denotes premium content | Jan 9 2009 Legal Marketing archive
Volume 1 Issue 4
Editor's letter
The past couple of months have been pretty hectic here at the Legal Marketing office in London.
Ark Group’s seventh annual ‘Strategic Marketing in the Legal Profession’ conference was a great opportunity to catch up with readers of the magazine – and new faces in law-firm marketing – to chew the fat about a number of issues.
I returned to the office enlightened, with plenty of ideas for future issues of the magazine. Even better, I was greeted by an e-mail from editorial-board member David Wallace, kindly inviting me to join him and his team at the 2006 European Practice Management Awards, hosted by the Managing Partners’ forum. This immediately gave me an excuse to indulge in some retail therapy to ensure that I looked the part for the black-tie event.
Thankfully, the time spent scouring the boutiques of Kingston was not wasted – with David’s firm Shepherd & Wedderburn beating off competition from major City law and accountancy firms to scoop the award in the ‘Best Marketing Campaign’ category. I would like to take this opportunity to, once again, congratulate David and his team on their success.
The award was particularly special, as it was presented to David on his last day with the firm, where he has headed up the marketing function for more than six years. He will now devote his time to the management of his business and marketing consultancy. It is with regret, therefore, that
I announce that David will no longer be on the editorial board. Although he will be writing a regular column for the magazine instead, which you can look forward to soon.
Sadly, David is joined in his departure by another valuable board member, Gillian Khan, who is leaving Berwin Leighton Paisner to join a firm in the real-estate sector.
I hope that you will join me in wishing both Gillian and David every success in their new roles.
Although it is sad to lose Gillian and David, there is a silver lining in that I now welcome Marie Armstrong on to the Legal Marketing team. Some of you may remember Marie as an author in the last issue, when she wrote about the internationalisation of her firm, Reed Smith. Marie now joins the magazine’s editorial board, bringing with her a wealth of experience in business development and marketing at regional and international levels. Having had a very enjoyable – and useful – chat with her over lunch at the Ark Group event, I have no doubt that she will be a fantastic addition to the board. You can find out more about Marie in the ‘Meet the board’ column on page 25.
As always, if you have any feedback or article suggestions, you can contact me at kclifton@ark-group.com.
I hope that you enjoy this issue.
Kate Clifton
Editor
Features
Masterclass: Competitive tendering
It is not unusual for law firms and their marketing departments to periodically question their approach to tenders. Sometimes, a run of unexpected losses can trigger deliberations about what the firm should be doing differently. Even if it is winning a healthy share of the available opportunities, the business-development team might wonder if there are any techniques or stratagems it ought to be using to improve the success rate.
Masterclass: Existing clients
Recently, my mother decided that my father needed a new pair of trousers and marched him off, sulking, to the local gentlemen’s outfitters. They had been to this shop before, but they weren’t loyal (or even impressed) customers.
You can imagine my surprise, when I met them both later, at seeing my father laden with bags and bearing a huge grin. He was evangelical about his shopping expedition and described the shop with a reverence usually reserved for malt whiskey.
Case study: Halliwells LLP
It is fair to say that over the past five years there has been a fundamental shift in the perception of the role of marketing and business development within the legal sector.
During the 1990’s, following the relaxation of the promotional guidelines by the English Law Society, legal practices recruited ‘marketing’ people to fulfil what was, by and large, a marketing/communications role – brochures, events, advertising and hospitality.
Masterclass: New industry business development
As with any strategic planning, research and analysis is required to establish priorities as a basis for formulating a business-development plan. It is necessary to understand various marketing and competitor information, which is needed to track, analyse and evaluate in order to achieve specific business gains.
Case study: Fenwick & West
Efficient, cost-effective business development begins with your marketing strategy. Every firm has marketing headcount and financial resource limits. If I accepted every advertising or sponsorship ‘opportunity’, I would run out of my annual budget by March.
Masterclass: New-business generation
A rainmaker not only increases a firm’s revenue stream, but also optimises relationships in a way that encourages loyalty and respect from clients.
Over the years, there has been much discussion as to what makes a rainmaker in the professional services.
Cover feature: Nurturing talent
Fee earning versus non-fee earning. The very words convey that one has a greater value than the other. It is of no surprise then that the majority of lawyers are far more comfortable doing their legal work – using the skills and knowledge they have spent years acquiring – than having to justify lower utilisation rates because they have been involved with time-consuming non-fee earning activities.
Profile: Beverly Landais
I’m a big Harry Potter fan and if I have a role model, it’s Hermione Granger,” says Beverly Landais, director of marketing and business development at global firm Baker & McKenzie LLP, with a smile. “I know it sounds a little cheesy, but you’ve got someone in that character who’s really bright, but also practical, fiercely loyal and hugely determined. What better role model? So, it’s her, but without the big hair.”
Opinion: Joe Calve
It has become all but axiomatic among the cognoscenti in this odd little sub-culture of ours that there is a Himalaya of a barrier blocking legal marketers from achieving success. That would be the law firms themselves.
I don’t know about you, but this is more than passing strange to me.
Regulars
Marketing tips
One of the surest ways to ensure your clients do not wander off to the competition is to deliver not just good, but outstanding client service. However, you will not be alone in doing this. Lawyers around the world are coming up with innovative and personal ways of ratcheting up their level of service.
Brief chat interview
Legal Marketing speaks to the newly appointed director of business development at US firm Ogletree Deakins, Todd Felts.
Thought leader
When I first stumbled into the then nascent world of legal marketing many years ago, one of the curiosities that was most striking to me was the amount of time I spent talking to senior-level partners about white space, font size, brochures, mailings and the like.
