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

The following is part three of a three-part article, based on a managing partner panel presentation in Denver.

Alternative fee arrangements --   The jury is still out.  In an hourly fee arrangement, there is no “upside” for the client.  Clients want to discuss arrangements that benefit both parties – up front but also during the course of a representation.  Emphasize effectiveness and efficiency over billable hours.

Associates – Associates are a mixed bag.  On the one hand, they are more focused on themselves, their families and their lives outside the office.  They are more likely to attend networking events that are age-appropriate.  On the other hand, they are more likely than their older colleagues to be interested in and support the “business” side of a law firm – and the marketing endeavors that are part of running any good business.

Budgets -- Clients must live within their departmental budgets.  When we blow our budget, they blow their budget.  As a result, clients want predictability.  Unfortunately, lawyers are lousy at budgeting.  Project and budget management is the “next big focus of improvement” between clients and law firms.

Client service interviews – CSIs are absolutely the best way to find out what your clients want in the areas of skill and service – and then give it to them.  We have been unbelievably impressed.  “We’ve done more than 100 CSIs over the past few years with our law firm clients.  Watch out, because now we are starting in on YOUR clients!”

Future – More mergers, bigger law firms, more global law firms.

Priorities – Marketing and business development priorities are a moving target.  You can meet weekly or monthly to measure progress and priority, but there is always going to be a crisis or special need (one lawyer who is feeling slighted) that wreaks havoc with your calendar.  The trick is to solve this problem and get back on track as soon as possible.

Sales – Local law firms are not seeing a “sales” function separate from marketing and business development.  “The lawyer/client relationship is still relationship-based.  It is very difficult to artificially insert a third party into that relationship process.”

Social media – Panelists use and see the potential, but feel “over-socialized.”

In summary, legal marketers can lighten the load for managing partners by devising a focused, strategic marketing plan; building and maintaining a firm-wide image; skillfully obtaining firm-wide buy-in for marketing initiatives; and putting plans into action in a way that makes each lawyer at the firm feel like your most important client.

For the full article:  Managing partners appreciate strategic role of marketing department

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The following is part two of a three-part article, based on a managing partner panel presentation in Denver:

In this economic climate, elevating the role of marketing and business development from reactive afterthought to proactive strategic weapon is essential.  The successful marketing professional will generate good ideas based on the marketplace and advocate for these ideas at the management and practice group level.  “Don’t come to me or these decision-making bodies with a list of problems,” said Finegan.  “Come to us with solutions.”

“Marketing played an important role in our strategic planning and execution during the economic downturn,” said Lund.  “Over the years, we had gotten soft about how we used our resources.  When these resources became limited, marketing helped us focus on (and compete strongly within) our core practices.  During troubled times, it is important to think of marketing not as an expendable cost center – but as an enhancement.”

“Hogan Lovells is a global law firms with 2,500 lawyers located in  branch offices around the world,” said Finegan.  “Just one-quarter of these offices are located in the United States.  In Denver, our marketing staff helps us focus on what we do best – and then ‘sell’ these unique services to Hogan Lovells’ offices and their clients around the world.  We have made ourselves successful as an ‘exporting colony’ that is much beloved by the ‘mother country’ in Washington, D.C.

“We market internally to our 44 offices as well as externally to the world of clients in need of our unique services – like energy law,” said Finegan.  “Our energy expertise is a hot commodity not only in Colorado, but also in Beijing and other energy markets.  At a recent retreat attended by 600 firm lawyers from around the world, marketers at the Denver office created a placemat for each place that listed our energy lawyers.”

“Lindquist & Vennum is a 180-attorney law firm headquartered in Minneapolis,” said Stasiak.  “Our Denver practice has 21 lawyers and focuses primarily on commercial litigation, construction, insolvency and restructuring.  As partner in charge of the Denver office, I rely on Minneapolis for marketing support on an as-needed basis.

“Too many lawyers can’t see the value in marketing because they do not understand legal marketing,” said Stasiak.  “It is up to you to enlighten them.  Come to us proactively with a recent newsworthy development in our area of the law – along with a plan for a useful seminar on that development we can present to our clients.  Execute the seminar flawlessly.  Now, you’ve concretely demonstrated the value of the marketing department to your internal lawyer/clients.”

For the full article:  Managing partners appreciate strategic role of marketing department

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The following is part one of a three-part article, based on a managing partner panel presentation in Denver:

A law firm or law office managing partner wears many hats.  Some managing partners are able to dedicate themselves full time to leading the law firm, but many others fulfill management responsibilities on a part-time basis while also representing clients.

Anything that a marketing professional can do to decrease the load that rests on the shoulders of these busy individuals is greatly appreciated.

The Great Recession of the past few years has greatly affected not only the relationship between lawyers and clients, but also the relationship between managing partners and law firm marketers.

With law firm operating budgets under the knife, short-sighted law firms have cut marketing staff and programs.  Savvy law firms, on the other hand, have taken this opportunity to re-energize their strategic marketing function.

“Industry-wide, we saw a drop in demand of 24 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008,” said Kenneth Lund, managing partner of Denver-based Holme Roberts & Owen (www.hro.com).  “In that kind of environment, you are not able to raise rates to make up the difference.  By responding quickly, we stabilized the firm and focused on our core practices and market demand -- and aggressive marketing activity to meet that demand.”

“Usually, when the economy suffers, businesses become more contentious and we see a rise in litigation,” said Cole Finegan, managing partner of Hogan Lovells’ (www.hoganlovells.com) Denver and Boulder offices.

“This time, the economic devastation was so complete that clients pulled back everywhere,” said Finegan.  “On the bright side, we are starting to see a pick-up in corporate work.  Cautious clients who have been sitting on their cash are once again looking for deals.  We also anticipate growth in regulatory work surrounding the growing field of alternative energy.”

“Our firm saw little change in the amount of litigation,” said Tiffanie Stasiak, partner in charge of the Denver office of Lindquist & Vennum (www.lindquist.com) and chair of the firm’s construction litigation group, “but we did see a change is what the litigation was about, and how it was resolved.  When we met with our clients, after the economy turned, our rate structure became very relevant.”

“In the area of litigation,” said Lund, “our clients are pushing back not only on rates, but also on how we plan to manage their cases.  They want to see a much shorter case lifecycle – with early evaluation, rapid resolution and reduced fees.”

This panel of law firm and law office managing partners discussed the economy and what they expect from their marketing departments at the monthly educational program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association (www.legalmarketing.org/rockymountain), held Nov. 9 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Denver.

The panel was moderated by Lisa Simon, chief marketing officer at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (www.bhfs.com).

For the full article:  Managing partners appreciate strategic role of marketing department

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Part three of a three-part article, based on a presentation made by Kent Zimmermann of Zeughauser Group.

Law firm partners resist CSIs for many reasons.  In particular, they erroneously think that they know everything there is to know about the client, they are in denial (they don’t want to know if a client is unhappy) or they don’t want others in the firm to now that the client is dissatisfied.

“It is important to position CSIs correctly,” said Zimmermann.  “Do not position them as a ‘checkup’ or ‘report card’ on any given lawyer.  Rather, position them as a way to provide better service, acquire intelligence on competitors and find new work.

“In Zeughauser Group’s experience, general counsel like to participate and find CSIs very therapeutic,” said Zimmermann.  “At the end of an interview, we often hear ‘I hope you will be coming back to do this again next year.’”

The CSI should not be conducted by the relationship partner.  “The client will not be as candid with this person,” said Zimmermann.  “CSIs can be conducted by the firm’s chairman or a senior partner – someone whose attention will ‘honor’ the client and whose authority within the firm will ensure compliance with feedback.”  Alternatively, CSIs can be conducted by a skilled outside consultant.

There are five stages to an effective CSI pilot program:

Design for success.   “Initially, work only with partners who understand how this process can bring them more work,” said Zimmermann.  “Never twist the arms of reluctant or hostile partners to make them participate in your pilot.  They will just drag you down – along with the entire process.”

Start with just five clients.  “Do not try to do too much at first,” said Zimmermann.  “Aim to do a focused job with five clients rather than spreading yourselves too thin with many clients.”

Use a tiered system.  “Consider putting the firm’s clients into three tiers,” said Zimmermann.  “Tier one might include clients that are largest in terms of revenue.  Tier two might include satisfied clients with potential for growth.  Tier three might include clients with known issues – troubled relationships that the firm wants to get back on the rails.  For your pilot, choose clients from tier two.”

Sell your success.  “Empirical and anecdotal evidence of success (from your carefully selected, tier-two, low-hanging fruit) should be shared throughout the firm,” said Zimmermann.  “Use this evidence to demonstrate how the CSI process works and the value it provides – and to sell the initially wary partners.”

Get ready for business.  “Once you have demonstrated success with your pilot program, expect a second wave of interested partners to line up at your door,” said Zimmermann.

Because of the challenging economic environment, general counsel are expecting much more from their law firms – and are much more likely to abandon firms that do not take active steps to meet those expectations.  CSIs are a best practice among successful law firms -- and part of the bedrock of any solid client-care and loyalty program.

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Part two of a three-part article, based on a presentation by Kent Zimmermann of Zeughauser Group.

Not surprisingly in this economy, cost has dominated the conversation between legal departments and law firms.  According to Inside Counsel magazine, 46 percent of general counsel agree that reducing costs is essential to improving law firm relationships.  Only eight percent of law firms see this issue as important.

“According to the Association of Corporate Counsel, the single most important thing a law firm can do is to provide alternative fees and value-based billing options,” said Zimmermann.

“Clients like to see retainers, for example, because this arrangement offers predictable cost from month to month.  Hourly rates will endure for bet-the-company work and more specialized, high-value work, but general counsel increasingly want to see alternative fee arrangements proposed for commodity work.  They might not always opt for alternative fees, but they like to see them offered.

“Rate discounts can be actual or they can be illusion,” said Zimmermann.  “General counsel need to be able to show their bosses that they are taking steps to control costs.  Some general counsel will tell you to visibly show discounts on your bills.

“One general counsel I interviewed asked that the firm show the rates of its top partners in New York with a discounted rate calculated on the bill for other lawyers who were performing the work,” said Zimmermann.  “Long story short – you want to help the general counsel look like a star to his or her superiors.”

Staffing can be another disconnect – especially when it comes to associates.  “You have to understand that the average first-year associate earns as much as an in-house lawyer with ten years’ experience,” said Zimmermann.  “In many cases, in-house lawyers are resentful -- and many are explicitly refusing to pay for work performed by first- or second-year associates.

Client satisfaction is a critical measure of a law firm’s success.  In many cases, a client will not volunteer dissatisfaction unless asked.  The conflict-averse client will not ‘fire’ a lawyer overtly, but will simply stop sending any new matters his or her way.

“Asking clients the right questions, listening actively to their answers, and turning feedback into consistent, meaningful actions are the cornerstones of client service – inspiring client satisfaction and loyalty,” said Zimmermann.   “Conducting effective CSIs can help you get in front of a problem before it’s too late – and discover opportunities for new business.

“A Bay Area client for which I did CSIs, for example, did about $1 million in legal work for an energy company in Texas that long had an external spend of $3 million,” said Zimmermann.  “The law firm was confident that it was handling about one-third of this client’s work.

“When we interviewed the client on the firm’s behalf, we found that they were indeed satisfied with the law firm – but that the client’s legal spend on the type of matter at issue had tripled over the years to $9 million.  Because the client had a misperception about the law firm’s ‘depth,’ it had been farming this work out to a number of small Texas boutiques.  Armed with intelligence gained from the CSIs, firm leadership flew right down there and secured a significant amount of new work.

“Many partners simply do not understand what clients think of them,” said Zimmermann.  “In an often-cited study by Inside Counsel magazine, outside counsel gave themselves pretty good grades on client satisfaction.  Nearly 43 percent said that they deserved an ‘A’ and 50 percent said they deserved a ‘B.’

“Clients strongly disagreed,” said Zimmermann.  “They gave an ‘A’ to just 17 percent and a ‘B’ to 72 percent.  There is a strong disconnect between what clients want and what outside counsel are giving them.  The only way to uncover this is to ask.”

For the full article:  Client service interviews help law firms keep clients close.

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Part one of a three-part article, based on a presentation by Kent Zimmermann of Zeughauser Group.

Economists may have declared that the Great Recession is officially over, but many businesses and their legal service providers would probably beg to differ.

Over or not, the Great Recession has dramatically changed the traditional relationship between legal departments and outside counsel -- in ways that are likely to continue even as the economy improves. Longstanding grievances have risen to the surface.

Businesses and general counsel understand the parameters of this new relationship, but many law firms and lawyers do not.

After years of immunity from corporate cost-cutting efforts, 85 percent of general counsel are now being asked to cut their budgets. Only 26.2 percent of them believe that outside counsel are sensitive to their budget constraints.

To control costs, general counsel are bringing more legal work in-house and, in many cases, using non-traditional providers of legal services. For example, they are turning to cost-effective legal process outsourcers for much of the work previously done by young law firm associates – and asking their law firms to work with these alternative providers for services like e-discovery, document review and even depositions.

For work that requires a law firm, general counsel are moving some matters from costly big national firms to reasonably priced mid-sized regional firms.

“General counsel are facing unprecedented pressure to control costs,” said Kent Zimmermann. “They are demanding discounts, more-predictable alternative fee arrangements and better service from outside counsel.”

“If general counsel do not get what they want in this buyers’ market – they are more than happy to shop around,” said Zimmermann. “Despite the common misperception within law firms, only 13 percent consider their current law firms ‘indispensible.’ More general counsel than ever are switching their primary providers.”

Zimmermann discussed this volatile new marketplace at the monthly educational program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association (www.legalmarketing.org/rockymountain), held October 12 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Denver.

Zimmermann is a general counsel, former CEO and management consultant with Zeughauser Group (www.consultzg.com), a leading legal industry consultancy.

“2008 and 2009 were challenging years for law firms,” said Zimmermann. “During the first half of 2010, there was reason for optimism for many firms – but demand has been unsteady at best, and performance across the industry continues to be mixed.

“In this highly competitive market, where general counsel have more choices and are less loyal than ever before, lawyers and law firms must do everything it takes to retain and expand their existing client relationships – especially by investing wisely in client-care programs,” said Zimmermann.

“One of the best ways to try to ‘bullet proof’ clients (and expand your relationships with them) is to invest in an ongoing and systematic program of client service interviews,” said Zimmermann.

“Marketing professionals understand the value of CSIs, but many partners do not,” said Zimmermann. “Longstanding ‘disconnects’ between client and lawyer expectations have been amplified by the market challenges facing the legal industry. CSIs are one of the most effective ways to discover (and remedy) these disconnects -- before it’s too late and they destroy an important relationship.”

For the full article:  Client satisfaction interviews help law firms keep client close
  

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The recent economic crisis has had a significant impact on everyone -- including most law firms.  The following article summarizes a presentation made Nov. 10 by Kristin Stark of Hildebrandt International to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association.  In this presentation, Stark presents and interprets  third-quarter 2009 Hildebrant Peer Monitor index results.  She also specifically addresses the impact that the economy has had on the marketing function at most law firms.

Hildebrandt interprets impact of economic crisis on legal industry (download)

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To network successfully in the course of a job search, you must first develop a personal brand and then clearly communicate your brand to others.  Your personal brand states who you are and differentiates you from all others seeking the same position.  This article is a synopsis of a presentation made June 9 by Linda Sollars of Creating Purpose to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, as well as comments by panelists.

Job hunting in the current economy:  It's a "brand" new world for legal professionals (download)

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As the economy contracts, law firm clients have laid off more than 600,000 employees -- in January alone.  Law firms are feeling the ripple effect.  In just two days in February -- Black Thursday and Friday the 13th -- 1,100 legal professionals lost their jobs or received buyout offers.  According to industry experts, this is just the start.

As books of business continue to shrink, what is a fearful lawyer to do?  This article is based on a Feb. 10 presentation on this subject to the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, made by relationship development coach Cindy Rold.

Does this economic cloud have a silver lining?  More time for business development!

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