Jim Jarrell is a business development manager in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, a full-service law firm that serves clients worldwide from 12 offices. Before joining the firm in 2013, he was a marketing and business development representative/proposal manager with Cleveland law firm Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co, LPA. Prior to that, he held marketing roles outside the legal industry and spent four years as a high school teacher. Jim earned his B.A. in broadcasting from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1994 and received an M.P.S. (Master of Professional Studies) in law firm management in 2014 from The George Washington University. Jim serves on the Legal Marketing Association’s (LMA’s) governance committee and the editorial board committee for Strategies. He also is Chicago City Group co-chair for the LMA Midwest Chapter and previously was active in the LMA Ohio Chapter.
Q. What led you to get into legal marketing?
I’ve spent almost my entire career marketing for professional services firms (accounting, management consulting and engineering), so the legal industry seemed like a logical next stop for me when I was looking for work after a relocation from central Florida back to my hometown of Cleveland. It turned out to be a pretty smart decision. Almost immediately, I had that feeling you get when you’ve finally found your career niche. When I began working in the legal industry, it was like a light bulb went on that made me realize that this is where I should have been all along.
Q. You’ve held several marketing positions outside the legal industry. What are some of the things you learned in those roles that help you as a legal marketer?
I think there are myriad approaches to marketing or business development that all have the potential to be successful. But in my experience, it’s all about equipping the professionals with the tools, knowledge and support they need to make their efforts successful. What works for one attorney isn’t necessarily going to work for another, and as hard as we try as legal marketers to apply a cookie-cutter approach to attorney marketing or business development, sometimes the best successes are those methods and practices that we tailor to fit the attorney’s style.
One thing that we did really well in engineering when I was marketing for a design-build firm was marketing/business development post-mortems. After a proposal and pitch meeting, we would regroup to assess what we learned about the client as part of the process, and we cataloged that knowledge so it didn’t get lost in the vacuum before the next time an opportunity with that prospect presents itself. That kind of intelligence can help make or break a business development initiative.
Q. Are there marketing and/or business development methods that you have found to be effective across all industries?
I think the one skill that translates across all of the industries that I have worked in is client service. Whether I’m marketing for accountants, engineers or lawyers, my focus has always been on client service. Having come up through the ranks in some of these other professional services industries has taught me how to adapt my communications, decision-making and responsiveness to the client I’m working for. In professional services (whether it’s accounting or legal), the product is the person, so what I have focused my entire career on is finding ways to best serve my clients—the professionals—and doing what I need to do to make them successful. If they’re successful, then I’m successful.
Q. You’ve been highly active in LMA ever since getting into legal marketing in 2010. What led you to become as active as you are?
Like I said, almost as soon as I joined my first law firm, I really felt like this is where I belonged. I’ve always been active and involved in the professional organizations relevant to all of my career stops. Deciding to get involved was a no-brainer to me, because I’ve always recognized the importance of building my professional network, particularly among peers in my industry. I first joined LMA Ohio in 2010, and that chapter is so well-run. It won LMA’s Outstanding Chapter Award twice in the last three years, so it must be doing something right. I think that how close this network of legal marketers is, even at the international level, has been most appealing to me, and why I’ve stayed so involved.
Q. You recently earned your M.P.S. in law firm management. Why did you decide to pursue a degree in that area?
I came to legal with a lot of varied experience, but no steadfast credentials that I could point to that said “this is why I’m an up-and-comer in my field.” So, at first, I was looking for a way to credential myself that would be respected by the attorneys I work with (it helps add credibility to my advice). But when I really got into the program—which is heavy on law firm strategy, profitability, leadership and change management—I realized that the knowledge and skills I was acquiring were going to serve me well as I advanced in my career. It’s probably the smartest decision I’ve ever made for my own professional development.
Q. You’re highly active in cabaret and community and professional theatre. What are some of your favorite experiences?
Any experience that I get to perform on stage is a favorite experience. Probably my most cherished roles have been those where I’ve worked with some incredible people and with whom I’ve developed some lasting and enduring relationships. I love doing my cabaret act because it gives me an opportunity to connect with an audience at a much more personal level.
Q. What have you learned from your cabaret and theater experiences that help you as a legal marketer?
When I was a high-school drama teacher, I used to tell my students that “IT happens”—that was my secret advice on opening night. IT happens... IT is always going to happen, and you just have to find the strength to perform and entertain in spite of IT. I think that advice translates well into my professional work today, because sometimes things don’t go as planned. The best I can do is be flexible enough to respond appropriately and learn from the experience. It’s a philosophy that has served me well for my entire career, actually.