Law And More

Legal Marketing & The Visual - The Extreme Human Touch Through Showcasing Real People

Law firms, with all their resources, usually wind up with too-polished visual content. That ranges from photos to videos.

Of course, that reduces the ability to connect with the human touchpoints. Effectiveness? Very limited, if there is any at all. Actually, the impact of the overly-controlled communication can be counterproductive.

In photos, for example, there are the snapshots in the "Diversity and Inclusion" section of the website. Most of those scrolling through them would shake their heads in disappointment. They will do the eye-roller: No, they don't look like me. So, no, I'm not going to apply to Law Firm X or Y. 

In videos, there is usually the same lack of the real people.

Real people have real struggles. The female partner working remotely might have been up some of the night with her toddler's stomach flu.

Let's meet her that morning as she applies her strategic skills to shifting over from the toddler-finally-made-comfortable to mentoring six associates on Zoom.

Yes, she's tired and she looks tired.

She's not dressed as if ready to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court.

But she is in-control.

The associates pick that up. So will those, including brandname laterals, considering applying to the law firm. 

BTW, that video clip might feature the up-part-of-the-night father. The lawsuit "Mark Savignac v. Jones Day" contends bias in parental leave. The message should be: This firm honors men who take seriously their responsbilities as dads.

An example of how connection can be established through allowing real people to share themselves is this: the Sky Island Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church service on August 29, 2021.

The meme, synced in for Delta variant times, was "Story Interrupted."

The format was a guest sermon from a UU minister, along with particpation by an actual mother with a pre-toddler,  musicians pitching in pro-bono, and cameo appearances of human beings searching for their new story in COVID times. No, there is no going back to the pre-COVID story.

Because of the virus, the sermon was presented on video via YouTube. Here you can experience that inspirational connecting. 

In-person and masked to introduce the video and then do a wrap had been the Sky Island-based minister in Sierra Vista, Arizona Tina Squire. 

Of course, law firms will be posting their videos on TikTok. That means they'll be competing with GenZers who have never drunk the Kool-Aid about how to make presentations - that is, the over-coached, over-scripted way. What GenZers do put out there is so real. It grabs every human touchpoint.

Looping into real on the photo and the video front will spill over to the rest of marketing communciations - and internal communications. Soon enough there will be none of those tone-deaf memos from leadership which will be leaked to the media. 

Let’s talk about success. How can you boost that in your own career and the trajectory of your business? ON YOUR OWN TERMS. You owe yourself a complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail (no selling).

The Musical - "Doing The Jab" - Scripted, Produced, and Staged by BigLaw

Enough already of the announcements by BigLaw firms which are requiring jabs and which aren't. Skadden has been the latest to loop in with a mandate.

Instead, BigLaw can showcase its confusion, angst, and yet certitude in all this with a musical. The only title for it would be: Doing The Jab. 

The stage set could be Jones Day's black box.

We demand a dance number by Morgan Stanley's Eric Grossman.

Also, one song will be belted out JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon. It will be: You Need Us To Mentor You In-Person, Full-Time. Come To The Office.

The wrap will be by Wilson Sonsini, enacting its planned celebratory events for when its offices reopen. Yeah, celebrate so many lives lost to COVID since March 2020.

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Fame Isn't What It Used to Be - Leon Black, Andrew Cuomo, and More (looping in are their lawyers, too)

Before the media became the most powerful institution in the world, fame was a good thing.

Achieve it or have your agent/public relations representative engineer it and you were set for life. At the end of that life there was a gush obit. Also, if you were based in Manhattan you could be waked at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home. 

But, with the media era the famous become targets. In addition, things could become so heady that they can become victims of hubris or arrogance.  Not long into their fame phase, it's documented or it's alleged that they crossed this line or that line or many lines. Soon enough, they are infamous. Banish them to the Hamptons, like Matt Lauer.

Also, there's a new wrinkle in this fall from grace. This is also the era of the extreme power of lawyers. In "The Godfather," the lawyer was in the background. The good soldier.

No longer.

The lawyer now is a star. Perhaps even the star. 

So along with the once-famous Leon Black and Andrew Cuomo who are now infamous, their lawyers are in the spotlight too. They may or may not become infamous. However, the media tracks them.  So they also have to track themselves, their every public move. Yes, they are now watching the media watch them and how other constituencies are watching them after the media circles in. 

The most high-profile lawyer in Black's orbit is Brad Karp at Paul Weiss. In himself, Karp is fascinating. That's part of the presence he has established. Yes, he defended Black earlier in one of the many rounds of the Jeffrey Epstein association. But, yes, he's also in the front lines of social justice. Meanwhile, he is known as a Wall Street lawyer. So, who is this Masked Man? In my few business dealings with him I tried to break the code. Of course, I couldn't. 

In CuomoGate, getting so much attention is his lawyer Rita Glavin. Yesterday when The Gov resigned she was a busy bee, commenting in the usual lawyerly fashion what seems to play cute with reality.

That exposure will likely get her a ton of assignments to represent other politicos in the soup. Actually, whenever that happens even if she's not in the actual loop, the media will contact her for a quote. The roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd. That will be over-the-top. But it could get her in the soup herself. The media is a wild unpredictable force. The Black-Karp association generated media hit jobs in Vanity Fair, Insider and a book. The media giveth and the media taketh away.

Yesyesyes. How things change. There had been "Fame The Musical." Its success was in sync with the universal craving for becoming famous. Who wouldn't want to be laid out at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home. Your final ride could be in a horse-driven carriage around Grand Central. 

That was then.

Now, it's not hyberbolic to classify fame as high-risk. Enter that force field and you could be doomed. 

But, at the start, how lit.

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BigLaw - Of Course, You're Going to Recruit for Talent on TikTok (also beef up your social-justice cred)

"Some lawyers [such as Joanne Molinari] at Kirkland & Ellis, Morrison & Foerster and other huge firms explore their interests outside the legal profession, while others demystify the world of Big Law on the app. The support of their heavyweight firms may signal a cultural shift amid a scramble for talent in a traditionally straight-laced industry." - Tiana Headley, Bloomberg Law, July 12, 2021.

Obviously - to use that common expression in courtroom processes - this "opens the door" to BigLaw law firms embracing the promotional horsepower of TikTok. That applies to everything, from recruiting talent to differentiating themselves in the social-justice niche.

You bet, have a few summers chat up on TikTok what they are getting out of their Zoom experience. Highlight how partners loop in on a Zoom briefing. They share their unique experiences with antitrust. They even speculate with the summers: Could the Biden Administration be overreaching with how it is reconfiguring the role of the FTC?

Seasoned lawysers who had been laterals poached from another firm can also be loose and real on TikTok. They open up about how to go about career mobility in the legal sector. What are the pitfalls? And how they are damn sure they have bypassed so many of them by coming to Law Firm X. The leadership at X - for they are jolly good fellows, they really are. And take that from a lawyer who's been around the bend. 

Social justice branding, as Bloomberg Law pounds, currently is a prerequisite for many players in BigLaw. The challenge is developing unique positioning. What are your social justice activities saying about you and your law firm? In this, BigLaw can't be a monolith. A generic "we do good" - smirksmirk. 

An early adopter in social-justice initiatives with its Coronavirus Relief Center, Paul Weiss, headed by Brad Karp, might be thought of as "owning" that space. At least for now. But there is no dynastic right in any aspect of social justice.

Paul Weiss can reinforce its mission by staging on TikTok tutorials about the lessons it has learned about moving the dial on reducing suffering since it had invented the Center. That was seemingly light years ago when COVID first upended the world. Not all approaches to doing good are equally effective or efficient. 

Meanwhile marketers and public relations representatives in BigLaw should be designing public information campaigns on TikTok about how to think and talk like a lawyer. That's both the art of critical thinking and the in-the-trenches presentation of legal points. The latter is essential often even when trying to return an item at Best Buy. I recently arrived locked and loaded with legal language at the Sierra Vista, Arizona, Best Buy store. I contended it had sold the wrong printer cartridge. The "case" was "settled" with a store credit. 

Reflect on this: Part of the disruption in the legal sector involves empowering Everyman and Everywoman to have confidence about managing legalities w/o the traditional pricey delivery of legal services. Sure, Everyman/Everywoman, take a peek at those online services, before coming to us. Yeah, law firms, also tell TikTok viewers about your captive services. That will help them feel a part of what is going on in the legal sector. "Court TV" establishes that same kind of connection.

Law firms not on TikTok could come across as hiding behind a mystique about eliteness. Not at all good. 

Ever since the white-shoe firm Jones Day seemed to play it all wrong pitching that way to a blue-collar jury in the Rhode Island Lead Paint Class Action Public Nuisance trial (2005 - 2006) that kind of way to face a jury or the world has been suspect. Law firms can no longer remain an aloof subculture. They have to be a transparent institution. 

Sure, elite might sell to Wall Street clients and so many transactional accounts but in much of litigation and in the court of public opinion its shelf life has expired. 

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Not Just Diversity Fatigue - Plum Tired of Causes (need 2021 version of Beatles to croon about letting us just be)

Yes, Law.com reported on diversity fatigue.

That's confirmed in the traffic on my social media, including this and my two other syndicated blogs. Posts about diversity issues don't attract traffic. So, I decided to stop those kinds of postings. In addition, I had decided to part company (very professionally) with a client in the diversity loop. It had been increasingly difficult to conjure up fresh ideas. Like, the magic petered out. 

But - and this is based on anecdotal evidence - the fatigue goes beyond diversity.

It is seeping into the bones of so many causes. When I speak with those on my personal and professional networks, their hunger is for some kind of normalcy to center their lives on. After all the traumas of the 21st century, they - just as the Beatles' sang about letting it be - just want to be. Those national ordeals have included 9/11 and the recession it triggered, the global financial meltdown of 2008 and COVID. 

What I advise those whose job is communications is this: Steer clear of asking for anything. Instead provide the promise of letting things be. American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron put it this way: Start where you are. Then you will find that you will be on your way to the extraordinary.

Perhaps a music group can capture that ethos for 2021. Let it be. Don't foist on me that I should be concerned about X cause or Y cause.

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Yes, Legal Marketers, You Should Be Experimenting With TikTok

"TikTok is the place to go for new dances, viral taco recipes—and, now, financial advice. The big benefit of TikTok is that it allows users to dole out and obtain information in short, easily digestible video bites, also called TikToks. And that can make unfamiliar, complex topics more palatable to a younger audience ..." - Cheryl Winokur Munk, The Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2021.

Legal marketers have to pay attention to this trend. And experiment with how to put content that fits the law firm brand and stays in the regulatory boxes on TikTok.

After all, young people are becoming the decision-makers in every kind of entity, ranging from the Fortune 100 to startups to nonprofits. More and more of my clients enjoy TikTok. Their edge is that they are totally at home with digital. Often, some form of digital is the competitive weapon.

In addition, by studying the communications dynamics of TikTok marketers can position and package their messaging to engage those under-40.

Social networks gain and lost engagment and influence power. TikTok is on an upward trajectory. So is LinkedIn. 

Yes, place your paid sponsored content on this blog. Affordable rates. Please contact Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

The Boss Gets Off Hook with $500 Fine

Bruce Springsteen, who collaporates with Barck Obama on a podcast, won't be going to jail.

In court today, reports The Wall Street Journal, the two charges associated with alleged drunk driving were tossed. When measured, the level of alcohol in his blood was under the legal limit.

However, he did plead guilty to consumption of alcohol in a closed area. For that he will pay a $500 fine. 

This plays out as removing any threat to the Sprinsteen wholesome's brand. There is no need for reputation restoration.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

The Beats, Then Hippies, Now The Wokes - Blame Ferlinghetti

"Poet, publisher and bookseller Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who helped launch and perpetuate the Beat movement, has died. He was 101. Mr. Ferlinghetti died at his San Francisco home Monday, his son Lorenzo Ferlinghetti told the Associated Press on Tuesday. The cause was lung disease." - The Wall Street Journal (originally published by AP), February 23, 2021.

Even many Baby Boomers don't remember the Beats.

But had not Ferlinghetti been a culture-changer, America wouldn't have been fully able to shake off the white-bread Eisenhower era.

That upheaval was the counterculture.

Deans in Ivy League universities shook in their boots. 

And later, the Wokes have made significant strides in cancelling Western Civilization. William Shakespeare might wind up not even a footnote in history. Hamlet who?

In the counterculture, as among the Wokes, higher education was questioned. Many ducked out of graduate school before finishing their dissertations. There was more important work to do. The only regret was not having gone to law school. Otherwise the best and brightest, as least labeled as such before they dropped out, could do more for consumer rights than just be a grassroots Nader Raider.

Then came the brutal economic downturn of the mid 1970s. That was that. The Eisenhower era circled back. Corporate America was organized on the military model.

And now here America is, fumbling for what to do about this Ferlinghetti guy. Should we come to praise him or bury him? After all, his medium was the book. Print. Current culture-shapers like Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are podcasting. 

It's hard to resurrect the ethos of the Beat Age. Come to think of it, it's difficult to time travel to the counterculture. Were they really so free? Internally did they question their lack of proper attention to careers? After all, they missed out on years of earning and socking away funds in a retirement fund. 

And, will the Woke wake up to the brute necessity of being totally careerist in order to keep up with inflation? Most influence is unsustainable. Some could wind up marginal, just like members of the counterculture who couldn't or wouldn't grow up.

Small changes can trigger big success in your career and your business communications. Swing by for a complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Bruce Springsteen Appears Via Video Before Magistrate Judge Anthony Mautone February 24th

Mr. America Clean has run into some static on that brand. How it will play out long term is an unknown. Also unknown is how Bruce Springsteen will fare before Magistrate Judge Anthony Mautone via video on February 24th in New Jersey, reports USA Today.

Springsteen, represented by lawyer Mitchell Ansell, is charged with drunken driving, reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area. They are Class B misdemeanors. If convicted, Springsteen could serve 30 days to 6 months behind bars and a fine up to $5,000. 

Sure, there are the legal challenges. But even more important are the possible reputational ones. 

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)

Prominent New Jersey Lawyer Mitchell Ansell Represents Bruce Springsteen

Predictably, Bruce Springsteen's November 2020 arrest for DWI and other related violations has gone high-profile.

After all, he is a giant presence in music and starred in the Super Bowl Jeep commercial. The latter blew up when information about the alleged DWI became public. The Wall Street Journal reports, "Just days after the commercial aired, the company removed it from YouTube and other platforms following reports that Mr. Springsteen had been charged with driving while intoxicated ..."

Also, predictably he is being represented by prominent New Jersey lawyer Mitchell Ansell, reports the New York Post. Among his clients had been Paul Canerio, arrested for multiple murders. Strange, though, his LinkedIn Profile is sparse and has only 3 followers.

Because the alleged DWI and other behavior occurred on federal land, Springsteen's case will be argued in federal court. 

The case is puzzling. Yes, Springsteen refused at the scene a breathalyzer test. Yes, he also failed the sobriety test. However, at the police station, his mandated alcohol test registered 0.02. That's below the legal limit. 

If Ansell knows how to manage the court of public opinion, an interesting narrative should emerge. Meanwhile, shade has been thrown on the Jeep brand.

The Future is already underway. Ghostwriting/Marketing Communications and coaching on those issues. Sliding scale fees. Complimentary consultation (janegenova374@gmail.com)