The Third Annual MLF 50: The Top 50 Law Firms in Marketing and Communications

This was a different kind of a year in law firm marketing and communications. Frankly speaking, many firms were doing a lot less visually, but a lot more in actually developing new business and nurturing existing business through the creation of client service programs, utilization of technology, sales initiatives ' yes, the 's' word figures into some of the programs' successes ' and outreach. The marketing and communications strategies were well thought-out and implemented in a way that assured management that there was indeed a return on investment. The firms that made this year's list achieved their rankings based on how they 'measured up' in terms of satisfying the criteria. In addition, one other factor played into the decision-making process. The firm's revenue was taken into consideration. Revenue is one of the ways to measure a successful marketing and communications program. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for years one and two because I know for a fact that it takes time to build a program, but if your revenues move down measurably on the AmLaw 100/200 chart, something isn't clicking.

Once again, many firms provided detailed descriptions of their marketing, business development and communications programs. Some of the firms that are listed provided little or no information. As with past practice, for these firms, extensive research was conducted. Still others provided submissions, but for one reason or another, these did not rise to the level that would warrant inclusion on the list. One other factoid: In this particular article, there are no visual communication pieces featured within the text. While the advertising and visual communications programs play an important part in obtaining that 'street cred,' this year, visualization and ad campaigns were not at the core of the rankings.