Our friends over at The Rainmaking Blog have begun a series, Changing the Rules of the Game (Rules #1 & #2), and I couldn’t agree with them more.

Legal marketing, today, is more strategic than when I arrived on the scene 11 years ago. Back then we never spoke of “business development” or “sales,” but we did respond to RFPs, sponsored in-house seminars, bought tables of ten, advertised and mailed out newsletters. “Cross-selling” was the big goal back then (still is, but that’s another post). Over the years, the medium has become more strategic, the message more on point, and the results measurable.

Old Rule #1: More marketing will obtain more results. In the past, all you had to do was throw more money at marketing or advertising and you would see more results. But not any more.

New Rule #1: ROI rules. With the increased competition and level of sophistication in the legal marketing industry, to get ahead you must be faster, smarter, and more effective than your competitors.

Your ability to leverage Internet marketing and automatic parts of your marketing system will allow you to dominate larger firms with bigger budgets; however, every dollar must be accounted for and every effort must be measured for Return On Investment. You cannot afford to be indifferent.

Old Rule #2: Taking care of clients comes first.

New Rule #2: Take care of your business first or you won’t be in business to take care of your clients. Too many times lawyers focus solely on their clients without focusing on the bottom line.

The result is devastating: not sending out invoices on time; not raising your rates for years; not actively cross-promoting other services your firm offers; and not staying connected with former clients. Everything rises and falls on leadership. You must be the one to lead the charge in shifting your firm’s culture from one of passivity into action orientation.

When a CMO enters a new law firm, their credibility quotient is ZERO. According to Roberta Montafia, a CMO needs to “be prepared to prove yourself – don’t expect to be accepted by the partners just because they hired you.”

Don’t depend on what transpired in the interviews, the job description or written objectives. During the courtship, both parties may lack clarity of expectations. In a law firm, expectations can sometimes change without notifying you. Factions in the firm may have separate sets of expectations that don’t match those of the firm management or your boss. Dealing with competing priorities of partners is determined by the politics of the organization.

Jayne Navarre, Director, Law Gravity LLC
www.virtualmarketingofficer.com

Once a new CMO gets off that elevator, no one will care about their degrees or pedigree of former employers. A new CMO must build their credibility from scratch, on day one, with each partner. As they walk into that conference room for the group lunch, and are walked through the halls for one-on-one introductions, they will be viewed with apprehension.

Yesterday I posted three great “welcomes” to a new CMO from Tim Corcoran, Nat Slavin and Frank Moon. Today it’s all about law firm culture and building credibility.

Frank had a great point: a CMO must “Adjust your mindset — and success expectations — to the real firm culture, not the culture described on the website.”

LAW FIRM CULTURE

Temper a sense of urgency about change with patience as you learn what the firm both expects and will tolerate. Do not rush decisions or be rushed into them, but respond to questions about what’s ahead with “Well, what do you think is important?” Lawyers expect confidence and leadership, yet are rarely easily led.

Russell Lawson, Marketing Director

Sands Anderson Marks & Miller

Take your time to make change, and identify/discover the landscape before you do make change including the politics (interoffice, interpractice) management (firm, office and practice group) and subversive leaders (rain makers, associate leaders, former management and the mist-maker up-and-comers). Remember that the law firm is not a corporate environment. Every partner has the perception that their issue is the most important, and they can derail projects without the effective canvassing/lobbying. (emphasis added).

David Bruns, Director of Marketing

Farella Braun + Martel

BUILDING A CMO’S CREDIBILITY

Building credibility begins before you accept the position.

Things like obtaining, in writing, signed by [managing partner]: a clear mission with objective, measurable success criteria correlate the marketing budget to firm priorities; definition of what partners are accountable for, and how [managing partner] will enforce compliance/authorization.

Mike O’Horo, Partner, Sales Results, Inc.

Mike also cautions the new CMO to beware of partners walking into your office “saying anything about RFP responses, charity tables, or anything that smacks of the lawyers expecting you to generate business without them doing any personal selling.”

Personally, I have to agree with former “marketing director of the year” Laura Meherg of the Wicker Park Group that you need to work directly with the firm’s “Chair/Managing Partner to help you prioritize early projects and attack them with laser like focus to achieve some early accomplishments and wins.”

And, finally, Ed Poll, Coach, Consultant & Author, Law Biz Management Company reminds the new CMO:

Be sure to get the support of your top management from the beginning … and do what is needed to be assured on a continuing basis of their top support. Without
that, you will be able to do nothing more than punch the clock.

These first 90 days are all about learning the ins-and-outs of the firm’s culture, internal politics, and establishing your credibility.

Yesterday’s AmLaw Daily included The Churn: CMO Edition mentioning the arrival of Orrick’s new CMO, Jeanne Sdroulas.

I asked a diverse group of my legal marketing peers (current and former CMOs, consultants, in-house professionals, service providers) what advice they would have for an incoming CMO.

I am so impressed by the incredible insights my peers brought forward that I will have to write several blog posts to ensure that all the comments are included.

AVOID THE MINE FIELDS
For anyone walking into the law firm environment for the first time they will be shocked and challenged by the culture. A former CMO, and now consultant to AmLaw 100 law firms noted: “I can think of only two [law firms] (Latham & Watkins and King & Spalding) where any non-legal Messiah lasted more than 18-24 months inside legal.” (emphasis added).

So, how can a “non-legal” CMO break through the average length of tenure and join Latham’s Despina Kartson and King & Spalding’s Katherine D’urso.

Over the next few days I’m going to post some words of welcome, wisdom and advice from my peers, many of whom have sat in the same seat as Ms. Sdroulas and know exactly what she, and other new CMOs, can anticipate, good and bad. This diverse group, including me, has had successes and failures, but we have all learned from them, picked up and continued on in the legal marketing profession.

Welcome to a world where each day you will be as challenged intellectually by the external complexities of marketing a global services business in a crowded field as you will emotionally by the internal complexities of gaining consensus and driving change in an enterprise long accustomed to avoiding both. Your corporate experience will be invaluable in establishing a vision for a well-run marketing organization, but like the book says keep in mind all that you learned in kindergarten as a guide for how to play with others and get things done, one small victory at a time. You are not alone, and I encourage you to learn from those who have previously faced the challenges you face, but also educate us so we can benefit from your experience. Good luck!

Timothy B. Corcoran, Senior Consultant, Altman Weil, Inc.

Manage your own expectations, find internal champions, make sure your seat at the table is not a booster seat, manage your partner’s expectations, treat your team/staff better than you have ever been treated by a boss, never surprise your partners, and pick battles worth fighting, but never pick a fight.

Nathaniel E. Slavin, Partner, Wicker Park Group

Adjust your mindset – and success expectations – to the real firm culture, not the culture described on the website.

In 1990 I first started working in a partnership environment with accounting giant KPMG. The decision-making culture was much more horizontal than I ever anticipated. It wasn’t “corporate” at all; it was a “partnership.”

Partners opted in or opted out of programs for which I had gotten mandated approval to implement firm wide – and the partners’ reasons for participating or not were as individual as their DNA, as individual as their practices.

So, come to understand the real dynamic of the Orrick partnership: where is Orrick on the spectrum between A) a unified and integrated strategy-driven approach to the marketplace and Z) a loose confederation of sole practitioners who choose to give up 40-60% of their originations in order to have someone handle the administrative details?

Frank B. Moon, Sr. Executive Recruiter and Partner

Executive Placement Solutions. A former law firm marketing director.

Today is a big news day, and no one is happy. Prop 8 has been upheld by the California Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayer has been nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. Larry Bodine has debased Twitter as a legal marketing tool.

I am reading commentary and Twitter feeds on each, here and here, including the postings by my Facebook friends, and all I can think about is I am pretty damn happy in my life.

Yes, I care about all of these issues. I have opinions on each. I can write a blog post, or a series, on all of these topics. And, yet, I can’t get Jeffrey Gitomer’s column today, On choosing happiness. What’s your choice?, out of my head.

Your life will always be filled with challenges, barriers, and disappointments. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Alfred Souza said, “For a long, long time it had seemed to me that I was about to begin real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

There is no way to happiness.

Happiness is the way.

There is no after to happiness.

Happiness is now.

Here’s the answer: It’s inside your head FIRST and everyplace else second. Happiness is a treasure. Your (missed) opportunity is to treasure every moment
that you have.

And while I take stands on legal, political and social issues every day, I never lose sight that while these issues might impact my life, they do not control how I live my life, how I view my life. Outside issues, whether political, economic or social, do not impact my happiness. That is something I get to own and treasure every day.

The question of the day over at AmLaw Daily is “How essential is a CMO?” For those of us who have worked for, under, or near a CMO the answer is “depends.”

An essential CMO is a forward thinking, strategic person who will be able to balance the needs of the partnership at a 40,000 foot level, while inspiring the tactical members of the team. An essential CMO will build and develop relationships across the firm, with partners, administrative professionals, and the marketing staff.

A non-essential CMO will bury him or herself away in a window office, or “visiting” the outlying offices, and will never be seen as a contributing member of the team. His or her fingerprints will not be found on a proposal, client alert, client initiative or mid-level partner training. This non-essential CMO will be heard, via e-mail and conference calls, barking out orders, throwing team members under the proverbial bus, but will never been seen.

A non-essential CMO will hire sub-standard marketing professionals and drive divides between the current marketing team, in the effort to prove their worth to the partnership. They will become more concerned about their annual PowerPoint presentation at the partner retreat, where they can show a jump in the firm’s rankings for X, Y or Z, rather than the day-to-day operations and health of the firm. They will measure marketing and business development efforts to make themselves look good, but not necessarily to the enrichment of the firm.

On the other hand, an essential CMO will surround themselves with high-level, competent managers and directors. They will allow these team members to shine and build relationships within the firm. They will back their team, and they will provide direction and inspiration.

An essential CMO will not follow the “trends” in the industry, or the “leading” consultancies, as the end-all, be-all of the marketing strategy for the firm (re-branding, CRM, etc), but will take a hard look at the industry, the economy, the competition, and they will adjust the firm’s sails in response.

An essential CMO will challenge assumptions, and be heard, because they have the respect of not only the partnership, but their peers and their team.

A non-essential CMO will be more concerned about their perceived “equality” with the partners, while an essential CMO won’t really care, just as long as the job gets done.

And, whether or not you call this person a Chief, a Director or Manager, the essential CMO is a person who builds his or her credibility by doing a good job, every day, not by taking credit for work, or results, over which they have no control.

On a daily basis I look for inspiration for work, for the blog, for my personal life. However, it’s been hard to find “inspiration” when every article seems to be about law firm layoffs, job deferrals, or withdrawn job offers, with or without a golden parachute.

In the comments section of an article on Pillsbury’s recent $60,000 offer to incoming first-years to walk away I found this little “inspiring” nugget:

Yet more proof that the Class of ’09 is the Lost Generation.

Get ready, Class of ’09, more announcements like this to come. You may think you are just deferred, but you are really fired.

Ouch! Nothing inspiring there.

So, I was happy to have my perspective right-sided by a story Jeffrey Gitomer recounted in his blog today, Kids teach the value, purpose, and wisdom of WOW!

Last spring I was walking in a park. A short distance ahead of me was a mom and her three-year-old daughter. The little girl was holding on to a string that was attached to a helium balloon. All of a sudden, a sharp gust of wind took the balloon from the little girl. I braced myself for some screaming and crying.

But, no! As the little girl turned to watch her balloon go skyward, she gleefully shouted out, “Wow!”

I didn’t realize it at that moment, but that little girl taught me something.

Later that day, I received a phone call from a person with news of an unexpected problem. I felt like responding with “Oh no, what should we do?” But remembering that little girl, I found myself saying, “Wow, that’s interesting! How can I help you?”

WARNING: I’m about to go Pollyanna on you.

I do believe that we are all right where we’re supposed to be.
During the last recession, I was a young college grad on the way to law school. Long story short, everyone seemed to be flocking to law school that year. When I didn’t get into the school of my choice, I took it as a sign to do something different. Along my new path I picked up great experiences as a lobbyist for a non-profit, learned how to plan conferences and events, was trained on desktop publishing, and participated in some great sales training.

All of those skills, even without the law degree, provided me the foundation for my current career as a legal marketer, and probably a few other careers as well.

I know a lot of people are out there panicking, but maybe you should be looking at the different opportunities and paths that are now available to you.

The recession will end. The Dow will once again rise. And you will have a career. It might not be what you planned when you were in college, or law school, but you might just end up saying “Wow!”

I have been watching with great interest Brian Cuban’s lead to pressure Facebook to remove the Holocaust denial groups from the site. While I do not have a personal story to share about my relatives perishing in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau or any of the other camps, I have compassion for the 12 million people (yes, in addition to the 6 million Jews, 6 million Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and others were also exterminated).

You see, the last of my family (my infant grandfather) arrived in the United States in 1905. We got out of Dodge (or, in his case, Kiev, Ukraine) just in time. The legacy of the Holocaust and Pogroms, however, does linger within my family. For us, the Morses, Mosses and Eisners, it’s all about the silence.

My family has no family history before arriving at Ellis Island. Other than “Romania,” “Poland” and “Kiev,” I cannot tell you where my family is from, what their professions were, what their history entailed. I know nothing about the family that they left behind, or why the came to America in the first place. We Americanized in that first generation and never looked back.

Whatever happened in the “old country” was so horrible that my family rejected their culture, their religion, even our name is lost to history. My family embraced all things Americana to the point that my immigrant grandfather married a Mayflower descendant.

But I do remember quite vividly visiting Yad Vashem in 1974 when I was just nine. I can still recall the photographs documenting the horrors of the Nazi atrocities that a girl from the San Fernando Valley, CA could never imagine. I will never forget the crying survivors as we walked through the museum. The silence as people mourned. The trees that had been planted in memory of those who had perished. The photographs.

“Never Forget” is the mantra for those preserving the legacy of the Nazi atrocities.

As fewer and fewer survivors remain, standing up against the holocaust denial groups becomes more important.

For this Jewish girl, who has nothing to remember, never forgetting has its own special meaning.

CWL ANNUAL AFFILIATES AND MEMBERS CONFERENCE

After reading in the press about women-bullying-women in the workplace, I thought I’d share a women-supporting-women in their careers conference. (Please note, this is not a shameful plug … I’m not part of the conference agenda).

California Women Lawyers annual Affiliates and Members conference, Maintaining Your Edge in a Changing Market, is just around the corner on June 5th in Half Moon Bay, CA. Their agenda is a combination of marketing, business development and skills training.

  • The Law Market Now and Future
  • How to Evaluate a Case & Client Needs
  • Marketing Yourself Inside & Outside Your Workplace
  • Getting to … Successful Arbitration & Mediation
  • Career Options in 2009 and Beyond
  • Developing Your Oral Argument Style
  • Stress Management & Personal Development

Closing Remarks by Holly J. Fujie, President Board of Governors, State Bar of California.

To download a conference brochure, click here.

In a recent post, Business Unusual in a Down Economy, I wrote about how the current economic conditions provide the right opportunity for law firms, law schools, etc. to introduce paid internships after graduating law school.

Kudos to our friends over at Drinker Biddle! Rather than defer their 37 first-year associates, they are designing a 1-year training program designed, get this, to set these young lawyers up for success.

Rather than immediately assign the incoming lawyers to client matters, the firm will enroll its hires in a new training program that will provide courses on taking depositions, writing briefs, and meeting client needs. The instructors will include Drinker attorneys, professional development staff, and firm clients. The 37 first-years also will shadow partners’ client meetings and court appearances. The associates may handle some client work, but at significantly reduced rates.

The program does come at a cost. Drinker will reduce first year associate salaries, which range from $145,000 to $160,000, to an annualized rate of $105,000. Salaries will return to whatever the “prevailing market rates” are in the spring of 2010. This will enable the firm to cover the costs of the training program.

According to my friends at Drinker Biddle, the details of the program are still in development, but the program will relieve both the new associates and partners from worrying about billable hours v. training these young men and women on how to be a good attorney. The training program will provide the opportunity for associates to actually participate in, shadow and LEARN from their partners and senior associates on how to become an attorney.

This is nothing less than a win-win-win for the associates, the firm, and the client, who will, after the program is completed, benefit from these now well-trained and prepared attorneys.

I believe that the current economic conditions and the challenges faced by our industry provide firms the opportunity to defy the status quo. It allows a law firm, like Drinker Biddle, to step outside that proverbial box and do the right thing.

The young men and women graduating law school today are not prepared to be lawyers. They need training in the practical application of their education, just like doctors do.

These young men and women need to learn business development and marketing skills, which do not come intuitively to the majority of lawyers.

They need to learn good office skills, how to work well with others.

And, they need to learn how to participate in, and contribute to, the economic and business success of both their individual legal practices, and their law firms as a whole.

Michael Zolno had a great comment to a recent post of mine, Law Firm Layoff Tragedy, which I would like to share in its entirety:

I too want to express my condolences to the family and friends of Mr. (Mark) Levy. But I also want to do something else, ask – How did this come to pass? How does a legally talented attorney come to such a place in his life?

Does the fault lie with the law school system that fails to prepare attorneys adequately for what is involved in the practice of law may as well the business of law? Even though for Mr. Levy it was over twenty five years ago, has the system changed? Not from what I see, read and hear.

Does the fault lie with the big firm system that entices people who have legal practice expertise, abilities, with much higher compensation than their government positions? Positions that are not judged by ones “book of business” or ability to “make rain”, rather, for the most part, by ones demonstrated legal ability. The firm pays much better, but at the same time expecting salesmanship (“rainmaking’ is such an interesting avoidance of the actual task) from someone who rarely has such a skill set. Further, they seldom provide the means, time and money, or training (mentoring) needed to make such legal experts into adequate salespeople. I guess they’ll just sprinkle them with “rain making dust.” When the appropriate “book of business” does not somehow magically appear – Poof! – the attorney vanishes.

Will this tragedy lead to change? Real change? Thoughts of change? Or, just a certain amount of “how terrible … but you know … big law is a rough and tumble world.”

Does it have to be?

Michael is spot on.

I have seen many a partner float to the top, only to come crashing down because his or her practice specialty was no longer “hot.”

There are no safety nets in place to catch these talented attorneys, retrain them in a different legal specialty, and/or introduce them into the non-legal workforce. I’m not even going to raise the topic of all those highly intelligent, well educated attorneys who have been shed along the way due to their “non-productivity.”

So, what’s the solution? From my vantage point we can begin with these:

  • Law firms, law schools, and BAR ASSOCIATIONS need to acknowledge and support business development as part of the practice of law. They need to teach, train and support marketing and business development at all levels, from the 1Ls to the senior partners.

  • Marketing and business development activities and training need to be eligible for CLE credits. Without these skills, a lawyer’s success is usually by chance and luck. Why not provide them with the tools to effectively bring in the business, year after year?

  • Marketing and business development “non-billable” hours need to be elevated in importance as the almighty “billable” hour, and treated as such during compensation reviews EVERY year, for every level of attorney.

  • Marketing and business development budgets need to be seen as “investments” in client relationships as opposed to “cost centers” which can be quickly slashed to increase the profits hitting the bottom line.
I recently heard from a former Big Law colleague who noted that that one of the HOTTEST practices in the firm has stalled, including their top rainmakers. No new business. No new clients. Nada.

The lead partners were seen as “rainmakers” in my day, but, in reality, they were just in the right place, at the right time. How many partners are out there like that??

How many partners think what they are doing is making rain, when, in reality, they’ve just been standing under the right cloud?