Canton, Ohio has its annual Hall of Fame game for pro footballers. Doubleday Field hosts a yearly celebration in Cooperstown. And, as I’m sure many of you are well aware, the World Curling Hall of Fame hosts its annual Elmer Freytag Award dinner. And so it was that on October 29, LMA Midwest held its very own celebration of past inductees into its Hall of Fame. Attendees were lucky enough to hear the wisdom of six highly esteemed members of the Hall, namely:
- Marcie Johnson, self‑styled “Manager of Mischief” at Schiff Hardin, a pioneer in the domain of legal marketing who founded the Chicago Chapter in 1989;
- Mike Ralston, currently manager of marketing proposals at Foley & Lardner, who served as president of the International LMA in 1991;
- Donna Shaft, president of Shaft Consulting, an organizing member of LMA Chicago and a frequent volunteer on local and national LMA committees;
- Nancy Roberts Linder, director of marketing at Chapman Cutler and co-owner of Linder Legal Staffing, who was president of the local chapter in 1996 and 1998;
- Joy Long, director of marketing at Ostrow Reisin Berk & Abrams, who served as Chicago’s secretary, treasurer, and twice as president; and
- Ross Fishman, JD, CEO at Fishman Marketing, who has the unique honor of being the first legal marketing professional to testify in that capacity as an expert witness.
In the space available in this column, I can barely do justice to the breadth and depth of experience represented in the room. Nevertheless, the thoughtful, intelligent and well-prepared moderation by Megan McKeon, senior marketing manager at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, helped me draw out several common threads in the conversation:
- that legal marketing remains a young and evolving profession;
- that the recent recession was driving very significant shifts in the skills and expectations of marketers; and
- that however the legal sector evolves in the future, the Legal Marketing Association is a place that all legal marketers should turn for the best techniques and advice to help them in their careers.
Donna Shaft opened the conversation in response to Megan’s question, asking, “How has legal marketing evolved?” Donna’s explanation was direct and spoke volumes about the profession’s origins. “First we had to make [legal marketing],” she said. “We thought that we were the only ones to do what we were doing – until we found each other.” She was also honest about her own motivations for getting involved. “I was looking for a way NOT to practice law,” she said, “so I created the function at Sidley.
Joy Long was equally transparent about her reasons for becoming a legal marketer. “I chose this career in 1990, having worked in law firms for almost a decade,” she said. “I loved lawyers and what they did, so my degree is based in business and marketing, with a view to do what I do better.”
Joy explained that she was part of what she saw as the second generation of legal marketers. “Websites and advertising were just coming onto the scene at the time. Rules and ethics on advertising were evolving to allow legal marketing.”
It was clear that all on the panel saw the past four or five years forcing dramatic changes in how legal marketers must function and in the approaches and attitudes of the lawyers they serve. Mike Ralston seemed to sum up the problem best, saying, “As an industry, we have lost control of the price of our service.”
Fortunately, as Marcie observed, that fact seems to be driving shifts among attorneys. “The lawyers are getting used to the idea that there is a competition. They realize that they must engage in order to get work,” she said.
And, as Ross Fishman noted, this is giving legal marketers an opportunity to take on a more strategic role in their firms, a role that emphasizes training and coaching about how marketing can work best. “Tell your lawyers not only what is creative, but also what is effective,” said Ross. “If you teach your lawyers, they will learn – they’re smart. It’s just that they haven’t had the class yet. Teach them what works.”
Ross continued the theme of taking advantage of this opportunity to teach attorneys some new tricks. “We’ve created a situation over the decades where we’ve taught lawyers that you really can’t measure things. We have to introduce metrics. When we do that, then we put ourselves in a position to be considered more strategically. We can use the recession as the hook for that change.”
When addressing the impact of the Legal Marketing Association on their careers, the Hall of Famers were very clear. It was an essential support group that was truly pivotal in their careers and getting involved and drawing lessons from the experience of others in the association were essential to ongoing development.
Nancy Linder was quite emphatic when describing LMA’s impact on her. “All these people at this table embraced me when I first started. [The LMA] was the early LinkedIn – and LMA is still that community,” she said. “We are not in such a highly competitive market that we can’t share advice with each other. This is an amazing place to learn and grow. I feel like all of you are my family.”
Marcie was equally effusive, saying, “Having started in 1983, I couldn’t have lasted without the people in the profession. We should all be proud to have membership in this association. It is absolutely vital.”
Mike echoed her sentiment. “We had to create an association out of necessity,” he explained.
Megan finished the session with a simple question, asking, “What is the one piece of advice you would give someone for their legal marketing careers?” Relationships, learning and mastery were the ideas that came to the fore in each reply.
- Marcie: “Enjoy it! If you don’t enjoy it, you won’t do a good job. Take pride in it.”
- Mike: “From 1977 to 1984, I worked alongside lawyers, billing 2800 to 2900 hours per year. That taught me about the pressures that the lawyers have. That experience has helped me build relationships with attorneys.”
- Donna: “When it stops being a challenge in a way that ignites your creativity, then you need to find another job – though not necessarily out of the field. It may just mean you have learned all you can.”
- Nancy: “You’ve got to master it all. If you’re going to be a CMO, then you must have a basic understanding of how all things work. To lead and take people forward, you must see the future.”
- Joy: “Be a lifelong learner. You are never done, you never learn everything. I may sit through these sessions where I think I’m not going to learn anything, but you’ll be amazed what you learn.”
- Ross: “Do one thing, and do it great before you do a second thing. Apportion the marketing budget based on success. Build the view that marketing works and is effective.”
Ian Turvill is the chief marketing officer at Freeborn & Peters LLP, a Chicago-based mid-sized law firm. He held marketing roles with several professional services and technology companies for 18 years before coming to Freeborn in 2011. Contact Ian at iturvill@freebornpeters.com.