The May 31 edition of the Daily Report, an Atlanta-based legal and business news publication, ran a multi-page article as a special insert featuring a few LMA members and our roles within law firms. Here's an excerpt:
When Erin Corbin Meszaros joined the law firm Burr & Forman in June 2009 as chief marketing officer, the job description in her contract was written vaguely.
As it turned out, the lack of detail, whether prescient or unintended, is fitting. Meszaros, like most others in her field, digs daily into an increasingly full and diverse plate of tasks that have redefined the role of legal marketer.
The pace of change has been so dizzying that, instead of spelling out duties, contracts might as well just say: We'll figure it out as we go along.
Among the responsibilities — take a deep breath — of Meszaros:
- Marketing undertakings, such as Web design and communications e-newsletters;
- Business development, through handling request for proposals;
- Professional development, which includes individual coaching of associates by videotaping them in a mandatory program she initiated; and
- Lateral recruiting, which extends to interviewing candidates.
Meszaros even piloted a plan to restructure the budget at the mid-sized firm, which has seven offices scattered in five states, and annually assesses how much revenue can be tied to the marketing team.
While Meszaros might juggle more balls than her peers — a few of whom have asked if she is crazy to keep tossing up so many — the career of marketing has morphed dramatically for all hands over the past decade. Along the way, the marketers' profile has risen in the industry, with their skills being tapped into more than ever.
It is hardly a calling for the inflexible, the unenergetic or the unimaginative.
"You have to have a passion to do this," Meszaros said, "having your hand in all of these things."
The article — which mentions the LMA Southeastern Chapter as an important knowledge-exchange vehicle in the region — also features LMA members Barbara Bryant, Katherine D'Urso, Tom Helm, Clinton Gary, Michele Golivesky, Kelly Williams Rike, Megan Gustafson and Tiffany Zeigler.