Guiding Expenditures on Law Firm Videos

'It's not the wave of the future, it's the wave of the present,' Drinker Biddle hiring partner Audrey Talley says of Web site videos.

When Drinker Biddle started planning its site redesign two years ago, a video on the recruiting page was slated as part two of the makeover, she says. The three-minute video, which has interviews with associates and partners, covers the process of being recruited, to starting as an associate to business development, Talley says.

The firm wanted to get honesty and sincerity across to potential law student and lateral recruits, and she says that is tough to do in the written word.

Using video is part of a larger issue of firms needing to reach the current generation in ways to which they are accustomed, she says.

'This is the iPod, i-everything, Internet, electronic generation,' Talley says.

Videos or Gym Memberships?

Micah Buchdahl of HTMLawyers (www.htmlawyers.com) says a lot of firms are moving toward video, and most are putting it on recruiting pages.

Most recruits, however, aren't that interested in watching the video, he says. When Buchdahl has done internal audits of firm Web sites, the first-years never mention the Web site as a reason they came on board, he says.

'They're still more of a cool thing to say you have than something that's getting use,' he says.

Buchdahl tells his clients that they are better off being forthcoming with details on their Web sites than creating a video-touting firm culture.

'I'd rather know my gym membership is free,' Buchdahl says of what recruits are looking for. Better yet, he says, a firm could take the money it spends on a video and make the gym memberships free.

Posting Seminars

Although videos might not get the most bang for their buck, Buchdahl says there can be ways to make them useful.

Firms that are seminar-driven, such as labor and employment boutiques, may want to tape their seminars and put them on a Web site such as YouTube, he says. It can be a lot less expensive, but more informative to the client. Buchdahl notes that even smaller firms can do this.

Posting a seminar to a mass audience can have unexpected results, however, including media backlash. Pittsburgh-based immigration firm Cohen & Grigsby, P.C., posted a tutorial seminar on how the firm helps employers meet federal requirements for hiring foreign workers when they can't fill certain positions with U.S. citizens. Excerpts of the seminar were re-posted onto YouTube, overprinted with sharply critical comments on how the seminar's advice undermined the law's good-faith requirement for seeking qualified U.S. workers.

Another concern with posting seminars is that the people who paid to go might get upset when the video is posted for free on the Web. To avoid that problem, firms can delay posting the video or just send links to select clients, Buchdahl says.

Buchdahl further notes that program length should be realistic. A general counsel probably won't watch a 90-minute video on mergers and acquisitions. Firms are more likely to get people to listen to a two-minute podcast.

Cost Considerations

Jim Staples, the chief marketing officer for Fox Rothschild LLP, has worked in other professional services and consumer products arenas before. And he worked on videos for each of those employers.

Putting together a video means bringing in a large crew to at least one office if not more and flying in attorneys from several of the firm's offices, he says.

The average cost, Staples says, should probably be around $25,000 to $30,000. 'It doesn't have to be $100,000, but it can't be $5,000.'

Buchdahl says video production can range from a camcorder and tripod to a multiperson team with post-production editing. The cost can range anywhere from $0 to $100,000.

Even if the video is a taping of a seminar for YouTube, Buchdahl says, firms need to make it as polished as possible. 'If you're a large corporate firm and you're going to stick it on your homepage, it better be polished,' he says.

One of his clients shelled out $30,000 for a famous narrator to read the video script, however. And a vendor for another client called to offer a videographer who worked on Titanic. 'Like we need Oscar-winning,' Buchdahl says.

If large firms are already spending millions on information technology and events, then it may make sense to invest part of that budget on a video, Buchdahl says. 'I just don't want it to be a break-the-bank component.'

At any cost level, videos should have a reasonable cost-benefit. Videos on the main page are often 'cute branding tools' that are part of an overall brand awareness, but they aren't bringing in business, Buchdahl says.

Content Decisions

When putting together its video, Fox Rothschild wanted to celebrate its anniversary but didn't want to give a history lesson, Staples says. The theme of the video is 'how does the past inform the future.'

Fox Rothschild worked with the advertising arm of its outside PR agency, StarRosen Public Relations, to come up with a script and help with production. The overall process took about three to four months, he says, all for three to four minutes of video. (The length of the video is very important, Staples says, with three to five minutes being the maximum amount of time a firm should target. 'Ten minutes, that's just too long.')

To get extra use from its video investment, Fox Rothschild also provided DVDs of the video for attorneys to give to clients. On the jackets of the DVDs were a few business development tips for the attorneys.

Morgan Lewis Personnel Partner Michele E. Martin also says timing was definitely a concern when creating two eight-minute videos for her firm. The original goal, she says, was about five to six minutes, but with more than 100 hours of footage for just one video, the firm had a lot to work with.

Expanding Uses of Video

While Staples wants to keep the length of each video short, he wants to expand the use of videos on the firm's site. With law firms moving toward video for recruiting, he says, Fox Rothschild needs to do more in that regard. Also, while it might not be in the immediate future, Staples says the firm could look to attach videos to attorney biographies.

That is something The Beasley Firm has done for years. Viewers are greeted by an introductory video from Jim Beasley, Jr. He can also be seen on other videos, describing what each practice area means. Some of the firm's attorneys describe their practices on the biography pages.

Martin says the purpose of Morgan Lewis' videos evolved along with the production process. Chairman Francis Milone initially wanted a welcome video that would explain to new hires, both legal and nonlegal, what the firm was like. The goal was to get them excited about working for the firm, Martin says. Over the six-month process of creating the video, however, it became apparent that the target audience could expand to include recruits.

Similarly, the firm's pro bono video had always been intended for an external audience, Martin says. As the firm's pro bono work became more structured, however, the video also seemed like a good way to highlight the firm's efforts both to potential pro bono clients and to attorneys.

This article has been adapted for A&FP.

Gina Passarella writes for Philadelphia's The Legal Intelligencer, an affiliate of this newsletter.

Videos are popping up increasingly on firm Web sites, but at least one analyst warns that law firms might be paying too much for too little.

Recent Philadelphia-area examples include a career page video for Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, a 100th anniversary homepage video for Fox Rothschild LLP, and a pro bono page video for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, which also has a 10-minute introductory video on its homepage.

Reaching the iPod Generation

'It's not the wave of the future, it's the wave of the present,' Drinker Biddle hiring partner Audrey Talley says of Web site videos.

When Drinker Biddle started planning its site redesign two years ago, a video on the recruiting page was slated as part two of the makeover, she says. The three-minute video, which has interviews with associates and partners, covers the process of being recruited, to starting as an associate to business development, Talley says.

The firm wanted to get honesty and sincerity across to potential law student and lateral recruits, and she says that is tough to do in the written word.

Using video is part of a larger issue of firms needing to reach the current generation in ways to which they are accustomed, she says.

'This is the iPod, i-everything, Internet, electronic generation,' Talley says.

Videos or Gym Memberships?

Micah Buchdahl of HTMLawyers (www.htmlawyers.com) says a lot of firms are moving toward video, and most are putting it on recruiting pages.

Most recruits, however, aren't that interested in watching the video, he says. When Buchdahl has done internal audits of firm Web sites, the first-years never mention the Web site as a reason they came on board, he says.

'They're still more of a cool thing to say you have than something that's getting use,' he says.

Buchdahl tells his clients that they are better off being forthcoming with details on their Web sites than creating a video-touting firm culture.

'I'd rather know my gym membership is free,' Buchdahl says of what recruits are looking for. Better yet, he says, a firm could take the money it spends on a video and make the gym memberships free.

Posting Seminars

Although videos might not get the most bang for their buck, Buchdahl says there can be ways to make them useful.

Firms that are seminar-driven, such as labor and employment boutiques, may want to tape their seminars and put them on a Web site such as YouTube, he says. It can be a lot less expensive, but more informative to the client. Buchdahl notes that even smaller firms can do this.

Posting a seminar to a mass audience can have unexpected results, however, including media backlash. Pittsburgh-based immigration firm Cohen & Grigsby, P.C., posted a tutorial seminar on how the firm helps employers meet federal requirements for hiring foreign workers when they can't fill certain positions with U.S. citizens. Excerpts of the seminar were re-posted onto YouTube, overprinted with sharply critical comments on how the seminar's advice undermined the law's good-faith requirement for seeking qualified U.S. workers.

Another concern with posting seminars is that the people who paid to go might get upset when the video is posted for free on the Web. To avoid that problem, firms can delay posting the video or just send links to select clients, Buchdahl says.

Buchdahl further notes that program length should be realistic. A general counsel probably won't watch a 90-minute video on mergers and acquisitions. Firms are more likely to get people to listen to a two-minute podcast.

Cost Considerations

Jim Staples, the chief marketing officer for Fox Rothschild LLP, has worked in other professional services and consumer products arenas before. And he worked on videos for each of those employers.

Putting together a video means bringing in a large crew to at least one office if not more and flying in attorneys from several of the firm's offices, he says.

The average cost, Staples says, should probably be around $25,000 to $30,000. 'It doesn't have to be $100,000, but it can't be $5,000.'

Buchdahl says video production can range from a camcorder and tripod to a multiperson team with post-production editing. The cost can range anywhere from $0 to $100,000.

Even if the video is a taping of a seminar for YouTube, Buchdahl says, firms need to make it as polished as possible. 'If you're a large corporate firm and you're going to stick it on your homepage, it better be polished,' he says.

One of his clients shelled out $30,000 for a famous narrator to read the video script, however. And a vendor for another client called to offer a videographer who worked on Titanic. 'Like we need Oscar-winning,' Buchdahl says.

If large firms are already spending millions on information technology and events, then it may make sense to invest part of that budget on a video, Buchdahl says. 'I just don't want it to be a break-the-bank component.'

At any cost level, videos should have a reasonable cost-benefit. Videos on the main page are often 'cute branding tools' that are part of an overall brand awareness, but they aren't bringing in business, Buchdahl says.

Content Decisions

When putting together its video, Fox Rothschild wanted to celebrate its anniversary but didn't want to give a history lesson, Staples says. The theme of the video is 'how does the past inform the future.'

Fox Rothschild worked with the advertising arm of its outside PR agency, StarRosen Public Relations, to come up with a script and help with production. The overall process took about three to four months, he says, all for three to four minutes of video. (The length of the video is very important, Staples says, with three to five minutes being the maximum amount of time a firm should target. 'Ten minutes, that's just too long.')

To get extra use from its video investment, Fox Rothschild also provided DVDs of the video for attorneys to give to clients. On the jackets of the DVDs were a few business development tips for the attorneys.

Morgan Lewis Personnel Partner Michele E. Martin also says timing was definitely a concern when creating two eight-minute videos for her firm. The original goal, she says, was about five to six minutes, but with more than 100 hours of footage for just one video, the firm had a lot to work with.

Expanding Uses of Video

While Staples wants to keep the length of each video short, he wants to expand the use of videos on the firm's site. With law firms moving toward video for recruiting, he says, Fox Rothschild needs to do more in that regard. Also, while it might not be in the immediate future, Staples says the firm could look to attach videos to attorney biographies.

That is something The Beasley Firm has done for years. Viewers are greeted by an introductory video from Jim Beasley, Jr. He can also be seen on other videos, describing what each practice area means. Some of the firm's attorneys describe their practices on the biography pages.

Martin says the purpose of Morgan Lewis' videos evolved along with the production process. Chairman Francis Milone initially wanted a welcome video that would explain to new hires, both legal and nonlegal, what the firm was like. The goal was to get them excited about working for the firm, Martin says. Over the six-month process of creating the video, however, it became apparent that the target audience could expand to include recruits.

Similarly, the firm's pro bono video had always been intended for an external audience, Martin says. As the firm's pro bono work became more structured, however, the video also seemed like a good way to highlight the firm's efforts both to potential pro bono clients and to attorneys.

This article has been adapted for A&FP.

Gina Passarella writes for Philadelphia's The Legal Intelligencer, an affiliate of this newsletter.