Blogs

The May 17 Capital Chapter program held at the brand new offices of Arent Fox featured a panel of four senior law firm leaders.  In an interesting presentation format, each speaker delved into one specific issue on which they have particular expertise, providing case studies and key takeaways to further emphasize their points. 

Social Media

Steve Bell, Chief Client Development Officer at Womble Carlyle, focused his presentation on the increasingly important role of social media in the legal industry.  He noted that inside counsel are using social media – particularly LinkedIn and Twitter  – more and more to gather information. 
Steve provided a “Top 5” list for the audience of key points on the importance of social media in law firm business development:

5. Social media is well-constructed for attorneys, as it helps to break down the walls that have grown over the last 30 years and to restore a  sense of community.  Steve suggested Gary Vaynerchuk’s book The Thank You Economy for those interested in learning more about how social media is playing a role in the restoration of relationships.

4. Lawyers are increasingly generating business via social media despite the absence of face-to-face relationships.

3. That something is said is often as important as what is said.  A lawyer’s regular presence on social media helps to increase his/her “findability” and Klout.com rating.  Law firm marketers should encourage their lawyers to be reporters and observers of the world.

2. Social media communicates when nothing else will.  As demonstrated during events such as The Arab Spring, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the tornadoes in the Midwest, people turn to social media as the reliable means of communication since phone and e-mail often do not work in these circumstances.  

1. Steve anticipates that social media within the next three years will replace e-mail, just as e-mail replaced USPS mail in the 1990s.  Accordingly, Steve predicts that social media will be more pervasive than e-mail in communication between lawyers and clients.

Client Loyalty

Ellen Musante, Global Director of Marketing and Business Development at Milbank, discussed client loyalty and ways to gain clients’ allegiance to a firm.  She noted that although each firm thinks they maintain client loyalty well, the legal industry actually does not do as well as other industries in this area.

In general, clients want to be loyal but often can’t because of budget constraints.  In fact, a survey of GCs conducted by Acritas over the last quarter of 2012 revealed 30% had dismissed a firm within the previous 12 months.  During a time when realization rates and productivity are down and there are unmet expectations within the business side of law firms, loyal clients are especially important; they are more lenient in waiving conflicts, issue fewer RFPs, are more receptive to cross-selling, recommend lateral hires, and pay higher rates. 

To engender loyalty within clients, Ellen emphasized the importance of starting with a basic concept:  gratitude, and building from there.  She recommended The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor, which discusses how gratitude sparks an upward spiral in relationship development.

In addition to gratitude and strategic, pragmatic, responsive legal counsel Ellen suggested firms consider these actions to help drive client loyalty:

• CLEs - targeted, relevant, free advice
• client interviews
• frequent and steady contact 
• introductions, both online and in person, to other individuals who may be helpful to the client/organization
• genuine enterprise interest in the business of the organization
• “wining and dining”

Brand Development

Mark Greene, Chief Business Development Officer at Waller, discussed successful brand development.  Upon being hired at Waller, Mark was responsible for overhauling the firm’s brand.  In his presentation, he described the steps he took to develop and implement the new brand, emphasizing the following key takeaways:

• All parties were involved from the beginning.  One of the first steps in Mark’s process was to get all of the vendors – designers, market researchers, photographers, etc. – involved and meeting in-person as a group from the start.  This way, each vendor learned how the brand was developed and therefore had an absolute understanding of its genesis and how it should be implemented. When all of the data had been collected, the group again met in-person with Mark’s in-house team to brainstorm what it all meant and what brand platform it supported.
• All aspects of the new brand were developed based on data.  Furthermore, the changes that came with the new brand – including a new logo, a fresh color scheme, and updated biography portraits – were based on data acquired through market research, internal and external interviews, and financial analysis.  This made it easier to sell the changes to the lawyers.  For example, in selecting the new color for the logo, Mark and his team graphed the color palettes of the firm’s primary competitors and chose colors that differentiated Waller.
• Each employee had to be  an ambassador of the firm’s brand.  At the end of the project, Waller had a launch party to unveil and explain the new brand, which was attended by all employees.  Following the event, employees returned to their desks, with newly branded collateral items in hand, to find their computer settings, stationery, etc. converted to the new brand. 
• At each stage of the process, Mark socialized the work-to-date with key opinion leaders in the firm, thereby ensuring that there would not be significant resistance to the brand when it was rolled out.

Diversity

Nathan Darling, Chief Business Development & Marketing Officer at Beveridge & Diamond, began his presentation with compelling statistics on the direction of diversity in the workplace:

• 2010 was a tipping point where women made up over 50% of the U.S. payroll.  The recession has been called a “man-cession” since it affected men disproportionately.
• In 2011, the majority of babies born in U.S. were non-white.
• By 2043, there will not be an ethnic majority in the U.S.
• Since 2000, Washington, D.C. and the regions surrounding New York, San Diego, Las Vegas and Memphis have become majority-minority.
• Non-Hispanic whites are a minority in 22 of the country’s 100-biggest urban areas.

In time when clients are becoming increasingly more focused on diversity, it’s important that firms actually “walk the walk,” as the “talk” is not enough.  While it’s not up to the marketing department to “own” the diversity efforts of the firm, marketers can assist the firm in these initiatives by considering the following:

• Training and outside advice can help catalyze efforts.
• Find out what clients care about in terms of diversity and explore ways to align with those interests.  Since law is a relationship business, law firms can make strides by integrating with their clients’ core diversity efforts.  For example, Beveridge & Diamond competed in AT&T’s Legal Department Diversity Award process and was awarded first place in its size category.  Among the benefits of the award was the opportunity for two firm lawyers to attend a two-day summit of several hundred AT&T in-house lawyers.  Only three outside law firms who won diversity awards were allowed to attend the event, making it a highly valuable relationship-building opportunity.
• Firms must provide metrics and results, not promises, to show what they have accomplished in terms of diversity.  Even if a firm’s diversity profile is less than ideal, law firms must find substantive ways to demonstrate what clear steps they are taking towards promoting diversity and what progress has been made. 
• Promote lawyers’ participation in practice-related diversity affinity groups. 
• Focus on the inclusion and retention of diverse employees, and ensure the definition of diversity in your firm is broad (i.e., not limited to race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation).  Watch out for the marginalization of lawyers and staff in offsite facilities – such as document review centers – and also those with flexible work schedules, even as the firm becomes more diverse.

On the subject of diversity, Mark Greene contributed a helpful tip, noting that the American Bar Association considers disabled employees diverse, a variable firms sometimes overlook.  He encouraged firms to consider signing the “Pledge for Change:  Disability Diversity in the Legal Profession” on the Association’s website, which can serve as an additional metric when a firm sites its diversity initiatives. 

We hope to see you at our next program “The Champagne is Not Working” on June 19, which will combine our annual June Networking Event with a presentation led by Kelly Hoey of Women Innovate Mobile on successfully developing your network.

By:  Jean (Brinker) Katz, Client Relations Manager, Covington & Burling LLP for the May/June 2013 Issue of the Capital Ideas Newsletter.