In 1989, Detroit-based Miller Canfield saw the growing national trend of law firms hiring in-house legal marketers after Bates v. State Bar of Arizona. The firm promoted then-recruiting and research coordinator Barbara Silkworth to practice development coordinator, making her the first legal marketer in Michigan and member #54 in the LMA’s original group, the National Association of Law Firm Marketing Administrators.
Barb – along with some of the first generation of legal marketers in Michigan, Julie Savarino, Joe Melnick and Tony Allegrina – helped pave the way for many of us. They took on roles within law firms that had no precedent and very little job description. They shaped the foundation of their firm departments and along the way, made mistakes and enjoyed successes.
I had the pleasure of talking with Barb before she ran out of Miller Canfield’s doors, blissfully into retirement, on February 1, after 36 years with the firm.
Blast from the past: a 1993 news clipping with a headline about seminars as a means of attracting clients.
An copy of one of Barb's early press releases - with no dateline!
Michigan legal marketing trailblazers Barb Silkworth, Joe Melnick and Tony Allegrina.
What are some differences between now and 1989?
The legal industry was booming. Firms were hiring dozens of summer clerks and law schools were churning out lawyers. There was also a subtle shift of corporations and large organizations building in-house legal departments due to the lawyer demand. But the lawyers weren’t concerned with marketing – there was no sense of the need to market. There was virtually no such thing as a lateral hire. People joined a firm and stayed their entire career. Also, law firms had institutionalized clients. Clients didn't shop around for law firms. Long time relationships were important and older partners passed down clients to younger partners like a cafeteria line.
What was your first task as a legal marketer?
No one was asking or expecting much. My self-imposed first task was to develop a media list. I typed it on a typewriter! Later a resource called “Finder Binder” became available and that was helpful to enhance my list. When I was cleaning out my desk recently, I found an old press release that didn’t have a date. So, at some point I realized that press releases needed a date!
Did you go to NALFMA (now LMA) meetings?
I remember receiving an invite in the mail for the annual meeting and seeking approval to attend. I was told to wait a year to “see if this works out.” So, I bought an audio cassette of the sessions. That’s when I learned that you should organize your media list by geography, industry, alumni, etc. (Author’s note: I joined Barb’s team in 2002. I distinctly remember the black binder organized by these tabs. When a reporter left, I had to update the document [by computer, not typewriter!] and replace that particular page. That was before the mass consolidation of media outlets and journalists, whew!)
Who were your peers at the time?
Sally Schmidt was the first president of NALFMA. I’d also rely on Donna Shaft and Connie Cook Laug.
What do you think is your greatest contribution?
I hope my greatest contribution was to create and shape the infrastructure to enable Miller Canfield to market the firm. When I started, there were no budget structures, no templates for attorney profiles, no process for publicity, no central resource for languages spoken. I created our first website when I didn’t even have the internet.
What will you miss?
I started with a department of one and eventually cobbled together a marketing team. I will miss the doing and sharing together. We legal marketers speak a language together.
For those of us still growing in legal marketing, what is our challenge?
The genesis of everything we do: how do you convey a benefit versus a service? That’s hard as we vie for the same pool of work and try to differentiate ourselves.
For Tony Allegrina, his path to marketing director at Bodman LLP started in information technology (IT) and litigation support.
“While I had dabbled in marketing activities going back to the late 1980s – planning seminars, designing and editing newsletters, drafting an occasional media release – we had no dedicated marketing function,” he said. “The design of our first website in 1997 forced the issue; there was nobody here to lead the project. We brought in a consultant to act as our in-house legal marketer, primarily for than one project. In 1998, the firm decided to add a full-time marketer. I applied and got it.”
Like Barb, Tony found himself in a situation where he had to figure out for himself exactly what he was supposed to be doing.
“There wasn’t a clear vision for what I should be doing the first few years; I set my own agenda in large part,” he said. “My background was also in journalism and one of my initial goals was to establish a basic media relations program. My first summer as marketing director I didn’t think I was busy enough – seriously! – so using my IT background, I designed our first intranet from scratch using FrontPage. The development budget was the cost of the FrontPage software. While it has received minor facelifts through the years, we continue to use that same intranet 15 years later!”
Rich Marsolais, business development operations strategist at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, LLP, was recruited to legal marketing by veteran Joe Melnick, a former chief marketing officer of Butzel Long who is now with Honigman. He said the experiences of people like Barb, Tony and Joe is invaluable to those who came into the field later.
“My start in the legal profession eight years ago was a direct result of my friendship with Joe. I had no idea that the legal marketing field even existed and that it was large and growing,” Rich said. “Early on, I met Tony and Barb and realized soon, like Joe, they were trailblazers for all of us legal marketers in the Detroit area. Their willingness to share information and provide perspective on the unique aspects of working with attorneys made my transition at Honigman a little smoother. Now that Barb has retired, there is one less great marketer that we can turn to for advice that only a true veteran can provide.”
Christy Baas is manager of global branding and media at Miller Canfield in Detroit. She is responsible for developing and implementing brand strategies and media and public relations programs that build awareness and establish Miller Canfield as a leader in legal services.