Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

As a rule, I try to keep my blog professional and my posts tightly focused on the subjects of content writing, lawyer and law-firm marketing, and the marketing uses of social media.  This post falls under the "proud parent" exception to the rule!

My daughter, Caitlin Raasch O'Connor, is a Licensed Naturpathic Doctor and a Certified Professional Midwife.  She graduated from Bastyr University, a five-year accredited program that included a two-year internship treating patients in the school's Seattle clinic, and recently completed an additional family practice residency at National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon.

Last month, after six years of school and residency, Dr. Caitlin O'Connor returned to her home base of Denver.  She opened her own practice in the Highlands neighborhood and her own blog at All Families Natural Health.  She focuses on women's, children's and general health.  For more information about Dr. Caitlin O'Connor and/or naturopathic medicine, please visit All Families Natural Health.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Legal markting professionals and lawyers -- get ready for the rarefield air and spectacular mountain views of the Mile High City!  The Legal Marketing Association will hold its 2010 Annual Conference March 10-13 in my beloved home town -- Denver, Colorado.  If Denver was able to handle the Democratic National Convention, it should be able to handle LMA -- although I think LMA might party just a little bit harder.

Last week, LMA executive director Betsi Roach discussed benefits of membership at the montly meeting of the Mile High Chapter, of which I am a longstanding member.  Other speakers polled the membership for conference ideas, and reviewed the keynotes and some of the presentations from last month's 2009 LMA Annual Conference, held near Washington, D.C.

LMA membership (and its annual conference) are valuable tools.  Here is my synopsis.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This past weekend, my husband and I were in Winter Park, Colorado, for the Wells Fargo Cup -- an annual event that supports the National Sports Center for the Disabled.

We saw some mighty fine skiing -- by both the corporate teams (including Denver law firm Holme Roberts & Owen) and world-class disabled skiers.  After the races on Saturday, we met an outgoing and highly competitive young woman who had broken her back snowboarding seven years ago.  She is competing for the wheelchair Olympic ski team and played on the wheelchair women's basketball team that took the gold in Beijing.  She could beat me down the mountain any day -- despite the disability that put her in a sit-ski.

How did she earn a gold medal in Beijing?  By slicing and dicing the market of all sports into a niche in which she could be Number One.  To succeed at marketing, lawyers, practice/industry groups and law firms must do the same.  They cannot all be Number One at all things for all clients -- and only Number One will consistently get the call for new business.  Law firms need to slice and dice the legal market into a niche in which they can be a dominant player.

It would be very difficult (if not impossible) for a small law firm to be a dominant player in international construction law, for example, but entirely possible for that same firm to dominate the niche of law firms providing construction law defense to commercial designers and builders in the rapidly developing northeast quadrant of Denver surrounding Denver International Airport.

In order to take home the gold, carefully define your sport -- and your market.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

When you get a big check from a client or a third party, the Colorado Supreme Court has strict rules governing where this money is deposited, how it is paid out and what happens to the interest.  In this April 2008 article, Alexander Rothrock of Burns Figa and Will PC discusses recent changes made to the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.15 -- which governs trust accounts -- and the implications of these changes on Colorado law firms.

Office is office and trust is trust -- and never the twain shall meet

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

One of the key responsibilities of a legal administrator is the need to interact effectively as a leader with lawyers and staff -- one-on-one or in groups -- in order to get things done.  In addition, legal administrators need to build and maintain networks of people they can rely on for support in their professional and personal lives.  This March 2008 article summarizes presentations made by Sarah Michel of Perfecting Connecting at the two-day annual retreat of the Mile High Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators, held at The Historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

Effective law firm administration depends upon connecting with others

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The daily responsibility for balancing th eneeds of attorneys and staff in a modern law office can put even the best legal administrator in a stressful position.  In this January 2008 article, consultant and author Julie Alexander discusses maximizing personal and workplace morale.

Law firm administrators:  Maximize your morale to achieve personal and workplace success

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

With the approach of tax season, law firm administrators are eager to understand how the latest developments will affect their firms.  These developments can be structural, like choice of entity, or strategic, like the use of key performance indicators.  In this November 2007 article, accountants Paul Egan, Lori Gibson, Sean McBride and Shawn Windle of Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman discuss trends for the 2008 tax season.

An accountant's view:  Financial trends that affect law firms

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The subject of law firm dress codes is guaranteed to get an animated response from any legal administrator.  If you demonstrate to your staff and lawyers how their personal business style is closely linked with their ongoing career success, they will start to pay attention.  In this October 2007 article, wardrobe consultant Doug Paris of Paris Wardrobe & Design discusses the subject of law firm dress codes.

Law firm dress code:  External restriction or internal guide?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Seventy percent of employees believe that they could improve their performance and results in the workplace -- if only they had effective feedback and coaching.  The "coaching conversation" is a structured process by which an employer helps an employee set better goals and take specific steops to reach his or her full potential.  In this August 2007 article, Morag Barrett of Broomfield-based Skye Associates discusses the use of her five-step coaching model by law firms.

Use feedback and coaching to help law firm employees thrive

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The most common cause of death or disability in the case of heart attack, stroke or choking that takes place on a law firm's premises is a loss of oxygen to the heart, the brain and other vital organs.  Action in the first minutes of an emergency can be critical.  In this August 2007 article, Gabe Romer and Jody Drajem -- paramedics with Denver Health Paramedic Division -- discuss basic lifesaving techniques.

Hearts and brains:  First aid in the workplace can preserve this valuable law firm resource

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The files associated with a legal matter can easily take up an entire shelf -- or more -- in a lawyer's office.  What happens to all of this paper once the case is closed?  Although some larger firms are moving towards electronic storage of their documents, most paper is still warehoused off-site -- often indefinitely.  In this July 2007 article, Nancy Cohen of the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel discusses document retention and destruction policies and procedures in Colorado.

OARC recommends that law firms keep files no longer than seven years

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Employers in the United States -- including law firms -- spent 87 percent more on health benefits for their employees in 2006 than they did in 2006.  What's more, the amount that they are currently paying will most likely double over the next seven to ten years.  In this May 2007 article, David Lezitz, Jeff Kolker and Melanie Barnard of GCG Financial discuss how law firms can control the cost of health insurance.

Control cost of health insurance using consumer-driven health car and wellness programs

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

At many law firms, there is a significant knowledge and experience gap between the "finder" generation of senior partners and the "minder and grinder" generations of junior partners and senior associates.  Who will fill the gap when the rainmakers retire?  In the April 2007 article, business development consultant Mark Maraia of Maraia & Associates discusses training young lawyers to become the next generation of rainmakers.

Mind the gap:  Train today's young lawyers to become tomorrow's rainmakers

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Technology is integral to the practice of law in the 21st Century.  Law-firm administrators are responsible for making sure that the firm's lawyers and staff have the technology tools they need in order to provide quality service to clients.  In the March 2007 article, Phil Shuey of law office management consulting group Shuey Robinson discusses how to make acquisition of new technology a needs-based business decision.

When upgrading your firm's technology, focus on needs -- not wants

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Almost always, legal administrators start out highly optimistic about their careers -- and about achieving their peak potential.  Over time, however, even the best of legal administrators can run out of steam.  In this article, based on the February 2007 annual two-day retreat of the Mile High Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators, Walter Bond of Minnespolis-based Walter Bond Seminars -- a former NBA player -- discusses continuous professional improvement.

Feeling stalled in your career or in your life?  No one can stop you --but you!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Conflict is no stranger to a law firm.  In fact, much of what a lawyer does is based on the avoidance or resolution of disputes.  Is it any surpise that conflict regularly "spills over" to affect the working relationships among lawyers, managers and staff?  In this January 2007 article, Kathy Stroh discusses conflict resolution at law firms.

Conflict resolution at law firms:  Take the ball into your own hands

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Lawyers and law firms have benefited from many of the changes enacted by Congress as part of the Bush administration tax cuts.  In this November, 2006, article, Ronald L. Seigneur of accounting firm Seigneur Gustafson Knight LLP provides a 2006 tax and accounting roundup for Colorado law firms.

Heads up!  2006 tax and accounting roundup for law firms

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

All too often, the need to conduct performance appraisals is seen by supervisors as a necessary evil -- an unpleasant and time-consuming task.  Instead, performance appraisals should be seen as a process -- a valuable opportunity to advance an organization's objectives and develop the performance and happiness of its employees.  In this August, 2006, article, Marcia Kent of the organizational psychology division of Mines & Associates discusses the performance appraisal process.

Performance appraisals:  Isolated event or ongoing process?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Legal professionals must constantly negotiate with their colleagues -- to agree on the appropriate schedule and dealine for a project, to settle on a budget, to mediate a dispute, to acquire employees and set their salaries, and to work with vendors on the cost of needed products and services.  In this June 2006 article, Peter Stark of San Diego-based Barron Stark & Associates discusses negotiation strategies.

Win-win negotiation skills:  The art of getting what you both want

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In 2006, the Mile High Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators celebrated its 30 anniversary.  The following article was commissioned to acknowledge that milestone.

ALA Mile High Chapter History

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

For this "city book" published by Heritage Publications for Historic Denver, Janet Ellen Raasch created 100 corporate profiles.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

For its 75th anniversary, Newmont Mining Corporation commissioned a short history brochure.  The most interesting part of this project involved contacting a dozen companies in many countries (and many times zones) formerly owned by Newmont to discover "Where they are now."  Newmont is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Souvenir Edition special supplement to The Gold Standard (jpg)

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A successful law career is built upon personal relationships with many people -- clients, potential clients, referrral sources and colleagues.  Although these relationships are often created by necessity, they are nurtured into productive maturity and maintained by casual conversations -- small talk.  In this February 2008 article, networking expert and author Debra Fine discusses how lawyers can use small talk to build relationships and further their careers.

Small talk makes a big impression:  How to use causal conversation to built your career

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Any time the name of a lawyer or a law firm shows up in the media, it is usually the consequence of either advertising or public /media relations.  The two are very different -- in cost and in impact.  In this April 2008 article, Cheryl Bame of Bame Public Relations (LosAngeles) discusses media relations opportunities for lawyers and law firms. 

Good news, bad news:  How lawyers and law firms can maximzie media relations

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The skills a law student needs to succeed at law school and the skills a lawyer needs to succeed in the "real worl" are distinctly different.  Academic intelligence is a given.  Relationship intelligence is what helps you develop and maintain new business -- and sets you apart.  In this May 2008 article, based on a presentation he made to the graduating class of Harvard Law School, lawyer and consultant Arnie Herz (New York) discusses the value of relationship intelligence.

Relationship intelligence:  To succeed as a lawyer, you must supplement your IQ with RQ

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

If you think that most of your clients are satisfied, think again.  Research shows that law firms consistently rank themselves much more successful at client satisfaction than their clients do.  The only way to know what your clients are thinking is to ask them.  In this October 2008 article, consultant Martha Cusick Eddy discusses the results of more than 100 interviews she has conducted with in-house counsel.

Don't be an ostrich:  Ask general counsel, "How're we doing?"

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Just 100 years ago, law firms were composed mostly of men of a single generation.  Today's law firms can include members of as many as four different generations -- Traditionalists in their 60s and older, Boomers in their latae 40s and 50s, Gen Xs in their 30s and early 40s, and, in the most recent associate classes, Generation NEXT.  In this January 2008 article, diversity coach Mary Crane discusses the key events shaping the attitudes, values and outlook of eachof these generations.

Have you been "duded" yet?  Bridging the generation gaps in today's law firms

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In this September 2008 article, legal consultant Merrilyn Tarlton moderates a panel of Denver-based law firm marketing veterans who discuss how they "beat the odds" to achieve a sustainable career in this volatile field -- each by a different path.  Panelists include Sara Kraeski, Connie Proulx and Lorri Salyards.

Legal marketing "survivors" share their best practices

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

What is the difference between marketing and sales?  Now that law firms are starting to join the "real world" of business and thinking about sales as a discrete function, this question is generating much debate within the legal marketing profession.  In this November 2007 article, Wade Clark, director of sales and marketing with BKD, discusses what lawyers and law firms can learn from their counterparts in the accounting profession.

Marketing and sales:  Different roles in support of a common goal

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

At one time, a law firm associate who wanted to make partner simply had to do good work and stick around for five to seven years.  Today, the path to partnership is much more complicated.  An associate who wants to make partner must know how to develop -- and keep -- a good book of business.  In this September 2007 article, Michael Smith, a strategic business counselor with SBC & Associates, discusses the skills that young lawyers can use to develop business.

Associate today; partner tomorrow:  Business development skills for young lawyers

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

When the revised Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct took effect Jan. 1, 2008, Colorado law firms were allowed to practice under trade names.  The changes also allow a Colorado lawyer to enter into a reciprocal referral agreement with another lawyer or non-lawyer.  In this July 2007 article, Nancy Cohen (chief deputy regulation counsel with the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel) and Reba Nance (director of law practice management and risk managment for the Colorado Bar Association)  discuss these changes to the Colorado rules.

Changes to Colorado Rules allow trade names, referral agreements

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Today, women and men graduate from law school in equal numbers and are hired by law firms as associates in equal numbers.  And then things start to fall apart.  By the time they are mid-level associates, women are leaving law firms -- for a wide variety of reasons -- in significantly greater numbers than men.  In this June 2007 article, a group of women lawyers -- moderated by consultant Merrilyn Astin Tarlton -- discuss what women want from their profession.

What women (lawyers) want:  Good work; respect; flexible options

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In the increasingly competitive environment for legal services, most law firms recognize the need to make intelligent business decisions.  Decisions made in a vacuum -- based on (often faulty) internal assumptions -- do not fill the bill.  Truly intelligent business decisions are made within the context of a law firm's external competitive environment.  In this May 2007 article, Jillion Weisberg of The Thomson Corporation discusses research on competitive intelligence.

Law firms:  Use competitive intelligence to make better decisions

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Many law firms are creating multidisciplinary teams to craft and implement strategic plans within targeted segments of the marketplace.  These can be industry teams that focus on raising the firm's profile and market share within an attractive industry segment.  These can be client teams that focus on satisfying -- and getting more work from -- existing clients.  In this April 2007 article, consultant Linda Hazelton discusses client and industry teams.

Divide to conquer:  Law firms use strategic teams to master the marketplace

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

People who visit business -- and law firm -- Web sites are task-oriented.  They are visiting in order to find specific information.  The perceived quality of the experience in visitors' minds will be based on how relatively easy or difficult it is to obtainthe information they are looking for.  In this January 2007 article, consultant Greg Fredette of Saturno Design discusses the relationship between visitors and law firm Web sites.

How your law firm Web site creates an "experience" that impresses or alienates clients

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Few important legal decisions take place in a vacuum.  Decision-makers are influenced not only by the information they hear in the courtroom or in the boardroom, but also by what they hear, read and observe in the surrounding environment -- the court of public opinion.  In this November 2006 article, a panel of specialists discusses how lawyers and law firms can influence outcomes via issue-oriented research and communications.

When resolving your clients' legal issues, don't forget the court of public opinion

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Every more frequently, law firms are being asked to vie for new business -- especially high-value business -- by competing against other firms in some kind of "beauty contest" -- where two or more firms compete to represent the prospective client as outside counsel.  In this October 2006 article,  consultant Ann Lee Gibson, PhD, discusses achieving a higher win-rate in high-stakes competitions for new business.

Best practices help law firms excel in new-business competitions

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

If done right, a well-planned Web site and a strategic, customized approach to marketing can eat up much of your marketing budget.    Where will this money come from?  In this September 2006 article, consultant Deborah McMurray of Content Pilot LLC discusses how legal marketers can check under the firm's "couch cusions" to find the money needed for strategic projects like these.

Check under the couch cushions; Use this money to achieve your strategic marketing goals

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Public speaking is a great way for lawyers and other professionals to establish themselves as experts within a chosen field of expertise.  Although most lawyers can speak in public, not all lawyers can do it well.  In this July 2006 article, speaker and trainer Brigid O'Connor dicusses how lawyers and executives can learn to speak in public with efficiency and purpose.

When engaged in public speaking, eliminate "noise" to improve communication

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Each lawyer and law firm faces the same problem --how to distinguish the professional services they offer from those offered by every other lawyer and every other law firm.  You must identify your own unique message -- and take it to market.  In this June 2006 article, attorney and consultant Ross Fishman discusses the value of a unique message or brand.

Lawyers and law firms:  Define your market; focus your message

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Any law firm is only as good as the lawyers who walk through the front door each morning.  Aware of this fact, most firms are eager to strengthen their reputations by recruiting the best law school students and the most talented laterals.  In this May 2006 article, a panel of law school placement specialists and legal recruiters discuss the issue of recruiting and retaining talented lawyers.

Law firms must market to recruit talented students and laterals

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Each day, editors and reporters are inundated with press releases in a wide variety of formats -- via snail mail, email and even RSS feed.  How can lawyers and law firms make sure that their press releases stand out from all the rest?  In this February 2006 article, a panel of journalists and public relations specialists discusses what makes a good press release.

Please release me:  What do the media look for in a law firm press release?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Very few attorneys really understand what their hourly rates mean to a client.  Few clients select their lawyers based on fees.  Rather, the decision is usually driven by emotion.  In this January 2006 article, business development consultant Peter Darling discussed the subject of how lawyers can discuss their fees -- with both new and ongoing clients.

Money changes everything:  How lawyers can discuss fees with their clients

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Most businesses make their bet-the-company decisions based on objective, valid market research.  Law firms should do the same.  Market research is a systematic and scientific process for gathering, recording and analyzing outside information as part of both planning and daily operations.  In this November 2005 article, a panel of research experts discusses market research and strategic planning at law firms.

You can't have one without the other:  Market research leads to strategic plans that work

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Law firms often ask their lawyers to engage in activiites that will create relationships and generate new business -- activities like community service or public speaking.  A few lawyers find it easy and natural to comply with this request.  Many more lawyers do not.  In this October 2005 article, attorney K.C. Veio discusses how he has used community involvement to build his practice.

Serve. Speak. Succeed. How to build your book of business

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Today's audiences are active and interactive consumers of business information.  Increasingly, they expect their lawyers and law firms to communicate with them interactively, using the next generation of electronic communications tools.  In this September 2005 article, a panel of public relations specialists discusses new-media tools like RSS feeds, blogs and podcasts.

RSS feeds, blogs and podcasts -- oh my!  New media marketing tools

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Authority and leadership are different qualities.  A markeeting director or lawyer can have a position of authority within a law firm, but be an unskilled leader.  Conversely, and individual with no formal management authority can be an outstanding leader.  In this July 2005 article, consultant Robert Fortunato discusses how law firms can increase revenues and profits through a systematic approach to leadership, strategy and client development.

True leadership can be cultivated:  Four ways to lead in your law firm

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Law firm marketers can set the stage for new business development -- but it is always the job of the individual lawyer to "close the sale" with a new client.  How can a lawyer get new business without falling victim to the "unpaid consulting" trap -- where you lose control of the relationship and the potential client wastes your time and talent with a wide range of requests prior to a commitment to buy?  In this June 2005 article, Gary Harvey of Achievement Dynamics discusses how lawyers can avoid the unpaid consulting trap.

When to fish, when to cut bait:  When seeking new clients, don't waste your time and talent

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Is it possible for a law firm to market a litigation practice -- a costly and time-consuming professional service that most individuals and businesses would like to avoid?  This puzzle has long perplexed marketers, individual litigators, litgation practice groups and law firms.  In this May 2005 article, a panel of Colorado litigators discuss marketing a litigation practice.

Can you take a litigation practice to market?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Currently, the rules of professional conduct established by the American Bar Association and generally adopted by the state courts vary greatly from state to state -- which has become a major issue as more law firms are competing regionally, nationally and even internationally.  It is difficult to know just which set of ethics rules governs the game.  In this May 2005 article, Will Hornsby (staff counsel to the ABA Division for Legal Services) and Denver lawyer Michael Berger discuss how law firms can best comply with ethics rules.

Great idea!  But is it ethical?  Quagmire of states' ethics rules makes it tough to tell

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Can you even remember how law firms were marketed before the advent of the Internet?  It seems hard to believe that the first law-firm Web sites appeared only about ten years ago.  Since then, some firms have progressed through five generations of their Web sites.  A few are still launching their first.  Most are somewhere in between.  In this March 2005 article, Micah Buchdahl of HTMLawyers discusses today's best interactive sites.

What a difference a decade makes:  Effective client service and marketing on the Internet

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Law firms have long operated on an opportunistic and reactive basis -- being in the right place at the right time with the right legal skills.  This "fire, ready, aim" approach worked fairly well in the past, when the marketplace for legal services was highly fragmented (local) and when snail mail set the pace for most communications.  In this February 2005 article, Diane Hamlin and Roberta Montafia discuss how serious strategic planning builds and sustains a competitive advantage.

Fire, ready, aim:  Most law firms have it backwards

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

To improve the quality and strategic value of existing relationships, many law firms are purchasing and installing software packages called client relationship management (CRM) systems.  CRM systems help law firms use technology to understand "who knows whom" and "who knows what."  In this November 2004 article, consultant Nancy Manzo discusses how law firms should select, install and roll-out a new CRM system.

Share what you know:  CRM systems help lawyers maximize client relationships

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

If marketers want to succeed as business development coaches to professional services providers, they need to concentrate on the "f-words" -- focus, feedback and follow-up.    In this October 2004 article, consultant Mark Maraia discusses how to implement a successful lawyer-coaching program.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A group representing the next generation of eager young law firm marketers converged on Denver to participate int he Legal Marketing Association Boot Camp 2004 -- "Roadmap to Your Destination -- Legal Marketing."  In these September 2004 articles, speakers discuss a wide range of topics.

Boot Camp 2004:  Getting in shape for a career in legal marketing

Turn your firm's marketing budget into a strategic planning tool

Success breeds success: Coaching your lawyers in business development

Learn to understand, appreciate, and work with the legal personality

Harvest those golden eggs:  Habits that lead to more work from current clients

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In this July 2004 article, Burkey Belser discusses research on which characteristics are most important to law-school graduates in choosing where to practice law.

Recruiting law students:  Finding the best and the brightest

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In this July 2004 article, consultant Burkey Belser discusses the research he and his colleague Mark Greene have done to determine the characteristics of successful law firms.

Why do some law firms fail while others succeed?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Like most businesses, law firms have an approach/avoidance conflict when it comes to dealing with the news media.  When a firm has good news to tell, it actively seeks the attention of reporters and editors.  When the news is not so good, it often prefers to avoid a reporter's professional scrutiny.  In this May 2004 article, Lisa Simon and Larry Holdren present as overview of effective media relations skills for lawyers and law firms.

Working it:  Using the media to convey your message -- in good times and in bad

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The role of a business development coach is to bring focus, skills and energy to the business development efforts of attorneys and their law firms -- just like a sports coach brings focus, skills and energy to an athlete.  In this April 2004 article, consultant Michael Colacchio discusses business development coaching programs for lawyers and law firms.

Business development coaches help partners and law firms dominate their "game"

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Market research is a powerful risk-management tool in all major sectors of business and industry; it promises to be just as powerful a tool in the legal industry.  Appropriately designed and applied research tools can reduce the uncertainly law firms face when making important decisions.  In this September 2003 article, Mark Greene of The Brand Research Company discusses the use of market research by successful law firms.

Business eye for the law guy (and gal):  Market research

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks