Law Firm Marketing Brief
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- The Serpent's Tooth. Doesn't it seem more than a little ironic that PE firms are now complaining about a lack of transparency in their law firms' billing practices? I mean, there is no one more expert than PE firms when it comes to opaque billing practices and extracting outrageous fees; and over the years, who do you suppose taught them everything they needed to know about the fine art of leeching fees out of their portfolio companies? And now this. As Shakespeare would say, how sharper than a serpent's tooth to have a thankless client.
- Such is the lackluster state of the economy that the pressure on legal fees is building everywhere. The most recent survey by LexisNexis CounselLink shows that fee discounting is becoming rampant, reaching 17% of law firm invoices issued in May of this year - which is a level of discounting ordinarily only seen at year's end. Along with discounting, AFA's accounted for more than 12% of the 2019 legal invoices reviewed in the survey, which represents an increase of almost 25% since the level of usage in 2017. This article from McKinsey has some helpful insights on pricing during the pandemic, including the observation that temporary discounting is a far better approach to take in a downturn, because it leaves a firm in a far stronger position with clients as recovery begins to take hold.
- RFPs Part of the New Normal. At the same time, this blog post from BTI Consulting Group suggests that corporate law departments are now issuing RFPs as a matter of course with respect to major new legal representations. According to BTI, in today's competitive landscape, law departments are inviting on average between 9 and 12 outside firms to submit proposals in response to each request. Interestingly, though, BTI suggests the increasing reliance on RFPs does not necessarily indicate a race to the bottom on fees. A strong focus on new ideas and innovation, they advise, is the best way for a law firm to stand out as a participant in an RFP process.
- Everything but Legal Advice. A good article in the Artificial Lawyer this week takes a closer look at what's happening at Deloitte with the formal launch of its Legal Business Services group in the US. Also, in the department of reinventing the law firm business model, there is this interesting announcement from Cadwalader and Fastcase about how they are working together to upgrade the law firm's securities law newsletter and information service. Cadwalader partner Steve Lofchie has been in the forefront of creating a hybrid business model that combines his law practice with a robust publishing enterprise, the primary focus of which is producing a daily email newsletter called the Cabinet, which already boasts 17,000 active daily readers! Not too shabby a platform for a full-time Wall Street lawyer and part-time publisher.
- Law Firm Partnering. For law partners wondering how they can get started reinventing their own practice, here's an interesting announcement from AI software developer LinkSquares. The company is actively looking to find law firms to help them develop new business applications for its state-of-the-art NLP contract analysis tool. What are you waiting for?
- Diversity and Inclusion. Clifford Chance became the latest BigLaw firm to announce ambitious new goals to improve workforce diversity, setting a target that 40% of its equity partners will be women by 2030, roughly double the current level. The firm also established a 3% target for LGBT representation among the global partnership by 2025. As this blog post from the consultants at BTS points out, the pressures and changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, if anything have increased the need for firms to redouble their efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, since job losses to date have disproportionately affected women and minorities in the workforce.
- Diversity and Marketing.And if that's not reason enough, then consider this interview with Sophia Lee, a litigation partner at Blank Rome, who explains that a focus on promoting diversity and inclusion has been one of the top three factors contributing to her success as a rainmaker. Sure, it's the right thing to do and it also happens to be a major priority for many corporate clients.
- Law. Life. Passion. Coming up with a good law firm tagline is probably one of the biggest challenges for a legal marketer. It's so hard to hit the right note, make the partners happy and not sound trite. But when a tagline works, it speaks louder and more effectively than 1,000 tombstone ads placed in the American Lawyer. That's the case, at least, with the tagline of Bone McAllester Norton, a midsized firm in Nashville. Law. Life. Passion. If only I was doing business in Nashville, I would surely sign a retainer with the firm right now. If you're not already convinced, you can read a short firm profile here.
- Hard as it is to come up with a good tagline for your law firm, here's an even more daunting challenge - coming up with a personal motto for your firm's lawyers. In the age of social media, everyone must have a personal brand; and surely we know enough about branding to know that no brand is complete without a tagline and logo. Just imagine how hard it's going to be for the marketing team at Skadden to come up with distinctive taglines for all 1,700 lawyers at the firm!
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PinHawk Microsites
- Law Firm Leadership: Living the Values of Greatness, Silvia Coulter - LawVision
- LPM is Change for the New Economic Reality: Part Four of a Four-Part series, Carla Landry - LawVision
Legal Business in Brief
- Private equity firms increasing scrutiny on legal spend amid Covid-19 pandemic, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 16, 2020
- Recent conversations with lawyers: Is legal really changing or are we simply running a modified playbook?, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, July 16, 2020
- This Big Law Firm Has Permanent Plans for Remote Working, Bloomberg Law, July 16, 2020
- 59% of Inhouse Lawyers Have Increased Workload Since Crisis, Artificial Lawyer, July 15, 2020
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner to close Beijing office and cut up to 40 London staff, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 16, 2020
- Deloitte US: ‘This Market is Very Large’, Artificial Lawyer, July 22, 2020
- Alternative fees and invoice discounting on the rise as GCs seek to cut costs, study finds, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 15, 2020
- Allen & Overy overtakes Linklaters with four per cent revenue growth to £1.69bn, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 18, 2020
- Pandemic Clobbers Job Starts for Law Graduates, Bloomberg Law, July 15, 2020
- PwC Taps Former Regulators for Advice to Boost Audit Quality, Bloomberg Law, July 17, 2020
- Law firms coming out of lockdown “in fighting mood”, Legal Futures, July 15, 2020
- Clifford Chance pledges at least 40 per cent of its global partners will be women by 2030, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 15, 2020
- Trump’s Environmental Permitting Update to Spark Legal Frenzy, Bloomberg Law, July 15, 2020
- The Future of Law: Adaptability is Your Superpower, Clio Blog, July 16, 2020
- Reality Check for Law Firm Manpower - Corporate CEOs Abandon Hope for Quick Recovery, Law and More, July 19, 2020
- 5 Behaviors of Effective General Counsel, Inside Counsel, July 17, 2020
- Clifford Chance announces its 2020 financial results: Focus on strategy underpins continued growth and resilience, Clifford Chance, July 21, 2020
- Ashurst annual revenue holds steady even as pandemic hits Asia Pacific business, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 22, 2020
- Law, life & passion at the core of one midsize law firm’s culture & philosophy, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, July 21, 2020
- Freeths announces potential redundancies with 80 jobs expected to go, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 21, 2020
- Former Nedbank chief legal counsel launches South African law firm Maphosa Attorneys, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 21, 2020
- Portal offers fixed-fee barristers to handle small claims, Legal Futures, July 21, 2020
Innovation
- Cadwalader and Fastcase Announce Partnership to Expand ‘Cadwalader Cabinet’ Capabilities, Cadwalader, July 15, 2020
- LinkSquares Starts Alliance Program to Grow Business, Artificial Lawyer, July 21, 2020
- Method melding: The modern melting pot of project management, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, July 17, 2020
- Will You Lead or Follow in the New Normal?, Strategy Execution Blog, July 15, 2020
- Information aggregator tool to offer paid-for insight into leading arbitrators, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 17, 2020
- Thomson Reuters Partners with Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to offer global ad hoc arbitration platform during COVID-19 pandemic - Thomson Reuters, Thomson Reuters: Press Releases (Legal), July 15, 2020
- Wolters Kluwer Partners With Della AI For Contract Insight, Artificial Lawyer, July 20, 2020
- Running the KM "supply chain" on lean principles, Knoco Stories, July 20, 2020
- App development platforms as a legal service offering, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, July 20, 2020
- Front and Center: Litify Delivers Legal Practice Management Software Encompassing the Entire Client Lifecycle, Attorney at Work, July 17, 2020
- Moneypenny launches Covid-19 screening BOT for law firms, Legal Futures, July 17, 2020
- The rise of technology and its impact on personal injury law, American Bar Association: Law Technology Today, July 15, 2020
- Nearly a third of employees are handling more data, Legal Futures, July 15, 2020
- The Illuminate Story: The Global Deployment of Next Generation Enterprise Search, Strategic Legal Technology - Ron Friedmann, July 15, 2020
- Legal Tech Incubators Are Alive + Well Around the World, Artificial Lawyer, July 16, 2020
- Leveling the Playing Field with Legal Tech, Inside Counsel, July 16, 2020
- Doing Deals Better with Diagrams, LLRX.com, July 19, 2020
- What to Expect at Your First Virtual Legal Conference, Clio Blog, July 20, 2020
- Border Shutdowns Not an Impediment to Legal Tech Companies Selling Overseas, Real Lawyers Have Blogs - Kevin O'Keefe, July 20, 2020
- Ethical Considerations of Legal Chatbots, Attorney at Work, July 20, 2020
- The Law Boutique Hires TransferWise Head of Legal, Artificial Lawyer, July 20, 2020
Tips, pointers and presentations
- 5 Ways to Leverage Your Lawyers' LinkedIn Profiles, Legal Marketing Association: Strategies+ Blog, July 21, 2020
- Unbundled Legal Services: How They Can Grow Your Practice, Clio Blog, July 15, 2020
- Tips to Maximize Your Law Firm’s Hourly Billing: Time Tracking Tips for Lawyers, American Bar Association: Law Technology Today, July 17, 2020
- Learn to Solicit Feedback … from Your Kids, Harvard Business Review, July 17, 2020
- How to Use Internal Links Effectively on Law Firm Websites, LawLytics, July 15, 2020
- Why Your Mentorship Program Isn’t Working, Harvard Business Review, July 17, 2020
- How to Secure Your Facebook Account, Social Media Explorer, July 15, 2020
- How Professional Service Firms are Using LinkedIn: Best Practices for Law Firms, Good2BSocial, July 17, 2020
- 8 Tips for Consistent Messaging in Your Marketing Efforts, Social Media Explorer, July 16, 2020
- How to Get More Clients Through Content-Based SEO, LawLytics, July 16, 2020
- Google Keep - The Best Free Note Taking And Information Saving App You Aren't Using Enough., Future Lawyer, July 17, 2020
- Why Email Design is Important, and 12 Best Practices to Improve Yours, HubSpot Blog, July 15, 2020
- 5 Clever Ways to Reduce Email Unsubscribes, Business 2 Community, July 15, 2020
- Why the Time Is Now to Become a Freelance Attorney, Clio Blog, July 15, 2020
- How to Brainstorm — Remotely, Harvard Business Review, July 20, 2020
- 8 email newsletter mistakes that are killing your click-through rates, Impact Blog, July 20, 2020
- 20 Email Marketing Segmentation Strategies Your Law Firm Can Try Today, Good2BSocial, July 16, 2020
- Organization for Lawyers: How to Get Your Practice Organized, Clio Blog, July 21, 2020
Portable Business
- Cahill Gordon bets big on former Allen & Overy leveraged finance duo, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 22, 2020
- Amazon, Google Tap Big Law to Bolster In-House Ranks, Bloomberg Law, July 21, 2020
- Jenner & Block hires team of eight from Kilpatrick Townsend to bolster Native American law practice, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 18, 2020
- Thomson Geer secures four-partner, 21-strong team from Dentons in Brisbane and Melbourne, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 18, 2020
- U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco Returns to Jones Day, Bloomberg Law, July 15, 2020
- Willkie Broadens its Private Equity and M&A Practice with the Arrival of Dr. Kamyar Abrar, Willkie Farr, July 17, 2020
- TK Adds Attorney to Tax Practice in Mexico City, Thompson & Knight, July 16, 2020
- Gowling WLG welcomes Simon Elliott to its corporate team in Dubai, Gowling WLG, July 15, 2020
- DOJ Civil Division Chief Jody Hunt Heads to Alston & Bird, Blog of Legal Times, July 15, 2020
- Boies Schiller hires bankruptcy duo as firm prepares for Covid-19 economic fallout, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, July 20, 2020
- MacArthur Appellate Group Adds Ex-SCOTUS Clerks From Big Law, Bloomberg Law, July 20, 2020
- Cadwalader Expands Top-Rated European Capital Markets Team with Addition of Matthew Duncan, Cadwalader, July 20, 2020
- Weil Adds Tax Partner Daniel R.B. Nicholas in Washington, D.C., Weil Gotshal, July 20, 2020
- Ashurst adds the fourth lateral with new disputes partner based in Hong Kong, Ashurst, July 20, 2020
- Jonathan Brownson and Jake Keaveny To Join Cahill’s London Office as Partners in September 2020, Cahill Gordon, July 20, 2020
- Construction Attorney Nick Loyal Joins Stinson in St. Louis, Stinson Leonard Street, July 21, 2020
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Legal Marketing
- Clients Reverse Course — Jump on RFPs — 6 Reasons It’s Different This Time, The Mad Clientist: BTI's Blog, July 15, 2020
- Succeeding in the Business of Law: 5 Rules Every Lawyer Should Live By, Attorney at Work, July 17, 2020
- Should You Increase Your Marketing Expense During COV19?, American Bar Association: Law Technology Today, July 21, 2020
- Lead Generating A.I. Chatbot for Law Firms, Lawyerist.com, July 21, 2020
- Why more firms need to sign the Woman in Law Pledge, Legal Futures, July 17, 2020
- The Employer Brand Under Pressure: Insights from a New Study, Hinge Marketing, July 20, 2020
- Click to Connect: The Rise of the Virtual Event, Harvard Business Review, July 16, 2020
- This Is Why You Need a Motto, Attorney at Work, July 16, 2020
- An Interview With John Kozyak—What Does a Third Act Look Like? Retirement?, Legal Marketing Blog, July 15, 2020
- Organization Strategy: Spreadsheeting My Professional Life, Attorney at Work, July 15, 2020
- Making It Rain: Sophia Lee, Blank Rome, July 15, 2020
- Don’t Wear Your Pajamas, and Other Virtual Office Best Practices, Jaffe PR Blog, July 15, 2020
- Use the Summer Slowdown to Maintain PR During the Pandemic, Jaffe PR Blog, July 15, 2020
- 5 Offline Marketing Strategies that Support Your Online Brand, Hinge Marketing, July 15, 2020
- 7 B2B Website Best Practices to Enhance Your Online Presence, Hinge Marketing, July 16, 2020
- Law firm’s head of BD jailed over indecent images, Legal Futures, July 20, 2020
- Building your law firm’s success online, Legal Futures, July 20, 2020
- Call for impartial websites on quality of lawyers’ services, Legal Futures, July 20, 2020
- Stand in the Shoes of a Reporter to Generate Meaningful Law Firm PR, Jay Harrington Blog, July 20, 2020
- 4 reasons not to make the deep experts the main knowledge providers, Knoco Stories, July 22, 2020
- Demand for legal services to surge after pandemic, Legal Futures, July 21, 2020
- Law firm marketing post-Covid: In-house or outsource?, Legal Futures, July 21, 2020
- How Adding New Content Affects Search Visibility, LawLytics, July 21, 2020
- How to Make Big Decisions, Wisnik Career Enterprises, July 21, 2020
- Law Firm Search Firms Not Alone In Being Hit Hard by COVID-19 - Demand Also Down for LinkedIn's Recruitment Services, Law and More, July 21, 2020
- How can I get more people to read my attorney website content?, Law Firm and Attorney SEO and Internet Marketing, July 21, 2020
Digital Marketing
- No in-person events until 2nd half of 2021, marketers say, Marketing Land, July 20, 2020
- Pricing through the pandemic: Getting ready for recovery, McKinsey: Marketing and Sales Insights, July 20, 2020
- Learn From the Masters: Why Apple’s Branding Works, Business 2 Community, July 19, 2020
- Reimagining marketing in the next normal, McKinsey: Marketing and Sales Insights, July 19, 2020
- 5 Agile Practices That Are Fueling Marketing Teams, Business 2 Community, July 18, 2020
- P&G commits to becoming carbon neutral this decade, Campaign Live UK, July 16, 2020
- 5 Ways To Conquer Zoom Fatigue, Rohit Bhargava Blog, July 18, 2020
- What we’ve been reading this week, Econsultancy, July 17, 2020
- The Importance of Professional Development [Infographic], Business 2 Community, July 16, 2020
- Pandemic survival lessons in resilience from a flower, Mark Schaefer Marketing Solutions Blog, July 16, 2020
- How to Avoid the Invisible Marketing Mistake All Businesses Make, Mark Schaefer Marketing Solutions Blog, July 15, 2020
- Lessons Learned From Turning an Event Virtual in 19 Days, Marketing Profs, July 15, 2020
- 6 Things to Improve Your Content Performance, Content Marketing Institute, July 15, 2020
- Content Is Everything Now, Contently: Content Strategist, July 20, 2020
- DisrupTV: Brian Solis Joins Ray Wang and Vala Afshar to Explore the Rise of the Novel Economy in a Global Pandemic, Brian Solis, July 20, 2020
- The Truth About Fox News: It Isn’t Fake., Rohit Bhargava Blog, July 20, 2020
- Top 5 reasons why marketing leaders won’t change with the times, Mark Schaefer Marketing Solutions Blog, July 20, 2020
- A World Without Cookies: A Guide for B2D and B2B Tech Marketers, Marketing Profs, July 20, 2020
- How to Create a Not-Awkward Personalization Strategy, Content Marketing Institute, July 20, 2020
- Appearances vs Experiences: What Really Makes Us Happy, Farnam Street, July 20, 2020
- Choose your clients wisely — Why client selection is critical to your success, Practice Ignition, July 19, 2020
- How Researchers Trained and Created AI With Psycopathic Tendencies, Rohit Bhargava Blog, July 21, 2020
- How One Small Agency Changed Advertising, Branding Strategy Insider, July 21, 2020
- How Modern Marketing Prays on Insecurity and Why Long-Term Success Centers on Culture, Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni, July 21, 2020
- The Plain-English Guide to Revenue Run Rate [Infographic], HubSpot Blog, July 21, 2020
- How to Maximize the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Budget, New Breed Marketing, July 21, 2020
- Every Business Can Be a Subscription Business, Harvard Business Review, July 21, 2020
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What If...? - from Kraft Kennedy
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What If...?
- How to Dictate a Memo While in Lockdown
Companies in the News
- Investing in Major Technological Upgrades, Zola Suite
- DocsCorp acquires Verowave and adds document assembly and template management to its product suite, DocsCorp
- How to prepare your data in Worldox for the CCPA, by Dean Sappey, President DocsCorp, Worldox
- State Court Data and Analytics Platform Trellis Expands to New York, Florida and Texas, Trellis Law
- 5 Considerations for Creating an Effective BYOD Policy, Ipro Tech
- Levine & Levine Attorney's at Law Choose Microsoft Office 365 and Epona Solutions to continue to serve their clients during Covid-19 in hard hit Michigan., Epona
- HighQ Powers New Ad Hoc Platform for Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Legal Current: Thomson Reuters
- The Access Group acquires DPS Software, Legal Futures
- Investing in Major Technological Upgrades, Zola Suite
- State Court Data and Analytics Platform Trellis Expands to New York, Florida and Texas, Trellis Law
- How to prepare your data in Worldox for the CCPA, by Dean Sappey, President DocsCorp, Worldox
- 5 Considerations for Creating an Effective BYOD Policy, Ipro Tech
- Thomson Reuters Introduces Westlaw Edge UK, Legal Current: Thomson Reuters
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Upcoming Conferences and Events
- Important Updates on the 2020 Women, Influence & Power in Law Conference, Inside Counsel, July 21, 2020
- ABA TECHSHOW Reboots As Virtual Conference, Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, July 21, 2020
- Join us online Oct 6-8 for MarTech, Marketing Land, July 21, 2020
Podcasts and Webinars
- On LawNext: Deloitte Principal Mark Ross on the Big Four Firm’s New Legal Business Practice, Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, July 20, 2020
- Why Direct Marketing Is More Effective Than Ever, Duct Tape Marketing, July 16, 2020
- Irresistible Content: 10-Point Checklist for Content that Converts to More Customers [Podcast], Business 2 Community, July 16, 2020
- Podcast Ep. 119: How to Build and Leverage your Law Firm’s Brand on LinkedIn During Uncertain Times, Good2BSocial, July 15, 2020
- World of Marketing 56: Getting Wacky in Waco With Walter Reaves, Law Firm and Attorney SEO and Internet Marketing, July 21, 2020
- Integrating Creativity in Business, Duct Tape Marketing, July 21, 2020
Vendor Updates
- Podcast Ep. 120: Why Every Law Firm Needs a Strategic Plan with John Remsen Jr., Good2BSocial, July 21, 2020
- Why Law Firms Should be Using Legal Case Management Software, Law Ruler, July 21, 2020
- ASGARDIANS – The Ultimate Email Marketing Testing Framework, Pure360, July 21, 2020
Marketing and Editorial Jobs
- The Wall Street Journal, NYC - Columnist on Quirks, etc. of Workplace (full-time), Law and More, July 19, 2020
- Courthouse News, Brooklyn, NY - Courthouse Reporter (full-time), Law and More, July 18, 2020
- Southern Environmental Law Center, Charlottesville, VA - Marketing Director, Law and More, July 16, 2020
- Law Firm, Los Angeles - Social Media (contract assignment), Law and More, July 17, 2020
- Law Firm, MN - REMOTE - Marketing Expert, Law and More, July 17, 2020
- Law Firm, San Diego, CA - Marketing Director (full-time), Law and More, July 21, 2020
- B2B Copywriting for Consulting Firm - REMOTE, Law and More, July 21, 2020
- Law Firm, Mountain View, CA - Pitches & Proposals Manager (full-time), Law and More, July 21, 2020
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_____________ The Law Firm Marketing Brief is the newest addition to the Pinhawk family of newsletters for the legal market. As the pace of competition and innovation in the legal market continues to accelerate, marketing issues are now front and center in shaping the future of the profession. This newsletter is designed to serve the needs of marketing professionals in law firms of all sizes, as well as practicing lawyers who are actively involved in marketing and business development initiatives, by providing a weekly briefing on the marketing ideas and trends that are driving the transformation of the legal industry. Joe Lamport, Editor. email me. Joe is a former practicing lawyer who has been a pioneer in the field of digital marketing for lawyers. He is the founder of the marketing consultancy, The Practice Platform. Free Subscription See our free newsletter for IT folks. See our free newsletter for Librarians. See our free newsletter for Legal administrators.
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