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As I sat last night watching the State of the Union (SOTU) address, that legal marketer in me kept popping out and wanting to play. So here are a few of my musings:

  • Define your target audience in advance. Know your target audience. Speak to your target audience. Don’t worry about everyone else. It was clear last night from the speech and the comments posted on Twitter’s #SOTU that President Obama wasn’t speaking to the Left, nor to the Right. He was making a conscientious decision to speak to the middle. His ROI from the speech will not be defined by his polling numbers going up from Democrats or Republicans, but from the undecideds.
    • Lawyers and marketers need to define their target audiences for each and every marketing piece that goes out of the office, every blog post written, and business development opportunity taken. This can, will and should change from day-to-day, post-to-post, opportunity-to-opportunity.
    • It’s not necessarily about your current clients, who has hired you in the past, and the work that you have done for them. You now need to reach out to those who have the business you want (which may or may not be the same as the work you have done in the past) and the opportunity to hire you in the future.
    • Speak to the teleprompter.

      Even the President of the United States can benefit from media training. I didn’t notice this until it was mentioned on Facebook by another legal marketer, but Mr. Obama looks at the left teleprompter, then to the right teleprompter, and back to the left telepromter. However, he never addresses the  audience in the middle, where the camera is focused. As such, he never engaged me as a viewer. He never locked eyes with me via my 42″ flat screen. I have a feeling that those who listened to the speech had a much different experience than those of us who were watching it on TV. A GOOD media trainer will FIX this ASAP.

      • Invest in media training. It will benefit you whether you’re going on camera, speaking to a live audience in a courtroom, or at an industry conference.
      • Never go on camera, or give a presentation, if you’re not prepared and ready. At the very least, have someone in your firm grab a video camera of some sort and tape your presentation, and then watch it with a critical eye. Within the first two minutes you will be able to identify areas where you can improve.
      • If you’re reading from prepared remarks, make an outline. Face it. You’re not the President of the United States. For most presentations it is not necessary to write out and recite every word verbatim. Prepare an outline of your remarks and engage the audience instead.
      • If you’re clumsy with PowerPoint, don’t use it. It will hamper your ability to engage the audience.
      • Speak to the crowd. Look around. Make eye contact.
    • Feedback today is live, and sometimes brutal. I was watching SOTU with my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and with strangers around the world via #SOTU. There’s no more hiding from the truth. There’s no more blowing smoke up someone’s ass. If the president or his handlers are interested in knowing how he did last night, all they had to do was listen. No need for pollsters on this one. The people were speaking loud and clear. I truly hope that someone has pulled the Twitter feed, and is actually reading all the comments under the White House Facebook page, under news posts, from opposition parties, and party stalwarts.
      • If the President of the United States cannot squelch or hide from honest and polarizing opinions, neither can you. Rather than try and prohibit, control or limit social media, embrace it … the good, the bad and the ugly.
      • If you’re speaking at an industry conference, arrange in advance for someone to live-Tweet the program.
      • Make certain that you are following the conversations around you via a Google search on your personal name, the firm name, your top clients.
      • You cannot silence Facebook or Twitter, so don’t try. Lead the conversation instead.
    • Lead by example. Kudos for the legislators who chose to cross the aisle and sit with one another last night. Whether they were sincere about it or not doesn’t matter. Sometimes you just have to act better than you feel, be an example, put your personal grievences to the side, act on behalf of the collective good, rather than just based on your personal benefit. I give a #fail to those who chose not to.
      • Every firm has its quirks, dysfunctions, in-fighting, feuds (I think you know what I’m getting at). Yet, the firm leadership needs to lead by example and not play into the divisiveness.
      • As a firm leader, you have to push your personal agenda to the side for the benefit of the firm as a whole. You are being watched by your other partners, by the associates, staff, clients, press. How you handle difficult personalities, practices working in isolation, greedy partners will be judged and critiqued by all those who look to you for LEADERSHIP.
    • It’s okay to be a Democrat, a Republican, or anything in between, you just have to shake hands and be polite. At the very end of the speech, the president turned around and shook hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner and then Vice President Biden. It would not benefit us as a country if the president was rude. While Mr. Boehner did not agree with every point the president made, he never threw anything at him or acted inappropriately. There were polite smiles and applause. There was decorum.
      • I wager that none of us lives in isolation where every member of our families, all of our friends, colleagues, clients, etc. are of a single political persuasion.
      • We should not have to pretend or ignore that our best client is not a “gasp” Republican “like me,” or our favorite vendor is not a “gasp” Democrat “like me.” It’s okay to not agree on politics. You just have to be polite about it.
      • I have mentioned before that my Facebook Wall is open to all to discuss politics, but we will discuss in a respectful manner at all times. My politics are known by all, but I have to admit that the best conversations I have on the “issues of the day” are with my political opposites.
        • If you persist in making partisan attacks on Twitter, Facebook or through your blog (I am NOT talking about asserting partisan opinions), at a certain point you will no longer be someone I know, like and trust. You will lose my respect, and eventually my business, not because of your politics, but because of your vitriol.
        • Look in the mirror before leaving the house. Seriously. I don’t know who the make-up artists were last night, but the president looked like an Ooompa Loompa. So did Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc. (what was up with his hair??). And don’t get me started on the Botoxed “smiles” in the gallery. Creepy.
          • First impressions are made within seconds of meeting someone. Dress well, always.
          • As more attorneys are NOT retiring at 65, but feeling compelled to compete with a younger generation, remember this: BOTOX IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.
          • No matter what your age, a bad dye job is BAD and everyone can tell.
          • You get what you pay for … this is true for leather goods, suits, haircuts, and jewelry (definitely NOT suggesting that you pay retail. I LOVE a good deal/sale).

        As for the speech itself? Well ….

        Photo: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool (via Huffington Post)

        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 the eve of World War II. There’s a repeated line/theme through the movie: For the relationship between the King and Mr. Logue, a commoner, to work, they must have a trusted relationship as equals.

        Part of Lionel’s technique was ‘I’m treating you, the man, not you the King’ and he insisted on that level of equality,” explains [Geoffrey] Rush [who portrays Lionel Logue]. “A lot of the therapy was getting the Duke of York and, subsequently as he became, George VI to drop that royal mask and find out who he was as a person.” “What will I call you?” “Your Royal Highness, then ‘sir’ after that.” “How about ‘Bertie?'” “Only my family uses that.” “In here it’s better if we’re equals.” “If we were equals, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be at home with my wife and no one would give a damn.”

        I get this. So much of the time, the resistance between legal marketer and lawyer has to do with the disparity of our roles:

        • Lawyer v. marketer
        • Partner v. staff
        • Baby boomer v. Generation X

        But, it is true. For the relationship between us to work, there has to be a sense of equality between our roles. We are not adversaries. When I am coaching an attorney, editing a blog post, disagreeing on a position, promoting a contrary one, there has to be a level of trust between us for this whole thing to be successful. It starts with building that initial trust through little things. It continues through our professionalism, and treating one another with respect. It comes with our personal integrity – doing what we say we will do; meeting our commitments to one another. And it is ALWAYS a two-way street. As Bertie and Lionel were able to find a common ground between them to achieve their goal — providing the King his voice, which inspired the people during World War II —  so must we. Photo courtesy of The King’s Speech.

        I read with shock a recent article in an industry publication (which shall remain nameless) on how social media, while really neat and cool, is only a “value add” to traditional PR which is going strong. I call BULLSHIT (it’s my blog, I can do that). We all know traditional PR. You hire a PR agency to help you create your message and get the word out. They get your attorney quoted in a newspaper, or help you place an article, or get on the right industry panel. They make lots of phone calls, coordinate a reporter calling you back, and bill by the hour, or are on a monthly retainer. That’s starting to change. I spoke to fellow LMA member, and PR professional, Cheryl Bame from Bame Public Relations about this topic:

        The goal of public relations is to promote our clients, their businesses and services and to use the media as an avenue to do this. Social media offers us more opportunities to meet our goals. I don’t discount it, but celebrate the increasing number of avenues beyond traditional media outlets to help clients raise their profiles and hopefully, bring in more business.

        Cheryl, who recently launched her own blog, www.LegalPRAdvice.com, is already promoting her clients using social media:

        I have several examples where non-traditional media, such as blogs, have generated more attention than a traditional news print article. In fact, there are times when a news print article has gone farther than I ever expected as a result of social media.  I have one client who’s popular entertainment industry blog has led to several writing and blogging opportunities for both traditional and non-traditional media outlets. As a PR professional, I now have to stay on top of the changing media landscape so that I can identify which opportunities are best for my clients and their goals, and that my include LinkedIn, Twitter, LegalOnRamp, Wiki, and possibly launching a blog.

        So how can traditional PR remain the “go to” medium when journalism itself is evolving? Hmmm, just like legal marketing and business development are evolving. The status quo doesn’t work for legal marketing, and it won’t work for PR either. Period. (It’s my blog and I can have that definitive position). So, what am I doing? I’m watching legal PR specialists who ROCKED it with traditional PR, evolve to the next level. Jennifer Klein, Executive Vice President with Blattel Communications is one of the leaders I’m watching, and she’s weighing in on the topic as well:

        There is an entire generation – our future decision makers – that know of no other form of communication.  They have been “born and raised” on social and online media as their primary form of receiving communication.  They don’t know a world without it.  It’s clearly more than “value added.”

        And legal marketers aren’t alone. Mashable (which EVERYONE who reads this blog should subscribe to) has an incredible article that you should read and bookmark, The Future of Social Media in Journalism. It breaks down very easily how journalism is changing, and how social media is fueling the news.

        … social tools are inspiring readers to become citizen journalists by enabling them to easily publish and share information on a greater scale. The future journalist will be more embedded with the community than ever, and news outlets will build their newsrooms to focus on utilizing the community and enabling its members to be enrolled as correspondents. Bloggers will no longer be just bloggers, but be relied upon as more credible sources.

        And all of this is fine and dandy, but we work with lawyers, and one thing we know about lawyers is that they are skeptical and they like stats. Jennifer has compiled some great ones:

        From a media standpoint,

        • 64 percent of all journalists follow one or more blogs for research/story generation;
        • more than 75 percent use social media to research stories;
        • 51 percent use Google News/32 percent use Yahoo news to stay abreast of trends.

        I suspect,” Jennifer continues,” these stats will continue to increase with the decline of traditional media and shrinking newsrooms.

        Bazinga!! I don’t know about you, but articles like this get me excited. We are all living on the cusp of a revolution. It might be more accurate to say that we’re already in it. Really, what other invention in the past couple hundred years has changed HOW we communicate, AND how we conduct our business, at the same time, more-so than the Internet? So, traditional PR. Of course, that personal interaction is important. But, I will argue that it is soon to be the value-add to the social journalism revolution. What say you, Coolerites??

        I have a favorite band, The Airborne Toxic Event. They’ve achieved fame and a lot of airplay for their song, Sometime Around Midnight. They’ve performed on Letteman and Jimmy Kimmel Live. They have more than 38,000 fans on Facebook (yes, I’m still calling them “fans”).

        Organ at Disney Concert Hall
        The Sports Dude and I saw them perform a few months back at the Disney Concert Hall, where lead-singer Mikel Jollett kicked the night off on the BIG organ. There was a marching band from a local high school, along with Mariachis and dancers. We watched in admiration at the band’s awe looking around, absorbing where they were. How did they go from local band in Echo Park, to performing to a sold-out crowd at the Disney Concert Hall? Better yet, as the band prepares to release their second album, they have in no way lost sight of their roots and who they, as individuals and a band, are. Last night the Sports Dude and I attended a fundraiser for THEIR Neda Project. Neda Agha Soltan, you might remember, was the young woman whose murder on the streets of Tehran was captured on YouTube last year.
        I am Neda: Eric Geller, Mikel Jollett and Heather Morse-Milligan
        The venue for the night’s fundraiser wasn’t the Disney Concert Hall, or The Nokia Theatre. It was held at The Echo, the club where the band played their first gig. A little joint, with no marquee, on West Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park. It’s the kind of neighborhood where the local parking is $2.50 a DAY, not $2.00 an hour for the meters. This night was about their cause, their passion, that THEY brought to Amnesty International, the granddaddy of human rights organizations. The band saw the video of Neda’s death, and, like so many of us, were moved. They, however, put their movement into action. Before the show, Mikel was mingling amongst us in the audience, talking to fans, snapping pictures, discussing his passion, encouraging us to get more involved. From the stage he was humbled and moved. He was impassioned and grateful. I have to say, this has been my experience EVERY time I have seen the band play. They are humbled and grateful. How refreshing. So, what does this have to do with legal marketing? It reminds me of the story in Outliers about the founding of Skadden Arps:

        In the beginning, it was just Marshall Skadden, Leslie Arps – both of whom had just been turned down for partner at a major Wall Street law firm – and John Slate, who had worked for Pan Am airlines. Flom [who did not receive any offers during hiring season] was their associate …. “What kind of law did we do?” Flom says, laughing. “Whatever came in the door!” Outliers, p. 118

        I summed up my “experience” with the Skadden chapter:

        So, what’s the point of the story? I think there are many, but you’ll have to read the book to find the ones that resonate with you.

        I, for one, forget sometimes that so many of our firms have been built on the humble backs of hard working men and women. Go through the framed degrees on the walls of your founding partners and you will find amongst the Harvard and Yale degrees, Brooklyn Law School, Seton Hall University, Pepperdine University, University of San Diego, and Southwestern University School of Law.
        While it is admirable to aspire to the reputation of Skadden Arps, it is just as admirable to aspire to the tenaciousness of Marshall Skadden, Leslie Arps, John Slate and Joe Flom.
        As we advance in our careers, and our law firms grow in prestige, we cannot lose sight of where we come from … our roots. I’m not sure why we so often turn our backs on what made us successful in the first place. Instead of turning our backs on our roots, would it not be better to embrace it, and pay it forward? For fun, let me add a few stories from the personal side of my life to bring this discussion closer to me as an individual:
        In 1905 my grandfather arrived at Ellis Island when he was just six months old. By the time I was born, 60 years later, my grandfather was an established and respected businessman in Los Angeles’ garment district. My grandparents lived in a penthouse on Doheny, just south of Sunset Boulevard, where his neighbor was Art Linkletter. I’m a “California-Mart– Morse” which actually used to mean something here in L.A.
        When I was around 11-years old, my dad gave me a pint of heavy cream and a hand blender. I sat on the floor of our living room in the Hollywood Hills attempting to make whipped cream. After what seemed like hours, and a very tired arm, I achieved success. My dad then explained: His father made his way through college at CUNY working at a country club where he, as a Jew, could not be a member. One of his jobs was to make the whipped cream. After college, due to religious discrimination, he could not find work in his chosen profession (his degree was as an engineer), so he changed his name, moved to California, and achieved great personal and financial success in the schmata business. And while my grandfather never ate whipped cream again, I did learn that from hard work anything is possible.
        The lessons continued into the next generation. When my dad was ready to move on from being a ’57 T-Bird driving, surfing major at Santa Barbara College, my grandfather handed him a broom and told him to start sweeping the floors of the factory. My grandfather insisted that my dad learn from the bottom up. My father too achieved financial and personal success. For the most part, I had a very comfortable upbringing, where my dad made certain to throw in more life’s lessons than this young girl ever wanted to learn.
        In the HOT summer of ’77, when I was 12, my dad put me to work in that same factory. I tagged and bagged, and worked from bell to bell, punching in and out, along side everyone else. My only perk was that my dad bought my lunch. Just like his father did for him, my dad insisted that I too learn from the ground up. I might be the boss’ daughter, and the founder’s granddaughter, but I was no different and no better than anyone else.
        And while the garment industry in Los Angeles has pretty much died off, and our factories are long gone, the lessons I was taught by my father, and my roots are not.
        As I have achieved personal and professional success, I must admit that there have been times where I have lost sight of my roots. I have thought of myself as entitled to something that I didn’t really deserve or personally earn. I was ungrateful for my sweat and tears … why couldn’t it just be handed to me? It seemed so easy for everyone else!! However, my personal journey, especially over these past four years, has lead me to reconnect to what drove me to become successful: Hard work. Family. Personal responsibility. And an attitude of gratitude. Every day I have the opportunity to look out from my window on the 47th Floor where I can see the factory on Los Angeles Street where I spent my summers. I see the Mart that my grandfather helped build with his brothers-in-law, and which is now lost. I am so humbled and moved by my family’s successes, and their failures. While our family business is no longer intact, my aunt ensured that my grandparents’ legacy would live on through the Claire and Theodore Morse Foundation, and the good deeds the foundation supports.
        I never want to forget where I come from. That’s one of the reason’s that I have “reclaimed” my family name … Heather MORSE-Milligan. The Morse is what defines me as an individual. It is where I learned the value of my existence. And while my children will never have the experience of working in the garment factory over the summers, I have a feeling they’ll learn how to whip up a bowl of cream by hand.

        While getting ready for school and work this morning, my 7-year old asked me what I did at work. She knows my office is up really high in the tallest building west of the Mississippi. She knows that I have a really cool white board that she likes to draw on. She knows I work with lawyers, but that I’m not one. She’s seven and doesn’t understand terminology like “business development,” “collateral,” and “reputation management.” She knows all about the Internet; it’s where she plays with her Webkinz, watches Fred videos on YouTube (click at your own risk. Really annoying), and e-mails her friend Tamaki in Japan. However, she doesn’t understand “social media” and “social networking.” To her, Facebook is just a place where I share pictures of her sticking out her tongue. Truth be told, I had an associate ask me the same question recently: “What do you do?” So what do I do?? I’m a legal marketer, which doesn’t really convey too much. Personally, I think of my title as an an umbrella term that includes numerous job responsibilities:

        • I’m the guardian of the firm’s image. Whether graphic, website, blogs, invitations, tribute ads, behavior at external events, etc.
        • I’m responsible for “external happy.” That’s fancy speak for client relations, external events, conferences, client communications, etc. “Internal happy” belongs to HR and administration.
        • I’m chief psychiatrist. My door is always available for shutting for you to vent your frustrations, as long as you’re willing to take on some of my solutions.
        • I’m the messenger. I carry information between partners and offices … and get to act as a conduit.
        • I’m the conduit. Since I know what you’re doing, and what the partner down the hall, or across the country is doing, I can start making meaningful connections.
        • I’m the impartial party. Since I’m not affected by the compensation structure, I have no problems seeing beyond the dollar signs and billable hour requirements when it comes to new business development.
        • I’m the cheerleader. If it’s a good idea, I’ll root for it loud and strong.
        • I’m the story assignment desk. I troll the news and court verdicts for blog ideas, and assign partners to write up posts and client alerts (whether they do it or not, well, that’s another job).
        • I’m the traffic cop. Gotta make sure those deadlines are kept.
        • I’m the referee. Sometimes between staff. Sometimes between partners.
        • I’m the virus (or antidote, depending on your perspective). I slowly infect the partnership with new ideas, spreading marketing and business development ideas and concepts, which slowly change the way the attorneys approach their new business generation.
        • I’m the master-manipulator. If it’s a good idea, I’ll make sure that at some point it becomes your good idea and gets implemented.

        So, what’s my job … I’m in charge of making sure “It “ gets done. “It’s” a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. And “It” changes on any given day.

        I live in Los Angeles. I lived through the 1971 Sylmar earthquake (6.6) and the 1994 Northridge earthquake (6.7). To this day, I can recount for you what happened from the moment the house started shaking, the glass started breaking, and the anxiety set in. There were, however, no broken bones in our family. I did get out of school for a week in ’71 as they had to re-asphalt the school; and was out of my house for a month as it was yellow-tagged in ’94.

        I can only imagine the terror and damage the 2010 Haiti earthquake (7.0) will leave, both physically, spiritually and emotionally, for generations to come.

        So, here I sit safely in my office on the 47th Floor of an incredibly well constructed building in Los Angeles. I’m taking care of my travel arrangements for the LMA 2010 conference, booking appointments, prepping attorneys for a road trip … but my thoughts keep turning to what I should be doing to help those in Haiti.

        Here’s what I have done so far from my ergonomically correct chair:

        • I opened my wallet and donated money. So far I have made donations to Doctors Without Borders, Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund , The American Red Cross and Three Angels Children’s Relief (an orphanage outside Port of Prince), and Direct Relief International. Here’s a list of more organizations that need assistance.
        • I’ve made arrangements to donate blood to the Red Cross. They might not use my blood in Haiti, but they will need it as they ship their current “stock” to the island.
        • I am coordinating a project for my Girl Scouts so that they can understand what they, as 5- to 9-years old can do, along with some safety and preparedness training for the girls.

        So far, I have given up 40 cups of Starbucks for Haiti Relief at $4 a cup. I won’t miss the coffee, and I’m sure the money will be used well.

        What are you going to do?

        Well, I hate to say I told you so, but from a May 19, 2009, post Looking for Inspiration in the Recession I wrote about the Class of ’09 being a “lost generation” (which I now believe will trickle down to 2010 and possible 2011 as well):

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

        This morning came the announcement via The Blog of the Legal Times:

        Arent Fox Rescinds Offers for Some Deferred Associates Arent Fox Chairman Marc Fleischaker has confirmed reports that the firm has rescinded offers made to some of its deferred associates. The associates who had their offers withdrawn were told this morning. In all, Fleischaker said, about 12 incoming associates were affected. Washington, which has the firm’s largest office, had “about eight,” New York had “between two and three,” and Los Angeles had one, Fleischaker said. The news was first reported on Above the Law.

        I feel for Mr. Fleischaker and every other law firm chairman trying to handle similar situations: Associates deferred from jobs they were expecting to start a few weeks ago, only to find out that there is no work for them in the near future. Please, everyone — especially law students, future law students and currently deferred associates — read the legal news, follow the blogs, understand that the legal model has changed and will not be going back to what it was. I have been speaking with my peers, colleagues and consultants for law firms on this issue, and while there are many ways to scenario plan the next five years, there appears to be one consensus of thought: While we don’t know WHAT the legal business model will look like once the recession is over, and recovery is firmly in place, we can anticipate that it WILL be different from what it has been. If nothing else, technology has streamlined much of what lawyers, especially young lawyers, used to do; clients have different expectations of outside legal counsel; and it turns out that it doesn’t take as many associates to screw in a light bulb as it used to. In my opinion, law schools continue to do a disservice to these young men and women by churning out more JDs than we will ever need to be lawyers, all the while saddling them with an astronomical debt. Yes, a law degree can be used for different careers, but the law schools and their career centers are not promoting and training for this. As I said in Always a JD, Never a Lawyer:

        Law schools MUST address these issues, from the law school graduates who never passes the bar to the lack of jobs upon graduation. It is unconscionable that law schools continue to admit more students than our current marketplace can absorb. These young men and women need this information so that they can choose to make an informed decision before rolling the dice.

        If you haven’t heard about ABA Journal’s Legal Rebels project, don’t worry. It doesn’t kick-off until September 14th.

        In these times of great economic chaos lies great opportunity.

        The legal profession is not just struggling through a recession, but also undergoing a structural break with the past. There is a growing consensus that the profession that emerges from the recession will be different in fundamental ways from the one that entered it.

        Dozens of lawyers nationwide aren’t waiting for change. Day by day, they’re remaking their corners of the profession. These mavericks are finding new ways to practice law, represent their clients, adjudicate cases and train the next generation of lawyers. Most are leveraging the power of the Internet to help them work better, faster and different.

        The Legal Rebels project will profile these innovators and describe the changes they are making. It will tell their stories in the ABA Journal, on this website and through a variety of social media channels using text, pictures, audio and video

        The first seven profiles were released today.

        And I am glad to say that they are not the “usual suspects” or lawyers, for that matter. For a true “legal rebel” can even be found in a humble legal marketing director, a legal librarian, a consultant with gumption … all of whom can be nominated here.

        Oh, we’re all quick to point out the law firm layoffs, the end of lock-step salaries, the postponement of OCI programs, and more job deferrals (all brought to you by Orrick).

        But there are actually some companies out there trying to help.

        LexisNexis recently rolled out their Lend-a-Hand Program which includes:

        While not a perfect program, it is a beginning and definitely a step in the right direction.

        I asked Dave Danielson, VP and Managing Director Small Law Client Development, LexisNexis, a few questions about the program, Cooler-style:

        Q. Why is the program limited to firms with 50 or more attorneys?

        A: The LexisNexis Lend-a-Hand program is available to all U.S.-based attorneys who recently worked for a law firm with more than 50 attorneys and are currently unemployed. We decided to offer it to this group of attorneys as large law firms have been most affected by the economic downturn in terms of layoffs. We decided it was important for LexisNexis to help this group of attorneys at this time.

        Q. Are you planning on doing anything for the 2009 law school grads who have been “deferred” until next year … and whom I am hearing through the grapevine, will be subsequently fired.

        A: Well, we certainly hope your grapevine sources are not correct on this but, to answer your question, Yes, LexisNexis launched a program entitled, “Associates Serving Public Interest Research Program (ASPIRE),” which provides complimentary LexisNexis access to deferred fall associates pursuing public interest work (non-profit or charitable). Complimentary LexisNexis access will be provided throughout these graduates’ public interest employment periods, up until September 2010. More information for interested graduates can be found here.

        Q. What about the Class of 2010. Their job prospects are minimal as well.

        A: We are hopeful that next year will indeed be a new year and things will have turned around. However, I think LexisNexis will always try to do what they can for our customers in need and we have demonstrated that with the ASPIRE program and Lend-a-Hand program.

        I think most firms are beginning to accept that the economy (and the work load) will not simply “pick up” next year.

        With more firms delaying the start dates of their 2009 first-year associates into 2010 and beyond, I hope that LexisNexis continues to see what they can do to assist these young men and women whom I have heard dubbed the “lost generation” of lawyers. With no jobs to speak of, yet mounting law school debts, these young lawyers will not have the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to begin their legal careers.

        I really enjoyed Jordan Furlong’s post Time Bomb. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, please do. In this post, he summarizes The Economist’s special report on aging populations, A slow-burning fuse.

        One thing all law firms – mega, small, solos and boutiques – have in common is that the “product” we cultivate and sell is the intellectual capital of the firm, namely the lawyers.

        Lawyers are the commodity that we marketers package. Lawyers are the commodity they themselves sell. The lawyers bring in the money, and the lawyers spend the money.

        Yet, according to The Economist, the aging population is going to tax not only the government, but the workforces as well. And law firms will not be exempt. I just wonder how many are preparing for it?

        Jordan does a great job in laying out how he sees the aging population affecting the legal industry. I have taken the liberty of shortening each bullet point, so go read the full post for the details:

        1. Get ready for the end of retirement, warns The Economist: “few governments, employers or individuals have yet come to terms with where retirement is heading: the end of the whole concept. Whether we like it or not, we are going back to the pre-Bismarckian world, where work had no formal stopping point.” …. Active lawyers in their 70s and 80s will become commonplace ….

        2. Four generations in one firm will not be unusual ….

        3. The massive partner incomes of today could well be considered relics of a bygone era, reminiscent of how we now think of railway barons’ fortunes. Partly, this will be because the revolution in the legal services marketplace will take billions of dollars away from law firms, as outsourced practitioners and sophisticated technology snap up formerly lucrative lower-end lawyer work. But it’s also because there will simply be far fewer working-age adults ….

        4. Unfunded pension liabilities could crush some firms well before 2050. Those employees (staff as well as lawyers) who do eventually retire are going to live longer, and their numbers will multiply as the Boomers finally slide out of working life ….

        5. Say goodbye to a lot of law schools. If the coming wave of legal education reform hasn’t already knocked many law schools out of the game, they can expect to be finished off by a simultaneous drop in both the supply of law students and the demand for new law graduates ….

        So, what implications do you see the aging population having on law firms and the legal industry?

        In the short term, I see great opportunities for the younger Boomers and Generation X as they move into more senior positions within the firms. There will be a void of intellectual capital that these people can fill, both internally in firm leadership positions, and as client service partners. However, firms that ignore and do not prepare for these changes will suffer internal frictions that could become insurmountable.