Meet Aileen Hinsch, Senior Public Relations Specialist, Venable LLP
Aileen Hinsch is about to begin her first term on the Capital Chapter's Board of Directors. But her upcoming position as member at large will hardly be her first involvement with LMA.
Aileen, who is now a senior public relations specialist at Venable LLP, has served as a member of the Chapter's Program Committee since 2008 and has spoken this year at LMA events in New York and Los Angeles on law firm directories and rankings.
"A few years ago I decided that I wanted to conquer a fear of public speaking, so I began speaking at law firms and legal organizations on the topics of social media and securing speaking engagements," Aileen says. "Those talks went well, and I learned that I actually enjoyed public speaking."
In her position at Venable, which she has held since September 2010, Aileen divides her time between the firm's Baltimore and D.C offices. She handles public relations issues as well as being a point person for rankings and directories.
Like many legal marketers, Aileen came to our profession in a somewhat circuitous manner. Raised in Northern Virginia, she received her bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia in English literature in 1997. She then moved to California, where she worked in the software field during the tech boom of the late 1990s.
Thinking she might become a teacher, Aileen then enrolled in Boston University, where she received a master's degree in teaching. But rather than pursue a career in education, she returned to Northern Virginia, where she worked for a firm that did Web site and Web application design and development. That led to a job for a company that sold intellectual property software for law firms. Aileen traveled around the country, training clients in the software.
In 2002, Aileen followed some co-workers to Jaffe PR, which consults to law firms - a logical move from her previous job.
At Jaffe, Aileen had a wide range of assignments, quickly rising to client manager. She worked on advertising campaigns and media buying, Web site and blog design and development, and social media consulting. For example, building on her IP expertise, she helped a local IP boutique launch its first blog. Venable is Aileen's first in-house law position.
Aileen moved to Annapolis in 2001 to pursue her interest in competitive sailboat racing. Now that she has two sons, ages 4 ½ and 2, she is doing perhaps a bit less sailboat racing and a bit more camping, hiking, and other outdoor family activities.
As a Chapter Board member at large in 2012, Aileen will be able to select the project or portfolio that interests her. She says she hasn't yet made that choice.
Aileen finds it challenging and interesting to work with attorneys.
"The key with lawyers is to anticipate," she says. "You're dealing with one of the smartest segments of society, and an attention to detail is necessary. You have to anticipate every question that you may need to field, every document that a lawyer may ask you about. That's my advice to legal marketers."
Profile written by Jonathan Groner, a Washington, DC legal marketing consultant