Law Firm Marketing Brief
|
|
- Goodbye to Operating in a Vacuum. One of the key props protecting the legal guild in America has been the prohibition on law firm ownership by non-lawyers written into the Code of Professional Responsibility. Last week Arizona became the first state to remove this key impediment to market transformation. Here's the money quote from the Arizona Supreme Court Order that implements the change: "The legal profession cannot continue to pretend that lawyers operate in a vacuum, surrounded and aided only by other lawyers or that lawyers practice law in a hierarchy in which only lawyers should be owners. Nonlawyers are instrumental in helping lawyers deliver legal services, and they bring valuable skills to the table." So now is a good time for the entire marketing department, technology staff, and all other non-lawyer professionals in the firm to stand up and take a bow in recognition of their important contribution to this epochal moment of change!
- Perils of Pricing Transparency. Remember the good old days when the billing partner could send an elegant one page invoice for legal services rendered? Well, here's a story that explains where the Big 4 accounting firms see legal billing practices heading. It seems pricing transparency is the ultimate slippery slope that will eventually lead to the complete productization of legal services -- that at least is the Big 4 accounting firm's dream. As the barriers protecting the legal guild begin to totter and fall, could this be where the market is heading?
- An Alternative Future. But as this story about the Honeywell legal department explains, there are a number of possible outcomes when a law department takes a long hard look at outside counsel billing and performance data, not all of them nearly so dire for the legal profession as the Big 4 view of the market. Honeywell's analysis led them to sharply reduce the number of outside firms and shift work away from BigLaw and towards mid-size firms located in smaller markets. Does this portend the productization of law or just a return to a more traditional form of practice in which clients receive more bespoke service billed at more reasonable rates?
- What Comes Next ... Nostalgia Marketing. Nostalgia seems like an utterly human reaction to an era of ceaseless and sometimes highly disruptive change. As this week's blogpost from Mark Schaefer explains, that's why the world of consumer marketing is preparing for an incoming wave of nostalgia marketing. Against the backdrop of today, even the 1980s and 90s begin to feel like the good old days. It's not hard to imagine how this approach could spill over into B2B marketing and in particular into the realm of legal marketing; in a world driven by data and analytics, there may be nothing quite so effective as a personal touch.
- Real Gets Virtual. Another sign of the times: brick and mortar law firms are beginning to onboard laterals who will work exclusively from their home office. Earlier this summer Husch Blackwell established "The Link" -- a virtual office where lawyers could practice, as an alternative to the 18 brick and mortar locations from which the firm operates nationwide. Last week finance lawyer Elizabeth Benefield became the first Husch Blackwell lawyer to set up shop there. "This is just a great concept and I hope more firms embrace this sort of thing," Benefield said, grateful to join the firm while avoiding the disruption of moving from her long-time home in North Carolina. It's reasonable to assume we will see much more of this in the coming months as the distinction between real and virtual worlds continues to blur. See also the latest column from Kraft Kennedy, which explains how online negotiations are about to become a lot more real thanks to the next update to Microsoft Teams.
- Everyone Needs a Coach. Jay Harrington has a good blogpost this week on the value of business coaching for lawyers. As Harrington points out, the business world is replete with examples about how effective coaching can be in improving personal performance. If it works for such high achievers as Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt, why should law partners be any different? Likewise Silvia Coulter explains in her blogpost, even the biggest rainmaker in your firm stands to benefit from coaching and she lists the most important criteria to consider in deciding which of your partners are most likely to benefit from a coach's guidance.
- Twitter for Lawyers. Finally, this week Brian Inkster has an excellent blogpost about the current state of Twitter as a marketing and network building tool for lawyers. "Write what you know about" is the age old maxim and Brian clearly lives up to this with many trenchant observations based on his personal experience.
* * * * *
|
|
PinHawk Microsites
- Law Firm Business Development: Where to Invest Sales Coaching Dollars, Silvia Coulter - LawVision
- Breakout Rooms for Microsoft Teams, What If...Answers by Kraft Kennedy
- Top 5 Tips for Defending Your Marketing Budget in Unprecedented Times, J. David Harvey - LawVision
Legal Business in Brief
- Honeywell Legal Boss Went Beyond Big Law to Cut 100 Firms to 13, Bloomberg Law, August 26, 2020
- US lateral hires market picks up among litigation practices, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 28, 2020
- Cash flow and employee wellbeing among top law firm concerns in post-Covid world, surveys find, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 28, 2020
- Arizona Is First State To Eliminate Ban On Nonlawyer Ownership Of Law Firms, Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, August 31, 2020
- Husch Blackwell makes first new attorney hire to join virtual office, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 30, 2020
- Litigation Finance’s ‘David v. Goliath’ Problem: Disclosure, Bloomberg Law, August 27, 2020
- Linklaters launches permanent agile working policy built on Covid-19 lessons, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 26, 2020
- PMI Q2 analysis: Small headcount shifts creep into Q2 results, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, August 26, 2020
- LCM signs latest in series of portfolio funding deals, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 27, 2020
- Has COVID Really Changed The Practice Of Law Forever?, Above the Law - Legal Technology, August 27, 2020
- Fly-Fishing and All-Night Layovers: How McGuireWoods Got Face-to-Face With Summer Associates Despite COVID Challenges, Blog of Legal Times, August 27, 2020
- New instructions surge past pre-lockdown levels, Legal Futures, August 27, 2020
- Honeywell's Project Zipcode Excludes AmLaw 50 - A Systemized Threat to BigLaw, Law and More, August 26, 2020
- Davis Wright Tremaine Walks Back Pay Cuts, Lays Off Some Staff, Bloomberg Law, September 1, 2020
- Vacation schemes move online as Covid-19 curbs traditional work experience, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, September 1, 2020
- Big 4 at ILTA: ‘Think About the Unit Price of Legal Services’, Artificial Lawyer, September 1, 2020
Innovation
- There’s No Better Time To Future-Proof Your Firm Than Now, Above the Law - Legal Technology, August 27, 2020
- How Lawyers Can Increase Access to Legal Services, Clio Blog, August 27, 2020
- Dispatches From The Liminal Zone Of The Legal Profession Under COVID, Above the Law - Legal Technology, August 26, 2020
- How do you hire a diverse candidate pool?, Strategy Execution Blog, August 26, 2020
- ILTA>ON 2020: Insights on AI, Innovation and the Future, Legal Current: Thomson Reuters, August 27, 2020
- ROSS Chrome Extension For Legal Research, Artificial Lawyer, August 28, 2020
- Guest Column: How the Global Pandemic Is Driving Innovation at Firms and Creating New Value for Clients, Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, August 27, 2020
- How to sustain Knowledge Management in the long term, Knoco Stories, August 27, 2020
- At ILTA>ON, Reconnecting Community Through A Virtual Conference, Above the Law - Legal Technology, August 31, 2020
- Leading with innovation: Introducing knowledge management into a regional law firm, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, September 1, 2020
- Legal Department Operations Index Reveals Staffing, Technology Changes Due to COVID-19, Legal Current: Thomson Reuters, August 31, 2020
- Reimagining legal operations: The business infrastructure of legal services, Legal Executive Institute: Blog, August 31, 2020
- Research: Knowledge Workers Are More Productive from Home, Harvard Business Review, August 31, 2020
- Ten Big Ideas of Knowledge Management, Conversation Matters, August 31, 2020
- His UnitedLex Disrupted Legal Services, Now Ajay Agrawal Aims to Disrupt Contracts, Robert Ambrogi's LawSites, August 31, 2020
- SALI: Building Common Standards For Legal Services, Artificial Lawyer, September 2, 2020
- Should KM seek to change the culture? Or work within the culture?, Knoco Stories, September 1, 2020
Tips, pointers and presentations
- Law Firm Business Development: Industry Team Best Practice Tip #4, Law Vision Insights Blog, August 30, 2020
- Statistics Resources and Big Data on the Internet 2020, LLRX.com, August 30, 2020
- Finding Email Addresses, LLRX.com, August 28, 2020
- Take Ownership of Your Future Self, Harvard Business Review, August 28, 2020
- Lawyers Suck at Listening: Three Ways to Turn it Around, Attorney at Work, August 27, 2020
- Build A Better Website: Five Tips For Practicing Online, American Bar Association: Law Technology Today, August 27, 2020
- Set Goals for Your Law Firm’s Website to Get More Business, LawLytics, August 27, 2020
- The Law Firm Guide to LinkedIn Matched Audiences: LinkedIn’s Secret Advertising Weapon, Good2BSocial, August 28, 2020
- 15 Essential Social Media Marketing Tips for Law Firms From Beginner to Advanced, Good2BSocial, August 26, 2020
- 7 Key Considerations in Building a Successful Law Firm MarTech Stack, Good2BSocial, August 27, 2020
- How I Made Partner: White & Case's Anna Kertesz, White & Case, September 1, 2020
- Three Things to Do When There’s Not Enough Work, Attorney at Work, August 31, 2020
- What Often Goes Wrong in Virtual Events and What to Do About It, Business 2 Community, August 31, 2020
- 5 Tips From CMI’s Most Popular Visual Content Articles, Content Marketing Institute, September 1, 2020
Portable Business
- Dentons hires ex-ambassador as part of African expansion plan, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 28, 2020
- Paul Hastings keeps up partner hiring pace with third London arrival in as many months, Global Legal Post: Big Stories, August 27, 2020
- Eversheds Sutherland Tax Practice Expands SALT Team with Two Partners, Eversheds Sutherland (US), August 26, 2020
- Womble Bond Dickinson Expands Capital Markets & Financial Services Sector Teams with Hires of Paul M. Fogleman & Vanessa Morris, Womble Bond Dickinson, August 27, 2020
- King & Spalding Adds Four-Lawyer White Collar Crime Team in Paris, King & Spalding, September 1, 2020
- Dechert Significantly Strengthens International Arbitration Capability With New Paris Partner, Dechert, September 1, 2020
- Eversheds Sutherland Welcomes Prominent SALT Attorney Breen Schiller to Chicago, Eversheds Sutherland (US), September 1, 2020
- Pillsbury Adds Partner Hugh McDonald, Welcoming Fifth Insolvency Hire of 2020, Pillsbury Winthrop, September 1, 2020
- Loeb & Loeb Expands Trusts and Estates Department With Addition of Matthew McKim, Loeb & Loeb: Press Releases, September 1, 2020
- Steptoe Adds Privacy & Cybersecurity Lawyer Charles Helleputte in Brussels, Steptoe & Johnson, September 1, 2020
- CMS bolsters insurance team with key partner hire in London, CMS, September 1, 2020
- Jessie Liu, Former Top Federal Prosecutor in DC, Joins Skadden Arps, Blog of Legal Times, August 31, 2020
- Blank Rome Snags Perkins Coie Insurance Recovery Chair, Growing Key Practice, Blog of Legal Times, September 1, 2020
- Kirkland Rehires Brian Benczkowski, Trump-Era Head of DOJ's Criminal Division, Blog of Legal Times, September 1, 2020
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legal Marketing
- Lawyers and Twitter – 11 years later, The Time Blawg, August 30, 2020
- Media Relations Shrinks as a Public Relations Service; Cliff Notes to 3 Industry Reports, Sword and the Script, August 29, 2020
- Coaching Helps Lawyers Move to Higher Levels of Performance, Jay Harrington Blog, September 1, 2020
- In Pitch Contests, Going First Is a Disadvantage, Harvard Business Review, September 1, 2020
- Managing Online Reviews for Law Firms, American Bar Association: Law Technology Today, August 28, 2020
- Communication Advice for Introverted Leaders in Law Firms, Law Vision Insights Blog, August 27, 2020
- The Client Experience of the Future, Legal Marketing Association: Strategies+ Blog, August 26, 2020
- Digital Communication Tools: Increasing your firm’s internal and external engagement in a time of rapid change, Hinge Marketing, August 26, 2020
- Analytics 101: What to Measure and What to Do with the Data, Jay Harrington Blog, August 26, 2020
- 60% of Associates See Serious Empathy from Firm, But Doubt Creeping Back In, The Mad Clientist: BTI's Blog, August 26, 2020
- Law Firm Marketing New Ways Amid COVID, Attorney SEO Blog, August 30, 2020
- Use Membership Requests in Your LinkedIn Group for Business Development, Real Lawyers Have Blogs - Kevin O'Keefe, August 27, 2020
- Understanding the opportunity of lead generation post-lockdown, Legal Futures, September 2, 2020
- Law firms must aim for “cultural equality”, says Post Office GC, Legal Futures, September 1, 2020
- $100 Million M&A for Internal Comms Tool: What’s Older is Still News in Marchlyjunetember [PR Tech Sum], Sword and the Script, September 1, 2020
- Brand Launch: Creating a Brand New Professional Services Brand, Hinge Marketing, August 31, 2020
Digital Marketing
- Digital Marketing Optimization to improve customer journeys?, Smart Insights, August 31, 2020
- Why LSI Keywords are Crucial to SEO and Content Marketing, Wordstream Blog, August 27, 2020
- As the web cookies crumble, what’s a B2B marketer to do?, Mark Schaefer Marketing Solutions Blog, August 27, 2020
- Why Google Shouldn’t Drive Your SEO Strategy, Content Marketing Institute, August 27, 2020
- Moving From One Paradigm to Another, Business 2 Community, August 26, 2020
- 5 Refreshing Examples of Imaginative B2B Marketing To Inspire You in 2021, Top Rank Marketing Blog, August 26, 2020
- Enterprise CMO Survey: COVID-19's Impact on Budgets and Tactics, Marketing Profs, August 26, 2020
- The Stunning Amount of Data Generated Online Every Minute [Infographic], Marketing Profs, August 26, 2020
- Data Privacy Rules Are Changing. How Can Marketers Keep Up?, Harvard Business Review, August 27, 2020
- Retargeting Explained: What It Is And How Does It Work, Marketing Insider Group, September 2, 2020
- 31 Tips for Turning Marketing Leads into Closed Sales, Business 2 Community, September 1, 2020
- Why nostalgia marketing is the next big idea for your company, Mark Schaefer Marketing Solutions Blog, August 31, 2020
- 8 Content Promotion Tactics Most Businesses Miss, New Breed Marketing, August 31, 2020
|
|
|
|
|
What If...? - from Kraft Kennedy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Conferences and Events
- IBA Legal Business Development Global Virtual Summit, September 2-3, 2020, Larry Bodine Marketing Blog, August 27, 2020
- Legal Marketing Association: Influencing Decisionmakers - How to Guide Lawyer-Leaders to Drive Innovation and Take Action, Kramer Levin, August 27, 2020
Podcasts and Webinars
- World of Marketing 64: Approaching Accounting in a New Way With Frank Lunn, Law Firm and Attorney SEO and Internet Marketing, August 28, 2020
- WATCH: Software Overload – Why It’s Killing Your Law Firm Profits and Tips to Increase Productivity, American Bar Association: Law Technology Today, August 28, 2020
- The Opportunities Hidden Behind Every Crisis [Podcast], Business 2 Community, August 30, 2020
- Do You Rent or Own Your Marketing?, Duct Tape Marketing, August 27, 2020
- Vita Coco: Michael Kirban, NPR Podcast Directory, August 31, 2020
- How I Built Resilience: Live with Samin Nosrat and Alice Waters & Fanny Singer, NPR Podcast Directory, August 31, 2020
Marketing and Editorial Jobs
- Virtual Real Estate Investment Company - Marketing Assistant, Law and More, August 30, 2020
- State Gov/Politics Reporter, Tallahassee, FL, Law and More, August 30, 2020
- Financial Writer, Portland, OR - Full-Time, Law and More, August 29, 2020
- Legal Voice, Seattle, WA - Marketing/Communications (full-time, $55K to $65K annually), Law and More, September 1, 2020
- Legal Publisher, Costa Mesa, CA - Onboarding, Editing, Content-Creation (full-time), Law and More, August 28, 2020
- Transgender Law Center - Disability Project, Oakland, CA - Communications Associate (part-time), Law and More, August 31, 2020
- Legal Marketing Writing - REMOTE - Freelance, Law and More, August 27, 2020
- Martindale-Hubbell - REMOTE - Legal Copywriting, Law and More, August 27, 2020
- 2 New Law360 Jobs on Mediabistro.com 8/27, Law and More, August 27, 2020
- Technology and Legal Subject Matter - REMOTE - Content-Providers, Law and More, August 27, 2020
- Mic - REMOTE - Innovation Writer, Law and More, August 26, 2020
- Practice Area Professional Development Manager, For the New York Office of a Prestigious Global Law Firm, August 31, 2020
|
|
|
|
_____________ 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.
{NEWSLETTER_FORMAT_OPTION}
|
Copyright © 2020 by PinHawk LLC. All rights reserved.
This newsletter is edited by Joseph Lamport.
PinHawk LLC does not warrant that the information in this email will meet any specific requirements nor that it will be error free or uninterrupted; nor shall PinHawk LLC be liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential damages (including lost data, information or profits) sustained or incurred in connection with the use of, operation of, or inability to use the information contained herein. By reading this email you agree to the Terms and Conditions.
Contact: PinHawk LLC, 445 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 1102, White Plains, NY 10601, tel. 914-358-0034 or comments@pinhawk.com
Don't let this important email be caught by a spam filter, ensure delivery to your inbox.
Comment / Tell a friend / Advertise / Unsubscribe
|
| | | | | |