On November 19, 2014, more than 30 Detroit City Group members and guests gathered at Bodman PLC’s Ford Field office for a presentation on “Project Management – A Tool for Change” by Mary K. Young of the Zeughauser Group and Graeme Browning, a senior proposal manager for a major accounting firm. Above, from left to right, City Group co-chairs John Cornwell and Cindy Richards, Mary K. Young, Graeme Browning, and LMA Midwest President Rich Marsolais prepare for the program.
The Detroit City Group, under the leadership of co-chairs John Cornwell of Plunkett Cooney and Cindy Richards of Howard & Howard, has had an active fall. On October 23, Howard & Howard hosted an informal “brown bag” lunch on attorney rating services, a controversial topic that always draws strong opinions. On November 19, Bodman hosted a presentation on “Project Management – A Tool for Change” by Mary K. Young of the Zeughauser Group and Graeme Browning, a senior proposal manager for a major accounting firm. Finally, the group met for our annual Winter Social on December 4 at the “Corner Bar” in the Townsend Hotel in beautiful downtown Birmingham, Michigan. The Townsend is an elegant, full-service, boutique-style hotel that is an excellent choice for anyone doing business in Detroit’s northern suburbs. The Townsend is also “home” to Kitty Adler, an active participant in Detroit City Group activities and senior sales manager for the hotel.
While I always enjoy joining my City Group colleagues, I must admit that the presentation on project management left me slightly bewildered. Don’t get me wrong – Mary and Graeme did a fine job presenting their case for the importance of project management to law firm growth and profitability. But the concepts and processes they described seemed so unfamiliar and, well, technical! I certainly did not become a legal marketer because I wanted to specialize in project management. Surely this kind of initiative should be left to engineers or workflow consultants, to design and to lawyers to apply to their practices. Luckily, my initial sense of bewilderment did not last long.
Working in a mid-size firm with a small marketing staff, I wear many hats. As a result, I often initially rail at the thought of adding a new responsibility, mastering a new system, or developing a new expertise, especially ones that seem peripheral at best to business development. However, Mary and Graeme’s presentation, and the data they provided, demonstrated how critical process reengineering is to the future of law firms.
It also reminded me what I love about my job – it never stays the same! Priorities change, tactics change, and demands change. As frustrating as it can be to wear many different hats, the ever-evolving challenges of law firm marketing continue to make this field exciting and relevant.