Meet Monica Jalil, Senior Manager of Marketing Operations & Communications at Steptoe & Johnson LLP
When I met with Monica Jalil recently, I was impressed by how much she had packed into her 12-year legal marketing career. She started her legal marketing career in 1998 at a firm in Minneapolis. In 2003, she moved to DC to take a director of marketing position at Zuckerman Spaeder. Over the years, she also worked for Blank Rome in their New York office, and although she enjoyed the fast pace and culture of New York, she came back to DC to get married. She was the director of marketing at Ross, Dixon & Bell for three years before moving to Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
I asked her perception of how legal marketing has changed in the last 12 years. “Everything has changed and nothing has changed,” she said. “Technology has changed how we do everything, but we are still in a relationship business. At the end of the day, clients simply want someone to return their phone calls, visit them at their office, and occasionally ask them how they’re doing outside the current case.”
As the Senior Manager of Marketing Operations & Communications for Steptoe, Monica is responsible for all internal and external communications, advertising, rankings, technology (including the website) and the marketing budget. To keep all of those activities running, she has a staff that includes three marketing coordinators, including one for technology and one for PR, as well as a marketing assistant. She also coordinates the efforts of her staff with those of five practice-specific business development managers and their business development coordinators.
“I really enjoy finding solutions to problems by researching available technology and implementing the right tool,” she said. She recently completed the development of a social media plan and is currently working on implementing an experience database project for the firm. “We decided to use SharePoint for the database,” she said. “In addition to manually building a data file to populate the new system, we are pulling selected content from our accounting system. The goal is to be able to generate pitch reports as well as share experience by project type with our website.” When she was looking for solutions and possible vendors, Monica turned to LMA Connect. “I really value the feedback of the LMA community,” she said.
Monica has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in French from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota. During college, she studied in France and interned for a maritime law firm in Paris. After college, she worked in public relations at Weber Shandwick and at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. She has been married for almost four years and has an 18-month-old son.
Profile written by Elaine Noble, principal of Noble Pursuits, a graphic design and branding firm in Warrenton, Va.