Zen & The Art of Legal Networking

Week of May 14, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:36:40 -0500

It's finally here! The ILN's 24th Annual Meeting kicked off last night with a wonderful cocktail reception and dinner, followed by some of us attending the Monuments by Moonlight tour, which was wonderful. If you're ever in Washington and have the chance to do that, I highly recommend it!

While I'm listening to our speakers this morning, I'd like to give you our round-up for the week!

The importance of legal documentation between business partners to avoid costly litigation from Arnstein & Lehr
Trademark Settlement Agreements: Lost in Translation from Clark Wilson
Employment Rights for Non-Employees from Clark Wilson
Court Strikes Down NLRB "Quickie Election" Rules from Epstein Becker & Green

Happy Friday!

The Client is in Charge - Are You Listening?

Lindsay Griffiths — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:18:17 -0500

We're getting underway this evening with the ILN's 24th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Tomorrow, as I do at all of our meetings, I will be presenting to our attorneys and I thought what better topic to discuss than that of client satisfaction?

My presentation is based on the client panel from LMA's Annual Conference this year, and you get the first look!

As you may know, every year I attend the Legal Marketing Association's Annual Meeting. The LMA serves the needs and maintains the professional standards of the men and women involved in marketing, business development, client service, and communications within the legal profession, and the LMA conference serves as a powerful venue to build professional relationships and generate business opportunities, as well as enhance the reputation of the ILN.

This year, as I do every year, the LMA hosted a client panel during one of their breakout sessions. I've attended seven of these panels during my tenure with the ILN, and year after year, the clients are saying the same things, though with an increasingly louder voice. Which begs me to ask the question - "Are lawyers listening?"

On this year's panel were Jeff Carr of FMC Technologies, whom those ILN members in attendance at our 2010 Regional Meeting of the Americas will remember from his presentation with the ILN's Marty Beirne. We also had Ron Barger of the Archon Group, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, and Janet Dhillon of JC Penney. During the presentation, I will be sharing the most important quotes from the GC's and what we should take away from them.

The traditional law firm model is dying. Get over it, and understand what the new world is going to be. There will be new business models that come into place. We'll build them if you won't. We don't need YOU to survive. We need the [legal] industry to survive." -- Jeff Carr

Let's let that sink in for a moment.

Okay, so what can we take away from what Jeff says? Well, first of all, clients are unhappy with the way things are - they want them to change. And if lawyers and law firms aren't going to partner with them to come up with mutually agreeable solutions, the clients will start doing it on their own. Some of them already have. Just because you've always done something a certain way isn't enough of a reason to continue doing it that way.

One of my favorite quotes is "When you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got."

The other message that I'm getting from what Jeff said is that clients WANT you to partner with them.. They want you to be innovative and creative to meet their needs, to be their partners. So how can you do that better?

I want to be your most important, and least significant, client." -- Jeff Carr

Jeff emphasized that this was one of the most important points he would make. He asked us to think about that for a minute - he wants to be your most important client. That means he wants to be the one you're thinking about and advocating for all the time - and, of course, this is what ALL your clients want - it's not possible, I know, but how can you make them feel that way?

And he also wants to be your least significant client. What does that mean? He wants to account for the least amount of your revenue as possible, because you're such a good advocate for him that you're keeping him protected from the unknowns. Now, that's obviously not as lucrative in the short term, but, in the long term, if you're keeping your client happy, and they believe you have their best interests at heart because you're a fierce advocate for them, they're going to not only continue to bring you more and more of their work, but they will also recommend you to their colleagues.

We are not lawyers. We are businesspeople first." --Jeff Carr

This is another extremely important point. Although general counsels are all trained in the law, their primary job is to be the strategic advisor for their business team. Only then are they the legal advisor. Their job every day is to deliver shareholder value. So they expect that the outside counsel they work with understand and appreciate this. So how can you help your clients look good to their clients?

The legal industry is perverse. It's the only industry where buyers act like sellers and sellers act like buyers" -- Jeff Carr

It probably won't surprise you that this statement got some of the loudest applause from those of us in the audience. It also might be one of the most controversial at our conference. But, from my experience in the industry, and talking and listening to clients, it's also one of the most true statements.

Your clients are the purchasers of legal services.

That means THEY define the terms under which they will purchase.

Let's look at it another way - let's say you want to get your hair cut. As the purchaser of hair cutting services, you are going to be the one that decides when the appointment is convenient. And if no convenient appointments exist, you're going to go somewhere else, right? You're going to want to know up front how much it might cost you, and the hairdresser or barber should be able to tell you based on what you're getting how much it will be - if you have long hair, and are getting more than just a trim, it will be a certain amount. If you have short hair, and you're skipping the blow dry, it will be another amount, etc.

And you expect that at the end of your haircut, if you're happy with it, you'll give your hairdresser an appropriate tip, and if you're unhappy, that the hairdresser will work with you to resolve the issue.

Let's continue this example a little further - if you're unhappy when you leave the salon or barber, either with the cut, or the price, or the way you were treated, or the way the salon looked, and none of those things was resolved to your satisfaction, what are you likely to do? You will, first of all, go somewhere else the next time you need a haircut! And you're going to tell your friends not to go to that same place because you were unhappy.

Legal services are not much different, except that far more money is at stake. Clients expect that when they come to you for legal services, that you are going to be able to articulate your price, that you will do everything in your power to please them, and make them feel comfortable as your client.

It has to be all about them, and not at all about you.

Think about the last beauty contest you were a part of or the last pitch you wrote for a client - how would you feel if you got the same treatment, paperwork, explanations, timely returned phone calls as if YOU were the one seeking the service? If you would be happy, then you're doing the right things, and you should keep doing them.

But if you would feel that your time was being wasted, that the provider missed the point, that they weren't very careful in finding out what you really want and need, then you need to look again at the systems you have in place.

Firms should be able to figure out with every matter on average how much it's going to cost you. I know what it costs to litigate certain types of matters. If there are firms who know these costs, I haven't found them. Unless you know your costs, you can't be a good partner for my company." -- Janet Dhillon

These are strong words and the other panelists were in full agreement with Janet. Let's look again at our hairdressing example. If you walked into a hairdresser, and you said "I need a haircut, what will it cost me?"

And they looked at you, thought a minute and said, "well, we don't know because we've never cut YOUR hair before. So we won't be able to figure it out until the end, when we know how long it will take us, whether or not you might have something wrong with your hair that will involve more work, and whether or not we'll need to bring a specialist in to help."

If that happened, you'd say "forget it!" and walk out.

Now, I know and appreciate that the law is far more complex than hair cutting. But, if your clients can implement systems that allow them to track the costs of certain types of matters, so that they can predict what the costs might be, how come law firms can't do the same thing?

They can.

With the recent roller coaster ride that we've been on with the economy, this issue is of primary importance to clients. They expect that you can figure out your costs - perhaps not down to the last penny, but close enough to give them some measure of comfort. Will surprises crop up? Of course, but if you keep them informed, rather than just sticking it on a bill, the relationship will remain intact.

Janet later told us that the main thing that makes her unhappy with outside counsel is when she gets some kind of cost surprise - so along with knowing your costs and being able to articulate them, you should be able to maintain regular communication about billing issues to avoid any surprises.

I will not talk to you about AFAs. We've banned the word 'alternative.' There's nothing 'alternative' about alternative fees. Law firms MUST know their cost structure. It's too high, based on pass-through and on inefficiency. I won't tolerate that." -- Jeff Carr

I said it after Janet's comments, and I'll say it again: Know Your Costs.

In this market, clients will not put up with cost uncertainties, and that's due in part to the fact that many of them are currently tracking legal costs, and believe that if they can do it, so can you. The other message here again is that clients want you to be their partner. They want you to understand how their financial systems work, and work with them to make them comfortable with the ways fees are structured - however that might be. That's not being "alternative," that's being a good business partner to your clients.

If your firm's culture doesn't match my culture, you're dead." -- Ron Barger

The cultural match between clients and outside counsel is one of the most crucial. Jeff agreed with Ron on this, and said that he hires firms for credentials, experience and culture. The first two can be fixed, but you can't fix culture if there's a mismatch. Despite this being such an important piece, outside counsel often don't ask potential clients about their culture.

And understanding what your clients like is just as important as understanding what they DON'T like, and on this, the panelists were agreed - they don't like surprises.

Getting an unexpected bill, or learning about something that they should have known already from you tells your clients that there's a communication breakdown. The other issue is that of representing a competitor, though on this, the panelists were divided.

Ron felt that even if there is no legal conflict, if your firm is representing a competitor, it can feel like an allegiance conflict. Janet, however, felt that it might be an advantage, because it means that the firm has a better understanding of the industry that they're operating in. That perfectly illustrates Ron's point again that culture is critical - know your clients and what is important to THEM.

The preceding quotes make it pretty clear - the client is in charge, and they know it. And that's how it should be. To close, I'll share with you Felice Wagner's poem. This perfectly illustrates the question I'd like you to ask yourself today - are you really listening to your clients?

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
I wish you would do things more often my way.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
I don’t like that new partner that calls everyday.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
I’d like you to bill me in an alternative way.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
We have four new matters that came in just today.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
Being responsive to me means you call back the same day.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
There are three other law firms we’re considering today.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
I expect your budget to reflect what I’ll pay.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
When you go over budget, I see my career slip away.

If only you’d ask, I’d be happy to say
I wish you would do things more often my way.

Rainmaking Recommendation from Jaimie Field: May I Have Your Card?

Lindsay Griffiths — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:25:55 -0500

Today, I'm traveling to Washington, DC in preparation for our 24th Annual Meeting, which starts tomorrow! You'll see some posts from Washington in the next few days, but today, I have Jaimie Field's latest rainmaking recommendation for you!

***

Look on the corner of your desk or open that top drawer – is there a stack of business cards you’ve collected during networking events?

Pull the cards out and start going through them. Do you remember who any of these people are?

First, cull through the list of cards and throw out any card of any individual you truly cannot remember.

Then start contacting those who you do remember – send an email, make a coffee date, call to catch up. Start creating the relationships which will lead to new business.

And make a promise to yourself. That you are no longer collecting cards just to have a stack of cards sitting on your desk (in your drawer). When you go to a networking event, bring a pen and just jot down a few things on the back of the card to help you remember your conversation. Put the date and the event and you will never forget about that person again.

But most importantly, do not just stick that card in a drawer on in a pile wrapped with a rubber band on the back corner of your desk. Find a way to organize them that makes sense to you. Use 3-ring binders with 8x11” card holders, do it electronically, but make sure that it is a system you are going to use.

Finally, contact the person you met - ask if you can put that person on your newsletter list, send a referral, invite them to learn more about your practice, find out what they do.

It isn’t a contest to see who collects the most cards – you might as well just wallpaper a closet with them if that‘s the case.

It’s about creating relationships which lead to new business for you both.

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They are bite size tips that when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog

ILN-terviews: Jonas Forsman, Hellstrom

Lindsay Griffiths — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:05:12 -0500

Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network. For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Jonas Forsman of our member firm Hellstrom in Stockholm, Sweden.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
My practice is within company law with focus on M&A, structural and managerial issues.

Who would be your typical client?
My clients range from listed companies to one-man-holding companies. In essence the typical client is a mid size shareholder-driven Swedish limited liability company with an international business, market and/or ownership.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
I strive to add value, not only invoices! I put the legal issue into context with the clients' business for a legal and business-oriented way forward.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
Probably the first court case when I joined the law firm. I came fresh from working at the local court and a couple of law suits waited on my desk to be handled. I had to do well with the cases to prove my worth.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
At the crash of the IT-boom I was defending a managing director, on a multimillion law suit from a shareholder claiming for his personal liability. It was a demanding case with unreliable documentation and many witnesses against us stating obvious lies. It was difficult to foresee the outcome of it all but my client never hesitated to rely on our strategy. When we received the verdict from the arbitration committee my client looked at me and said slowly that I had saved his and his family´s life. I was unable to get any work done for two days just babbling around feeling good.

What do you do when you’re not practicing law?
I carry stuff home, mostly milk and groceries. The best days I spend time with my wife and family and/or do sports. I love to go to hockey and soccer practice with my son and to go swimming with my daughter. I very much enjoy water and alpine sports.

What would surprise people most about you?
Probably that I hold a silver medal from a national snowboarding championship (well, from a hundred years ago). And that I take a jump into the ocean just about every morning. Right now it is about four degrees Celsius, so you can see that my wife thinks I am losing it.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
The Singapore Conference: Me and my wife and a couple of ILN delegates were sitting outside the hotel in the warm evening having cocktails getting to know each other. Simon Ekins from London, Anad Krishnan, from Kuala Lumpur and Michael Samuel and Marie Macdonald from Glasgow struck us to be some of the funniest guys we had ever met.

What career would you have chosen if you weren’t a lawyer?
Alpine off-piste guide would not be too bad for a couple of years. Or an industrial designer.

If a movie were made of your life, who would you want to play you?
Arnold of course… But I would settle for a skinny Chandler in Friends, as they say I resemble him. But I don’t.

How would you like to be remembered?
With a laugh and a tear, and as a caring and active father, that at least tried his best to come home from work in time, with all the stuff.

Week of May 7, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:29:52 -0500

With our Annual Meeting coming up next week, it's not pretty around here as we nail down the last minute details and ensure that all of our delegates have a fabulous and smoothly-running conference! So without further ado, I'm just giving you the links to this week's top posts over at ILNToday!

Employment and Safety – Workplace Investigations Update - May 2012 from Gadens Lawyers
Supreme Court of Canada Considers Trust Residence from Clark Wilson LLP
International Companies Be Wary of Privacy Laws Overseas That Prohibit the Transfer of Personal Data into the United States from Epstein Becker & Green
New Invasion of Privacy Tort Could Leave Companies Liable from Clark Wilson LLP
The Day-By-Day Revolution: Insights From The Council's Program On Measuring And Monetizing Social Media from Davis & Gilbert LLP

Happy Friday everyone!

Think Like an Editor - A Webinar Recap

Lindsay Griffiths — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:52:26 -0500

In Monday’s post recapping Adrian Lurssen & John Hellerman’s recent webinar, we talked about their advice to see the world from your audience’s point of view. Today, we’ll look at their next point, to think like an editor.

Adrian kicked off this section with a quote from Barger & Wolen’s Heather Morse:

What are your competitors writing about? What new cases have been decided? What news articles are trending? What are the other bloggers saying? Any new legislative actions? I subscribe to numerous RSS feeds and have them all categorized so I can quickly scan to see what's happening in our industry sectors. I can then relay story ideas to our team of bloggers.”

This is excellent, excellent advice. Heather is suggesting that you use various sources to stay on top of what’s happening in the marketplaces that your attorneys work in, and then filter through to them the story ideas that they can write about. You can then send them follow up topics.

This is the first step in a good editorial process in a firm. So let's look at how an example would work. Adrian showed us a list of some of the latest news items in the public eye, including "N.Y. Mom Fired After Donating Kidney to Help Her Boss." Adrian suggested that you'd see a headline line this, and send it on to labor attorneys, and even healthcare attorneys to spark their interests and encourage them to blog about it.

Similarly, "Former BP Engineer Charged in Gulf Spill" - this could lead to other topics, such as who's responsible. Adrian reminded us that attorneys are not just writing for in-house counsel though; they're also writing for journalists, other management teams, and influencers. So it's important to understand the rules of what makes something important to someone:

Proximity: Does the news affect your audience?
Impact: How much does the news affect your audience? More impact = higher news value.
Unusualness: Is the new different from the ordinary? More unusual = great news potential.
Timeliness: How current is the news?
Prominence: Who is involved?
Conflict: Tension = News.

But the editorial process doesn't end there - attorneys also need support and follow up. Along these lines, it's recommended to keep an editorial calendar. Rob Kahn of Fenwick & West told the panelists:

… we’ve found one of the best ways to keep the content trains running is the use of editorial calendars. Each quarter, we get the practice or industry group to agree upon the topics that are likely to be of interest to clients and reporters in the upcoming two quarters. Partner and associates are then assigned roles for those topics: article, alert, PR contact, blog post, twitter feed, etc. These assignments to specific tasks and topics help keep the content flowing because the attorneys know they only have one or two things to do each quarter. A marketer serves as project manager, reminding people when content is due, as well as coordinating proofing and distribution if applicable. For a firm our size, this method helps us generate a relatively significant amount of content and press visibility."

Having an editorial calendar ensures that regular, fresh content is being posted to the blog. However, it doesn't have to limit the content either - if a timely story pops up and the attorneys want to write about it, that content can be included as well.

Attorneys need a manageable assignment and a support team to help get it published and shared - it shouldn't require the attorneys to work too hard to get it visible.

The next step is to spot light the right stuff, show the attorneys how well their work did, and thank people for participating. Russell Lawson of Sands Anderson says:

When we kicked off our social media plan, we recognized that lawyers might lack the internal motivation to be regular participants in these tactics. It was new, unproven, took time and they would be personally responsible for it. So, we started a feature in our regular internal marketing news called Whooz Famous Now? (so called because of a long firm tradition of Woohoos for victories and significant events). Each issue, we shine the light of recognition on the PR side, skewed to social media, both for participants and what results we gather anecdotally. Not only does this make our contributors more visible among their fellow lawyers, but it has demonstrated itself to be an incentive for them to report to us."

In this way, Russell also helped to foster competition among the attorneys, which also made them more active in participating.

There's so much excellent advice right here, and I'll be doing one more post early next week to finish out the re-cap!

ILN-terviews: Dale Van Demark, Epstein Becker & Green

Lindsay Griffiths — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:15:05 -0500

Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network. For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Dale Van Demark of our member firm Epstein Becker & Green in Washington, DC. Dale will be one of our hosts for next week's 24th Annual Meeting in Washington!

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
My practice focuses on hospital and health system mergers and acquisitions and the innovation of healthcare delivery domestically and abroad – such as new coordinated care models supported by private and government programs, telemedicine and cross-border provider and education programs.

Who would be your typical client?
In my transactional practice, my clients are hospitals and health systems of various types – independent community hospitals, academic medical systems and regional health systems. In my healthcare innovation practice, my clients are entrepreneurs, business lines of insurers, hospitals and health systems and technology companies.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
The nature of my practice has given me a lot of exposure both in the board room and C suite and with entrepreneurs. This experience has honed my ability to understand and help advise my clients on the strategic implications and goals of their efforts, whether in an affiliation transaction or the development of telemedicine technology.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
My most challenging representation was of a health system going through a merger transaction. The matter was challenging because my client was in very bad condition – financially, organizationally and competitively. In addition, my client continually withheld information from us, which made representation of the client before government bodies and in negotiations very difficult.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
Closing the above referenced transaction! Despite the many challenges, posed by the client and the client’s situation we were able to successfully obtain required government approvals, negotiate a good deal and close on an aggressive time-table.

What do you do when you’re not practicing law?
I enjoy music, painting and reading – fiction and nonfiction. (I listen to music in my office all day.) I also enjoy working on my car when I get a chance. Mostly, however, I spend time with my family.

What would surprise people most about you?
That I am remarkably susceptible to cheesy, emotional stories or story lines in movies.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
Getting bitten by a monkey in KL. That one is going to be hard to top!

What career would you have chosen if you weren’t a lawyer?
Too many interesting choices to choose from! ALMS race car driver (GT class), park ranger or journalist.

If a movie were made of your life, who would you want to play you?
I would want a George Clooney, or some other heart-throb; but I think a younger Jon Voight could do a great job.

How would you like to be remembered?
With a smile.

Use Editorial Focus & Insights to Create Content that Gets Noticed - A Webinar Recap

Lindsay Griffiths — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:53:13 -0500

There are some truly brilliant people in our industry, and the week before last, I was fortunate to hear two of them present in a webinar: JD Supra's Adrian Lurssen and Hellerman Baretz Communication's John Hellerman. The webinar addressed the topic of using editorial focus and insights to create content that gets noticed.

They kicked off the webinar with the advice that we should be looking at the world from our audience's point of view. Since there's a lot of meaty information in the webinar recap, I'll break the post up.

"That's what She Said"

To illustrate the idea of looking at the world from the audience's point of view, Adrian and John talked about "That's what she said," Ford & Harrison's employment law blog. The blog came from a failed media pitch - Hellerman Baretz pitched the idea to NBC to have a labor & employment attorney on every Friday morning after The Office had aired, to talk about the ramifications of the politically incorrect behavior on the show. NBC passed on the idea, and a blog was born.

John called this an example of "fame-jacking" - seeing what's out there that is culturally popular, and leveraging the excitement and interest that surrounds it.

This blog was unique for a number of reasons:

Initially, the firm couldn't get a wide number of participants, so a young woman partner was the first author (this was also a play on "that's what she said," a famous line from The Office's Michael Scott).
The blog was only published once a week, on Fridays.
It isn't hosted on the firm's website - instead, they went to a labor law publisher and asked them to host it, as they knew traffic wouldn't be driven from the firm's website.
The hook is that there's a litigation price tag on each episode.

So what are the takeaways for the rest of us from this success story?

Find your niche and go deep on it - you don't have to be clever (like "that's what she said"), but you do have to be focused.
People are busy and live in an age of saturation of information. The trick is to insert yourself into what people are already thinking. Become a part of the dialogue.

Basis Points

John and Adrian next looked at "Basis Points," a Bracewell and Giuliani blog that focuses on restructuring, distressed debt, and new investment markets. The blog is hosted by Evan D. Flaschen, who has a very unique personality and does valuable restructuring work. His bio on the site says:

As Blogger-in-Chief Evan Flaschen approaches his office in his signature Tommy Bahama shirt, shorts and sandals, the classic Ozzy Osbourne song “Crazy Train” is cranked to 11. With a 7-foot giraffe statue peering over one shoulder, a life-size Abe Lincoln cut-out over the other and Bloomberg news on his wall TV, Evan sits in front of his four computer screens, two speakerphones and wireless headset and takes on the restructuring world with a passion and a smile."

Why is this blog unique?

It takes into consideration who the authors are, and doesn't try to strip them from the characters that they are.
Evan likes to write poems about restructuring - that's the hook. It's even created audience engagement, with people sending him their own haikus, and journalists even trying their hand at it in their own publications.

It's Not About Dumbing Down, It's About Plumbing the Depths

So how can we take what Ford & Harrison and Bracewell & Giuliani have done, and create our own well-respected blogs? There are LOTS of topics that many people can write on (and do write on), so it's about figuring out what will drive traffic. There are two ways you can do this:

Timely topics
Evergreen content

Timely Topics

With timely topics, news stories will come out, and you can write blog posts about those news items. For example, Adrian and John shared a blog that is dedicated entirely to HITECH - this is a great example of an attorney capturing and going deep into a niche - rather than writing on healthcare law as a broad subject, she's just focused on HITECH.

The key here is to shift from focusing on writing what you want to write about, to what your readers want to read. It can't be about you - it has to be about your readers.

Evergreen Content

I'll admit, I had to look this up. Evergreen content is content that is literally "ever green." It's topics that can live on your blog for the life of the blog with little or no updating, because they'll always have relevance.

As an example, Adrian mentioned Walmart's recent FCPA issues in Mexico. They had reached out to some JD Supra authors, who said that they can't touch the topic because they work with Walmart, which is absolutely fine. However, he said that considering evergreen content is a good way to work around this, because they can slice up the story and participate in the conversation without having to mention Walmart at all. Good examples of this would be "An overview of FCPA Reform - Who wants what changed, and why?" or "Characteristics of a good FCPA compliance program" or "Best senior management practices for FCPA compliance."

Again, it's about considering what is most useful to your audience, and finding ways to draw them in. The title can accomplish this, though the presenters pointed out that you don't need to be hip and cultural with everything, you just need to be granular with what you do.

Principles of Great Content

Adrian and John offered some principles of great content:

Remember your audience
Tell a story
Simplicity (not too long - get to the core ASAP)
Unexpectedness
Concreteness (explain ideas in terms of sensory information, paint a picture)
Credibility (statistics, "proof," quotes from experts)
Emotions (make your reader feel)

Most importantly - make it "pop!"

How can you do that? Adrian and John used a great example - a typical law firm press release might say:

On July 16th, the law firm of Boring & Dull will sponsor a seminar regarding the newest Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and their effect on corporations of all sizes."

This isn't going to catch anyone's attention. A more creative way of crafting this might be:

Sarbanes-Oxley regulations will cost American corporations more than $55 billion, and that’s only if they follow the rules.

"'The tab for even the slightest non-compliance will cost a company millions of dollars in fines and ‘fit-it’ fees,” explained Steve Exciting, a partner in the law firm of Savvy, Power & Wealth. “Companies can save themselves lots of headaches and lots of dollars if they know what to do.'

"On July 16th, Savvy, Power & Wealth will sponsor a seminar for GCs of mid-size companies ($50 MM - $500 MM) regarding the newest Sarbanes-Oxley regulations and what they can do to avoid costly fines."

This piece sells it like a news lead, and then puts in the announcement about the seminar - much more creative.

Content isn't just about blogging though, it can also be about video. Video is how people want to consume information these days, so there's a huge opportunity there for law firms. There are only a few firms out there that are currently doing this well, such as Womble Carlyle. Adrian cautioned that video doesn't replace text, it just makes people understand WHY they should read what comes next - it makes the content relevant and sticky.

The last point in the section about considering your audience was to stop "doing" public relations and start "using" public relations. It's not about creating content for content's sake - we need to be asking "how is what I'm doing going to help my firm create, influence, or maintain a lucrative relationship?" If it won't, tell your firm that you're going to save them money by spending its resources elsewhere.

Creating content is the intersection of law firm branding, and marketing the individual attorney.

Next up...think like an editor!

Week of April 30, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:18:09 -0500

This week has just sped by! We're getting ready for next week's IP Group luncheon during INTA, and excited for the ILN's 24th Annual Meeting the following week in Washington, DC!

So without further ado, here are this week's Top Five!

Web crawling, sampling, hyperlinking and indexing: is there still copyright on the internet? from Fogler Rubinoff: Nancy Miller, who will be attending next week's IP lunch in Washington, discusses an important decision recently released by the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
There’s An App For That – But At What Cost? from Davis & Gilbert: Davis & Gilbert looks at the true cost of apps, and what state and federal governments are doing to protect consumer privacy.

Source Code Escrow When Entering into a Software License Agreement--Is it Necessary? from Epstein Becker & Green: EBG's Hylan Fenster talks about source code escrow agreements for software licenses..
Due Diligence for Complex IP and IT Transactions from Fogler Rubinoff: Colleen Spring Zimmerman, who will also be attending next week's IP lunch in Washington, talks about due diligence in general, then focuses in on how and why IP due diligence is so critical.
Ohio Statehouse: Week in review from McDonald Hopkins: McDonald Hopkins Government Relations Practice Group reviews the top four subjects of the week that readers should know about, from Mid-Biennium Review bills and comprehensive energy legislation to new house members chosen and legislation approved this week.

Happy reading!

Let's Talk Twitter: An LMA Social Media SIG Webinar

Lindsay Griffiths — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:45:51 -0500

Today, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a webinar presentation from my friends Nancy Myrland of Myrland Marketing and Lance Godard of JD Supra. The Social Media Special Interest Group for the Legal Marketing Association has been putting on monthly webinars, and this month's focused on Twitter.

Since it is a member benefit, I won't give all the secrets away, but I did want to offer the highlights:

How Can I Use Twitter?

Firm Use: The firm twitter account can be considered a curator for all of the firm's information on Twitter. It can also be used as a watchdog for client activity, and a market softener - when people see the firm's name then in other places, they'll be more receptive.
Individual Use: This is where the rubber meets the road. You can show personality and brand, generate relationships, and position yourself as an expert in your field.

Broadcast versus Social Media

"Servant Leadership:" Be a leader, but do so by first serving your followers with the intent of helping them.
Your use of Twitter doesn't have to be all social - it can be a hybrid. It's okay to be a broadcaster if you surround yourself with enough other personality.

What Can Twitter Do For Me?

Develop relationships: This does take work, but it helps to peel back the layers of unfamiliarity that usually take months to peel back.
Can support your business development efforts, and serve as an additional tool to plug into your marketing plan.
Establishes your attorneys as thought leaders: Here, you have more control over the conversations that are taking place, and attorneys can stay ahead of the game in their respective practice areas. It also helps the attorneys become go-to sources and curators of information.
Source for information: Here you can get your news and substantive information, as long as you look at it in context.

Twitter by the Numbers

Over 500 million users (up from just over 100 million this time in 2011, and 75 million this time in 2012)
340 million tweets PER DAY
1 million new users PER WEEK
Use by general counsel is low, but it's an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of a very popular tool in other industries.

I'm on Twitter; Now What?

You bring the activity to you - sync your address book, so Twitter can tell you who you already know.
Use Twitter as your search engine - find people to connect with by searching key words and saving those searches (can also use third party tools for Twitter, like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck).
Look at who your competitors follow and who follows them - a goldmine of information.
See who Twitter suggests that you follow.
Interact with peers in your field through the use of hashtags, both for searching and monitoring, and within your individual tweets.
Follow and use conference hashtags, even for firm events.

I have Followers, Now What?

It depends on your goals, but you'll want to talk to them before you just start broadcasting information.
With the way Twitter has evolved, people are jumping on and off more frequently, and not all of your content will be read. There's a need to make sure that you're always refreshing your content.
Everyone uses the tools differently, so you'll have to see what works best for you.

Ethical Considerations: Whatever you follow in real life, you need to follow on social media tools. "Don't do anything stupid" with respect to client confidentiality.

A final takeaway - Twitter is growing in importance and it's a tool that law firms need to be using.

Thanks Lance & Nancy!

Rainmaking Recommendation from Jaimie Field: Create your own Networking Group

Lindsay Griffiths — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:02:42 -0500

Thanks to Jaimie Field for another fabulous rainmaking recommendation:

What type of law do you practice? What industry do you target?

In each area of practice there is a list of people who work in the same in industry who do not practice law. People like accountants, psychologists/therapists, and other vendors who concentrate on the same group of people/businesses you are trying to reach who will not step on your legal toes.

Create your own ad-hoc networking group. Gather these people together to meet at least once a month, whether in person, via Skype or conference call, and create relationships with them. Make sure that each person’s business compliments but does not compete with the other. Each of these people and businesses has the ability to refer more business to you without feeling like they are competing with others who do the same thing that they do for a living. In addition to referrals, this group can also provide competitive intelligence about the industry you wish to target.

Where do you find this group with which to network?

Search the industry with which you want to work. Find the publications, magazines, websites that people read to keep up with the industry and see who is writing the articles and advertising in
these publications. Contact them and ask if they would like to be a part of this group to help grow all of your respective businesses.

What’s the worst thing that can happen? They say “no?” If this happens, there is more than one person who can take their place.

Week of April 23, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:48:05 -0500

When did it get to be the end of April already? This year is flying by!

So without further ado, here are the most popular articles from ILNToday for this week!

Official Marks in Canada – Foreign public authorities need not apply from Clark Wilson: Karen Monteith discusses the Federal Court of Canada recent ruling in favor of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. in an appeal of the decision of the Registrar of Trade-marks.
Pitfalls In Proving CERCLA Divisibility Of Harm from Epstein Becker & Green: Bill Ruskin delves into the Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals Ltd. case, and a judge's recent ruling that PRP Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd. failed to prove that contamination at a CERCLA site was divisible and, as a result, will be subject to CERCLA 107 joint and several liability at an upcoming September 2012 bench trial.

Grain Journal Features OSHA’s Enforcement Efforts in the Grain Industry from Epstein Becker & Green: Eric Conn shares that the Grain Journal has published a three part article based on a speech he gave to the National Grain & Feed Association, related to OSHA's enforcement efforts.
NLRB POSTER RULE DELAYED from Davis & Gilbert: The NLRB Poster Rule was delayed once again following a temporary injunction from the Court of Appeals. Davis & Gilbert offers the full run-down.
Aged Care Reform – Living Longer, Living Better – Anywhere you like. from Gadens Lawyers: Arthur Koumoukelis discusses the Australian government's package of reform initiatives designed to reshape the aged care system.

Let's Get Specific - On LinkedIn

Lindsay Griffiths — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:22:59 -0500

Over the last couple of days, I've been working on developing a few sub-groups for our International Lawyers Group member group on LinkedIn. These groups are online forums for our Specialty Groups, which member firm attorneys participate in throughout the year.

As I'm developing the groups, I'm going through my LinkedIn contacts to invite those who practice in those areas to participate. And I'm seeing a lot of this:

What's wrong with that, you might ask? (Besides that I've redacted the last names and company names)

It's not very descriptive for one.

There are tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of lawyers on LinkedIn. How will someone know what you do by just looking at your title if all it says is "partner" or "lawyer?"

Now, I know that you can expand on your title in your profile. But with everyone being so busy these days, who is taking the time to look at your profile unless you give them a reason to...in your title.

Why not make it a bit more descriptive? Here are some examples:

Chair, Estate Planning Department at XYZ Law Firm
Appellate Partner - at XYZ Law Firm
Environmental Law Practice Group at XYZ Law Firm
Commercial Litigation Partner at XYZ Law Firm
Labor and Employment Attorney at XYZ Law Firm

The list is endless. So let's get specific - tell people what you do in your title and headline on LinkedIn, and make sure that your company name is included as well. Who knows what opportunities you're missing out on because the only thing people know about you is that you practice law.

For more information on how to set up your title and headline, check out Parts I and II for setting up a LinkedIn profile.

Unpacking and Mapping Your Career Business Plan - An LMA Re-Cap

Lindsay Griffiths — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:25:09 -0500

As I was leaving the LMA 2012 conference, I learned that what many of us had been hoping for was coming true - we were starting up a LMANJ city group! Although New York and New Jersey are close together, getting in and out of the city can be less than ideal, particularly on a work night, so those of us working in New Jersey are happy to be piggy-backing off of the NY programs and doing our own networking.

Our first session took place last Thursday, and after some initial networking among ourselves, we tapped into the NY session via Skype, which was dedicated to the topic of "Unpacking and Mapping Your Career Business Plan." The session was presented by Kelly Hoey, Business Network Strategist, and Jennifer Johnson, J.Johnson Executive Search, Inc.

I'm always looking to learn, and this session was excellent for that - I got some great tips and the motivation to look at what I can be doing to set better goals for myself within the industry. Since it's an LMA member program, I won't do a full re-cap, but I'd like to share some of the valuable tips that I got from the session.

If you're looking for a job, the market is looking up. Jennifer reported that hiring is back, and firms are paying top dollar for talent. They're looking for generalists with at least ten years of experience. In particular, the areas that are most popular include business development, entrepreneurial attorneys who are building niche practices, and in-house public relations/communications professionals.
Even if you're not looking for a job, you should keep your resume updated. Set a monthly reminder in your calendar for the last business day of the month, so you can review your activities and update your resume accordingly (if you are looking, you can then tailor your resume before sending it out). The speakers also emphasized the importance of making sure that your LinkedIn profile matches the information in your resume.
Have a professional headshot. Jennifer commented that she's talked to firms who haven't hired somebody because their profile photo was too casual.
When mapping out your ultimate career goals, make sure to be true to who you are, and not base your decisions on a title. Don't shoot for CMO if that's not the job you truly want. Along these lines, take every opportunity seriously - a title doesn't necessarily tell the full story of a job.
Being focused is better than hoping to be lucky. Look at your past roles, but also look ahead to the roles that you want to inhabit.
The positions that "tap out" in terms of compensation and scope are events, public relations, writing and graphic design. However, you can use these roles to move out of the niche role by volunteering for other projects, diversifying yourself, and looking for opportunities that aren't being met and going after them.
Networking is KEY - Why? For several reasons, including that it's the place you can turn to if your find yourself in an uncertain situation at work - it's better to build your network over time than when you need it. Networking is also valuable when the attorneys that you work with aren't giving you the respect you deserve - you can filter back the rewards of networking to those partners to build your reputation.
Also keep in mind that if you don't network correctly, it can damage your reputation - make sure you do what you say you'll do, and don't be the "can I pick your brain" person who appears only when they need something.
If there are gaps in your network, you can work on these. The speakers commented that women have a more "mentoring focus" for their networks - the network is narrow, but it's deep. Men have a wider, but more shallow network. To broaden your network, they suggested offering to lend your expertise to your favorite charity - for example, if you've never managed people, volunteer so that you can get that experience.
Follow up is also key. If there are people you want to network with, get them in your LinkedIn connections - maybe this is where they're watching and this is how you can feed them information about yourself. If you want to meet someone and network, find out what makes THEIR world rock. Be helpful and send people information that is of use to them.
To figure out what's right for you - look at your current position and identify the work that you love to do. Then, look at what career opportunities you want more of - this may even be something that you don't currently do, but you can offer to help a colleague with. Then look at whether your network supports and encourages your professional ambitions.

Jennifer finished up by saying that it's important to be at your highest and best in your job, as it will seep into your personal life. She added that the formula they shared with us through a worksheet handout can work in other areas of our lives as well.

With such a great start for LMANJ, I'm looking forward to our next get together already!

Week of April 16, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:46:48 -0500

We're at the end of another week already, and there has been SO much great content coming through ILNToday! It's been a wee bit busy here as I get ready for our Annual Meeting in May in Washington, DC, so today, I'm just bringing you the links to my top posts of the week!

SECOND CIRCUIT REVIVES VIACOM’S MASSIVE INFRINGEMENT CASE AGAINST YOUTUBE from Davis & Gilbert
ARB Adopts Expansive View of Protections Afforded Whistleblowers Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, Continuing Recent Trends in Whistleblower Cases from Epstein Becker & Green
FINRA Rule 13803: Compelling Arbitration Claims to be Filed in Court from Epstein Becker & Green

New HazCom Standard: The Most Frequently Cited Standard in the Hospitality Industry Gets a Facelift from Epstein Becker & Green
$100,000 HIPAA Settlement Due to Misuse of Online Calendar & More from Ogden Murphy Wallace
Hold the NLRB Posting from McDonald Hopkins
Was Buyer Of Real Estate "Ready, Willing & Able" To Perform? from Epstein Becker & Green
Latham & Watkins Hit With Malicious Prosecution Suit After Unsuccessful Prosecution Of Trade Secrets Action from Epstein Becker & Green
Ohio Energy Forum- Impacts of the rapidly developing oil and gas industry in Ohio from McDonald Hopkins
Should Employers and Facebook Be Friends? from Epstein Becker & Green

Happy reading!

Rainmaking Recommendation from Jaimie Field: The Golden Rule

Lindsay Griffiths — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:10:34 -0500

Here's the latest rainmaking recommendation from expert Jaimie Field!

Everyone knows The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

It is oft repeated; it is said in many ways in every religious belief. It is taught to us by our parents when we are children even if we are not brought up with a religious background (“Treat others the way you want to be treated”).

Yet, as attorneys, we have a tendency to forget this rule.

This is not because we are bad or immoral people. The nature of the legal field is adversarial. It is almost always one party against another. We are trying to win for our clients. So by hook or by crook, as long as it is ethical, we will treat our opposition the way we need in order to achieve our clients’ goals.

However, for Rainmaking purposes, not following the Golden Rule is going to cost you clients, potential clients and referral sources. If you come across as aggressive and antagonistic to everyone, you will not win.

Think about how you like to be treated: with kindness, respect, empathy and value. Now treat everyone you know and meet like this, regardless of who they are and what they do. You never know from where your next client or referral will come.

Rainmaking is about creating relationships. For those who read these Rainmaking Recommendations and the blogs have seen me write, over and over again, “People do business with people they know, like, and trust. “ No one will like or trust someone who always comes across as belligerent, forceful or uncompromising.

Being adversarial in the court room is warranted; being adversarial in life will cost you clients, referral sources and friends.

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They are bite size tips that when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog.

Week of April 9, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:11:04 -0500

Happy Friday the 13th all! We've had some very popular posts this week, and excellent content as always coming from our member firms. So without further ado...

Men Must be Allowed the Same Child Care Leave as Women from Epstein Becker & Green: EBG's Peter Panken and Jennifer Goldman talk us through Ehrhard v. LaHood, to illustrate why employers must have gender-neutral family leave policies.
How to Choose a FINRA Arbitration Panel from Epstein Becker & Green: EBG's latest blog, The Bellwether, has hit the ground running with a number of successful posts. This post from John Fullerton III discusses how to choose a FINRA arbitration panel, and is the first in a series on practices and procedures in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.
The Pinning Rules from Davis & Gilbert: Davis & Gilbert discusses Pinterest from a brand perspective, and what brands need to be aware of when using the site.

New York’s Highest Court Upholds Oral Promise of Guaranteed Bonus from Epstein Becker & Green: John Fullerton III looks at Ryan v. Kellogg Partners Institutional Services, where the New York Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict in favor of a brokerage firm employee.
BUSINESS LAW from Robinson Sheppard Shapiro: RSS shares their latest business law newsletter.
Employer Recordkeeping Requirements Extended to GINA from Epstein Becker & Green: The EEOC has extended their existing recordkeeping requirements under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act to employers covered by Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ("GINA"). EBG explores this in more detail.
The shale revolution from McDonald Hopkins: In their latest oil and gas alert, McDonald Hopkins discusses some of the dramatic changes in the oil and gas industry.
Expansion of Protected Activity Under Sarbanes-Oxley Continues from Epstein Becker & Green: Using Zinn v. American Commercial Lines Inc., EBG illustrates how the DOL continues its trend of extending whistleblower protection.
Could a company in process of being incorporated enter into an agreement provided there is a clause conditioning the validity of the agreement to the incorporation fulfillment? from Mejia-Armenteros & Abreu: Santiago Mejia uses crowdsourcing on LinkedIn to answer the question of whether a company being incorporated can enter into an agreement, provided there is a clause conditioning the validity of the agreement to the incorporation fulfillment.
Immigration Alert: April 2012 from Epstein Becker & Green: In their latest immigration law newsletter, EBG explores a wide variety of topics, including H1-B and H2-B visas, undocumented workers, and cases in various jurisdictions within the US.

Happy reading!

The Evolution of the Law Firm Brand - an LMA 2012 Re-Cap

Lindsay Griffiths — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:57:54 -0500

My final session of the first day of the conference was “The Evolution of the Law Firm Brand: How to Promote the Individual Attorneys within the Parameters of the Firm’s Brand.” Panelists included Aden Dauchess, the Director of Digital Media with Womble Carlyle, Robert Algeri, Partner of Great Jakes Marketing, Joe Calve, the CMO for Morrison & Foerster, and Peter Winzig, the Director of Marketing and Corporate Development for Weltman, Weinberg & Reis. The panel was moderated by Adrian Dayton, CEO of Adrian Dayton & Associates.

The room was quickly filled with interested attendees, and soon it was not only standing room only, but full enough to turn people away.

I wasn’t able to stay for the entire session (my apologies to the panelists!), so I’ll just give you some of my highlights:

Even sophisticated purchasers of legal services have a hard time telling the difference between the top 25 branded firms. Only 17% of general counsel see a difference between firms. (Takeaway - what makes your firm different and memorable?)
The panelists compared lawyers to jars of mustard. With so many of them, how do you make your lawyers stand out? (Takeaway - what will make clients pick your lawyer over all of the rest?)
A favorite line – “Remember, if you can brand water, you can brand a law firm.”
There is more to be done than building a big brand – show the firm, but also go into personal branding. Every attorney has a story – what can be done to bring it out? Don’t just ask your attorneys to describe what they do. Ask them “describe what you love to do.” You’ll get a more valuable answer. Then integrate their personality with the brand. (Takeaway - interview each of your lawyers to learn what they love about what they do, then find the thread that ties the stories together and tell that story to your clients.)
And an excellent point from the Twitter gallery – “How many firms try to ‘create’ a brand and apply it to their firm as opposed to the brand being a true reflection of the firm?” – Jon Holden
When the panelists asked the audience how many people are proud of their attorneys’ bios, only four people in a room of 200 raised their hands. The panelists then discussed the “Facebook effect,” which has effectively led to more personalized microsites for lawyer bios. They recommended integrating social media into attorney bios. Since attorney bios always get traffic (56-75% of website traffic occurs in the attorney bios section according to the panel), they should be used as a hub for all of the attorney’s content, including video, social media, articles, pro bono work, and their full resume. Well-written, comprehensive bios directly increase view rates.
The secret to a winning logo? Whatever looks best on a golf shirt. (Takeaway - logos are not the most important thing in branding a law firm)
The secret to a great website? Make it simple for the visitor.

Creating a Culture of Client Service Excellence - an LMA 2012 Re-cap

Lindsay Griffiths — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:06:59 -0500

The final session that I attended during the LMA Conference this year was “Creating a Culture of Client Service Excellence” with Leonardo Inghilleri, the EVP and Managing Partner of West Paces Consulting.

I was a few minutes late to the session, and the energy in the room felt a bit low, so I was initially concerned I may have chosen the wrong session. But I was quickly proven wrong as Leonardo provided us with fabulous insight and an interesting perspective that proved most valuable.

As his bio on the LMA Conference website states:

"Leonardo Inghilleri is a recognized business expert and author, and an opinion leader in the area of organizational effectiveness and strategies, client service excellence, and business innovation. As one of the key architects behind the Ritz-Carlton’s two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, he has first-hand experience in creating a culture of client service excellence. During this session, you will learn about proven techniques that will help your firm improve the quality of the relationships with your clients. Leonardo will share the concepts and practices that will help to create and maintain the kind of client service environment that can produce strong bottom line results.”

Some may wonder what a hotel expert might have to say about the law firm client service model, but truly successful hotel brands make everything about the client – and truly successful law firms make everything about the client as well.

The first key thing I heard was that when service can be personalized, the expense and distance of a hotel becomes secondary. You can easily extrapolate from that that a law firm client will pay a higher price for extraordinary service and personalized attention if a firm offers it. Creating a “personal benefit” is a critical client acquisition and retention tool. Similarly, there are instances when people will put up with the issues of a "big box store" simply to save on price – this is the same for law firms. Clients will put up with the issues of a cheaper firm for certain matters because they can save on costs.

Being a “client-centric” firm means that you’re going to be "glued" to your client. “Client service” doesn’t mean connecting with the client at the end of each month in the form of an invoice. Firms and attorneys need to create value by being:

Good at what you do,
On time, and
3. Nice

– all at the same time.

Leonardo said that you have to start with client satisfaction because it’s almost impossible to turn a dissatisfied client into a satisfied one. He made the point that no one likes the IRS, so why would an attorney want to be like them? If you’re not focusing on the concept of caring for your clients, you’re just like the IRS – this is a compelling argument.

Caring isn’t a complicated issue to articulate – it means that the experience with your firm from a client perspective needs to be pleasant and caring. When you go to a store, you don’t like to be mistreated, so it’s the same for clients coming to a law firm. Every time you come into contact with a client, this is a touchpoint – answering the phone, how pleasant your receptionist is, validating their parking, an accurate invoice, responding to emails on time, the way you set up a meeting room for a client event – all of these are touchpoints.

Leonardo asked the audience to think about whether they’ve ever opened the cupboards in their conference rooms. He’s done that in the conference rooms of firms he's in and has seen empty soda cans, enormous stacks of supplies, and abandoned IT materials – what if your clients opened these cupboards? Similarly, look at where your clients leave their coats – what does your closet look like? What is the client’s experience of putting their coat in the closet, or catching a glimpse of it when the receptionist does? Is it jammed full of coats, supplies, or detritus?

He pointed out that clients aren’t going to judge a firm on the quality of their legal advice – that’s their ticket to the show. They’re going to judge you on everything else – how you answer the phone, how the meeting room is set up, how clean the closet is. The subtext is that if you’re not able to do the simple things, how does the client know you’re good at the complicated ones?

Then, we talked a little bit about RFPs, and Leonardo said that price placement is an important part of an RFP because it’s one of the main things the client cares about. So it should be “displayed” up front, but also display the benefits at the same time, as a retailer would do. Think about where you put price in your RFPs (and where you'd like to see price when you get an RFP from a potential business partner).

When you handle these touchpoints well, by the time the lawyer shows up in the room, the client almost trusts him or her. It’s the power of the first impression – that’s how you build an experience. All of these things create client satisfaction, which breeds loyalty. Keep doing what you’re doing over and over, and you form a habit – that’s habitual loyalty. It’s not the best way to engender loyalty, because it takes a long time.

Another way to create loyalty is by creating an emotional connection with your clients. The only way to do this is to fulfill their emotional needs. If you understand what’s important for those clients, then you can deliver “personalized” service. There is nothing better than this.

The great thing about emotional connections is that they’re somewhat illogical – it makes you part of something without a real reason. As humans, we like to be part of something and we want to be loyal to an organization. This isn’t only for the benefits, but because we like being a “part” of that exclusive club.

In the luxury business, there are no “frequent flyer” points. But when their customers come to them, they’ll get an experience that is exactly what they want. They are building a personal benefit. Leonardo challenged us to do this in our own businesses, and the way to do that is by paying attention to our clients. This means studying them and having data (You can get this data both by doing research, and by creating a system that records their likes and dislikes whenever there is a touchpoint with them).

Lawyers don’t focus on the individual needs of their clients the way that other industries do. Leonardo said that firms need to start doing this, and it’s not that complicated. He suggested that we think of the little things – connect on an emotional level and that will lead to business.
The tricky part, he said, is how we, as marketers, go back to our firms and convince the lawyers to do these things. He joked that we should hire him to tell them, and he would beat them into submission.

But in all seriousness, he said that we need to talk to them about how we differentiate ourselves. His challenge to us was to think about one thing that we (as legal marketers) want to eliminate, and one process that we want to start (he said not to reinvent the wheel – we’re dealing with a lawyers’ culture which is risk-adverse and resistant to change). Take away a thorn, and add something, and then move on to the next thing. He warned us not to try to revolutionize everything, or kill concepts like collegiality.

Along the lines of differentiation, Leonardo pointed out that all law firm websites say the same thing. There are only a handful of firms that are able to articulate a different culture or brand identify from everyone else – they’re all inner-focused, because all they want to do is think about themselves.

Instead, think about how to create a brand –that’s our job as marketers, to convince our firms how to be better and different. He used Starbucks as a great example of this, because their entire brand is about being better and different. Leonardo challenged us to try to think about how our firms are better and different.

Another revelation was that “excellence is a pain.” Leonardo said that we can’t think that we can change an organization like a law firm. They’re slow to react, resistant to change, so there can’t be change without pain. Extraordinary results cannot be accomplished with ordinary efforts. He said we should create our own roadmaps to excellence – and added that it will be painful, so we’ll need courage to complete them, and not everyone is excellent.

For our clients, he summed up by saying that people like to be recognized – and when they are, they’re willing to repeat the experience. Create an addictive behavior, and that’s what loyalty is. He challenged us to make our clients addicted to our firm’s services, and the way to do this is to get to know them on a personal level, and make them feel special and important.

Week of April 2, 2012 on ILNToday - A Roundup

Lindsay Griffiths — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:42:58 -0500

When did it become April already? This year is going by so quickly - the first quarter is already over! Our attorneys have once again been producing some excellent content, so without further ado, here is this week's round up from ILNToday!

Massive data breach at credit card processing company: Millions potentially affected from McDonald Hopkins: Following one of the biggest news stories of the week, McDonald Hopkins provides their advice on how to protect your identify after a massive data breach at a credit card processing company.
INDIA’S BATTLE UNDER BILATERAL INVESTMENT TREATIES from LexCounsel: LexCounsel examines the recent uptick in arbitrations regarding the Government of India's execution of Bilateral Investment Treaties, and the impact this may have on inbound investment.

Principal contractor owed no duty of care to subcontractor’s employee: Vella’s Plant Hire Pty Ltd v Mistranch Pty Ltd & Ors [2012] QSC 77 from Gadens Lawyers: Gadens attorneys David Slayter and Peter Coggins look at the facts, the brief findings and the conclusions and applications in the Vella's Plant Hire v Mistranch case.
The Supreme Court Mulls Obamacare; The Health Care Industry Mulls The Supreme Court from Epstein Becker Green: EBG's Stuart Gerson shares the "Implementing Health and Insurance Reform" publication, which discusses some items related to the recent Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act prior to the Court's decision, which is likely to be released before the end of June.
India Grants its First Compulsory License from LexCounsel: LexCounsel discusses the granting of its first ever compulsory license to the Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma Limited for a cancer drug, and the reactions by the industry to this news.
Remedies For Spoliation Of Evidence from Epstein Becker Green: EBG's Bill Ruskin looks at how New York State handles the spoliation of evidence when dealing with garden variety spoliation.
In the Name of "Fairness," a New Jersey Federal Court Strikes the Confidentiality and Release Provisions from a Fair Labor Standards Act Settlement Agreement from Epstein Becker Green: Doug Weiner and Meg Thering look at the recent Brumley v. Camin Cargo Control decision, which might set precedent for favoring plaintiffs in New Jersey in Fair Labor Standards Act litigation.