Kudos to Jonathan Fitzgarrald and the Legal Marketing Association-Los Angeles Chapter for putting on a great program: Marketing the Law Firm From the Perspective of a Retailer, featuring Barry Feinberg (a former big-law lawyer himself). In my opinion, these are the best programs and provide the most value to me. While it’s great to
A lawyer is like an iPhone
I have an iPhone. I really like my iPhone. I actually LOVE my iPhone, but the service sucks. I have too many dropped calls. I have a dead zone just as I’m pulling into my garage. I can use my phone in the living room, but not in the master bedroom. I’ve been with
We are all equals in here
I saw a great movie over the weekend, The King’s Speech. Don’t worry, this isn’t a movie review. You can read some of those here. The movie recounts the true story of King George VI (Elizabeth II’s father) — who suffered from a debilitating stutter — and his speech therapist, Lionel Logue, on
And the Guru Said … (Bullshit)
I was recently zipping through my Google Reader and came across an interesting article recapping a guru’s recent presentation (is that general enough??). The guru was pontificating on what the guru pontificates on, and I thought to myself “bullshit.” Before taking the opinion of a guru as gospel, I urge you to look behind the
Can I get a side order of “work-life” balance with that job, please?
I know things are tough out there, and a CMO’s gotta do what a CMO’s gotta do. Jolene Overbeck, former CMO for Orrick, Latham, Shearman & Sterling, and DLA Piper, just landed a new job with Hogan Lovells, and of course the rumors have started on her salary:
Don’t Make Me Call Your Boss
Ok. I’m pissed off today, but in a good mood over all, so go figure. I’m having problems with one of my products. I’ve called – reported it – submitted the issue to the help desk – talked to the person who should have fixed it – they said nothing was wrong, it was me,
Mad Men, Lawyers and … Controlling Your Message
It happens. The rumor. The gossip. The office buzz. The phones start ringing. The emails start pinging. All hell breaks loose. SOMETHING is happening in your office. But no one is too sure yet what it is. But the BUZZ will take off and the less information people have, the worse the damage they can
Moving Law Firm Communications Off the Written Page
I’m speaking at the Legal Marketing Association-Bay Area Chapter’s 12th Annual Technology Program on a panel, Beyond Print: Moving Marketing Communications into the Audio and Video Realms.
I’m reviewing my notes, and here’s what I want to convey in theme — I’ll write about tactics later:
When law was practiced in a set geographic
Why the Ines Sainz “incident” matters to ALL professional women
The whole Ines Sainz fiasco, incident, scandal, brouhaha has been taking up too much space in my head this week. It has moved off the sports page and is being debated by the mainstream press and blogs.
The Sports Dude and I “debated” the issue. We talked earlier this week about writing a “He Said/She Said” piece, but it’s more of a “He Said/She Agreed” piece … from different vantage points. His is from the field and the locker room, mine is from the administrative offices.
I get that Ines Sainz is beautiful and hot. How could anyone not. But, she’s completely out of line, and the reaction of the NFL, to force “sensitivity training” on the players is completely wrong.
“I believe this is the most constructive approach,” [NFL commissioner Roger] Goodell said. “There is no debate about the longstanding equal access rule of our media policy. The issue for us, like all organizations, is proper conduct in the workplace, whether it is dealing with the media, co-workers, fans or others. It is our responsibility to provide a professional setting for members of the news media and other business associates that work with our teams and the league. We appreciate Woody Johnson stepping up promptly to properly manage the situation at his team and agreeing to underwrite this new initiative for all clubs.”
I’m going to argue that it is also the responsibility of the WORKERS to bring their professional selves to the workplace, whether your workplace is the football field on Sunday afternoons, or the 47th Floor of the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles.Continue Reading Why the Ines Sainz “incident” matters to ALL professional women
Recapping: Making – Not Finding – Time for Client Development
Thank you to guest blogger Gail Lamarche for recapping today’s Lexblog webinar, Making — Not Finding — Time for Client Development, featuring Kevin O’Keefe and Cordell Parvin.
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With 36 years of law practice behind him, Cordell Parvin now coaches attorneys in all aspects of legal marketing, client development and blogs at lawconsultingblog.com. When he just started his career as a young construction lawyer, his peers mocked him when he wanted to have a national practice from Roanoke, VA. That is until the Secretary of Transportation for the State of Washington called him when the bridge collapsed. How did that call happen? It was from writing articles and being known for a construction litigation law niche practice. Cordell shared his best practices and tips during the webinar which was recorded and can be found here (UPDATED LINK).
- 500 hours. That is how many non-billable hours a lawyer should spend on client development per year or 20-30 per month.
- Have a plan in place for not only non-billable time but personal time as well. Review the plan every 90 days. Plans should include:
- Time for client development
- Organizations to join
- Networking events
- Articles
- Blog posts
- Pro bono activities
- Feeling overwhelmed with billable work, personal responsibilities and marketing? Set priorities. Start a journal. Document your non-billable time and you will be able to figure out what worked and what didn’t.
- Split your development time in two categories: one for reputation building (writing and speaking); and one for relationship building (getting out and meeting people).
- Tips for young lawyers:
- spend time your first few years developing your skills to become a great lawyer
- learn about your clients
- learn people and communication skills
- read books
- attend seminars
- Write articles:
- Not sure what to write about? What questions are your clients asking? Take the memorandum of law and turn it into an article or blog post. Every matter you work on can take a wider angle.
- Create how-to guides for contracts, design builds. Post the e-books on your website so clients can download. Take what you learn and re-use it. Provide valuable information to your audience and raise visibility and credibility.
- Review the Encyclopedia of Associations for your state. Every association has newsletters or publications.
- Develop a niche practice, be focused. How? What are you passionate about? Used great examples of lawyers who stepped outside the box, developed a niche practice and moved full steam ahead. Staci Riordan incorporates blogging, Facebook and Twitter for the fashion law blog. Alison Rowe with her Equine Law Blog and Kevin O’Neill started a weekly podcast Capital Thinking.
Cordell and Kevin also shared some great blogging tips: