Metrolink worker sued Burlington Northern Santa Fe, saying his alcoholism returned after the fatal 2002 Placentia collision.
A metrolink conductor who said his drinking problems resumed after the Placentia train crash in 2002 will receive $8.5 million to settle his lawsuit against one of the nations largest railroads.
Patrick Phillips of Riverside agreed Tuesday to settle his suit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. The case was set to go to trial next week in Orange County Superior Court.
Phillips, now 52, suffered minor head injuries the morning of April 23, 2002 when a Burlington Northern Freight train crashed into a Metrolink commuter train in Placentia. Three people died and more than 260 were injured in the early morning crash.
Though his injuries were slight, the conductor alleged that the trauma was serious enough to trigger a resurgence of his severe alcoholism, which he said he had controlled since rehabilitation in the early 1990's.
"I have never seen a case like this in 30 years, yet it is indeed what happened here," said Jerome L. Ringler, Phillips' attorney.
"We had extensive medical evaluations by a variety of neurological specialists. All were in accord that his injury, although minor, changed his behavior."
After the train crash, Phillips was hospitalized for evaluation but released about two hours later, Ringler said. In the months after the crash, however, Phillips allegedly resumed his alcohol abuse, resulting in at least two other hospitalizations.
Ringler said his client was finally diagnosed with alcohol-related dementia, a sever mental deficiency.
Phillips, who is now disabled after working 12 years for Metrolink, was unavailable for comment. He is living with a sister in Riverside.
Under terms of the settlement, Phillips will receive $8.5 million, including interest, paid out over 20 years. The amount is worth about $4.5 million in today's dollars.
Officials for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, one of the nations four largest railroads, confirmed the settlement but declined to discuss the case.
Phillips' lawsuit is one of more than 100 Civil cases stemming from the Placentia crash, which federal investigators said was caused by an inattentive Burlington Norther crew that missed a warning signal.
The lawsuits allege the collision could have been prevented by an automatic braking system, long sought by the federal National Transportation Safety Board.
They also contend that the freight train crew was fatigued by overwork and that the Burlington Northern conductor had a history of losing track of signals.
In December, an Orange County jury awarded Pamela Macek, 53, also of Riverside, about $9 million in damages for psychological and physical injuries suffered in the crash. Her case was the first to go to trial.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Train Crash Attorney Jerome Ringler - Special Message for Chatsworth Train Crash Victims
Special Message for Victims of Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster
On September 12, 2008, an unprecedented tragedy occurred in Chatsworth, California when Metrolink Train #111 struck a Union Pacific freight train which was traveling on the same tracks. Our hearts go out to the victims. But this tragedy should not have happened. It happened because of human error on the part of Metrolink employees. Unfortunately, as the lawyers of RKA know well, human error by railroad engineers is not at all unique as a cause of commuter rail disasters.
Jerome L. Ringler has greater experience in representing victims of commuter rail and freight train disasters than any other lawyer in the State of California, if not the country. He has served as lead counsel in every one of the largest commuter rail disasters which have occurred in Southern California in the past 10 years.
In the Placentia Commuter Rail Disaster of 2003, Mr. Ringler was appointed by the Court as lead counsel for all of the Plaintiffs. He was requested by all of the lawyers representing individuals injured or killed in that incident to try the first case. That case resulted in the largest verdict for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ever rendered by a jury in the United States. That verdict, which was for $9 million, is detailed below in the multimedia section.
In the Burbank Commuter Rail Disaster, which also occurred in 2003, Mr. Ringler was again appointed by the Court to serve as lead counsel. In that capacity he was given the responsibility to try the entire liability (i.e., fault) case for all of the victims. In other words, every one of the dozens of lawyers who represented individual victims in that disaster trusted Mr. Ringler to try the liability phase for them, knowing that their clients would only recover if Mr. Ringler was successful. He was. In fact, Mr. Ringler not only obtained a favorable verdict for all of the plaintiffs, he obtained a $12 million verdict for his own client as well. This verdict was the largest in the State of California for a person with the type of injuries Mr. Ringler's client had suffered. This verdict is detailed below in the multimedia section.
Mr. Ringler is currently lead counsel for all plaintiffs in the Glendale Metrolink Derailment Disaster of 2005. This incident was, before September 12, 2008, the largest Metrolink disaster in history. Interestingly, in that case (which involves 11 deaths and dozens of serious injuries), Mr. Ringler has, against all odds, developed testimony proving that, even though a mentally-ill person placed a jeep across the tracks that the Metrolink train was traveling upon, human error on the part of the Metrolink engineer prevented him from stopping the train before hitting the jeep, which caused the train to derail. In other words, while the jeep certainly never should have been on the tracks, the Metrolink engineer would have been able to stop the train before ever striking the jeep had he only been paying proper attention. That case is scheduled to go to trial on June 8, 2009, with Mr. Ringler as lead counsel.
The verdicts detailed on this page all relate to railroad litigation. However, Mr. Ringler has achieved enormous, record-breaking monetary awards across California in a variety of complex areas. Those accomplishments are detailed elsewhere in this website. To see them, click here.
If you or a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of the horrific Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster, we are available to discuss your rights with you confidentially and at no charge.
Please feel free to contact us at your convenience. Ask for Mr. Ringler,or any of his partners, at (213) 473-1900.
www.rkallp.com
On September 12, 2008, an unprecedented tragedy occurred in Chatsworth, California when Metrolink Train #111 struck a Union Pacific freight train which was traveling on the same tracks. Our hearts go out to the victims. But this tragedy should not have happened. It happened because of human error on the part of Metrolink employees. Unfortunately, as the lawyers of RKA know well, human error by railroad engineers is not at all unique as a cause of commuter rail disasters.
Jerome L. Ringler has greater experience in representing victims of commuter rail and freight train disasters than any other lawyer in the State of California, if not the country. He has served as lead counsel in every one of the largest commuter rail disasters which have occurred in Southern California in the past 10 years.
In the Placentia Commuter Rail Disaster of 2003, Mr. Ringler was appointed by the Court as lead counsel for all of the Plaintiffs. He was requested by all of the lawyers representing individuals injured or killed in that incident to try the first case. That case resulted in the largest verdict for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ever rendered by a jury in the United States. That verdict, which was for $9 million, is detailed below in the multimedia section.
In the Burbank Commuter Rail Disaster, which also occurred in 2003, Mr. Ringler was again appointed by the Court to serve as lead counsel. In that capacity he was given the responsibility to try the entire liability (i.e., fault) case for all of the victims. In other words, every one of the dozens of lawyers who represented individual victims in that disaster trusted Mr. Ringler to try the liability phase for them, knowing that their clients would only recover if Mr. Ringler was successful. He was. In fact, Mr. Ringler not only obtained a favorable verdict for all of the plaintiffs, he obtained a $12 million verdict for his own client as well. This verdict was the largest in the State of California for a person with the type of injuries Mr. Ringler's client had suffered. This verdict is detailed below in the multimedia section.
Mr. Ringler is currently lead counsel for all plaintiffs in the Glendale Metrolink Derailment Disaster of 2005. This incident was, before September 12, 2008, the largest Metrolink disaster in history. Interestingly, in that case (which involves 11 deaths and dozens of serious injuries), Mr. Ringler has, against all odds, developed testimony proving that, even though a mentally-ill person placed a jeep across the tracks that the Metrolink train was traveling upon, human error on the part of the Metrolink engineer prevented him from stopping the train before hitting the jeep, which caused the train to derail. In other words, while the jeep certainly never should have been on the tracks, the Metrolink engineer would have been able to stop the train before ever striking the jeep had he only been paying proper attention. That case is scheduled to go to trial on June 8, 2009, with Mr. Ringler as lead counsel.
The verdicts detailed on this page all relate to railroad litigation. However, Mr. Ringler has achieved enormous, record-breaking monetary awards across California in a variety of complex areas. Those accomplishments are detailed elsewhere in this website. To see them, click here.
If you or a loved one has suffered injury or death as a result of the horrific Chatsworth Metrolink Disaster, we are available to discuss your rights with you confidentially and at no charge.
Please feel free to contact us at your convenience. Ask for Mr. Ringler,or any of his partners, at (213) 473-1900.
www.rkallp.com
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
SEO's Role in Internet Marketing
I found this article today online and thought you just needed to see it. It makes some very good points about SEO and how to get it done.----
The SEO's vital role in internet marketing
Most companies realize the importance of SEO to their Internet marketing strategy. While SEMPO's State of Search Marketing 2007 tells us SEO is still a small percentage of the search dollars spent (10.5%) compared to PPC advertising (87.4%), it is more important than ever, as shown in the data.
* Nine out of ten advertisers (89%) use SEO
* Over half (56%) said they expect to spend more on SEO in 2008 vs. last year
* 54% of advertisers will manage natural search entirely in-house this year
When it comes to in-house SEO, it's important to get the program working right to achieve the best possible results. Attaining in-house SEO functionality is a complex process that takes time; not only that, progress is dynamic and planar rather than static and linear.
1. Get the management team on board
To develop SEO successfully in-house, the entire management team must be involved and in agreement. One way to do this is to show people the research behind the facts. SEO is the most popular search tactic, hands down. Here's some ammunition for getting non-believers on board for SEO success.
a) Start off with the most recent SEMPO data showing 89% of advertisers use SEO. An earlier report (Ad Age 2007 Fact Pack) shows organic SEO was the most popular form of search marketing: 75% of advertisers used SEO, while 71% used paid search. With over half of North American advertisers increasing spending on SEO this year, marketers realize the tremendous power of SEO to generate and increase conversions and provide excellent ROI. Not only that, when you combine SEO with paid search or display ads, you may get a lift.
b) SEO is the mainstay for Internet marketing. Why? Perhaps because SEO links are preferred over sponsored links. B2B users clicked on organic results 75% of the time (Marketing to a B2B Technical Buyer, Enquiro, 2007).
c) Search gives you brand lift. A Google-commissioned study found significant correlation between companies in the top organic/sponsored links and lift in consumer brand affinity, brand recall, and purchase intent (The Brand Lift of Search, Enquiro, 2007).
d) SEO and paid search are top tactics for lead generation. Organic search led the way in lead generating tactics for UK firms (78%), with paid search and email coming in second (72%) in a study performed by E-consultancy.com and commissioned by Clash Media, 2007.
2. Prepare prior to hiring the in-house SEO manager
Challenges and departmental turfs should be explained so the new SEO manager knows what battles he or she may be facing. This kind of preparation can help anticipate cooperation or resistance when determining what assets will be useful from various departments.
a) Announce hiring of the new SEO manager beforehand.
b) Publish the accomplishments of the new SEO manager so he or she will be well received.
c) Arrange for the new SEO manager to meet with various departments beforehand to gain perspective on how SEO can enhance various departmental objectives.
SEO might be a part of marketing, or it can be a department of its own. At any rate, a new SEO manager must leverage any enthusiasm to build the types of lasting relationships with other departments that will serve well in implementing vital changes in site structure and content. Get this buy-in from the very start.
3. Eliminate red tape
Kevin Cheng made a point regarding the role of bureaucratic red tape that can hinder SEO progress. How do you eliminate the red tape to execute needed changes? Again, the answer is early education and pre-selling ideas to stakeholders.
Upper management must have a clear picture of how SEO can help the company achieve its goals and why SEO trumps all other Internet marketing tactics. The SEO manager must identify potential roadblocks and get upper management to support him or her when there's resistance.
Hire an SEO consultant to work with your SEO manager to get the team started in the right direction. With top management backing you up, you can implement the changes and track progress toward achieving goals.
a) Start with small projects and the low-hanging fruit, working up to more complex projects after recording a few successes.
b) Top management must give the SEO manager the authority to get changes made, tracked, and then reported on as progress is made.
c) The SEO manager should sit in on meetings in various departments to be aware of customer needs and product trends.
d) Provide the SEO manager with access to analytics reports for site assessment and to identify areas for improvement.
Basically, the new SEO manager needs to win hearts and minds over to the overarching SEO philosophy while getting to know the company and its short- and long-term planning goals, as these factors must be taken into consideration in planning the SEO strategy.
Success is the result of communication between management and the SEO manager on overall business goals and long-term company planning. Knowing the business goals, the SEO manager can develop a useful plan and strategy. This is critical because SEO executions will require consistent reporting progress to prove positive direction on a day-by-day basis.
The SEO's vital role in internet marketing
Most companies realize the importance of SEO to their Internet marketing strategy. While SEMPO's State of Search Marketing 2007 tells us SEO is still a small percentage of the search dollars spent (10.5%) compared to PPC advertising (87.4%), it is more important than ever, as shown in the data.
* Nine out of ten advertisers (89%) use SEO
* Over half (56%) said they expect to spend more on SEO in 2008 vs. last year
* 54% of advertisers will manage natural search entirely in-house this year
When it comes to in-house SEO, it's important to get the program working right to achieve the best possible results. Attaining in-house SEO functionality is a complex process that takes time; not only that, progress is dynamic and planar rather than static and linear.
1. Get the management team on board
To develop SEO successfully in-house, the entire management team must be involved and in agreement. One way to do this is to show people the research behind the facts. SEO is the most popular search tactic, hands down. Here's some ammunition for getting non-believers on board for SEO success.
a) Start off with the most recent SEMPO data showing 89% of advertisers use SEO. An earlier report (Ad Age 2007 Fact Pack) shows organic SEO was the most popular form of search marketing: 75% of advertisers used SEO, while 71% used paid search. With over half of North American advertisers increasing spending on SEO this year, marketers realize the tremendous power of SEO to generate and increase conversions and provide excellent ROI. Not only that, when you combine SEO with paid search or display ads, you may get a lift.
b) SEO is the mainstay for Internet marketing. Why? Perhaps because SEO links are preferred over sponsored links. B2B users clicked on organic results 75% of the time (Marketing to a B2B Technical Buyer, Enquiro, 2007).
c) Search gives you brand lift. A Google-commissioned study found significant correlation between companies in the top organic/sponsored links and lift in consumer brand affinity, brand recall, and purchase intent (The Brand Lift of Search, Enquiro, 2007).
d) SEO and paid search are top tactics for lead generation. Organic search led the way in lead generating tactics for UK firms (78%), with paid search and email coming in second (72%) in a study performed by E-consultancy.com and commissioned by Clash Media, 2007.
2. Prepare prior to hiring the in-house SEO manager
Challenges and departmental turfs should be explained so the new SEO manager knows what battles he or she may be facing. This kind of preparation can help anticipate cooperation or resistance when determining what assets will be useful from various departments.
a) Announce hiring of the new SEO manager beforehand.
b) Publish the accomplishments of the new SEO manager so he or she will be well received.
c) Arrange for the new SEO manager to meet with various departments beforehand to gain perspective on how SEO can enhance various departmental objectives.
SEO might be a part of marketing, or it can be a department of its own. At any rate, a new SEO manager must leverage any enthusiasm to build the types of lasting relationships with other departments that will serve well in implementing vital changes in site structure and content. Get this buy-in from the very start.
3. Eliminate red tape
Kevin Cheng made a point regarding the role of bureaucratic red tape that can hinder SEO progress. How do you eliminate the red tape to execute needed changes? Again, the answer is early education and pre-selling ideas to stakeholders.
Upper management must have a clear picture of how SEO can help the company achieve its goals and why SEO trumps all other Internet marketing tactics. The SEO manager must identify potential roadblocks and get upper management to support him or her when there's resistance.
Hire an SEO consultant to work with your SEO manager to get the team started in the right direction. With top management backing you up, you can implement the changes and track progress toward achieving goals.
a) Start with small projects and the low-hanging fruit, working up to more complex projects after recording a few successes.
b) Top management must give the SEO manager the authority to get changes made, tracked, and then reported on as progress is made.
c) The SEO manager should sit in on meetings in various departments to be aware of customer needs and product trends.
d) Provide the SEO manager with access to analytics reports for site assessment and to identify areas for improvement.
Basically, the new SEO manager needs to win hearts and minds over to the overarching SEO philosophy while getting to know the company and its short- and long-term planning goals, as these factors must be taken into consideration in planning the SEO strategy.
Success is the result of communication between management and the SEO manager on overall business goals and long-term company planning. Knowing the business goals, the SEO manager can develop a useful plan and strategy. This is critical because SEO executions will require consistent reporting progress to prove positive direction on a day-by-day basis.
Online Marketing Event in Ohio
Leading online marketing experts will be gathering in Columbus on May 19th for an intense day of sessions, training and education, as the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) hosts "Building a Roadmap for an Integrated Marketing Strategy", the group announced today.
The event will be held from 8:30 am until 4 pm at the Northpointe Conference Centre. Registration for the event is available at OhioWebLeaders.com.
The conference will focus on integrating online and traditional marketing campaigns to generate more sales, leads and awareness online through corporate websites.
"Ohio is home to a vibrant online marketing community," said Bill Balderaz of Webbed Marketing, a Columbus-based Internet marketing agency one of the charter members of OWL. "Online marketing agencies, technology firms, software solution providers, web design firms, and other Internet marketing experts all call Ohio home," he added. "This event is about bringing the online marketing community together to share knowledge with the larger marketing community."
The one day session will feature six sessions covering a wide range of topics including web design, search engine marketing, blogging for businesses, viral marketing and search engine marketing.
"Our goal is to have marketing managers from around Ohio attend this event and leave with a solid roadmap to help them drive more business with their web sites," said Tom Augustine, President of MindsOn Marketing, a marketing communications and web development agency. Augustine will be leading the web design session at the event.
"In one day, attendees will learn the basics for creating a solid integrated marketing campaign that uses both online and traditional tactics to drive visitors to their websites--and turn those visitors into sales and leads," Augustine said.
The conference will also feature Columbus-based ClearSaleing, ClearSaleing helps Internet retailers and direct marketers improve the performance of their search engine marketing and any other form of online advertising and prove their results through a technology that measures and optimizes online advertising. The company was founded by Ohio entrepreneurs Mike Lanese and Randy Smith and former Google executive Adam Goldberg.
"ClearSaleing has great clients and partners here in Ohio," Goldberg, who will be speaking at the event, said. "We're excited to take part in this event. This event is brining some of the most innovative online marketing minds in Ohio together. I'm looking forward to being a part of it."
The conference will feature a session on blogging for business by Jennifer Laycock, Editor of Search Engine Guide. Laycock, an internationally known speaker and blogger, specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing consultant and in-house trainer, Jennifer's clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children. She has been the featured speaker at dozens of online marketing events around the world.
"We're thrilled to have Jennifer Laycock featured at this event," Balderaz said. "Her support is key in building a strong online marketing community in Ohio."
"Blogging is one of those things that tends to get misunderstood in the marketing realm. Companies either push too hard, or don't push hard enough," Laycock explained. "Learning how to leverage blogs for conversation with customers and seeing the amazing results that can come with reaching out to your community online can go a long way toward helping a company improve their business prospects on the web."
Nihar Bihani, an organic search engine expert formerly with Columbus-based ECNext, will lead the day's session on organic search engine optimization. Bihani has managed organic search engine optimization programs for some of the largest and most visited business web sites on the Internet.
The conference will also feature a panel discussion with Ohio marketing managers who have successfully integrating online and traditional marketing to drive more business via the web.
"Integration is key," said Amy Marshall of Webbed Marketing, who will be leading the panel with Randy James from MindsOn Marketing. "The most successful web sites attract visitors from multiple channels, including both traditional and online campaigns."
"We're excited to have attracted such an all-star line up to our first event in Ohio. We know that attendees will learn a lot from the experts who are in this world every day. At the end of the day, we want marketing executives to leave knowing they have a plan to drive more business from their websites," Augustine said.
About Ohio Web Leaders
The Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is an innovative group of marketing professionals located in Ohio who have a passion for helping businesses use the Web to drive their growth. By forming OWL and bringing similar professionals together with similar goals, we can learn and network with one another.
The mission of the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is to provide a platform for marketing professional to share effective Internet strategies that work to learn, integrate and understand how to utilize the Internet to grow their business. From building a compelling website to influencing target audiences online, Internet marketing strategies are quickly becoming a critical component to many businesses to drive their goals. And because the market is ever-changing with new ideas and technologies, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest online marketing trends and run your business. OWL wants to help marketing managers get access to the people and information they need to take advantage of the marketing opportunities using the Web.
The event will be held from 8:30 am until 4 pm at the Northpointe Conference Centre. Registration for the event is available at OhioWebLeaders.com.
The conference will focus on integrating online and traditional marketing campaigns to generate more sales, leads and awareness online through corporate websites.
"Ohio is home to a vibrant online marketing community," said Bill Balderaz of Webbed Marketing, a Columbus-based Internet marketing agency one of the charter members of OWL. "Online marketing agencies, technology firms, software solution providers, web design firms, and other Internet marketing experts all call Ohio home," he added. "This event is about bringing the online marketing community together to share knowledge with the larger marketing community."
The one day session will feature six sessions covering a wide range of topics including web design, search engine marketing, blogging for businesses, viral marketing and search engine marketing.
"Our goal is to have marketing managers from around Ohio attend this event and leave with a solid roadmap to help them drive more business with their web sites," said Tom Augustine, President of MindsOn Marketing, a marketing communications and web development agency. Augustine will be leading the web design session at the event.
"In one day, attendees will learn the basics for creating a solid integrated marketing campaign that uses both online and traditional tactics to drive visitors to their websites--and turn those visitors into sales and leads," Augustine said.
The conference will also feature Columbus-based ClearSaleing, ClearSaleing helps Internet retailers and direct marketers improve the performance of their search engine marketing and any other form of online advertising and prove their results through a technology that measures and optimizes online advertising. The company was founded by Ohio entrepreneurs Mike Lanese and Randy Smith and former Google executive Adam Goldberg.
"ClearSaleing has great clients and partners here in Ohio," Goldberg, who will be speaking at the event, said. "We're excited to take part in this event. This event is brining some of the most innovative online marketing minds in Ohio together. I'm looking forward to being a part of it."
The conference will feature a session on blogging for business by Jennifer Laycock, Editor of Search Engine Guide. Laycock, an internationally known speaker and blogger, specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing consultant and in-house trainer, Jennifer's clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children. She has been the featured speaker at dozens of online marketing events around the world.
"We're thrilled to have Jennifer Laycock featured at this event," Balderaz said. "Her support is key in building a strong online marketing community in Ohio."
"Blogging is one of those things that tends to get misunderstood in the marketing realm. Companies either push too hard, or don't push hard enough," Laycock explained. "Learning how to leverage blogs for conversation with customers and seeing the amazing results that can come with reaching out to your community online can go a long way toward helping a company improve their business prospects on the web."
Nihar Bihani, an organic search engine expert formerly with Columbus-based ECNext, will lead the day's session on organic search engine optimization. Bihani has managed organic search engine optimization programs for some of the largest and most visited business web sites on the Internet.
The conference will also feature a panel discussion with Ohio marketing managers who have successfully integrating online and traditional marketing to drive more business via the web.
"Integration is key," said Amy Marshall of Webbed Marketing, who will be leading the panel with Randy James from MindsOn Marketing. "The most successful web sites attract visitors from multiple channels, including both traditional and online campaigns."
"We're excited to have attracted such an all-star line up to our first event in Ohio. We know that attendees will learn a lot from the experts who are in this world every day. At the end of the day, we want marketing executives to leave knowing they have a plan to drive more business from their websites," Augustine said.
About Ohio Web Leaders
The Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is an innovative group of marketing professionals located in Ohio who have a passion for helping businesses use the Web to drive their growth. By forming OWL and bringing similar professionals together with similar goals, we can learn and network with one another.
The mission of the Ohio Web Leaders (OWL) is to provide a platform for marketing professional to share effective Internet strategies that work to learn, integrate and understand how to utilize the Internet to grow their business. From building a compelling website to influencing target audiences online, Internet marketing strategies are quickly becoming a critical component to many businesses to drive their goals. And because the market is ever-changing with new ideas and technologies, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest online marketing trends and run your business. OWL wants to help marketing managers get access to the people and information they need to take advantage of the marketing opportunities using the Web.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Using Simple Online Techniques to Increase Business
It's possible to spend thousands of dollars - or read tens of thousands of words - and still get nowhere in the world of online marketing. A session titled "A Common Sense Approach to Online Marketing" tried to highlight the essentials, however, since the path to success can be relatively simple.
Matt McGee, the SEO manager of Marchex, started things off by discussing an SEO success pyramid. At a very basic level, he pointed out that commitment, planning, and patience are necessary. "You have to have enthusiasm," McGee noted. "You have to stay on top of the game."
Keyword research, a concentration on design and usability, and a use of tools and analytics come next. In regards to analytics, McGee said, "It is how you determine your success or failure."
And in order to guide things towards that first outcome, seek out customers on local and social sites. Manage your reputation all the while. "[The] pyramid boils down to the human element," McGee observed. "Small businesses depend on word-of-mouth."
Wendy Piersall, the founder of eMoms at Home, then stepped in to back up some of those points. Her site has been successful, and she said, "Visibility is key . . . just going out and introducing yourself. Also, in regards to networking and enthusiasm, she added, "You're doing this because you love it and let that passion shine through."
Matt Bailey, the founder of Site Logic Marketing, was the last to speak, and he assured the audience, "Search engine optimization has a great return on investment just by using the basics." Work on keywords, content, and links to your site. As for design issues, he pointed out, "Usability is as easy as getting your mom to sit down and use your site."
Matt McGee, the SEO manager of Marchex, started things off by discussing an SEO success pyramid. At a very basic level, he pointed out that commitment, planning, and patience are necessary. "You have to have enthusiasm," McGee noted. "You have to stay on top of the game."
Keyword research, a concentration on design and usability, and a use of tools and analytics come next. In regards to analytics, McGee said, "It is how you determine your success or failure."
And in order to guide things towards that first outcome, seek out customers on local and social sites. Manage your reputation all the while. "[The] pyramid boils down to the human element," McGee observed. "Small businesses depend on word-of-mouth."
Wendy Piersall, the founder of eMoms at Home, then stepped in to back up some of those points. Her site has been successful, and she said, "Visibility is key . . . just going out and introducing yourself. Also, in regards to networking and enthusiasm, she added, "You're doing this because you love it and let that passion shine through."
Matt Bailey, the founder of Site Logic Marketing, was the last to speak, and he assured the audience, "Search engine optimization has a great return on investment just by using the basics." Work on keywords, content, and links to your site. As for design issues, he pointed out, "Usability is as easy as getting your mom to sit down and use your site."
Online Marketing is all About Focus
Many small businesses will spend thousands of dollars on websites, yet won't market them properly, says David Cree, an Internet marketing consultant.
This is where search marketing is effective, he says.
Search marketing involves carefully determining how people will be searching on the web for the product you are selling.
It includes search engine optimization -- putting the right content on businesses' websites to increase the lik-elihood it will come up near the top of search results.
It also includes working with the advertising arms of search engines and purchasing common phrases that people would use to find a product.
"Search marketing is really the biggest and quickest avenue into e-business and spreading your market," Cree says.
But search marketing isn't just about having people find your product on the web -- it's also about having robots finding your product on the web.
"We market to robots that scan the web to determine what the rankings are going to be on search engines," says Cree, president of Clearpath, an Alberta-based web marketing consulting firm.
A large component of search marketing involves search engine optimization.
"Making sure that your site is optimized will tell Google what to rank you for -- what phrases is this site about," he says.
"What it won't tell it is how well it should rank you and the million other sites that are about the same thing as you."
And it's more than just the content on your website. Search engine optimization is also about what's not on your website. That's where marketing comes into play.
"Essentially, that's a political popularity contest," says Cree. "(Search engines) go out to the web and see how many people are linking to you. How much buzz is there out there about you and your company?"
A web marketing campaign can create a buzz in several ways. One of the best methods is through blogs and social networking sites, says Cree. "People don't realize that about 35 per cent of Canada is on Facebook."
Another way to build up a website's popularity is through search engine advertising. Many search engine companies sell keyword phrases to businesses that potential customers will use to search for a product.
If they use that phrase in a search, the companies that purchased that phrase will have a small ad, linking to its website, appear on the search results page.
Finding the right phrase is essential to this strategy's success, Cree says.
Search engine advertising is about finding the right description that will differentiate a business from others -- much like with traditional marketing.
It differs from more traditional methods in that it lets a business focus on consumers or businesses that would need its product, says Cree.
"You only pay for the people who click on your ad. You're only paying for highly targeted marketing."
Online Law Firm Marketing
This is where search marketing is effective, he says.
Search marketing involves carefully determining how people will be searching on the web for the product you are selling.
It includes search engine optimization -- putting the right content on businesses' websites to increase the lik-elihood it will come up near the top of search results.
It also includes working with the advertising arms of search engines and purchasing common phrases that people would use to find a product.
"Search marketing is really the biggest and quickest avenue into e-business and spreading your market," Cree says.
But search marketing isn't just about having people find your product on the web -- it's also about having robots finding your product on the web.
"We market to robots that scan the web to determine what the rankings are going to be on search engines," says Cree, president of Clearpath, an Alberta-based web marketing consulting firm.
A large component of search marketing involves search engine optimization.
"Making sure that your site is optimized will tell Google what to rank you for -- what phrases is this site about," he says.
"What it won't tell it is how well it should rank you and the million other sites that are about the same thing as you."
And it's more than just the content on your website. Search engine optimization is also about what's not on your website. That's where marketing comes into play.
"Essentially, that's a political popularity contest," says Cree. "(Search engines) go out to the web and see how many people are linking to you. How much buzz is there out there about you and your company?"
A web marketing campaign can create a buzz in several ways. One of the best methods is through blogs and social networking sites, says Cree. "People don't realize that about 35 per cent of Canada is on Facebook."
Another way to build up a website's popularity is through search engine advertising. Many search engine companies sell keyword phrases to businesses that potential customers will use to search for a product.
If they use that phrase in a search, the companies that purchased that phrase will have a small ad, linking to its website, appear on the search results page.
Finding the right phrase is essential to this strategy's success, Cree says.
Search engine advertising is about finding the right description that will differentiate a business from others -- much like with traditional marketing.
It differs from more traditional methods in that it lets a business focus on consumers or businesses that would need its product, says Cree.
"You only pay for the people who click on your ad. You're only paying for highly targeted marketing."
Online Law Firm Marketing
Lawinfo.com Launches Online Preferred Listings
I found this interesting article on PRweb:
LawInfo has launched an online Preferred Listings forum for attorneys nationwide to maximize their online exposure for optimum business results. These Preferred Listings have been designed to facilitate maximum online lead generation for private practices as well as corporate firms, and will be showcased on LawInfo.com, Lawsmart.com, and Leadcounsel.com, as well as accessible throughout 2,000 geographically focused and 80 media partner web sites. Top areas of law that attorneys can list their firm include Bankruptcy, Business Law, Criminal Law, Drunk Driving, Estate Planning, Family Law, Immigration, Labor and Employment, Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation, based upon geographic availability. Over 1,000,000 users visit LawInfo and its family of sites per month--making LawInfo.com a frontrunner in online lawyer marketing.
In addition to providing a Preferred Listings forum for attorneys, LawInfo's legal resource center (LRC) can also help the public locate qualified legal experts nationwide--including bail bondsmen, expert witnesses, private investigators, court reporters, process servers, paralegals and litigation funders. Further, LawInfo.com has created the largest interactive legal forum with over 1,200 message boards as a resource for the Internet community. The boards provide an opportunity to research information and share commentary on a multitude of legal topics.
LawInfo.com has also expanded its free online legal resource center to include a comprehensive legal blog--incorporating interactive polls, providing access to volumes of legal archives, supplying streaming video and audio clips and keeping a live feed on breaking legal news that is updated around the clock.
For over a decade, LawInfo's mission has been to assist the public in locating qualified attorneys and legal services. In addition to the Preferred Listings forum, LawInfo.com provides marketing packages for attorneys and legal professionals crafted by a team of specialists that integrates web design, content development and internet marketing with targeted traffic-generation tactics. LawInfo is staffed by experienced legal industry professionals and their corporate offices are located in San Marcos, California, just thirty minutes north of San Diego.
LawInfo has launched an online Preferred Listings forum for attorneys nationwide to maximize their online exposure for optimum business results. These Preferred Listings have been designed to facilitate maximum online lead generation for private practices as well as corporate firms, and will be showcased on LawInfo.com, Lawsmart.com, and Leadcounsel.com, as well as accessible throughout 2,000 geographically focused and 80 media partner web sites. Top areas of law that attorneys can list their firm include Bankruptcy, Business Law, Criminal Law, Drunk Driving, Estate Planning, Family Law, Immigration, Labor and Employment, Personal Injury and Workers' Compensation, based upon geographic availability. Over 1,000,000 users visit LawInfo and its family of sites per month--making LawInfo.com a frontrunner in online lawyer marketing.
In addition to providing a Preferred Listings forum for attorneys, LawInfo's legal resource center (LRC) can also help the public locate qualified legal experts nationwide--including bail bondsmen, expert witnesses, private investigators, court reporters, process servers, paralegals and litigation funders. Further, LawInfo.com has created the largest interactive legal forum with over 1,200 message boards as a resource for the Internet community. The boards provide an opportunity to research information and share commentary on a multitude of legal topics.
LawInfo.com has also expanded its free online legal resource center to include a comprehensive legal blog--incorporating interactive polls, providing access to volumes of legal archives, supplying streaming video and audio clips and keeping a live feed on breaking legal news that is updated around the clock.
For over a decade, LawInfo's mission has been to assist the public in locating qualified attorneys and legal services. In addition to the Preferred Listings forum, LawInfo.com provides marketing packages for attorneys and legal professionals crafted by a team of specialists that integrates web design, content development and internet marketing with targeted traffic-generation tactics. LawInfo is staffed by experienced legal industry professionals and their corporate offices are located in San Marcos, California, just thirty minutes north of San Diego.
Why so few Women at the Top?
Let’s turn our attention away from all-things Potter for a moment and consider this fact: Just eight percent of law firm leaders are women, according to a report released in November by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL).
Why? It’s an issue addressed this week by Leigh Jones of the National Law Journal.
For starters, there’s a timing issue. Jerry Clements, the woman in charge of 700-lawyer Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, says that when she graduated from Baylor University School of Law in 1981, big law firms were just beginning to hire women, she said. The supply of women attorneys with enough experience to lead law firms is still relatively small, she said.
Still, while the pool of all lawyers who even want to run a law firm is relatively small, the pool of women lawyers eager to take on the tasks is even smaller, said Valerie Ford Jacob, co-managing partner of 684-attorney Fried, Frank (pictured).
Among the downsides of the job, according to Jacobs: giving up a full-time legal practice, “extensive travel to far-flung offices, the constant demands of business development and, in some cases, the need to maintain a practice with managerial issues.”
A major reason that women lag so far behind in top leadership roles at law firms is because, in general, those are not jobs they want, said Joel Henning, a consultant with Hildebrandt International. “The best women lawyers get satisfaction out of their practices, and they see little attraction in becoming housekeeping-type law firm leaders,” Henning said. “Many women would rather do their housekeeping chores somewhere else, not in their law firms.”
Paula Hinton, a litigation partner at Vinson & Elkins, disagreed, adding that she would embrace the chance to lead a big law firm. She pointed to a lack of opportunity as the reason for the shortage of women leaders. “The job of a law firm leader has changed,” she said. “Their role is much more in the marketing and strategic planning arena, not in the housekeeping arena.”
Why? It’s an issue addressed this week by Leigh Jones of the National Law Journal.
For starters, there’s a timing issue. Jerry Clements, the woman in charge of 700-lawyer Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, says that when she graduated from Baylor University School of Law in 1981, big law firms were just beginning to hire women, she said. The supply of women attorneys with enough experience to lead law firms is still relatively small, she said.
Still, while the pool of all lawyers who even want to run a law firm is relatively small, the pool of women lawyers eager to take on the tasks is even smaller, said Valerie Ford Jacob, co-managing partner of 684-attorney Fried, Frank (pictured).
Among the downsides of the job, according to Jacobs: giving up a full-time legal practice, “extensive travel to far-flung offices, the constant demands of business development and, in some cases, the need to maintain a practice with managerial issues.”
A major reason that women lag so far behind in top leadership roles at law firms is because, in general, those are not jobs they want, said Joel Henning, a consultant with Hildebrandt International. “The best women lawyers get satisfaction out of their practices, and they see little attraction in becoming housekeeping-type law firm leaders,” Henning said. “Many women would rather do their housekeeping chores somewhere else, not in their law firms.”
Paula Hinton, a litigation partner at Vinson & Elkins, disagreed, adding that she would embrace the chance to lead a big law firm. She pointed to a lack of opportunity as the reason for the shortage of women leaders. “The job of a law firm leader has changed,” she said. “Their role is much more in the marketing and strategic planning arena, not in the housekeeping arena.”
Chief Marketing Officers Dropping Like Flies at Big Firms
If it seems a little drafty in some high-rises, it might be the revolving door of marketing departments in several large firms.
In the past few months, at least four law firms in Pennsylvania have seen the departure of their chief marketing officer or other high-ranking marketing staff.
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and Drinker Biddle & Reath are, or soon will be, without a chief marketing officer, and Duane Morris lost two senior marketing directors in recent months.
Ballard Spahr is in the process of searching for a new CMO, Buchanan Ingersoll has brought in someone under a different title and Drinker Biddle will fill the vacancy with two people internally who will retain their respective director titles.
Duane Morris is open to filling its recently vacated senior marketing manager and senior director of marketing/CRM manager positions either externally or from within its ranks.
Despite the turnover, most everyone at these firms who spoke to The Legal Intelligencer for this article was optimistic about the increasing tenure of senior marketers in large law firms. They said firms are taking more seriously than ever before the role of business development as part of a profession that, increasingly, looks like an industry.
The legal marketing scene in Philadelphia, however, isn't picture-perfect.
Marketing consultant Stacy West Clark said the turnover in the city is different from that of places like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Whereas those cities see turnover due to talent wars and firms plucking off CMOs for more money, Philadelphia is more of a "doom and gloom" scenario, she said.
CMOs and other higher-level marketers are leaving or being asked to leave Philadelphia firms more often because it wasn't the right fit, and those firms aren't always looking to fill the vacant positions, she said.
BALLARD SPAHR
Blain Banick started at Ballard Spahr in October 2004 as the firm's CMO. He left the firm in the fall of 2007 to take a similar position at Dallas-based Haynes & Boone.
Ballard Spahr Chairman Arthur Makadon said the western Canada native never quite took to the East Coast and moved with his family to Texas.
Despite the gap in a CMO position, Ballard Spahr decided to continue full-steam ahead with its large-scale branding campaign scheduled to be launched in January 2009.
Makadon said there were some concerns within the firm about continuing the branding efforts while looking for a new CMO. The firm had already started, however, what Makadon called a "very expensive" process and hired an "upscale branding firm" to start working on the project.
He said losing a CMO in the midst of this process has been fairly seamless because Banick created a well-trained staff. Marketing directors Ellen Ragone and Paul Bonner are handling the majority of the CMO duties until a new person is hired, and Makadon said he is more involved with firm marketing than he's ever been.
Ballard Spahr spent the first few months after Banick's departure interviewing recruiting firms to help with the CMO search. The firm hired John Lamar of The Alexander Group in Texas, and he has spent the past six weeks to two months finding candidates to be interviewed by the firm.
Interviews are about ready to begin, and Makadon said there are, currently, two definite candidates, with the prospect of a few more being added to the interview list.
While the position doesn't have to be based out of Philadelphia, Makadon said that would be ideal because the majority of the marketing staff -- between 20 and 25 people -- are based in the city.
The two candidates who will be interviewed are both from the law firm world, but he said that doesn't have to be the case. The firm would be open to interviewing marketers from other professional service industries, he said.
Makadon said he isn't sure why legal marketers don't stick around for more than an average of two or three years. If a firm found the right person, he said he would think it could make for a long-standing relationship.
Serving as a CMO in the legal industry is a challenging job because there are so many constituencies to please, Makadon said.
As the evolution of law firm marketing departments continues, he said firms should be learning from their experience.
"We'll be wiser this time than we were last time," Makadon said.
He said the tenure for these positions would continue to increase as legal marketers become more experienced and have more to offer the firms.
DRINKER BIDDLE
Stephen D. Barrett joined Drinker Biddle as its CMO in September 2005 and has been commuting from his Boston home to Philadelphia each week. He would spend the week in the city and travel back to Massachusetts for the weekend.
Despite trading in his long commute, firm managing partner Andrew C. Kassner said Barrett may have felt he accomplished what he was looking to do at the firm.
"He's a builder," Kassner said. "He saw an opportunity here to help us build, and he may be looking for the next challenge, wherever it may be."
Since joining the firm, Barrett helped build the marketing department from around 10 members to 25. There are 12 marketers in Philadelphia, seven in Chicago and two in Washington, D.C., and there will soon be four in New Jersey.
Kassner said he was pleased with the progress Barrett made over the last few years. He said Barrett came in with a vision of how to build a marketing and client relations department in the firm and went ahead and did it.
Building a strong staff, Kassner said, worked out in the firm's favor, given Barrett's coming departure. Instead of hiring a new CMO, Drinker Biddle will split the responsibilities between its two marketing directors.
John Byrne, the firm's director of communications, and Kristin Sudholz, director of practice development, will work together on carrying out the marketing plan Barrett created.
Byrne, based in Philadelphia, started at the firm in July 2006. Barrett hired Sudholz in March 2007 after the firm merged with Chicago-based Gardner Carton & Douglas. She is based in Chicago.
DUANE MORRIS
Since January 2008, Duane Morris has seen the departure of its senior marketing manager, Holly Lentz Kleeman, and its senior director of marketing/CRM manager, Pat Purdy.
When the firm saw a changeover in leadership at the beginning of the year from major marketing proponent Sheldon Bonovitz to litigator John Soroko, some people questioned what would happen to Duane Morris' robust marketing department.
All those involved said there has been no decrease in support of the marketing department under Soroko's leadership and Kleeman and Purdy's departures were completely unrelated to the change.
Kleeman, who was the No. 2 person behind CMO Edward M. Schechter, left in January to start her own business, Lentz Productions. She focuses on business development and marketing for firms of all sizes.
She had been at Duane Morris for eight years and said that was one of the main reasons she left.
"Eight years is a really long time for legal marketing," she said.
Kleeman said Purdy's departure may have had something to do with her leaving the firm considering Purdy used to work for Kleeman's husband, and Kleeman brought her on board at Duane Morris.
But more than that, Kleeman said, Purdy had a really great opportunity at another firm. She now works for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in New York.
While the legal industry is often slower moving than other professional service sectors, Kleeman said she does see legal marketing becoming more accepted and the positions staying filled longer. She said Schechter is the exception to the conventional wisdom that CMOs stay in their positions for only a few years. He has been at Duane Morris for six.
"[Firms] are realizing that, like it or not, they're going to have to behave a little bit more like a business," Kleeman said. "Once they do it, they find out it's not that painful."
Although Kleeman credited the marketing department's existence to Bonovitz and recognized that Bonovitz and Soroko have different leadership styles, she said Bonovitz is still active in the firm. She said she thinks Soroko sees the effect Bonovitz made with the marketing department and would look to maintain that.
"Who knows what's going to happen at Duane," Kleeman said. "With a former chairman and a chairman there, that will be interesting to observe."
Schechter said the leadership change at Duane Morris has had no bearing on the marketing department.
"While marketing and business development is often impacted by the change of a chair, in that regard, we're running against the grain," Schechter said. "[Soroko] is very supportive of what we're doing."
He said Kleeman and Purdy's departures were completely unrelated to the leadership change. The two just had good opportunities, he said.
It is a great time for legal marketing, particularly at Duane Morris, Schechter said. In the process of building one of the largest marketing departments in the country in relation to the firm's attorney head count, the work of the marketers hasn't gone unnoticed. That has presented several opportunities for members of the department, he said.
Duane Morris is looking to fill both positions and will look both internally and at external candidates. He said both Kleeman and Purdy were important members of the team and contributed significantly to the department's growth.
In response to speculation that he may be looking for a position at another firm, Schechter dismissed the idea and said he was staying at Duane Morris. He said the opportunities he has there, in terms of the ability to use innovative marketing and business development programs as well as the support from management, are "incredibly strong relative to other firms."
"It's a great position to be in when you have that level of support from leadership and the partners and have a team here who's awesome," Schechter said.
BUCHANAN INGERSOLL
Buchanan Ingersoll's first CMO, Mark P. Trice, announced in August 2007 that he would be leaving the firm to move to Texas. He had started at the firm in June 2006, right before its merger with Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling.
He left legal marketing completely, instead joining the marketing team of financial, human resources and information technology company Vcfo Inc.
At the time of his departure, Buchanan Ingersoll Chief Executive Officer Thomas L. VanKirk said the firm might not hire a new CMO but rather bring someone in under a slightly different title. He said then that the firm hired a CMO more for the business development side of marketing given that Buchanan Ingersoll already had a strong communications arm.
VanKirk stuck to his word. A few weeks ago, the firm brought on Linda L. Fleming as its director of business development. She is based out of the firm's Alexandria, Va., office and works alongside Pittsburgh-based Director of Communications and Public Relations Lori K. Lecker.
MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS
Morgan Lewis has also been making some changes in its marketing department. The firm recently lost its director of communications, Paul Webb, and decided to do away with the position.
Instead, the firm created a new position, chief marketing and communications officer, to oversee what used to be two separate departments.
Morgan Lewis recently hired Michael Baltes, who was the former director of communications at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, to fill the new position.
A firm spokeswoman said management felt the marketing and communications departments should work more closely together and report to one person. She said Mona Zeiberg out of Washington will continue to serve as the firmwide director of marketing.
In the past few months, at least four law firms in Pennsylvania have seen the departure of their chief marketing officer or other high-ranking marketing staff.
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and Drinker Biddle & Reath are, or soon will be, without a chief marketing officer, and Duane Morris lost two senior marketing directors in recent months.
Ballard Spahr is in the process of searching for a new CMO, Buchanan Ingersoll has brought in someone under a different title and Drinker Biddle will fill the vacancy with two people internally who will retain their respective director titles.
Duane Morris is open to filling its recently vacated senior marketing manager and senior director of marketing/CRM manager positions either externally or from within its ranks.
Despite the turnover, most everyone at these firms who spoke to The Legal Intelligencer for this article was optimistic about the increasing tenure of senior marketers in large law firms. They said firms are taking more seriously than ever before the role of business development as part of a profession that, increasingly, looks like an industry.
The legal marketing scene in Philadelphia, however, isn't picture-perfect.
Marketing consultant Stacy West Clark said the turnover in the city is different from that of places like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Whereas those cities see turnover due to talent wars and firms plucking off CMOs for more money, Philadelphia is more of a "doom and gloom" scenario, she said.
CMOs and other higher-level marketers are leaving or being asked to leave Philadelphia firms more often because it wasn't the right fit, and those firms aren't always looking to fill the vacant positions, she said.
BALLARD SPAHR
Blain Banick started at Ballard Spahr in October 2004 as the firm's CMO. He left the firm in the fall of 2007 to take a similar position at Dallas-based Haynes & Boone.
Ballard Spahr Chairman Arthur Makadon said the western Canada native never quite took to the East Coast and moved with his family to Texas.
Despite the gap in a CMO position, Ballard Spahr decided to continue full-steam ahead with its large-scale branding campaign scheduled to be launched in January 2009.
Makadon said there were some concerns within the firm about continuing the branding efforts while looking for a new CMO. The firm had already started, however, what Makadon called a "very expensive" process and hired an "upscale branding firm" to start working on the project.
He said losing a CMO in the midst of this process has been fairly seamless because Banick created a well-trained staff. Marketing directors Ellen Ragone and Paul Bonner are handling the majority of the CMO duties until a new person is hired, and Makadon said he is more involved with firm marketing than he's ever been.
Ballard Spahr spent the first few months after Banick's departure interviewing recruiting firms to help with the CMO search. The firm hired John Lamar of The Alexander Group in Texas, and he has spent the past six weeks to two months finding candidates to be interviewed by the firm.
Interviews are about ready to begin, and Makadon said there are, currently, two definite candidates, with the prospect of a few more being added to the interview list.
While the position doesn't have to be based out of Philadelphia, Makadon said that would be ideal because the majority of the marketing staff -- between 20 and 25 people -- are based in the city.
The two candidates who will be interviewed are both from the law firm world, but he said that doesn't have to be the case. The firm would be open to interviewing marketers from other professional service industries, he said.
Makadon said he isn't sure why legal marketers don't stick around for more than an average of two or three years. If a firm found the right person, he said he would think it could make for a long-standing relationship.
Serving as a CMO in the legal industry is a challenging job because there are so many constituencies to please, Makadon said.
As the evolution of law firm marketing departments continues, he said firms should be learning from their experience.
"We'll be wiser this time than we were last time," Makadon said.
He said the tenure for these positions would continue to increase as legal marketers become more experienced and have more to offer the firms.
DRINKER BIDDLE
Stephen D. Barrett joined Drinker Biddle as its CMO in September 2005 and has been commuting from his Boston home to Philadelphia each week. He would spend the week in the city and travel back to Massachusetts for the weekend.
Despite trading in his long commute, firm managing partner Andrew C. Kassner said Barrett may have felt he accomplished what he was looking to do at the firm.
"He's a builder," Kassner said. "He saw an opportunity here to help us build, and he may be looking for the next challenge, wherever it may be."
Since joining the firm, Barrett helped build the marketing department from around 10 members to 25. There are 12 marketers in Philadelphia, seven in Chicago and two in Washington, D.C., and there will soon be four in New Jersey.
Kassner said he was pleased with the progress Barrett made over the last few years. He said Barrett came in with a vision of how to build a marketing and client relations department in the firm and went ahead and did it.
Building a strong staff, Kassner said, worked out in the firm's favor, given Barrett's coming departure. Instead of hiring a new CMO, Drinker Biddle will split the responsibilities between its two marketing directors.
John Byrne, the firm's director of communications, and Kristin Sudholz, director of practice development, will work together on carrying out the marketing plan Barrett created.
Byrne, based in Philadelphia, started at the firm in July 2006. Barrett hired Sudholz in March 2007 after the firm merged with Chicago-based Gardner Carton & Douglas. She is based in Chicago.
DUANE MORRIS
Since January 2008, Duane Morris has seen the departure of its senior marketing manager, Holly Lentz Kleeman, and its senior director of marketing/CRM manager, Pat Purdy.
When the firm saw a changeover in leadership at the beginning of the year from major marketing proponent Sheldon Bonovitz to litigator John Soroko, some people questioned what would happen to Duane Morris' robust marketing department.
All those involved said there has been no decrease in support of the marketing department under Soroko's leadership and Kleeman and Purdy's departures were completely unrelated to the change.
Kleeman, who was the No. 2 person behind CMO Edward M. Schechter, left in January to start her own business, Lentz Productions. She focuses on business development and marketing for firms of all sizes.
She had been at Duane Morris for eight years and said that was one of the main reasons she left.
"Eight years is a really long time for legal marketing," she said.
Kleeman said Purdy's departure may have had something to do with her leaving the firm considering Purdy used to work for Kleeman's husband, and Kleeman brought her on board at Duane Morris.
But more than that, Kleeman said, Purdy had a really great opportunity at another firm. She now works for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in New York.
While the legal industry is often slower moving than other professional service sectors, Kleeman said she does see legal marketing becoming more accepted and the positions staying filled longer. She said Schechter is the exception to the conventional wisdom that CMOs stay in their positions for only a few years. He has been at Duane Morris for six.
"[Firms] are realizing that, like it or not, they're going to have to behave a little bit more like a business," Kleeman said. "Once they do it, they find out it's not that painful."
Although Kleeman credited the marketing department's existence to Bonovitz and recognized that Bonovitz and Soroko have different leadership styles, she said Bonovitz is still active in the firm. She said she thinks Soroko sees the effect Bonovitz made with the marketing department and would look to maintain that.
"Who knows what's going to happen at Duane," Kleeman said. "With a former chairman and a chairman there, that will be interesting to observe."
Schechter said the leadership change at Duane Morris has had no bearing on the marketing department.
"While marketing and business development is often impacted by the change of a chair, in that regard, we're running against the grain," Schechter said. "[Soroko] is very supportive of what we're doing."
He said Kleeman and Purdy's departures were completely unrelated to the leadership change. The two just had good opportunities, he said.
It is a great time for legal marketing, particularly at Duane Morris, Schechter said. In the process of building one of the largest marketing departments in the country in relation to the firm's attorney head count, the work of the marketers hasn't gone unnoticed. That has presented several opportunities for members of the department, he said.
Duane Morris is looking to fill both positions and will look both internally and at external candidates. He said both Kleeman and Purdy were important members of the team and contributed significantly to the department's growth.
In response to speculation that he may be looking for a position at another firm, Schechter dismissed the idea and said he was staying at Duane Morris. He said the opportunities he has there, in terms of the ability to use innovative marketing and business development programs as well as the support from management, are "incredibly strong relative to other firms."
"It's a great position to be in when you have that level of support from leadership and the partners and have a team here who's awesome," Schechter said.
BUCHANAN INGERSOLL
Buchanan Ingersoll's first CMO, Mark P. Trice, announced in August 2007 that he would be leaving the firm to move to Texas. He had started at the firm in June 2006, right before its merger with Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling.
He left legal marketing completely, instead joining the marketing team of financial, human resources and information technology company Vcfo Inc.
At the time of his departure, Buchanan Ingersoll Chief Executive Officer Thomas L. VanKirk said the firm might not hire a new CMO but rather bring someone in under a slightly different title. He said then that the firm hired a CMO more for the business development side of marketing given that Buchanan Ingersoll already had a strong communications arm.
VanKirk stuck to his word. A few weeks ago, the firm brought on Linda L. Fleming as its director of business development. She is based out of the firm's Alexandria, Va., office and works alongside Pittsburgh-based Director of Communications and Public Relations Lori K. Lecker.
MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS
Morgan Lewis has also been making some changes in its marketing department. The firm recently lost its director of communications, Paul Webb, and decided to do away with the position.
Instead, the firm created a new position, chief marketing and communications officer, to oversee what used to be two separate departments.
Morgan Lewis recently hired Michael Baltes, who was the former director of communications at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, to fill the new position.
A firm spokeswoman said management felt the marketing and communications departments should work more closely together and report to one person. She said Mona Zeiberg out of Washington will continue to serve as the firmwide director of marketing.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Law Firms Lean Towards Business Development
The scales are shifting in professional services marketing. The days when it sufficed to perform ‘marcomm’ activities – like brochures, advertising, public relations, firm events and branding – have passed. Today there is pressure on marketers to show return on investment.
In short, marketers must move from the ‘expense’ side of the ledger to the ‘revenue’ side.
Adding urgency is the fact that the US (and soon the world) is in a recession – consumer spending is down, unemployment is up, home prices are down, oil prices are near an all time high and the war in Iraq is wasting billions.“We are in a recession right now – it’s pretty obvious,” said Sara Kraeski, Director of Business Development of Davis, Graham & Stubbs in Denver, at a recent conference.
Partners today don’t want to know how much your project costs, they want to know how much it will earn. Smart marketers are changing their focus to business development activities:
* Advising teams going on tender competitions and beauty parades.
* Developing proposals that win new business.
* Identifying targets for clients to pursue.
* Helping professionals write personal business development plans.
Coaching is the single best activity in which to be proficient.The good news is that ‘BD’ is a learnable set of skills, and the abilities that make a top professional – being a good listener, analytical, expert questioners, organized and hard-working – are the same skills of those of top salespeople.
law firm marketing, marketing director, business developmentYou as the marketer must help the professionals write business development plans.The priorities of the plans are pursuing clients first, then referral sources, next becoming visible in a business organization and finally targeting business executives. It’s all about relationships – the more a professional has, the more clients he or she will have.
First you’ll need support from the top. Announce to firm management that you have a plan to increase its revenue significantly. That will get their attention.Then explain that you will work with the fee earners who have the most potential (not the new associates or the 40-year old ‘service partners’ who have no clients).Your plan is to magnify their new business production.
I recommend that professionals spend 200 hours per year on business development. This equals four hours per week – a goal easily attained by meeting a referral source for coffee, visiting a client’s offices at lunch and attending a trade association meeting at an event.
Here’s why this works. If you have 10 professionals who are active four hours a week, they should meet two ideal clients per week.This works out to 1,000 contacts per year. Let’s suppose they are just terrible at what they do and have a 90% failure rate. It still works out to 100+ new clients/matters per year. And that is a return on investment the partners can take to the bank.
In short, marketers must move from the ‘expense’ side of the ledger to the ‘revenue’ side.
Adding urgency is the fact that the US (and soon the world) is in a recession – consumer spending is down, unemployment is up, home prices are down, oil prices are near an all time high and the war in Iraq is wasting billions.“We are in a recession right now – it’s pretty obvious,” said Sara Kraeski, Director of Business Development of Davis, Graham & Stubbs in Denver, at a recent conference.
Partners today don’t want to know how much your project costs, they want to know how much it will earn. Smart marketers are changing their focus to business development activities:
* Advising teams going on tender competitions and beauty parades.
* Developing proposals that win new business.
* Identifying targets for clients to pursue.
* Helping professionals write personal business development plans.
Coaching is the single best activity in which to be proficient.The good news is that ‘BD’ is a learnable set of skills, and the abilities that make a top professional – being a good listener, analytical, expert questioners, organized and hard-working – are the same skills of those of top salespeople.
law firm marketing, marketing director, business developmentYou as the marketer must help the professionals write business development plans.The priorities of the plans are pursuing clients first, then referral sources, next becoming visible in a business organization and finally targeting business executives. It’s all about relationships – the more a professional has, the more clients he or she will have.
First you’ll need support from the top. Announce to firm management that you have a plan to increase its revenue significantly. That will get their attention.Then explain that you will work with the fee earners who have the most potential (not the new associates or the 40-year old ‘service partners’ who have no clients).Your plan is to magnify their new business production.
I recommend that professionals spend 200 hours per year on business development. This equals four hours per week – a goal easily attained by meeting a referral source for coffee, visiting a client’s offices at lunch and attending a trade association meeting at an event.
Here’s why this works. If you have 10 professionals who are active four hours a week, they should meet two ideal clients per week.This works out to 1,000 contacts per year. Let’s suppose they are just terrible at what they do and have a 90% failure rate. It still works out to 100+ new clients/matters per year. And that is a return on investment the partners can take to the bank.
Should I start my own blog?
Darren Rowse has a great article over at ProBlogger where he raises the question “Should I Change My Website Into a Blog?” He mentions six reasons to do so, while including five reasons you may not want to. Darren’s reasons include:
Reasons to do a blog:
1. “Blogs give Individuals, Companies and Brands ‘Voice’;
2. “Blogs are Conversational;
3. “Blogs build Trust;
4. “Blogs build Profile;
5. “Blogs are Immediate (meaning that you don’t have wait for your writings to be published); and
6. “Blogs are a doorway to Search Engines and Social Media.”
Reasons not to:
1. “Blogs Take Time to Mature (so don’t expect a quick return);
2. “Blogs Take Daily Work (not if you don’t post daily, two or three times a week can work);
3. “Blogs Take More than Writing (it can also involve monitoring comments, having a good design, marketing your site, etc.);
4. “Bloggers Can be Anti-Trust/Profile Building (meaning that depending on what you write and your tone, you could actually impact your reputation adversely); and
5. “Blogs Rely Upon YOU as a Conversation Starter.”
For higher visibility for your law practice, blogging may just be the answer. But if you aren’t going to make the commitment to sustain it, then maybe not.
So, the question is: Do you want to increase your visibility, dialogue, and credibility with your intended audience? Blogging is one vehicle to consider as part of your business development mix, IMHO.
Check out Darren’s article for more, such as whether to turn your web site into a blog or start a new site, as well as some recommended reading. You may also want to look over the 38 comments he got in response to his post to see what others think about the idea.
Reasons to do a blog:
1. “Blogs give Individuals, Companies and Brands ‘Voice’;
2. “Blogs are Conversational;
3. “Blogs build Trust;
4. “Blogs build Profile;
5. “Blogs are Immediate (meaning that you don’t have wait for your writings to be published); and
6. “Blogs are a doorway to Search Engines and Social Media.”
Reasons not to:
1. “Blogs Take Time to Mature (so don’t expect a quick return);
2. “Blogs Take Daily Work (not if you don’t post daily, two or three times a week can work);
3. “Blogs Take More than Writing (it can also involve monitoring comments, having a good design, marketing your site, etc.);
4. “Bloggers Can be Anti-Trust/Profile Building (meaning that depending on what you write and your tone, you could actually impact your reputation adversely); and
5. “Blogs Rely Upon YOU as a Conversation Starter.”
For higher visibility for your law practice, blogging may just be the answer. But if you aren’t going to make the commitment to sustain it, then maybe not.
So, the question is: Do you want to increase your visibility, dialogue, and credibility with your intended audience? Blogging is one vehicle to consider as part of your business development mix, IMHO.
Check out Darren’s article for more, such as whether to turn your web site into a blog or start a new site, as well as some recommended reading. You may also want to look over the 38 comments he got in response to his post to see what others think about the idea.
SEO or CPC?
This is the question that a lot of law firms and lawyers are facing in the ever changing online marketing game. For most, the simplest way is to just pay for a CPC campaign and be done with it, which depending on your market and practice, can be very effective, or a huge ripoff. CPC is very risky since their is no real measure of ROI, nor is their any guarantee that your competitors aren't just clicking away on your ads until you are gone for the day.
More and more, searchers are coming to respect the organic search results and are looking right past the CPC advertisers on Google, Yahoo! and more. If you can achieve search results in the top 10 of your given keywords then you will be getting a much higher visitor rate than from the CPC campaign. SEO is not an easy thing to take on by yourself either, there is a lot of technical work that goes into it as well as a lot of written copy work. It is best to hire a firm that specializes in law firm marketing online or a web design company that also does SEO, such as www.lawpromo.com.
I hope this helps you a little and be sure and do your research before going with just anyone for your SEO efforts, this is your lively hood.
More and more, searchers are coming to respect the organic search results and are looking right past the CPC advertisers on Google, Yahoo! and more. If you can achieve search results in the top 10 of your given keywords then you will be getting a much higher visitor rate than from the CPC campaign. SEO is not an easy thing to take on by yourself either, there is a lot of technical work that goes into it as well as a lot of written copy work. It is best to hire a firm that specializes in law firm marketing online or a web design company that also does SEO, such as www.lawpromo.com.
I hope this helps you a little and be sure and do your research before going with just anyone for your SEO efforts, this is your lively hood.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Do Law Firms Need Search Engine Marketing?
Of course it does. There is no doubt about it. Internet Legal Marketing allows attorneys to reach prospective clients far beyond the reach of traditional marketing or networking activities. Online marketing allows you to network with people you would not come into direct contact otherwise. Having multimedia content and blogging communities give your firm exposure that it just can't match in any other media for the price.
What does Internet Legal Marketing include?
Our Internet Legal Marketing strategies encompass many different aspects of online marketing including search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, blogs and pod casting. These elements, combined with a state of the art website, will dramatically increase traffic to your site and your overall exposure on the web.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most crucial ingredient of your Internet legal marketing strategy, pushing your firms' ranking in your specific practice areas into the top of the major search engine sites. SEO involves minor alterations to your website, selecting keywords that will generate targeted traffic, continually researching search engine algorithms and policies, and most importantly understanding your goals. Our proven marketing strategies and search engine optimization expertise will give you an effective and results-driven presence on the web. Pay per click advertising is also an effective way to reach potential clients, utilizing the same keyword targeted searching techniques on a pay per lead basis. PPC creates the opportunity to ensure placement of your ad without necessarily investing a large amount of your marketing dollar, making PPC an extremely attractive option and one that your firm should not ignore as a potential marketing technique.
Having a law blog or blawg is another excellent marketing tool for you and your firm. Your blawg is a database-driven tool that not only allows your firm to establish itself as a reliable, helpful authority on particular legal subject matters online, while also significantly elevating your search engine rankings. 14.8 million adults in the US downloaded an audio or video pod cast in the last month. Pod casting is one of the fastest growing technologies today, it allows for potential clients to download your multimedia content in a portable format that can be listened to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.. This is a great way to increase awareness for your firm while capitalizing on this new media format.
If your firm needs a new website to go along with your search engine optimization, we will refer you to our partners at LawPromo.com. They are a professional Legal Marketing and web design firm specializing in law firm web design. They can handle all of your design and blawg/multimedia needs.
What does Internet Legal Marketing include?
Our Internet Legal Marketing strategies encompass many different aspects of online marketing including search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, blogs and pod casting. These elements, combined with a state of the art website, will dramatically increase traffic to your site and your overall exposure on the web.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most crucial ingredient of your Internet legal marketing strategy, pushing your firms' ranking in your specific practice areas into the top of the major search engine sites. SEO involves minor alterations to your website, selecting keywords that will generate targeted traffic, continually researching search engine algorithms and policies, and most importantly understanding your goals. Our proven marketing strategies and search engine optimization expertise will give you an effective and results-driven presence on the web. Pay per click advertising is also an effective way to reach potential clients, utilizing the same keyword targeted searching techniques on a pay per lead basis. PPC creates the opportunity to ensure placement of your ad without necessarily investing a large amount of your marketing dollar, making PPC an extremely attractive option and one that your firm should not ignore as a potential marketing technique.
Having a law blog or blawg is another excellent marketing tool for you and your firm. Your blawg is a database-driven tool that not only allows your firm to establish itself as a reliable, helpful authority on particular legal subject matters online, while also significantly elevating your search engine rankings. 14.8 million adults in the US downloaded an audio or video pod cast in the last month. Pod casting is one of the fastest growing technologies today, it allows for potential clients to download your multimedia content in a portable format that can be listened to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.. This is a great way to increase awareness for your firm while capitalizing on this new media format.
If your firm needs a new website to go along with your search engine optimization, we will refer you to our partners at LawPromo.com. They are a professional Legal Marketing and web design firm specializing in law firm web design. They can handle all of your design and blawg/multimedia needs.
Law Firm Websites are a must!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, if you have any business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt, and you must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously because you only have one shot at making a good first impression
With more and more people relying on the internet to find legal services and representation, you can't afford to miss those potential clients. If you don't have a well executed, professional website, you're losing business to other law firms that do. It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your firm look bad.
That's where Law Promo comes in.
LawPromo has a solid understanding of what attorneys and law firms need in a successful website. Our award winning team and dedication to excellence are what make us stand out from other design firms. We understand that your company is unique and we can create a professional custom website that will increase traffic and visibility for your firm.
Capturing your potential clients' immediate attention is crucial. The viewer will judge the professionalism of the firm by the design of the website, making it mandatory to have a professional, attractive look. A well designed site will enhance the appearance of your firm and attract clients.
Professional Law Firm Web Design
Internet Legal Services Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Law Firm Web Design
Legal Marketing Blog
Law Firm Website
Web Design
If you don't have a web site yet, it's long past due, it's just not an optional tool any longer and if you do have one, it's probably due for a dusting off and an update.
Offering 3 different law firm web design packages, Law Promo caters all different sizes of law firms and attorneys, as well as the specific needs of each individual law firm. Law Promo's packages are designed to allow individual law firms to decide their needs, for example one law firm might be perfectly happy with a template design, and another may require setting up a database or implementing an extranet. These things are very different, not only in design, but also in cost effectiveness and time required to complete. THis approach allows no complications as well as no questions as to what exactly a lawyer is getting with each package deal.
With more and more people relying on the internet to find legal services and representation, you can't afford to miss those potential clients. If you don't have a well executed, professional website, you're losing business to other law firms that do. It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your firm look bad.
That's where Law Promo comes in.
LawPromo has a solid understanding of what attorneys and law firms need in a successful website. Our award winning team and dedication to excellence are what make us stand out from other design firms. We understand that your company is unique and we can create a professional custom website that will increase traffic and visibility for your firm.
Capturing your potential clients' immediate attention is crucial. The viewer will judge the professionalism of the firm by the design of the website, making it mandatory to have a professional, attractive look. A well designed site will enhance the appearance of your firm and attract clients.
Professional Law Firm Web Design
Internet Legal Services Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Law Firm Web Design
Legal Marketing Blog
Law Firm Website
Web Design
If you don't have a web site yet, it's long past due, it's just not an optional tool any longer and if you do have one, it's probably due for a dusting off and an update.
Offering 3 different law firm web design packages, Law Promo caters all different sizes of law firms and attorneys, as well as the specific needs of each individual law firm. Law Promo's packages are designed to allow individual law firms to decide their needs, for example one law firm might be perfectly happy with a template design, and another may require setting up a database or implementing an extranet. These things are very different, not only in design, but also in cost effectiveness and time required to complete. THis approach allows no complications as well as no questions as to what exactly a lawyer is getting with each package deal.
The Lateral Partner Power Play
Are law firms spending too much time and money branding the firm? We argue that in the age of the portable professional, strategies for promoting, retaining and attracting lateral partner talent — similar to the investment services model — is the path to long-term success.
How does a firm attract top lateral partners with large portable practices and at the same time retain its rainmakers? The solution is the same for both—demonstrate to potential and existing partners that the firm is focused on their success.
Wall Street clearly gets this. When Goldman Sachs reportedly paid out more than $16.5 billion in bonuses, The New Yorker explained, “talent is the most precious commodity on Wall Street; it’s what they sell, so it’s also what they have to pay for.”
At law firms, like all professional service organizations, talent is everything. But consider the difference in how much firms spend branding the firm versus what they spend branding the powerful business generators that are their individual partners.
Firms with genuine respect for their partners—and clients—never lose sight of the fact that clients hire the lawyers they trust, as opposed to law firms with letterhead they recognize. To this end, firms likely to succeed in today’s fluid market are those that view themselves as “brand marketers” rather than the “brand.”
Think of the way the Coca-Cola Company markets Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dasani, or how Apple creates marketing campaigns for iPod, iTunes, and Mac. Just as General Motors bestows a hefty budget to its premier brand, Cadillac, the lateral that has been heavily wooed should expect, upon joining a new firm, to receive marketing dollars devoted to significantly increasing their value during their first year there.
Working with new laterals to develop and implement strategic, sophisticated marketing campaigns enhances their likelihood of success—and sends a clear message to other potential laterals that the firm is dedicated to helping its professionals grow their practices.
Law firms spend millions in branding campaigns in attempts to attract and institutionalize clients. Down the hall, the recruiting department, operating under the assumption that lawyers and their books of business are portable, has little or no marketing support devoted to recruiting partners.
Free agency has created a strong sellers’ market for laterals. Consider that The American Lawyer reported that between October 2005 and October 2006, 2,429 partners changed firms among the AmLaw 200—an average of 12 partners per firm!
This situation exists because clients control the state of play. As long as clients agree, lawyers are free to move as often as they like. To some extent, the legal market has always operated this way. Time and time again, in-house counsel say they hire lawyers not law firms. To avoid this attrition and client instability, firms must recognize where client loyalty lies. The key to obtaining and keeping top clients is keeping their lawyers happy.
When clients say they hire lawyers not firms, we know that practically speaking, what clients really mean is they hire great lawyers who work for “safe” firms. But what makes a firm safe? Safe means a firm with an established reputation for success; a reputation obtained by the results its individual lawyers achieve over time. By devoting marketing dollars to helping laterals solidify and expand their reputations, firms will find that clients come and stay too.
Smart firms should demonstrate to highly sought-after laterals that when they join the firm, an aggressive, sustained, customized marketing campaign will be immediately initiated on their behalf. This is an appealing commitment that’s hard to ignore.
Savvy candidates understand the importance of marketing support, and include marketing expectations in negotiations. They ask questions such as, “how many seminars will you help me produce this year?” And “how will you position my practice in the media?” And, “what will my personal branding budget be?”
Though the acquisition of lateral talent represents a significant investment in time and resources, oddly, many firms fail to engage in much business strategizing at the outset of the recruitment process. Firms frequently do not provide recruiters with enough guidance on the type of candidate likely to add true value to a firm’s current service offering.
In considering potential laterals, firm managers should carefully examine their long-term marketing plans, and identify and select candidates based on these needs. Procter & Gamble would not have purchased Gillette without a strategic marketing plan in place to leverage it. Smart firms ask difficult questions such as: “Where is our practice going, and what talent do we need to make it stronger?” “What will the debt market look like in five years, and who do we need to capitalize on that?” “What business could we get with partner ‘X’ that neither of us can get on our own?”
In an era of free agency, talent is everything. The firms that do the best job of articulating why lateral superstars will fare best with them—and then back up their plans with strategic, focused marketing support, will find they are able to successfully institutionalize the talent they need to attract the clients they want.
How does a firm attract top lateral partners with large portable practices and at the same time retain its rainmakers? The solution is the same for both—demonstrate to potential and existing partners that the firm is focused on their success.
Wall Street clearly gets this. When Goldman Sachs reportedly paid out more than $16.5 billion in bonuses, The New Yorker explained, “talent is the most precious commodity on Wall Street; it’s what they sell, so it’s also what they have to pay for.”
At law firms, like all professional service organizations, talent is everything. But consider the difference in how much firms spend branding the firm versus what they spend branding the powerful business generators that are their individual partners.
Firms with genuine respect for their partners—and clients—never lose sight of the fact that clients hire the lawyers they trust, as opposed to law firms with letterhead they recognize. To this end, firms likely to succeed in today’s fluid market are those that view themselves as “brand marketers” rather than the “brand.”
Think of the way the Coca-Cola Company markets Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dasani, or how Apple creates marketing campaigns for iPod, iTunes, and Mac. Just as General Motors bestows a hefty budget to its premier brand, Cadillac, the lateral that has been heavily wooed should expect, upon joining a new firm, to receive marketing dollars devoted to significantly increasing their value during their first year there.
Working with new laterals to develop and implement strategic, sophisticated marketing campaigns enhances their likelihood of success—and sends a clear message to other potential laterals that the firm is dedicated to helping its professionals grow their practices.
Law firms spend millions in branding campaigns in attempts to attract and institutionalize clients. Down the hall, the recruiting department, operating under the assumption that lawyers and their books of business are portable, has little or no marketing support devoted to recruiting partners.
Free agency has created a strong sellers’ market for laterals. Consider that The American Lawyer reported that between October 2005 and October 2006, 2,429 partners changed firms among the AmLaw 200—an average of 12 partners per firm!
This situation exists because clients control the state of play. As long as clients agree, lawyers are free to move as often as they like. To some extent, the legal market has always operated this way. Time and time again, in-house counsel say they hire lawyers not law firms. To avoid this attrition and client instability, firms must recognize where client loyalty lies. The key to obtaining and keeping top clients is keeping their lawyers happy.
When clients say they hire lawyers not firms, we know that practically speaking, what clients really mean is they hire great lawyers who work for “safe” firms. But what makes a firm safe? Safe means a firm with an established reputation for success; a reputation obtained by the results its individual lawyers achieve over time. By devoting marketing dollars to helping laterals solidify and expand their reputations, firms will find that clients come and stay too.
Smart firms should demonstrate to highly sought-after laterals that when they join the firm, an aggressive, sustained, customized marketing campaign will be immediately initiated on their behalf. This is an appealing commitment that’s hard to ignore.
Savvy candidates understand the importance of marketing support, and include marketing expectations in negotiations. They ask questions such as, “how many seminars will you help me produce this year?” And “how will you position my practice in the media?” And, “what will my personal branding budget be?”
Though the acquisition of lateral talent represents a significant investment in time and resources, oddly, many firms fail to engage in much business strategizing at the outset of the recruitment process. Firms frequently do not provide recruiters with enough guidance on the type of candidate likely to add true value to a firm’s current service offering.
In considering potential laterals, firm managers should carefully examine their long-term marketing plans, and identify and select candidates based on these needs. Procter & Gamble would not have purchased Gillette without a strategic marketing plan in place to leverage it. Smart firms ask difficult questions such as: “Where is our practice going, and what talent do we need to make it stronger?” “What will the debt market look like in five years, and who do we need to capitalize on that?” “What business could we get with partner ‘X’ that neither of us can get on our own?”
In an era of free agency, talent is everything. The firms that do the best job of articulating why lateral superstars will fare best with them—and then back up their plans with strategic, focused marketing support, will find they are able to successfully institutionalize the talent they need to attract the clients they want.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Michael Khouri signs with Law Promo for Website
Renowned Orange County attorney Michael Khouri has commissioned Law Promo for his new law firms website design and SEO. Law Promo has been developing attorney websites for several years now and are very proud to have the www.khourilaw.com project in our hands.
Michael Khouri has been practicing law in Orange County for over 26 years. He is considered an expert in professional licensing defense and the defense of Medi-Care/Medi-Cal audits, and has tried in excess of 100 cases. An expert in representing health care providers, Michael has proven his abilities with a number of cases and has spoken at multiple events. He is recognized throughout California and the Country for his integrity and firm resolve to help his clients get the best possible resolution to their licensing or criminal matters.
Michael Khouri has been practicing law in Orange County for over 26 years. He is considered an expert in professional licensing defense and the defense of Medi-Care/Medi-Cal audits, and has tried in excess of 100 cases. An expert in representing health care providers, Michael has proven his abilities with a number of cases and has spoken at multiple events. He is recognized throughout California and the Country for his integrity and firm resolve to help his clients get the best possible resolution to their licensing or criminal matters.
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