During a prolonged exchange of emails and phone calls earlier this year with the chair of a mid-sized but fast-growing law firm in a large metropolitan area, it became apparent fairly quickly that he was intent on realigning the organization. He wanted to meet the changing client demands, competitive pressures and business model squeezing that […]
Author: Jim Bliwas
What does it mean when law firms ‘go digital’?
With many law firms deciding they will “go digital,” they are plunging ahead because it’s this week’s new thing that everyone else is doing. But many firms were not taking the time first to develop a vision and using it to form a coherent strategy. Perhaps even worse, many firms didn’t even establish a definition of what […]
Lawyers, it’s time to embrace content marketing
“I noticed you haven’t posted a new blog for a while. How come?” I was speaking with a lawyer I have known well for years who wanted to expand his practice into sectors where he had not done much work. From the outset, he saw “content marketing” as an effective way to build a profile, […]
Social media changed everything in law marketing
How many clients or prospects see an ad or open an e-flash doesn’t matter; how many engage with the firm – online and in real-time – does. And this only happens if a firm delivers value, something not enough firms recognize. When I started in law marketing 100 lifetimes ago, I had my firm run […]
How female lawyers admire their colleagues differently than men
An exhaustive new study of 2,000 general counsels in 55 countries reveals that men and women holding the title have very different views of what makes for a good relationship with their outside lawyers and law firms. The research from Acritas Sharplegal finds that the cultural barriers preventing women from rising more quickly and successfully […]
It’s time to stop pretending lawyers are salespeople
As a long-time practitioner of law marketing, I’ve seen an unending series of workshops, training sessions, seminars and conferences to encourage lawyers to get more business. I’ve led some and spoke at others. With help, training and coaching do enable some lawyers to get better at business development. But in my experience they were on the cusp […]
The lawyer who connected the dots before anyone else
Telecom lawyer Jonathan Marashlian insists it wasn’t a blinding flash of insight that let him foresee the major business and economic changes that would rock the legal profession – a full 10 years before his colleagues even realized their world had changed. Despite founding a law firm in 2005 with what, at the time, was a […]
7 proven management, marketing concepts law firms keep ignoring
As law firms of all sizes begin developing business plans and budgets for 2015, managing partners, COOs and CMOs would be wise to adopt seven key management and marketing concepts that are crucial for success. Most of these tools have been used for years in the planning process of businesses – even in other professional […]
Law marketing: The high cost of doing nothing
For as long as there has been law marketing, practitioners and firms have been stopping worthwhile business development initiatives cold for a whole host of reasons. They raise questions about the cost of the project. They fret over how clients might react to what the lawyer thinks is a “too aggressive” effort. They worry about […]
How lawyers, firms are ignoring the ‘social’ in social media
The Harvard Business Review proclaims that “content is king” in digital and social media marketing. Yet many lawyers and law firms remain mired in the past, using websites, LinkedIn pages and Twitter accounts mostly to shout “Me!” to the world. Used properly, social media starts a conversation. But whether it is LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube, the […]
5 things law marketing can learn from the Kansas City Royals
I’m not a sports fan but have loved baseball since I was a pre-schooler. So I watch the World Series every year regardless of which clubs are playing. This year’s championship got me thinking about some lessons the legal marketing industry can take from the games. When the plucky Kansas City Royals, with its tiny payroll and no […]