Change matters

With the New Year festivities now a distant memory and the determined optimism of early January beginning to wane, February can seem the perfect time to shelve most, if not all, plans to change various aspects of your lifestyle…at least until next year. And as February inches into March usually only a stubborn few manage to muster the last vestiges of motivation to avoid abandoning their New Year’s resolutions altogether.

It is a motivational struggle that I am sure law firm marketing and business development professionals will easily be able to equate with. For, after months of displaying steadfast commitment to change in preparation for the impending impact of the Legal Services Act, many may now find themselves struggling to retain motivation faced with little or no evidence so far, of the dramatic alteration to the market that so many predicted. How is it possible to sustain the desire to change? Indeed, how can short-lived, ambitious plans be translated into permanent positive and comprehensive change? This issue we have sought to clarify just that through a series of articles focusing on the varying aspects of change anticipated in the legal world over the coming months. And with Louise Restell – Russell, Jones and Walker’s new head of public affairs – discussing the impact of the Legal Services Act (page 13) and Barlow, Lyde & Gilbert’s CEO Clint Evans on preparing for the changing partnership model (page 22), I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. In fact, should you wish to explore the topic of law firm marketing in a changing legal landscape further, Ark Group is releasing the second edition of its highly popular Strategic Marketing in the Legal Profession report. The publication is designed to cover the specific challenges of marketing a modern law firm in the increasingly competitive legal marketplace, and includes several case studies from leading law firms. If you would like more information or to order a copy, contact Tom Richardson at trichardson@ark-group.com.

And from change in the legal world to change in our editorial board – Andrew Dunn, a valued board member since 2006, is leaving his post as director of business development at Halliwells LLP after three and a half years, to join Begbies Traynor as BD partner. We wish him the best of luck in his new role.

As always, if you have any feedback or would like to contribute an article, I would love to hear from you. Contact me at lmcnulty@ark-group.com. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this issue.

Lucy McNulty
Assistant Editor

Features

Opinion: Have you been duded yet? This article is for subscribers only
Just 100 years ago, law firms were composed mostly of members of a single generation. Why? Lawyers were all men, and the average life expectancy for a man was just 47.
The attitudes, values and outlook of all members of the firm were influenced by the same key lifetime events. As a result, there was no generation gap.
Thanks to great improvements in health care, today’s average person lives to be almost 80. As a result, law firms can include members of as many as four different generations – Traditionalists in their 60s and older, Boomers in their late 40s and 50s, Generation Xs in their 30s and early 40s, and, in the most recent associate classes, Generation NEXT.

Case study: Mallesons Stephen Jaques This article is for subscribers only
Does the partner ‘own’ the client? Or maybe the client belongs to the firm? Where does BD fit in? Can we ever really ‘own’ any client?
There are differing views on the role of the marketing or business development (BD) function when it comes to clients. How many BD teams feel that they own a part of a client relationship? Over the last year or so I have been preoccupied with the question of ‘how close to the client can/should BD get?’
Clearly there are many additional questions that arise immediately

Case study: Barlow Lyde & Gilbert This article is for subscribers only
Since the mid 1980s the position of partnership as the dominant legal entity of choice for ‘city’ businesses and professional firms has declined. To a great extent this decline is a result of simple market forces and regulatory changes at work but where will this take the law firm of the future and with what impact for those currently in partnership?
Within the same timeframe we have also seen significant changes to the lifestyle expectations of those within the professions. Achieving partnership is no longer the holy grail for all and as a result it is far less likely that talented individuals will remain with the firms they have been with for the entirety of their careers. For firms seeking to be successful within a highly competitive environment the answer must lie with shaping the model of partnership and the partner role to suit their specific current and anticipated business needs. One size will not fit all but firms that get this right will have a more motivated and aligned pool of senior talent than those who leave it to chance.

Masterclass: Client relationships This article is for subscribers only
For too long, many law firms have thought client relationships are about brochures and golf umbrellas. In the past few years however, increasing competition for the best clients and the most attractive work has demanded some rethinking. There is an increasing tendency to look hard at client service standards and contact management – and a growing number of firms are investing in client relationship programmes.
We are all aware that the business of law is changing. Today we face educated, commercially aware clients who are more sophisticated and understand they have a wider choice of law firm to hire, and as a result, many clients are more discerning.

Opinion: Understanding clients This article is for subscribers only
The return of the Spice Girls and their Wannabe anthem offers a timely reminder to professional services marketers of the requirement to understand and deliver the needs of their clients. This is best achieved by listening instead of telling and by acting on the basis of a deep understanding rather than a range of self-serving suppositions.
An area that is still clouded in mystique for many lawyers is how clients go about making decisions about which firm to use for a particular matter.
However, the theory is clear and provides excellent guidance into the ways in which complex decisions are made together with the psychology that is at play in the mind of the individual decision maker.

Regulars

The pitch doctor This article is for subscribers only
2008 starts with widespread gloomy economic forecasts. The credit crunch crashes around the globe and nervous investors run for cover, fools follow and giants are found to have feet of clay. Do we pitchers worry? Not a jot. More certain than death or taxes is that we never truly know where capitalism will take us or what the journey has in store. So worry not my fellow pitching comrades. All weathers are the same to us. Our job remains the same. Get out there and win the pitch, promote our offering and beat the competition with our panache and flair. Put smart effort in and we expect to win. Mostly.

Profile: Louise Restell Free
When Russell Jones & Walker began its search for a head of public affairs to help the firm prepare for the changes of the Legal Services Act, it needed to to look no further than Louise Restell, a committed campaigner for professional services reform with more than 10 years of political, rade union and consumer experience. Here she discusses the impact of the Act on her firm and the profession as a whole.

Cover feature: The seeds of change This article is for subscribers only
It has dominated discussion in legal circles since the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) first alluded to the need for legal service reform in its 2001 Competition in the Professions report. Later when Sir David Clementi reiterated the demand for change in his 2004 paper, the discussion turned to debate as critics argued reform would jeopardise the industry and lower the standard of legal service delivery. Yet from the moment the Legal Services Act (LSA) received Royal Assent on 30 October 2007, such opposition ceased to be relevant. The face of the UK legal profession would be changing regardless. Four months on, how are firms preparing themselves for the impending alteration of the legal market and what impact will these changes have on the marketing and business development (BD) professional?

Sponsored comment: Jam today, jam tomorrow Free
The ingredients for marketing success are generally universal among professional service firms, although here we will look at those activities that will enable a law firm to taste the delights of new clients and growth in the top and bottom line.

Thought leader This article is for subscribers only
I recently participated on a panel where a small, but earnest, audience gathered in a windowless room in a major hotel in a major American city. Out of nowhere (certainly not from the agenda) arose a question: how can we better work with the newer generations to make them understand what it will take to make them successful, trusted participants in the legal marketing community? As the discussion drifted to mentoring and other gentle methods to make them more like us, I thought, ‘No way. They will change us long before we change them - and we're going to have a lot of fun in the process’.