Reproduced from LMA The Virginias Chapter fall newsletter, Practice Marketing.

In January 2000, after only five years of being an associate, Ken McArthur became the Director in Charge of Marketing at Richmond, VA based DurretteBradshaw.

Since that time the firm has made sweeping changes in its business development strategy and as a result, has seen profits per partner soar (shares purchased in 2000 are now worth five times the amount).

Helen Bertelli discusses with Ken McArthur the secret to the firm’s success.

________

What has been the firm’s main business development strategy?
Less is more: Specialization. For the first 15 years of the firm’s existence we held ourselves out as a full service law firm. But in 2000 we made a conscious decision to focus on a few highly specialized core practices where we knew we had the capacity and experience to become the best in our field, thus we have fewer competitors. Now we don’t face the level  of competition that other full service firms face who are trying to be all things to all people. This has been the key to our success; once we changed our thinking on this, we began to see profits improve dramatically.

Give an example of this.
A few years ago our bankruptcy practice launched a successful sub-specialty called the “receiverships practice group.” The group forms special receiverships to recover money taken in Ponzi schemes (sham financial arrangements orchestrated to bilk investors). After those responsible are prosecuted, the SEC appoints a receiver – often our practice - to track down the stolen money and form a fund to repay victims of the fraud. So far our receiverships practice has recovered more than $100 million.

What is your background and how did you become so focused on marketing?
While I was a young associate at DurretteBradshaw, about three years out of school, I had an experience that changed me. I was burning the midnight oil when senior partner Junie Bradshaw, walked by my office (he had just attended an opera performance), and asked what I was doing. When I told him I was grinding away on a big litigation matter, he said: “I’m going to give you a piece of advice I hope you’ll remember.”

“It’s great that you work so hard and that you are devoted to the firm; the partners appreciate this. But it’s not enough just to work hard. You have to ask yourself this: do you want to be a “go to” associate, or do you want to be a partner? If you want to be a partner you need to make yourself Indispensable. There are only two ways to do this, 1) generate your own business 2) or become part of a very specialized area.”

I really took this advice to heart. Shortly after this experience I started the “Associates Marketing Committee” designed to tap the resources of our associates, many of whom had good contacts at Richmond companies. We would hold meetings once a week to put together business development lists; then we would begin taking prospective clients out to lunch and dinner. As the relationships developed we would bring in partners to join our teams and make presentations to potential clients. Ultimately, young as we were, we had a lot more contacts in the community that were valuable to the firm than we - or the firm - had realized, and we were able to bring in quite a bit of business. I believe this success played a big role in why I was asked to become partner and Director in Charge of Marketing relatively early in my career.

What’s your top three pieces of marketing advice for young lawyers?
First, discipline yourself to devote at least a few hours every single week to active marketing. Don’t rely on the marketing department to get your name out there. It’s tough because at lot of young attorneys have time pressures and high billable requirements. But it’s important to begin actively marketing from day one. I guest lecture a law firm practice management course at University of Richmond and I can tell you there’s no training in law school - that I’m aware of – in marketing.

Thus, my second piece of advice is to get to know your marketing professionals in your firm because they are a terrific resource for professional help and advice. Look for resources like the LMA where you can find articles, seminars and opportunities for post law school education on business development tactics.

And last but not least, treat marketing education with the same level of seriousness as you would continuing legal education. Your ability to generate business and retain business is essential to your practice; you can be the world’s best lawyer but if you don’t have any clients, you‘re not going to be working.