it became quickly obvious that although . . . [more]

Planning – any planning – is better than doing none at all. For this reason, I encourage lawyers to engage in whatever level of complexity of planning they can muster. If that means spending a lunch hour talking about business goals with your partners, or writing down a few goals on a napkin, so be it. But for those who truly understand the value of focussed planning, I encourage you to go a step further to begin to truly manage your resources and take control of your business operations. You can do this by evolving, over time, the type of . . . [more]

Over the last number of years I have been sharing my thoughts on marketing, communication and business development for lawyers and law firms on SLAW. During that time everything from Pippa Middleton and Justin Bieber, to client experience, intranets, personal branding, proposals, client meetings and social media has been written about. I have made a point to share my thoughts on how we can be better as client managers and at using the resources we have available to us.

Our industry continues to evolve as do the expectations of our clients. Our clients want more and to simple stay competitive, . . . [more]

Lawyers are intelligent, capable human beings who sometimes find it almost impossible to manage their time well. The reason could be that too much is expected of them; that they like to do things very well before moving on and that takes time; that they under-estimated how long an activity will take; that when activities involve dealing with others, time becomes a variable; that they have to spend valuable time cleaning up someone else’s work; that they have other people’s work dumped on them…the list goes on.

These are reasons but not excuses. Productivity is usually tied to efficiency and . . . [more]

Back when I started in Law Firm Marketing, the IT department was God and Marketing was a vestigial part of Admin. Everything that didn’t earn fees was dumped in Marketing. We took care of golf tournaments, firm giveaways, and oh yes, holiday cards. We didn’t decide what events would be run or newsletters issued; we just did what we were told. Many of us could scarcely keep from muttering, “Did you want fries with that?” as we left a meeting.

IT, on the other hand, decided what software the firm would use, what hardware to run it on, and what . . . [more]

Precedent figures heavily in most law practises, so it’s understandable that lawyers would rely heavily on past experiences and belief systems in the running of their lives. Life experience can create wisdom. It can also lead to our greatest weak spots. In over twenty years of coaching lawyers, my primary goal has been to help them to identify and overcome old belief systems that are no longer working for them but that they continue to use to the detriment of their careers.

For example:

• A lawyer who is held back from partnership because of a lack of delegation, but can’t

Summer provides options. You can slow down, take more time, slack a little around the office or you can use it as a time to refocus where you are going when things ramp up in September. Some offices are very busy in the summer and don’t have time to think of the coming seasons. Of course there is always time for business development, no matter which category you fall into.

If you are lucky enough to step away for a bit in the summer, great you deserve it. We all need to recharge and time away from the office is . . . [more]