Law Firm Marketing and Business Development

Dramatic Change Defines the Position

Perhaps no non-practicing lawyer position has changed as dramatically as that of the leading marketing professional, which bears no resemblance to the position in the 1990s. Twenty-five years ago, law firm marketing executives were asked to put together brochures and prepare seating charts for client and partner functions. It's a different world today.

When news breaks, reporters want a source immediately — not in an hour, later that day or first thing the next morning. Reporters who can get to a source first and fast — and are confident that source will provide reliable and insightful analysis — win the day. If you want to be considered and quoted as a thought leader on timely topics, understanding the compressed timing of the news cycle is critical. To get on a key reporter's speed dial, here are three tips you can incorporate into your PR and marketing activities.

The boomer generation — 75 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — and a tiny cadre of over-70s Silent Generation lawyers currently make up just under half of partners at Am Law 200 firms. As partners with the greatest seniority, they constitute a majority in the equity and management ranks, and control an outsize share of client relationships. The impacts of retirement are amplified because a long surge in hiring and promotion that began when boomers entered law firms has halted since the financial crisis.

Although a handful of law firms has hired non-lawyer sales teams, most still rely upon individual attorneys or practice groups to generate new client matters (i.e., to sell) even though the majority of them have never received business development skills training. This article describes some of the important characteristics and habits shared by attorneys who have built successful practices.

Law firm leadership is at a proverbial fork in the road. The people running law firms can continue to do business as usual, or they can lead their firms toward a model of business that reflects the new and still evolving client expectations and market demands.

Optimal Insights Through Inter-Departmental Initiatives

As dizzying amounts of resources and the need for the timeliest insights grow, the conduit and collaboration between business development and an organization's information management department, especially, becomes more critical than ever.

By guiding your colleagues and lawyers to focus on the business consequences of timely legal issues, you introduce them to reporters as sources whose opinions and predictions will be quoted in these look-back and look-ahead review stories that executives and prospective clients will be reading to gear up for the new year.

A law firm executive's ability to lead lawyers' potential for greatness can be evaluated using a model that is similar to baseball. The term “five-tool player” is used to describe a player who has an array of skills across a broad spectrum.