Insider information

An ongoing research programme that enables international firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP to keep its finger on the pulse of the issues that are ‘top of mind’ for in-house counsel, for more targeted and emphatic marketing. By James Duffy.

Of the disciplines that successful lawyers possess, two are paramount: skillful questioning and active listening. Although foundational, these attributes enable lawyers to better understand facts, issues and relevant legal principles to ensure thoughtful and effective representation of clients. They can also be of great benefit to a law firm looking to strengthen service through an increased awareness of the opinions and attitudes of clients and non-clients alike. When target markets are understood, firms are in a better position to respond to current and prospective client needs.

With this in mind, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP (K&LNG) examined how we could expand our marketing initiatives, which, until then, comprised traditional activities such as seminars and events, client alerts and updates, advertising and media relations. We wanted to include innovative ways to better understand our clients and the markets in which they operate.

We launched a programme to enable us to investigate issues facing senior decision makers in the legal departments of Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, rather than simply basing our marketing materials on the issues that we envisioned.

Our goal with the programme was two-fold. First, we wanted to gain perspectives about the most pressing current issues so that we could be more responsive, anticipate needs, strengthen client service and, ultimately, increase the value of our role as outside counsel. Second, we wanted to position our firm as a unique resource by sharing relevant and useful information with our clients and other members of the in-house counsel community.

Called ‘Top of Mind’, this integrated marketing campaign has become a defining element of K&LNG’s marketing and branding initiatives.

The monthly features campaign
Several years ago, in an effort to better understand the challenges faced by in-house counsel, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (which merged with the London firm Nicholson Graham & Jones in January 2005) explored opportunities that would enable corporate general counsel to speak out about topics that were of importance to them. We determined that a public forum would be suitable and realised that sponsoring a series of features in a magazine read by in-house counsel would work well. The outcome was our ‘Top of Mind’ series, a monthly feature that appeared in Corporate Legal Times (now Inside Counsel), offering an individual general counsel’s view of issues important to the operation of their company’s legal department.

We selected a simple question and answer format for the series, developing the questions from a small, informal survey of in-house counsel with whom we worked. Here, we asked what topics they would like to hear discussed by their contemporaries. The chairman and managing partner of our firm conducted the interview and transcribed the conversations. Once approved by the interviewee, the content was sent to the marketing department for design, layout and publication. The first feature appeared in July 2001 and has run every month since then.

Over the past few years, we have learned a great deal about the opinions and attitudes of in-house counsel through these many conversations.

In particular, the dialogues have articulated the numerous changes and demands that confront corporate legal departments – from compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to the need to retain and develop talent, and the importance of effective communication when interacting with non-lawyer colleagues.

By sharing our campaign in such a public forum, we hope that we have also helped the legal community understand the issues and concerns that confront in-house counsel and the clients they represent, across numerous industries and geographic boundaries.

After the first few features were published, we were encouraged by the positive feedback we received from in-house counsel across the US. We soon realised there might be additional ways for us to understand these interests and concerns and enable individuals to explore them in more detail.

The market research
To further investigate issues and stimulate dialogue, the firm retained Brand Research Company, an independent market-research firm, to develop and execute a research programme for us, in 2002. We turned to independent social scientists to ensure that:

Our research would be undertaken in conformance with research principles and industry standards;
It would withstand peer-review scrutiny;
Our findings would be objective.

Our researchers then conducted focus groups to establish the framework for a questionnaire to be used in telephone surveys of more than 100 senior in-house counsel.

The initial findings were published in booklet form in 2003. This was then shared, along with a proprietary summary of the research statistics, with each in-house counsel that we interviewed. We also sent the booklet to numerous Fortune 500 and 1000 companies and encouraged our lawyers to share the research with their clients and contacts. As a result of this publicity, we had considerable traffic on our website, where visitors could review and download an Adobe Acrobat pdf file of the booklet.

The surveys and features have been an integral aspect of our ongoing marketing strategy, in which we strive to listen to our clients so that we have a better understanding of the issues that confront them. With this knowledge, we are able to strengthen and expand our service functions, so that our firm can also be recognised as an information resource that shares relevant and useful data with clients and the in-house counsel community.

Keeping up with our clients
The programme is not a stand-alone ‘product’. It is an important aspect of a broader effort to listen to and learn from our clients every day. The interview features and market research fuel other integrated marketing and communications activities. They also enable us to maintain an open and supportive relationship with senior decision makers while offering a unique forum in which clients and other in-house counsel can explore the issues important to them.

By asking the right questions and listening attentively, K&LNG has developed a greater understanding of our clients and how the markets in which they operate continue to evolve. We believe it is critical that, as outside counsel, we recognise and respond to the changing needs of our clients.

Defining elements of K&LNG’s marketing and branding initiatives have emerged from this valuable dialogue and have, in turn, contributed greatly to our position in the marketplace. n

James Duffy is firm-wide manager of media and communications at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP. He can be contacted at: jduffy@klng.com.