West Region

by @Mohib Qidwai, West Region Board Member

In Focus is a new column that features short Q&As with West Region LMA members.


Tom with his Yorkie Sheldon. The picture was taken by his wife Elena at The Blue Heron, on the Russian River in Sonoma County, CA.

Thomas Freeman
Director of Communications
Cooley LLP

How did you get started in legal marketing?
Before joining the legal marketing community, I was a journalist and editor in London and New York. It remains absolutely fascinating for me to now be a part of this industry and to contribute to how our firm and our sector are being assessed. I am deeply appreciative and humbled to have seen it from both sides.

Favorite part of my job?
I work with the most incredible team of professionals. They inspire me, provoke me, make me strive for better. We collaborate, guide, protect, share, and deliver new and better and different. Ultimately it is all about trust, because we are agitators. We want to be the best law firm for the new economy. We also know this is an exciting and collaborative arena and we welcome all agitators for change.
The LMA community I treasure. The leaders that I work most closely with at Cooley – we simply deal in trust. It is inspiriting.

What is a challenge you have been able to overcome in your career/current job/legal marketing?
One massive challenge at my place of work, Cooley LLP, has been to try and keep up with the profound pace of growth and success.
I have a team that is so agile and creative, we constantly lean in to progress and growth, rather than be overawed by it.
Every facet of communications is being revolutionized: we need a constant A-team to assess, deliver new, deliver better, deliver social: and deliver the analytics and ROI to prove it. I am humbled to confirm that my team delivers on all of this and more. I love the LMA because I truly hope it can be a forum for sharing such best practices and for each of us to help out and share spotlights for further success and collaborations together.

Tell us one thing people do not know about you.
For something of a dare, I lived in the Northern Area mountains of Pakistan, in Gilgit, for a year before I went to college. It was wildly different to anything I’ve experienced before or since. Really helped me grow up and know what independence / sustainability is. And I made friends for life, from such a totally different experience than that we generally tend to go through. Magic. Through all prisms of religion know this: we have a short tenure on this planet. Go about it with good faith and love to all others. Whatever your faith thing is, be humble as to what your neighbor’s might be. Through tolerance, is love. T

Something special from the past year.
The pivot to digital. The marketing opportunities have been revolutionary. The communications streams are the same. We are in a new era. It is impossibly exciting, inspirational, full of change. I am deeply blessed to work with a team of professionals who I love, and with whom we are working with our leadership partner teams to continue to push our advice and counsel to the above and beyond. Positive change and aggressive progress: all in. I love the LMA for its networking and support and growth opportunities. When I’ve needed it, it’s been there. I’m just trying to give back a little.​