Meet Tara Weintritt, Director of Client Services at Miles & Stockbridge P.C.
Tara Weintritt is hoping that things might get back to a routine now.
For the past year, in addition to her full-time job as Director of Client Services at Miles & Stockbridge, a firm of 220 lawyers with seven offices, she has been deeply involved in the development of a firm-wide strategic plan. According to Tara, “This is the most comprehensive project I have ever been involved in. It is the vision for the firm for the next ten years. It has been, and will continue to be, incredibly rewarding and worth the time. However, working on this was like having another full-time job for most of management at the firm.”
Tara believes that the plan will be successful because of the intensity of involvement at every level. She says, “It’s about deciding who you want to become and becoming it.” The plan defines the core business and structure of the firm, addresses firm culture, policy, geography, client service and more, Tara says. Every department has a document outlining goals, strategies, measures and tactics that impact everything that it does every day. As for the marketing department, she says, “From the earliest discussions we knew we needed to realign and grow the marketing staff. However, some decisions are being impacted by the economic downturn.”
With a headquarters office in Baltimore, where she spends two days a week, Tara spends the rest of her time working in the firm’s other offices, working from home, and traveling. Tara has five full-time staff and half the time of one of the firm’s IT staffers.
“We’re a very small marketing staff compared to other firms our size, but I believe in empowering the people who work for me,” Tara says. “They are doing things at the manager level that most marketers never get to do. With a small staff, you have to be able to delegate more responsibility.”
“My biggest challenge,” Tara adds, “is balancing work and home, especially being the mother of three children, including a new baby.”
“It takes a village as they say, and I am lucky to have a village assisting me in both locations,” Tara says.
In 2005, Tara received the Marketing Director of the Year Award from Thomson West for implementing client satisfaction interviews at Miles & Stockbridge. Tara initiated the practice of face-to-face interviews to help the firm achieve its goal of excellent and differentiating client service. That effort also includes running client teams and improving internal communications to increase understanding within the firm of what others are doing.
“In addition to client teams, we have launched industry teams to understand and stay current with the unique needs of specific industries,” Tara says. “We work hard to adjust to the current needs of the client, and industry teams seemed like the perfect next step.”
Tara worked in hotel management for three years during and after college before she moved to DC. She has a double degree in communications and business from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. While she was in school, she interned with the National Basketball Association for two summers.
“It was an incredible experience that presented a new challenge every moment. I never envisioned I would end up in legal marketing, but the experience was actually perfect training for my world today. Things were rarely dull or predictable and you certainly had to be able to adjust on a dime,” Tara says. “I helped run the summer league and did everything from public relations to game lineup. One time, an announcer didn’t show up, so I ended up announcing the game!”
Her career in legal marketing started 10 years ago with a position at Greenfield Belser in the District, where she spent four years as an account executive and media buyer. “The experience working with the entire GB team and some of the most innovative and cutting edge clients was invaluable. Not to mention, I got to work with some of the field’s elite, like Deborah McMurray and Norm Rubenstein, who were consulting with Greenfield Belser at the time. I couldn’t have had a better experience at that point in my career,” she says.
Tara has been a member of LMA ever since she started in legal marketing and has seen a lot of turnover in the field.
She suggests, “Every person interviewing for a job in marketing should ask the senior management for that firm, ‘What does success look like for this position?’ Because the answer is going to be different for every single firm.”
Tara points out, “There’s such movement and mismatching in the industry regarding what is expected from marketing staff. If a firm can’t answer that question, or the response is significantly different than your expectation, it should be a red flag. This may seem obvious, but can be easily overshadowed by enthusiasm for the next great job.”
“There are a lot of really bright and creative people in legal marketing,” Tara says. “I think the difference for those who are the most successful comes from the culture of the firm and the leadership that supports them. I am incredibly lucky to be at a firm that believes marketing and client service is one of the central cores of the business.”
When it comes to LMA, she says, “I’m always so surprised at how much knowledge is shared, given that we’re all technically competitors, but that’s the value of it. It’s a chance to talk with others who are facing the same challenges and the same opportunities.”
Profile written by Elaine Noble, principal of Noble Pursuits, a graphic design and branding firm in Alexandria, Va.