First Place
Bingham McCutchen LLP — Bingham-McKee Nelson Transition

What the Judges said:

Bingham’s ability to go above and beyond a simple press release announcement was impressive. The multi-faceted announcement of something strategically important was thoughtful and well-executed. The announcement was clever and the strategy was innovative. 

This announcement was used to tell the outside world about Bingham's most recent combination with McKee Nelson LLP in August 2009. McKee had a stellar reputation in the areas of structured finance, tax and financial institutions litigation. The combination immediately gave Bingham premier, global capabilities in these areas. The transition period was crucial. Bingham had to get the word out that McKee was now part of Bingham’s global platform — the same powerful talent, but on a much larger scale. This announcement ran in the print and online versions of the Wall Street Journal. The ad was also repurposed for other visibility initiatives, like the booth displays at major conferences McKee had sponsored for years.

Summary of Outcomes

The announcement ran in the print versions of the Wall Street Journal Eastern and Western editions, where it scored 1,166,436 impressions. On wsj.com, the ad ran for three weeks in areas targeting the legal demographic. It scored 134,012 impressions.

In addition, simultaneous coverage of the combination was plentiful and positive, focusing on Bingham’s strategy and ability to grow during a global recession. Media outlets covering the combination included the Boston Globe, Bloomberg, the New York Times, Reuters, the Deal, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the Lawyer, the Washington Post, Law360, Legal Week, Legal Times and Above the Law.