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Amazing Opportunities Hidden in Plain Sight: Your Chambers Submission
Best Law Firm Logos
CI in Law Firms Misguided or Masterwork?
Diversify or Die: How Adding Ancillary Businesses Can Get Your Firm Through Tough Times
Facebook’s IPO Might Have Fizzled, but It’s Not Time to Delete Your Page
Farming the Green Space
How Can Individuals Change Law Firms?
Identifying Your Social Media Champions
Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?
Lawyers Use Smartphone Apps to Market Themselves
The Good Gift: Check Out the Charity You Use
One in Three Lawyers Plans to Hire in Third Quarter

Amazing Opportunities Hidden in Plain Sight: Your Chambers Submission 
The Legal Watercooler (06/07/2012)
Being tasked with preparing a firm’s Chambers submissions is not considered the plum job in a law firm marketing department, but according to the writers of this article, the person responsible for doing so has something no one else inside of a modern law firm today has: everything the firm needs to effectively position and cross-sell its services across practice areas, industries, and the whole firm. Those in this role should take the long view by considering the types of work that the matters reflect – including industries, legal issues, trends, etc. – and making a note of them. Reducing and summarizing matters in this way will help develop a stronger understanding of the practice group and what types of matters the group considers to be the strongest. Observations and analyses can be used in several ways, including individual attorney biographies, practice descriptions, credentialing opportunities, cross-selling, and for furthering a career.
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Best Law Firm Logos 
Lawyerist (06/05/12) Conroy, Karin
Marketing consultant Karin Conroy writes that the design of a law firm's brands and logos is important, "not as important as the reputation that they are representing, but visuals that support and reinforce that reputation as well as a key part of an overall marketing strategy." She cites the poor execution of primarily text-based logos by most law firms, and maintains that "there is no escaping the fact that people make decisions based on visual cues and a logo is a great place to start. Well-designed law firm logos should be memorable, establish your style, and tie your marketing efforts together." Conroy stresses that one must have clear goals in mind when designing a logo, and be capable of supplying effective feedback to guarantee the success of that design. She provides examples of effective logos, which satisfy the criteria "that the logo should be unique in color or font, should express and support the firm's overall image, and have elements that are memorable." Ramsey Law, for instance, sports a clean logo that uses color effectively, and creates a memorable image with the use of a central capital R. The Meyers & O'Hara logo utilizes a memorable font, ampersand graphic, and a simple but professional choice of color. The Orrick law firm's logo, meanwhile, is an excellent example of a memorable graphic, font use, and simple color. The green hue is distinct, and the use of a large capital O is easily remembered.
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CI in Law Firms Misguided or Masterwork? 
3 Geeks and a Law Blog (05/21/2012)
Although Competitive Intelligence (CI) occurs in law firms, it seems to have remained a mystery both to the legal community and the CI community. There is a disconnect between what service providers and professional associations provide, and the requirements of the industry needs. There are three ways that law firms are different so that vendors are unsure how to approach them, making it more difficult for CI people to influence the decisions at firms. The first difference is that, although there are large national and international firms, the industry is still relatively small and isolated. However, most CI service providers appear willing to work with CI practitioners to tailor solutions, which means that the CI practitioner must figure out his or her needs and work with a vendor. The second difference is that law firms' management structure is still primarily a partnership structure with conflicting priorities. The law firm CI practitioner must deal with this challenge by working slowly to manage expectations. The third difference is the idea that CI in law firms supports both the practice and the business of law. Industry outsiders may not understand that there is a subtle difference between legal CI practitioners and those in other industries. Law firm CI must focus on the business as well as what happens from a legislative and regulatory point of view.
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Diversify or Die: How Adding Ancillary Businesses Can Get Your Firm Through Tough Times 
ABA Journal (06/04/12) Francis Ward, Stephanie
Avanti Law Group's managing member, Raquel A. Salas, in an interview with ABA Journal, discusses her experiences as an ancillary business owner following the firm's purchase of Universal Income Tax & Accounting Services, an accounting firm. Avanti was looking to improve its business and walk-ins in winter months, and it saw an accounting firm as an opportunity to bring in tax-related customers. Eventually, the firm discovering quite a bit of cross-selling between to two industries -- the law firm practiced primarily in areas of bankruptcy law and immigration benefits, both of which are areas where taxes must be in order. In terms of marketing, Avanti used the database of the clients already in existence, sending letters to let clients know of the changes. Larry Kohn, an executive coach, says marketing strategies for law firms and accounting firms actually can be quite similar, because they are service oriented. The most important focus is lead generation and meeting new people. It is important to note that throughout the process, even with regards to marketing, Avanti has been tremendously diligent in safeguarding against conflicts of interest and ethics violations. A natural distinction between the nature of the law firm’s practice and this ancillary business has been made and kept.
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Facebook’s IPO Might Have Fizzled, but It’s Not Time to Delete Your Page 
The Legal Watercooler (05/23/2012)
A lot of people are talking about Facebook's IPO, which fizzled upon launch. Some say it is an indication that Facebook is just a fad, but its most recent statistics suggest otherwise. The website had 901 million monthly active users at the end of March 2012, with approximately 80 percent of its monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada. During March 2012, on average 398 million users were active with Facebook on at least six out of the last seven days. There were more than 125 billion friend connections on Facebook at the end of March 2012. As such, until users and brands begin fleeing Facebook, there is something significant behind the site. Brands both large and small are pushing consumers to their Facebook pages to foster interaction not otherwise available. When a user comments, likes, or shares a Facebook page or post, it is shared on the user’s personal wall, thereby providing that page a referral or a tacit approval. The problem for Facebook, though, is that it needs to turn that valuable activity into cash. For law firms and the legal industry, Facebook is a trend to follow, not ignore.
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Farming the Green Space 
Corcoran's Business of Law Blog (12/10/2009) Corcoran, Timothy
Many organizations invest valuable resources pursuing the wrong targets, thereby wasting time and energy nurturing the wrong clients. However, even in recessionary times when top line revenue is hard to find, it pays to pursue the right targets and nurture the right clients. A strategy for determining which clients are the right targets, law firms can list their clients on an axis and their products on another axis to create a simple grid. An "X" should be placed where a client has already purchased (or rejected) a product, and the remaining boxes, the “white space,” reflect the firm's opportunity focus. This white space analysis is a simple but effective tool to allocate limited time and energy to opportunities that matter. Still, the greatest challenge with the white space analysis is its lack of context; it does not speak to individual client need. Similarly, no firm should promote every product equally, because some generate higher profits, some create long-term switching costs, some products are new and need traction, and others are fading in prominence. The more advanced marketing approach is to incorporate internal and external data points to generate a more robust footprint of the ideal target or client. A better metric than the highest-revenue producing client is lifetime value. In a law firm, this may be the client that generates above-average fees for 5 or more years, ideally across multiple practices. The data points selected for analysis will vary by firm, and they will vary from year to year. The “ideal” client is a moving target, but it is far more beneficial to pursue ideal clients and targets than to assume the highest revenue producing clients from last year.
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How Can Individuals Change Law Firms? 
National Law Journal (05/31/12) Dayton, Adrian
There are two things law firms can learn from amazing sports comebacks: firms are made up of extremely talented and high-achieving individuals who can be effective when given the right direction, and an understanding of how lawyers think and work is key to bringing about change. Mike Krenn, a former managing director of DLA Venture Pipeline, and Jill Weber, director of marketing at Leonard, Street & Deinard, share their insights about helping law firms. Krenn founded a program to connect entrepreneurs with venture capital firms, while parent law firm DLA Piper would facilitate the meetings between the two interested parties. The project has been a success for the firm and for entrepreneurs, helping more than 150 companies acquire venture funding. Krenn says the program was a success because those involved understand attorneys, as well as how to make everything part of building the success and the books of the individual lawyers. Meanwhile, at her firm, Weber was tasked with increasing the books of business of the 20 lawyers with the most business development potential at her firm by $10 million over 2 years. To determine the best way to do this, she interviewed lawyers and researched which methods were most effective in increasing their books of business. The program she came up with had three components: individual business plans, group coaching, and outside individual coaching. Despite incentives, there was push-back. The higher goals made lawyers uncomfortable, but the qualitative results were impressive. Weber was able to use the lawyers' competitive instincts and drive to help them achieve remarkable things.
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Identifying Your Social Media Champions 
National Law Journal (05/17/12) Dayton, Adrian

People born during the late decades of the 20th century grew up with computers and do not remember a world without modern technology, but the baby-boomers remember a time when there was not a computer on every desktop. All of these so-called digital dinosaurs received their legal training and spent most of their careers in a predigital, pre-Internet landscape. This creates a major challenge for law firms, because management committees comprise more digital dinosaurs then digital natives. too often, fear of new technologies wins over, and firms continue doing things the way they have always been done. Innovative firms escape this cycle, in large part by identifying champions from the older, higher-ranking generations -- a "lead from the top" strategy". For firms where the CEO or managing partner is not a champion of innovation, there is always reverse-mentoring, whereby younger lawyers coach more senior attorneys on basic skills. There is a specific profile of lawyers most likely to become champions: they are lawyers in transition, including senior associates, junior partners, and lateral hires. Bringing about innovation requires creating a group of champions who can come together on a regular basis and share their successes and challenges. It requires providing the group with the tools to use social media effectively and providing them with the right resources. The good news for firms dominated by digital dinosaurs is that as technology advances, it becomes easier to use.
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Is Your Website Mobile Friendly? 
Lawyerist (05/29/12)
There will be 788 million mobile-only Internet users by 2015, according to a prediction by the Cisco Visual Networking Index. This progress could leave behind lawyers with information not easily found and viewed on a mobile device may be left behind. Law firms that cannot be found on a mobile search engine, or that have Web sites with a poor mobile user experience, could lose potential clients and referrals. Now might be the best time for firms to begin planning for a mobile-friendly version of their Web sites. This includes exploring how the target audience uses mobile devices, what they are searching for, and how the firm's Web site can provide that. The site must be mobile friendly, simple, easy to navigate, and must load quickly. This may require a complete redesign of the firm's site, or the addition of a mobile optimized site to their existing site.
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Lawyers Use Smartphone Apps to Market Themselves 
CBS Baltimore (06/06/12) Tousignant, Kristi
Attorneys are moving toward smartphone apps to market their business. Over a year ago, the firm Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin, White LLC in Baltimore began offering the app "Crash 911" to internal clients. This app features a camera option for taking photos and video, as well as a GPS for marking locations and a form for the relevant accident information. The Law Offices of Michael A. Freedman P.A. in Owings Mills, Md., launched an app for the personal injury practice last month. This app helps the user collect necessary information after an accident, such as witness phone numbers, license plate numbers, and the name and badge number of the responding police officer. This information can be emailed directly to the law firm. Such apps help attract clients and makes it easier to construct cases and help establish liability. Houston-based Stratopy designed the app for the Freedman offices; 65 percent of the company's business now comes from law firms in different practice areas. "As the mobile device and mobile industry grows, people are going to turn more and more to those kinds of devices for basic information consumption," said Stratopy President Chris Reichard. "When they can get precise information they want in a format that’s clean and crisp and user-friendly, they are going to turn to those apps." Generally, apps take about a month to complete, but law firms that are less tech-savvy may take longer. Martin Lyons, an employee with app designer AB Small Business Marketing in Kalamazoo, Mich., pointed out that the key to business using apps for successful marketing is to ensure good search engine optimization so that the app shows up first when people search for it.
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The Good Gift: Check Out the Charity You Use 
ABA Journal (06/01/12) Berson, Susan A.
A lawyer's desire to do good often extends beyond satisfying clients to taking on pro bono work and making financial donations to chosen charities, but before donating, they should consider several strategies to maximize philanthropic value. The first is to do due diligence. This can be done by obtaining a copy of the IRS Form 990 that charities must file, which shows how the charity is using its resources. Lawyers can also do site visits, check the charity out through Guidestar or Charity Navigator, and Google the management. Lawyers can combine their philanthropy with marketing by sponsoring fundraisers and volunteering their time in order to boost their firm’s profile. Both activities allow attorneys to network and to be introduced in a positive way to community leaders with similar interests. United Way, for example, is a good start for lawyers wanting to meet businesspeople in their communities. “Small, local charities love having lawyers on their boards,” says Eileen Heisman, president and CEO of National Philanthropic Trust, a charity that manages donor-advised funds. “But do pick and choose only causes that are important to you. If you catch yourself thinking during a meeting, ‘Why did I agree to do this?’ the time you’re spending there is probably not the best use of it for you or the charity.”
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One in Three Lawyers Plans to Hire in Third Quarter 
Robert Half International News Release (06/12/12)
Nearly one-third (32%) of lawyers interviewed for the quarterly Robert Half Legal Hiring Index plan to hire full-time legal staff during the third quarter of 2012, while just 2% anticipate staff reductions. The net 30% of respondents projecting an increase in hiring activity is up eight points from the previous quarter's forecast. Law firms are expected to do the majority of the hiring in the upcoming quarter. Business optimism also is improving. Eighty-four percent of lawyers polled are at least somewhat confident in their organizations' growth prospects for the third quarter, up 16 points from the second-quarter survey. The three most in-demand positions are lawyers, paralegals, and legal secretaries.
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