by Logan Tracey
Lauren Piccolo-Ingram is the Business Development Director in Goodwin Procter’s New York City office. She also co-chairs our NYLMA chapter’s Business Development SIG with Lisa Cooms. This year is Lauren’s first co-chairing this always creative SIG, ideal timing to introduce her to the larger chapter!
Lauren has spent almost her entire career at large firms – Latham & Watkins and Paul Hastings, in addition to Goodwin Procter – giving her a wide perspective of the legal industry. Many of our members know Lauren for her warmth and good humor. But many probably don’t know the amazing story about her dog, which literally made headlines in New York’s paper of record.
Lauren, where you are from? Why did you settle down in NYC?
I am from Rhode Island. I came to New York for college at Fordham and have been here ever since. Though my husband is keen to live somewhere warmer, we are probably never leaving. After almost 20 years of living in New York City, and with my inherent avoidance of eye contact with strangers when walking down the street, I feel like I am a New Yorker in my blood!
How did you find legal marketing as a career?
Immediately before entering the world of legal marketing, I worked for a start-up company whose target market was large law firms. As a result, I spent a lot of time studying the industry. When I was ready to move on from the start-up, law firms seemed like a natural next step for me.
What has been your favorite thing about being a member of LMA?
The people of course! Being part of LMA has broadened my network significantly and has allowed me to meet, work with, and learn from seasoned marketing professionals, peers and rising stars in our industry.
You’ve been in the industry for a number of years and have worked at some of the largest firms in New York. What do you find most interesting about legal marketing at this stage of your career?
The fact that legal marketing is evolving so quickly has been great for me. The firms where I have worked have all wanted to get much more sophisticated very quickly which has meant that I have been able to try new things that the firm has not done in the past.
I love to push the envelope so “marketing experiments” are exciting to me and have kept me engaged throughout my career. There is a big payoff when you can pull off something new and it’s successful. There is big learning curve when you try to pull off something new and you aren’t successful. Both are great experiences to have.
How did your graduate degree change your career and/or how you run your department? How much of a difference did you see it practically make in your career?
Getting a MBA has definitely made me a better-rounded professional and a more sophisticated marketer. When I started business school, I was unsure if I wanted to concentrate my degree in marketing. I thought my years of legal marketing work taught me everything I needed to know! I was sufficiently humbled in my classes, however, by the things that I felt I still needed to learn. I did ultimately concentrate in marketing. (I have a dual concentration in marketing and management).
Attorneys can be pretty “credentials conscious” so I think having a MBA can help a marketer achieve a certain level of authority with her attorney clients. I distinctly recall one partner asking me what “MBA approaches” I had to a particular scenario we were working through.
I also think the legal marketing space is getting more competitive and firms’ standards and requirements are changing. When I entered legal marketing ten years ago, there were few MBAs. Now firms are actively looking for MBAs and the degree is “preferred” or “required” for senior positions. That was the case when I joined Goodwin and I think the fact that I was, at the time, finishing up my degree, helped to give me an edge in the recruiting process.
What is one fun thing you like to do with the teams you work with?
I am not much of a happy hour/drinks person, but I do enjoy getting to know my colleagues. I am into exercise of all types and I think exercise provides a great way to bond with people so if a colleague is game for an exercise-related activity, I am typically on it! I took fellow LMA’er Carrie Gilman to her first bikram yoga class many years ago. Now she is my right-hand at Goodwin. Yoga + Colleagues = Happiness
A quick Facebook search reveals you are big into running. How did you get into running and competing in marathons? Also, why on earth do people run marathons?
Last fall I was struggling to get out of a fitness rut. I mentioned this to a colleague who is very active and she asked if I would be interested in running the Bermuda half marathon with her. I was thrilled that she suggested it. I used to run a lot, but had taken many years off after a knee injury. Plus the race was in Bermuda… in January. The race gave me a fitness focus for several months which helped drag me out of my rut. I had a great time in Bermuda and have run six races since then.
I can’t say why all people run marathons, but I can say for myself that marathon running gives me a great sense of accomplishment. It also gives me license to eat tons of pizza! There is this beautiful concept in running called “carb loading.” I am a fan.
What’s your current food obsession right now? What are you so over?
I am in love with my Nutribullet blender and make a lot of fruit smoothies in it. All smoothies get ginger! Most also get some other spice like turmeric. I wish I could say I was over something, but I am not. I love food.
You have a really skinny dog. How did you get him? And how did you get him back?
Burt is my two-and-a-half year old whippet. I adore him more than anything. You will probably be more interested in hearing about how I got him back than how I got him in the first instance. In the summer of 2014, when Burt was just nine months old, he got away from me on a walk in our neighborhood in Harlem. My husband and I did everything in our power to get Burt back. We enlisted the help of family, friends and colleagues to post flyers on the West Side of Manhattan from the 180’s down to the 70’s. We walked the streets talking to neighbors, dog walkers, local business owners, and park department and sanitation workers – enlisting as many people as we could be on the lookout for Burt. We visited all of the animal shelters in the city and at one point even called a pet detective!
After five months, Burt was miraculously recovered! A New York Fire Department Lieutenant working at the FDNY training facility on Randall’s Island had seen Burt over the course of a few weeks and, being a dog lover himself, was concerned about Burt being able to survive in the major snow storm that was destined for New York City. Lt. Kelly managed to get Burt into a humane trap and then searched lost dog postings on the internet. He found the Facebook page I created when Burt went missing and the rest is history!
Burt’s recovery was the talk of the local dog-loving community and was even covered in The New York Times.
