Law And More

BigLaw - Marketing Has Become Zero-Sum Game

Like so many industries. the business of the large law firm has changed. Actually, the only constant since the global financial crash is that demand remains flat or declining.

Therefore, the game of business development is a zero-sum one. Increasing market share will come from the business of competitors.

Yet those key business development strategies, explains David Lat at Abovethelaw.com, are fairly prosaic. He had attended the panel "Business Development Coaching from Chief Marketing Officers" at the Practicing Law Institute. Here is Lat's article.

The five key strategies are:

Develop relationships, both externally and within the law firm. In so many professional services business comes through other people. Those could range from former/present clients to a colleague. As Lat puts it, the game is relationship-driven. 

Know your clients and their industry. The current client requires the lawyers representing them to already have a deep understanding of their particular company and the industry as a whole. They are no longer willing to pay lawyers to acquire that knowledge. For years, smart lawyers have been saying that they are there to solve companies' business problems. The tools they are using are legal ones. 

View business development broadly. The chief marketing officer has to focus on more than stand-alone tactics such as creating pitch books. They can create new value by analyzing and improving every factor which attracts interest in the law firm's services and moves prospects to the close. Those could include niches of specialization and pricing.

Leverage social media. There can be a large payoff in this for niche lawyers. Through long-form blogging and a presence on LinkedIn Updates, they can establish powerful brandnames as experts and become influencers.

Learn how to manage media. Being quoted in media as an expert on a point of law can become a magnet attracting new clients. However, media relationships can get tricky when a client is involved in high-profile transactions or litigation. For those the law firm, as do many Fortune 100 companies, should centralize media relationships. Everything goes through that gatekeeper. That includes what media invitations to accept and the general scripting of the law firm's position.

To the five, I would add two recommendations: 

Monitoring what the competition is doing. That could be as simple as tracking their search engine ranking and what key words they use. 

 Creating an ecosystem. This is how Disney got to dominate family entertainment. And it was how Barbie controlled the doll world. The genius of the late Steve Jobs was transforming Apple marketing into an ecosystem. Tech became Everything Apple.

As I explain in this article, it's necessary to expand the brand beyond its own borders.

The push-outs could include foundations, high-profile annual conferences, presenting TED talks, media-worthy pro bono work, and partnerships with other companies in other industries. 

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Ecosystems - What Law Firms Could Learn From Barbie

Law firms experimenting with marketing approaches new to them are hearing a lot about positioning and packaging their services as an "ecosystem."

Essentially that approach simulates the species' daily and long-term struggle in the real world to respond to threats and opportunities. 

The case study presented to illustrate how that works - and very successfully so - could be Mattel's Barbie brand.

Barbie was not put out there as a stand-alone product.

The phenomenon, which scaled for years before it started dying, was designed to always connect in real time to the user and the purchaser, that is, the parent.

When girly-girls were the social norm, there were the sexy outfits, pink furniture to hang out in, points of view such as math is tough, and the all-American boyfriend.

With changing times came the career meme.

As Susan Baker details in her book "New Consumer Marketing: Managing a Living Demand System," there were and still are Barbie fan clubs, Barbie conventions, lines of merchandise such as Barbie logo clothing, and animated videos such as "Barbie in the Nutcracker." Most importantly, the brand was and is licensed out, extending its reach - and profits.

Likewise, the law firm, even the small or mid-sized one, is short-sighted in being a stand-alone service.

The brand that scales creates and keeps modifying an ecosystem.

In his article "Create An Ecosystem of Products," Daniel Priestley puts it this way:

" ... your business will take off when you have achieved a mix of products and services that all work together to maximize the value exchange in every customer relationship."

How does that play out for a law firm?

There is, for example, the integrated social media messaging. No longer will there be the isolated announcement on LinkedIn Updates about a new partner.

The text explicitly states how that development provides value for clients, society, and the legal system. Each character introduced into Barbie's universe was intended to enhance the user's experience. Not just a novelty to freshen the brand.

For the law firm, there are the special events to tutor businesses about the growing peril or opportunity (depending if the firm is plaintiff or defense) of the public nuisance legal strategy. Currently, Jones Day, representing client Sherwin-Williams in the landmark California lead paint public nuisance litigation, could be doing just that.

There are the books, the TED talks, and partnerships with other professional services firms. From the latter could come a low-cost legal journey for clients through family court.

There's transparency about lobbying. And narratives created about how influencers are on the front lines of progress. Yes, it's the law firm as influencer. That can be framed as a plus, not something done in a stealth mode.

There's openness, such as accepting payment in cryptocurrencies. 

That's how the ecosystem might play out currently. In 2019, there could be very different threats and opportunities.

In the legal sector, digital media outlet Abovethelaw.com has been able to flourish because founder David Lat structured it as an ecosystem. From the get-go, there was a mix of services and products which connected directly to the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of the target markets - law students and junior lawyers.

Reflection: Is there a simple way of thinking about the ecosystem? Yes. It used to be thought of as "integrated marketing." Every tactic must fit with the strategy and create new value.

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Rules for Radicals + Digital Technology - Getting Our Way W/O Lawyers

When Hillary Clinton was a fresh (and female) face in the political scene, she brought union organizer Saul Alinsky to the mainstream.

His tactics - "Rules for Radicals" - she had analyzed in her college senior thesis. What stuck with us was the lesson to figure out the informal leadership in a neighborhood, then press that button.

Later, as that face began to represent entrenched politics, community organizer Barack Obama brought new lessons.

Part of the "The Audacity of Hope" was insight about leveraging technology to blow up the status quo. Smart. After all, digital communications got him elected twice.

Even in this supposed era of the imperial presidency, ordinary people, including those like myself over-70 (The Invisible Class), can change anything.

That's what I have been amazed to discover here in Eastern Ohio.

Take the dog poop problem. Which no one seemed to want to bother witn one section of a 400-unit residential complex, the feces were piling up. In general, neighbors ignored it. "I don't look" was the standard answer. Many were Millennials, saving up to buy a house which is affordable in this region.

Then, in the process of talking this situation up, I hit up against that informal leader.

From growing up in a dysfunctional family, she knew her way around making the intolerable okay. Tirelessly she directly complained to onsite property management, the out-of-town management company, and more.

She gave us handful of vigilantes their contact information.

She "deputized" us to police the area and confront miscreants.

I added the bit of creativity of identifying myself as a member of the mythical formal Committee to Eradicate Dog Poop Menace. As dogs were in the process of defecating, we stood by. A waste disposal bag in our hand. A grim look on our face. 

A stunner. No more unpicked-up dog poop.

Over-70, no, I don't have to move to a better maintained complex. Like those old ladies in pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey, I can look forward to being found dead in an apartment I will live in forever. How comforting in these turbulent times.

The Obama tech fundamental produced change even faster. After all, that's how tech operates.

The first time I tried that out was last year. I was determined not let a national financial institution get away with having made a mistake on my investment account and wasting my time. At first I huffed and puffed. Nothing. Then I blogged about it. 

Two departments of the bank called me. Both compensated me for my "inconvenience." That was classified as a "credit." This week I will find out how the IRS treats that bit of a windfall.

In the same year, a client stiffed me. I turned that over to a collection agency. Nothing was happening until I blogged about the legalities involved. I knew them from watching crime shows, fictional and real, on television. Payment was made to the debt collector the day the post appeared.

Flushed with success, I am reaching back into the past, assessing what wrongs I can now right. And applying rules for radicals, with plenty of hope.

My little life on planet earth had not been an easy one. God bless America and political mentors ranging from Alinsky to Obama.

Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Manhattan Law Firm Equity Partners - In Case You Don't Make Cut for Frank E. Campbell

Corpses make for great theatre.

There are the dead king and the skull of the court jester in "Hamlet."  

In the "Law & Order" franchise, producer Dick Wolf continually had bodies being dug up.

Amid the world of wealth, power, and influence of Manhattan, corpses are showcased at Frank E. Campbell funeral home. There, the bodies Fred Trump (yes, the U.S. President's father). Jackie Kennedy, and Walter Cronkite were featured. But, not everyone can make the cut. Not even equity partners in the Manhattan offices of BigLaw.

Given the dramatic possibility associated with a human being's last appearance on earth, partners might consider stage crafting their own wakes. That could cement a legacy.

For example, communications expert and university professor Mark Misercola and I blocked out this idea for how he would be remembered. A collector of and blogger about classic cars, Dead Mark would be laid out in his favorite one.

Or, his family could rent for the viewing a roadster from the gilded age he longed to make his own but could not afford. I would opt for the motor car Matthew Crawley crashed in "Downton Abbey."

The corpse in the car would be the visual scripting of how Live Mark enjoyed the engineering, external design, interior, and ride of the vehicles of times past. In Connecticut Live Mark shares that with other classic car collectors. And, through his blog and social networks that unique kind of pleasure globally.

At the viewing, which could be in a suburban garage, those paying their respects can retrieve tales about cars no longer with us. But which embedded so much meaning. Live Mark especially welcomes stories of how immigrants to the U.S. made a car their first purchase. Always, they were out there waxing the car and cleaning the interior. The pride radiated to the whole family during the Sunday drive. 

It would enhance life now for others to join Live Mark in strategically staging their wakes.

If you lack the courage and imagination, sure, I can parachute in and assist. That is included in my services.

Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Legal Marketers - Digital Not Numbers Game

Digital media is now a mature industry.

Sure, some early adopters have not only survived the volatility of the internet. They have scaled and keep on scaling.

The iconic example is the Drudge Report. It had established its presence by breaking The Intern Story, that is, Monica Lewinsky's quasi-sexual relationship with then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.

But many others haven't fared as well.

Gawker, whose MO was to max attention, pushed the envelope too far. One celebrity it flamed with a video tape - Hulk Hogan - pushed back. His lawsuit, funded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel (who also had been pushed too far by Gawker), ended Gawker.

And, some, such as Buzzfeed, seem to be cool. The in crowd is reading it. Social influencers link to it. Digital media startups identify themselves as The Next Level Buzzfeed.

However, what we know is that Buzzfeed is in the now-classic pickle of being able to create lots of attention without producing enough revenue to pass The Success Test. Today, many members of media, establishment and digital, are running with the story that Laurene Powell, widow of Steve Jobs, could be the philanthropist who "saves" Buzzfeed. Here is one bit of coverage from Recode.

That may or may not happen.

What is the takeaway for not only digital media but also all digital communications (including what public relations wizards and social influencers conjure up) is this: Attention, in itself, means less and less.

To be commercially relevant is how, specifically, attention is achieving objectives. Those range from producing revenue and then profits to enhancing the brand, in measurable ways, of an individual, cause, or organization.

Partner at public affairs firm kglobal - Gene Grabowski - presented a brilliant case study of how attention-getting can actually be counterproductive.

In his seminal opinion-editorial, Grabowski describes the additional problems created by lawyer Lisa Bloom. She had been representing alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein. The bottom line on that one is that Bloom lacked the background to manage the strategies and tactics associated with publicity. Here you can read Grabowski's analysis. 

What is most counterintuitive in digital communications is that how a blog post which received only minor traffic resulted in new business development for a law firm or a sponsored content placement for a social influencer.

That's The First Law of Digital Media.

The Second Law of Digital Media is to not assume that seemingly cool media players are the ones to partner with on projects.

Last year I endured the nightmare of such a supposed cool entity being the middleman on an assignment for a government contractor. Long story short, the invoice was not paid. After I turned over all that to a collection agency it was confirmed that cool doesn't necessarily mean financially solvent. 

Reflection: Digital is not a numbers game.

Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Lawyers/Law Students - How Much Longer Will You "Have To Be" on Facebook?

Monthly, 2 billion people use Facebook. And, the corporation's financial results exceeded Wall Street's expectations. 

But, as a cultural and social phenomenon, Facebook might have peaked.

It reported during the earnings report that usage is down 50 million hours daily.

In addition, in terms of raw numbers, users are down in both the U.S. and Canada. 

Here are the details. 

Head of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg stated that it is more important that people connect in meaningful ways on the platform than the time spent on it. That's, of course, a shift away from what seemed to be Facebook's goal: that we never leave. 

There is the question, of course, if we users find that Facebook is facilitating the meaningful connection Zuckerberg refers to.

Increasingly, I have my doubts. Over the past three months I have unfriended and blocked messaging from about half my network.

Why?

Their non-stop streaming of selfies was tedious.

How weary I had become of their political rants.

Also, I came to resent their commenting on what I had posted. No, I had not asked for their feedback but that's the dynamic on Facebook.

In addition, I find emotionally limiting the Happy Valley ethos of Facebook. I experience it as Disney. And I sense that all of us are forced to become Mickey, waving good wishes to each other.

For professional reasons, I have to be on Facebook. When I bid for communications assignments, I am asked what social networks I am on. It's funny: One help-wanted indicated no one should reply without a Facebook following of at least 100.

For social reasons, yes, I want Facebook's convenient way to stay in touch with old friends from Connecticut and the former early adopters of blogging. 

So, I will remain using Facebook. However, as the statistics indicate, I am among those using it less.

Reflection: Will Facebook be around in 7 years? I would like the UK bookmakers to take wagers on that one.

Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Legal Journalists - 5 Best Practices for Dishing the Dirt

The gossip industry is the ultimate cockroach. It - that is, the industry per se - survives whatever. 

However, individual players and media outlets in the dish-the-dirt space get elbowed out all the time by changes in tone, distribution systems, the budget, upstart competition, loss of sources, and more.

Reporter Gabriel Sherman owned the Fox News head Roger Ailes territory. Then Ailes died. Sherman is dishing on Trump but there's a glut of those kinds of journalists. Currently, of course, Michael Wolff is the alpha dog on Everything Trump.

At one time, the National Enquirer was a must-read. Thursdays, gossip book author and Vanity Fair legal columnist - Dominick Dunne - went to the supermarket to pick it up. Now, no one waiting on the check-out line at Walmart even flips through it. 

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog was hot. Then it was not.  The brass discontinued it. Perhaps the more in-your-face Abovethelaw stole its thunder. As William Shakespeare hammered in his dramas: The crowd is fickle.

To be successful in the gossip business, here are the best practices:

• Do whatever it takes to motivate insiders to be your sources. When I was blogging the Rhode Island lead paint litigation back in 2005-2006, I quickly learned that sources will get in contact when they become aware that you make it your business to position and package the dirt for max attention. That means your narrative has to be provocative. 
• Understand why human beings betray employers, colleagues, and even relatives. The usual feeling sets are need for revenge, envy, and sense of power.
• The facts are the dots which have to be connected. Don't just say that X had been arrested last night for alleged wife-beating. Provide background information on the legalities involved. Research how similar brushes with the law hurt careers.
• Project future scenarios. The wilder the speculation, the more attention the dirt will attract. 
• Monitor the competition, established and emerging. What changes should you be noticing and incorporating in your own stuff?

Incidentally, gossip has a serious function in all social systems. Those range from the neighborhood in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey to the C-Suite in IBM.

For example, negative gossip about the worker who puts in so much face time indicates that there is a norm among the rank and file against excessive ass-kissing.  An insightful read on all that is Joseph Epstein's "Gossip." Here you can order it from Amazon.

Irritated with your communications results? Complimentary consultation. No pressure. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

Partner to Associate, "Let's Break Open Diet Cokes, Discuss Your Future with Firm"

If Jeremy Blachman were still posting his blog "Anonymous Lawyer," he might have featured how out of touch partners are doing the unthinkable.

They are inviting associates into their offices for a chat. There they break open some Diet Cokes.

Law firm employees who would have read that would have smirked. 

Diet Cokes are, well, as yesterday as Danny Crane from "Boston Legal."

In The Wall Street Journal, Cara Lombardo reports that Coca-Cola is attempting to boost the Diet Coke "franchise" by adding 4 new flavors. 

The smarter tactic would be to milk that old-line brand for all its remaining value and then dump it. Diet Coke has become the symbol of over-the-hill generations.

I know.

To a Buddhist workshop in Eastern Ohio I offered to bring some beverages. Among them was a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke. Those attending the tutorial on detaching were primarily Millennials, with a few from iGen. I am a Baby Boomer.

The tension about the Diet Coke was palpable. That is not only not the beverage of youth. It represents, at least to them,unhealthy ingredients. This is the era of wellness. During the entire workshop I felt off my game.

No, never again will I bring Diet Coke to a social gathering.

I will never again order it when dining outside.

And I will never offer it to a guest in my home, no matter what generation he or she belongs to.

The Diet Coke brand had stayed too long.

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

Dog Poop - Landlord-Tenant Dispute

Plenty of space, including two walk-in closets and a walk-in pantry.

Affordable. Even with the monthly dog rent and including all utilities (yes, they throw in heating) the rent for a one-bedroom the second year leasing here is $633.000. Peanuts.

Near main highways such as 11N, 680, and 80. 

Can walk to stores such as Marc's.

Neighbors are friendly and helpful. The man upstairs digs out my car. Another rocked my car off the ice. 

That's life at Hillbrook Apartments, South Raccoon Road, Austintown, Ohio.

Part of it.

However, it is looking (literally) increasingly likely that I will have to banish myself from Paradise. That's because the dog feces keep piling up. 

When I first moved into the complex in early September 2016, only the dog park in the G section had been dominated with poop that hadn't been cleaned up.

Now, it's everywhere. Even on top of the snow there are the poops of both giant and tiny dogs.

Of course, that's a health hazard.

Of course, I can no longer invite guests to visit.

Of course, I now have to meet with prospects and clients in Starbucks.

And, of course, I am sliding into a clinical depression. I grew up in the hood. This brings back flashbacks.

In my support group I discuss this reversal of fortune. I had assumed that I would be happy on South Raccoon Road until it was time for assisted living in Arizona (where the quality is high and the fee manageable).

Since I live in a basement apartment I now am hit not only with horrific brown sights but also the smells.

I put up signs. They were torn down.

So, I went to onsite property management.

I also called the owner - GMS Management Co. (216-7666-6000) - on 4645 Richmond Road in Cleveland, OH. 

An activist type in my building has a more aggressive agenda. I let her know to count me in.

Therefore, yes, the problem could be solved. My lease has seven more months to run. This still could be my forever home.

But, I am not betting on it.

Last week I drove to rural areas outside Pittsburgh and reviewed apartment complexes. They were more affordable than Hillbrook. At one, the basic rent for a one-bedroom, before other charges such as pet rent are added, was about $400.00 a month. The journalist in me interviewed some residents. They were content. 

Soon I will drive north toward Lake Erie and check out the apartment complexes about 15 minutes from Cleveland. They too are mighty affordable. The basic rent is under $500.00.  Some include heat - very important in OH winters - in the rent. That's the only utility I am concerned about.

No, I am not happy about being "forced" to move.

The fees involved in a move are not cheap.

The inconvenience is massive.

You bet, I am hoping to wake up as the snow is melting and see no piles of brown, large and small.

The funds saved from not having to move will be put toward a vacation for my four-legged child - LOV - and myself to the Atlantic Ocean. We will watch the waves come in and memories of dog poop will recede into the whatever. 

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).

 

Post Gender Lawsuit, Looking at Ogletree Deakens through Glassdoor

On Glassdoor, Ogletree Deakens receives a relatively high rating for a prominent law firm: 3.8.

For Dentons, for example, it is 3.

For Boies Schiller Flexner it is 2.9.

After all, employees at many brandname law firms resent the extreme long hours and the difficulty advancing. 

But that's not the only reason the bullish endorsement by employees at Ogletree has become interesting.

Another factor is that recently nonequity shareholder - Dawn Knepper - filed a gender discrimination lawsuit. It is seeking class certification.

Members of the media quickly made the litigation high-profile. Here is my own analysis of that filing. And, here is a copy of the complaint.

So, how do Ogletree employees view their employer when they have an opportunity to post an anonymous review? So far, there have been 104 reviews.

There are the usual positive comments about the many smart lawyers, the stimulating work, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes with working at a brandname law firm. One shareholder salutes the openness at the firm.

There are also the usual negative comments about the lack of work/life balance. Also, as at many other prominent law firms, members of the staff perceive themselves as unappreciated, underpaid, and overworked.

No surprise, associates assess it is as increasingly difficult to become a shareholder. That seems universal in an industry in which demand remains flat and growth is stagnant. Here is lawyer-journalist Joe Patrice's analysis for the outlook for 2018 on the influential Abovethelaw.com.

For two negative posts, which were Ogletree-specific, a representative of management responded. One response started out:

"I am sorry your experience is different than the firm's values and culture intends [sic]."

It then goes on to direct the employee to share the concern with Human Resources.

Management at Dechert also left comments on Glassdoor for the employees to bring the complaints to higher-ups. Here is my most recent commentary on Dechert, through the Glassdoor. 

Employees at Ogletree also observe  the "blame game" going on among departments. Associates perceive that the practice of discounting in order to land more business can burn people out. There is a wish that non-shareholders will get the opportunity to review shareholders. 

How will the gender lawsuit impact the internal and the external perceptions of Ogletree?

Only time will tell.

Much will depend how the members of the media position and package Ogletree's responses to the litigation. What goes down in the court of public opinion can significantly influence what legal decisions both sides might make.

One wonders if Aaron Charney would have made out so well when he sued employer Sullivan & Cromwell in 2007 if the story hadn't caught fire in the media? Here is how New York Magazine covered the saga. 

Here is how lawyer-journalist Kathryn Rubino covered Knepper's litigation for Abovethelaw.com.

Place your sponsored content (short and long form) and links on this site. Affordable fees. Strategic guidance/ghostwriting also available. For complimentary consultation, please contact Jane Genova (janegenova374@gmail.com).