Law Firm 4.0 Blog

When millennials become law firm leaders, how will they communicate to clients?

It's no surprise that millennials like to text. I do, too, and often I prefer it - and the more deliberate emailing - to speaking on the phone. It just depends on what I need to accomplish. My goal of effective communication (i.e., understanding and being understood) always trumps the medium - if it's a quick logistical issue that needs clarification, great. A quick text or email is perfect.  If there is a problem to solve, an opportunity about which to brainstorm, or if my fellow communicator simply prefers a phone call - the phone wins.

In a recent OpenMarket survey, conducted nationwide, which polled millennials on their communication preferences, it was found they have an overwhelming desire to text. According to the recap by Center for Media Research, which reported on this survey, "75% of responding millennials would rather lose the ability to talk versus text."

This infographic pretty much sums up how millennials feel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are 77 million millennials in the U.S., now having surpassed the Baby Boomers as the largest population group. The brightest rising stars will run companies (or they already do) that hire law firms, and the millennial lawyers will soon become the largest population practicing law in their firms.  C0nsider these questions:

• What does their privileged client communication look like?  
• How do they form enduring client relationships where they can serve as the "trusted advisor" (the term that still so many lawyers hold up as the gold standard for their practices), when they find a voice call "disruptive?" 
• And, what do their clients do when they get the millennial lawyer's voicemail - leave a message knowing the call may never get returned?

The practice of law and delivery of services continues to evolve.  Just this week, Baker Hostetler announced that it has hired IBM's AI "Ross," the world's first artificially intelligent attorney, to be a part of its 50-lawyer bankruptcy team.  Artificial intelligence is coming fast, whether law firms are on board or not. Ross will monitor the law around the world and around the clock - something that's hard for even the most ambitious and sleep-deprived lawyers to do. Clients have to love this. 

And I imagine the millennials will love it, too. Ross is really the perfect millennial. No talking, just doing.

"Don't Waste a Perfectly Good Crisis"

"Don't waste a perfectly good crisis, " is what I heard from a law firm managing partner whose firm has recently gone through some challenging times. It's not just a great lesson in optimism, it's important for us all to remember as we encounter and confront challenges - and identify the best ways to climb through them.

There is such a missed opportunity if we don't take the 30,000-foot view in a crisis, where the view and horizon are more expansive and brighter.  Elevate above the crisis to see where the opportunities for change lie. Perhaps it's time to restructure:  your team, responsibilities and accountability, your compensation system, other systems -- such as marketing, business development, finance, technology.

In the May 2016 of Harvard Business Review, author Vijay Govindarajan writes about "planned opportunism." He says:

"The idea starts with recognizing that the future is unpredictable, shaped by nonlinear changes and chance events—the 'opportunism' part. How you as a leader respond is the 'planned' part. Planned opportunism requires sensitivity to weak signals—early evidence of emerging trends from which it is possible to deduce important changes in demography, technology, customer tastes and needs, and economic, environmental, regulatory, and political forces. Attention to weak signals gives rise to fresh perspectives and nonlinear thinking, which help an organization imagine and plan for various plausible futures."

Every leader should work on developing an uncanny sensitivity to weak signals - they're endemic in our organizations.  We  lull ourselves into believing that our organization is immune to all that, we want to ignore the signals, and hope our firms and colleagues are copacetic.  And then we're surprised and really disappointed when key employees depart, when major clients fire the firm, when financial markets tumble and lines of credit dry up - as examples.

Govindarajan defines planned opportunism:  

" . . . a systematic process not only for recognizing impending changes and ascertaining what opportunities they may offer but for developing experiments to distill and scale up promising nonlinear business ideas. It accomplishes three exceptionally important things for the enterprise: (1) It creates a circulatory system for new ideas; (2) it develops the capacity to prioritize, investigate, and act on those ideas; and (3) it builds an adaptive culture that embraces continual change. It will enable your organization to be proactive rather than reactive. To be sure, planned opportunism can accommodate scenario planning and other conventional tools and cultural aspirations, such as a flatter organization and a more empowered workforce. But it is not just an event, an activity, or a tool. It is a discipline encompassing processes and behaviors across many functions that will strengthen resiliency and lead to growth."

This is all good, but it really requires a full-on reorg and a complete overhaul of firm leaders' thinking.  If you take nothing away from this article other than, "Don't waste a perfectly good crisis," you'll be well on your way to better managing change and identifying the weak signals in your firm that you can conquer. Start there.

He concludes:

"Businesses and CEOs often don’t know how best to think about the future, much less to act on it. Although they rightly concede that it is unpredictable, they may think of it as a far-off point on the horizon—a reality they’ll deal with when the time comes. But the future is not a far-off point. Rather, it is like a software program that is continually updated: It arrives in daily doses that must be noticed and understood. Only by working toward the future day by day can your enterprise respond resiliently when it encounters nonlinear opportunities or, equally likely, menacing threats.

"Planned opportunism is a strategy for exerting some control over unpredictable circumstances before they occur. Of course, this involves one of life’s most persistent conundrums. As Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, 'We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses—one foot is on the horse called ‘fate,’ the other on the horse called ‘free will.’ And the question you have to ask every day is—which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?'

Though Gilbert is writing about personal conduct, her metaphor applies equally well to organizations and their leaders. Across every activity a business must continually ask itself, 'Which horse is which?' The horse of free will can be steered, but the horse of fate cannot. Planned opportunism demands that leaders spend their energies and attention on the former.

 

 

Experience Management is not an "initiative" - it's got to be in your firm's DNA

Here is a snapshot of how law firms approach the topic of "Experience Management:"

1. It's someone else's job - "Put a few people together from IT and marketing and see what you can come up with. Make a recommendation. Don't bother the lawyers."
2. Toe in the water - "See if you can find a willing practice group to be our guinea pig."
3. Sharing isn't mandatory - "I  don't want to share my matter list in case I leave the firm. (Or, because it's in such disarray, I'd be embarrassed if you saw it.)"
4. Paralysis - "We have everyone on board. We have no idea where to begin."
5. Inclusion - "We want to include every matter from the dawn of time."
6. Culture-fixer - "We want the experience database to bring lawyers together so they'll trust each other - so they'll finally cross-sell."

I could go on. 

We get asked a lot "Where do we begin?" For experience management NOT to be a flash-in-the-pan "initiative," it has to get the attention of the executive suite.  Not a casual glance, but serious attention. It has to be fully aligned with the firm strategy - whatever it is. Below are a few strategic goals and how experience management is aligned with each one.

1. Revenue growth - This is the most obvious and popular strategy. Without relevant experience to evaluate, buyers of legal services will not hire you.  It's that simple.
   
   
2. Institutionalize more clients (i.e., grow company relationships) - All firms want to represent organizations in more key areas.  To see where you can go, you have to understand where you've been. In terms of knowing all the work you've done in for this client - and getting a full picture of the relevant experience you've done in the targeted new practice areas. Other clients have benefited from your experience - how can you apply that to the clients you want to further institutionalize?
   
   
3. Build your reputation - There are literally over 1,000 directories and ranking organizations that evaluate law firms and lawyers. Aggregating experience across the firm in advance of the annual Chambers surveys is too often a fire drill, just to name the most ubiquitous one. (Why? We know it happens every year.)  Your experience must be elevating and comprehensive - it must be career defining for you to get the reputation boost you are seeking.  Strategically plan what you need to collect and create a habit of doing it all year long. 

Align with firm strategies first, then lock in your business purpose(s) for your experience database. How will you use it?

• Business development /use in pitches and proposals
• Provide data for surveys, rankings, directories
• Lateral hiring - to quickly integrate laterals into the firm and help your lawyers learn about their strengths
• Knowledge management / practice management / project management
• Other?

Remember that perfect is the enemy of good when it comes to experience management.  Too many firms are trying to build the perfect tool that does everything - and it never gets launched. Or, it's so unwieldy and complex that lawyers won't use it - and you've now blown your opportunity to build a strategic system that will support their revenue, relationship and reputation goals.  The "Marketoon" below was created by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne. We have been in meetings that looked just like this. Too often, it hinders and hurts the end result - resist the temptation to feature-stuff.

Experience Management | Marketoonist | Tom Fishburne

 

 

 

If you are interested in improving what you know about experience management, you might enjoy reading these posts:

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2013/01/experience-managementdatabases-best-practices-in-content-gathering.html

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2012/11/experience-management-and-databases-the-results-of-a-survey-of-cmos.html

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2012/01/experience-databases-if-you-build-it-will-they-come.html

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2010/07/do-you-know-what-you-dont-know-a-post-about-km.html

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2012/08/how-law-firms-can-grow-revenue-in-a-more-client-friendly-way.html

 

Lawyers and CPAs - This January, resolve to make your bios move the needle - Make them 3-D

Doing anything that moves the needle is hard.  All the "I resolve to do this and that (eat more kale / break a sweat / cook more / drink less)" business requires so much diligence and determination that, by now, most resolutions are on the cutting room floor.  I used to have a cartoon on the magnetic face of an old file cabinet, "At least I am protected by the goodness of my intentions." You know what?  No, I'm not - and you aren't, either.  Good intentions do not move any needles.

According to the analytics we track, your website biographies are by far the most visited pages - averaging 40-70% of total visits.  What kind of an impression does your bio make on these visitors who are taking their valuable time to check you out?  Most biographies for lawyers and CPAs are stale, not engaging or dynamic, and don't tell a compelling and relevant story about what these people have done.  In the latest (2013) "AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices" research study conducted and sponsored by Content Pilot, the AmLaw 100 firms scored 75 (or a mid-range Good) on a 100-point scale on the 4th Foundational Best Practice, "Lawyer Biographies." In the prior study (2010), they scored 66 or Fair. A good improvement, but every firm should score 100.

The attributes on which these firms - and on which you should measure your basic bio effectiveness - are:

1. First 150 characters of the bio are current, compelling, and relevant for SEO benefit. Count all letters, punctuation and spaces and ensure that your most important keywords about your practice are appearing first. Avoid starting your bio like this: John Smith is a partner and chair of the labor and employment practice at ABCXYZ law firm. This is likely what will appear in the Google and other search engine results when searching by that lawyer’s name. These details are not important – don’t waste this valuable real estate on your titles (your titles will appear elsewhere in your bio). Rather, tell what you do for clients and who they are. The AmLaw firms’ average score was 77 out of 100 on this attribute.
2. Overview paragraph – first two to three sentences are descriptive of the work the lawyer does and the types of clients the lawyer represents. After the 150 characters, focus on enriching your bio with additional keywords, such as types of clients, industries, and subject matter strengths. If you are a noted expert in SEC enforcement matters, Family Medical Leave Act claims, or SBICs and BDCs, this is where it should live. The AmLaw average score was 84.
3. Bio does not use Mr. or Ms. Lastname throughout – it uses the lawyer’s first or nickname. What is more unfriendly than forcing a visitor to call you Mr. Schwartz or Ms. Davison? The AmLaw average score was 35. East coast, white-shoe firms are the biggest culprits in protecting this tradition.
4. Photos are current and convey personality. It is critically important that your photos look like your lawyers today, not 20 years ago. The AmLaw average was 87.
5. Full contact information for the lawyer is easy to find and links to a v-card. Make it easy for people to contact you. But – avoid the large, blinking buttons that scream “CALL ME!” Personal injury law firms often think these are a good idea – but they aren’t. The AmLaw firms do much better here than accounting firms – the AmLaw average was 100.
6. Bio includes links to the lawyer’s social media profiles and pages. This creates relationship “stickiness”. Understand your state bar rules about social media, but having the links on your bio page so visitors can easily connect with you is smart. The AmLaw average was 32. These firms are not taking advantage of the relationship leverage and syndication strength offered by social media.
7. Bios list and crosslink to practices/industries, articles/ news/ events. These encourage visitors to easily dig deeper into your qualifications. The AmLaw average was 84.
8. Bios include detailed experience and matter lists. The reason that bio views are so high in all the analytics is because buyers of legal services want to know what you have done, for whom, and what you can do for them. You must answer these questions before you can advance to the shortlist and ultimately get hired. Period. Use client names if you have permission to do so, and be as specific as your state bar rules allow. The AmLaw average was 74.
9. The page technology supports elegant content organization that enables visitors to quickly scan and access what they want (e.g., Ajax, jQuery, javascript). The AmLaw average was 93.
10. Associates have full biographies. It was a many-year trend for New York and certain other East coast firms to list associates’ names, but not include a bio for them. In client interviews, buyers complained about paying $600 per hour for a senior associate that they could not even find on the firm website! This has changed, and most firms now include them, with the AmLaw average being 88.

OK - these are the basics. Let's take it further.  Last year - for a panel presentation at the 2015 Legal Marketing Association conference in San Diego - I created a concept called the "3 Dimensional Bio" or "3-D Bio."  I swear that this is the answer (at least one of the answers, the start) to you being more successful in your business development in 2016.  Don't hesitate and don't delay.

Given that the majority of your visitors are going to these bio pages, a firm’s goal should be to keep visitors on your professionals' bios longer – and convert visitors to viewing more of them each visit. This is where the cash lives in your firm. Study Google Analytics or whatever tracking program you use and see how many different bios any one visitor opens, and check the average length of time a visitor spends on your bios. Then, focus on improving this number and duration.

In today’s landscape where competition among professionals is stiff, lawyers and CPAs must provide more insight into why they should be hired. Why are they the expert? What makes them the perfect fit for a client’s problem? You must prove you are the right fit, and there are three ways to do this.  Create "3-D Bios" and focus on the following:

1. Demonstrate expertise
2. Prove relevancy
3. Show humanity

All three “dimensions” must be present for your biography to work hard for you.

Dimension 1:  Demonstrate expertise:

1. Show specific experience: Remember the three questions: What have you done? For whom have you done it? What can you do for me?
2. Include client case studies or stories that prove what you know and your approach to getting things done. This often gets into how you did what you did, not just what you did.
3. Depending on the nature of your practice (for example, if you represent a lot of start-ups or technology companies), include client logos, with their permission, of course.

Dimension 2:  Prove relevancy:

1. Important keywords that are relevant to your practice should appear in the top 150 characters (characters, not words) of the bio overview. When someone is Googling, or otherwise searching for your name, it is important that the 140–150 characters that show up in the search engine description are those most relevant to your practice– and the expertise that people are buying from you –  today. Consider the disconnect for your future buyer if you are supposed to be the expert in global trademark protection and your Google search description does not even mention it.
2. Feed current blog and Twitter posts into your bios. Social media that proves you are current and on top of the subject matter in your practice gives the people evaluating you comfort and confidence in your intellect and grasp of today’s issues.
3. Feature a book the lawyer has written—or something else notable, such as white papers, an important speech, a short video about a trending topic.
4. Design an infographic, which highlights trends in the lawyer’s practice or industry. For example, number of patents in the energy industry over a ten-year period of time, or a US map showing the number of states in which the lawyer has handled litigation.

Dimension 3:  Show humanity (to get hired, look for ways to short-cut the pathway to trust):

1. Shoot new lawyer photos – “magazine-style” (large format) photos that show personality and approachability. Some lawyers do not like getting their photos taken, so they use the same tired photo decade after decade. In today’s world of selfies, where current photos are pervasive, it is critical that the firm website posts current photos that actually look like the lawyers who work there.
2. Include a short video that tells a memorable story about a case and how you handled it. Of course, do not name a client name unless it is public record and you have your client’s permission, but do discuss unique issues or circumstances. For example, did the case come in at 8pm on a Sunday night and the court filing was due Monday morning at 10?
3. Include an “after hours” tab or feature – content that describes the lawyer’s passions outside the office. This can include community board service, volunteer work, travel, sports and events, books you are reading, the fact that you are training for a triathlon, or your family and pets. Show how interesting you are!
4. Prove accessibility – include your assistant’s name/info, your team’s contact names/info (if you aren’t reachable, it ensures that your client has access to team members without you being a bottleneck), and instant messaging contact information. Law firm and CPA firm technology staff will sometimes prohibit instant messaging, but certain types of clients rely on it – and they want their lawyers to use it.

If you want to move the needle early this year, change your bio by January 31. You still have 20 days. . . I am counting.

 

 

 

Lawyers as the "Wounded Healers" - and other reasons they suffer from depression and addiction - Guest Post by Jim Dolan

Working with lawyers more than 30 years has taught me that they are as different as snowflakes or fingerprints. Any attempt to broadly categorize them as this or that is neither helpful in gaining a better understanding, nor fair. After all, I wouldn't want someone to look at me and lump me in with a group of similar-looking, similar-talking professional women, no matter how accomplished they are. I want to be considered uniquely - I think we all do.

But what struck me most about Jim Dolan's recent article in the Texas Lawyer is how consistent it is with my own experiences and observations over my career. I love working with high intensity, brilliant people with exacting standards and unequivocal values. I love working with lawyers, CPAs and other professionals who are at the top of their game - or are on a well-defined path to get there. But they all have a price to pay - and Jim Dolan describes it simply and clearly in a way that I'd not quite considered.

It made me sad. I know these people. For those of us who have devoted our lives to supporting and elevating lawyers and other professionals, our job is to help them through it - help them have more fun with it (those of us on the creative side), help them recognize it. 

Jim has given me permission to reprint his post from the Texas Lawyer. If you are interested in reading more from Jim Dolan, try these on this Law Firm 4.0 Blog:

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2010/10/jim-dolans-article-in-texas-lawyer-integrity-when-heroes-have-feet-of-clay.html

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2012/11/mine-human-capital-to-raise-law-firm-revenue-and-profit-guest-post-by-jim-dolan.html

Are Lawyers Predisposed to Depression, Substance Abuse?

James Dolan, Texas Lawyer
November 19, 2015

Enter this query in your web browser: "Lawyers prone to addiction and depression." Or, "Lawyers and suicide." Search, and it will generate several days' worth of reading. But why? How is it that in this profession that many love, sometimes hate, and may be ambivalent about depending on the day of the week—that so many struggle with the twinned illnesses of addiction and depression?

Is it the professional environment of law practice, with its frequent negativity, pettiness, back biting? One lawyer said it's a field in which there is always someone out there doing his best to make sure you fail. Another said that it can be like a surgeon working with all his craft to save a patient, while on the other side of the operating table, there is an equally skilled surgeon doing his best to kill the patient.

Readers have certainly heard anecdotal stats quoted about this, that or the other profession with "the highest suicide rate." Physicians, dentists, lawyers usually appear at the top of somebody's list. One such list showing lawyers 1.33 times higher in suicide risk than average, while the most vulnerable group-doctors- are 1.87 times as likely.

The notion that the profession causes illness is inaccurate. This presumes the person entering the field is a blank impressionable screen on which ills are imprinted. Still, we can't ignore the challenging nature of the work.

Pathology occurs in that soul frontier where the unique pressures of the profession meet the frail humanity of its practitioners. Some are frailer than others. Almost all were high academic competitors drawn to the intellectually demanding environment of precision and accuracy with language, and to the power to use language as a tool or even a weapon.

There is a large group uniquely suited to the profession. Are they the majority? I suspect so, but here we focus on that sizable minority who suffer in their job, but perhaps not entirely because of the job.

At the outset, the JD might have looked like a suit of armor to be worn in acts of heroism, economic gain, or power and control over others, but it so often turned out to be a prison in which to experience the exquisite torture of one's own utter imperfection.

I would propose that those among the profession who suffer with addiction/depression come from that group of individuals we might call "Wounded Healers." The concept of the Wounded Healer is very old in Western culture. I have written about it in this column before. Essentially, the WH is that person who seeks to heal his own wounds by healing those of others. I include in the Wounded Healer group those who are clergy, physicians, nurses, psychotherapists, lawyers, and perhaps police and firefighters.

Within all of those professions is the common element of being of service to others disadvantaged or "wounded" in some way. The initial move into these professions is one of denial. Receipt of the diploma is seen as a way to transcend the early wounds, to leap beyond them, to cloak oneself in a garment of invincibility. In this suit of clothes, no one can see insecurity, self-doubt, sadness, hurt, the real human being dwelling within.

Denial leads to high hopes, dreams, expectations of wealth, traditional ideas of success, power. Instead, the Wounded Healer, full of high ideals, and above mentioned dreams and expectations is greeted with, as one lawyer said, a crushingly difficult work environment, surrounded by able adversaries ready to do him in. Once the beacons of wealth, power, and recognition have been extinguished, the lawyer so often comes to a crashing sense of the meaninglessness of his work. One lawyer I know described, in empty tones, that his work was about "helping corporations argue with one another over money," as if to ask, "How the hell is that helping anybody?"

As the lawyer progresses, she is frequently asked to give representation to entities whose goals are incongruent with her own core values. She must compartmentalize her values in order to do her job. She must always be vigilant for personal attacks masked as legal maneuvers. Because the Wounded Healer has no natural defenses to these environments, her soul is left in its own compartment, where it is perhaps narcotized in various forms of self-medication.

Ignored and battered long enough, the Healer becomes depressed, seeks immediate forms of relief, of self-abandonment, or of aggressive acting out.

What to Do?

Certainly, it can never be too early to begin separating Who You Are from What You Do for a Living. If you are a Wounded Healer, you are very likely to have made the error of identifying completely with your JD. As the failures, rejections, and negativity pile up, you will most certainly be in trouble.

Protect your core values. Find places in life that support who you really are, where you can be aligned with what you really believe, so that you are strengthened for the task of compartmentalizing in your everyday work.

Have a life, meaning, invest in relationships. Lawyers almost habitually isolate. Remind yourself that your real life is lived amongst and with those who really care about you. Don't back away.

Have a sport, a hobby, a passion, an avocation. Life is about discovering what lights up your soul, and following that. It is not about living in a narcotized fog when not representing clients.

Examine your hopes and dreams. So often, we work to superimpose dreams on reality, and get frustrated when they don't fit. To readjust is hard work, but not as hard as the impossible task of getting reality to match a dream. If that's not possible, it may be time to leave the field. Seriously. Your mental and emotional well-being hang in the balance.

In my field of psychotherapy, we often find another professional to work with in a practice known as "supervision," where we Wounded Healers discuss our hard cases, failures, and personal issues affecting our practice. Would it be possible to find something similar in law practice? Might be worth the effort to find someone who's been there, done that to share the internal suffering that practice can impose.

Lastly, recognize that there may have been a very wise part of you that early on recognized that the call to lawyering as a Wounded Healer would lead you into a direct confrontation with your own wounds. Going through the "meat grinder" (as one lawyer described the process by which he confronted his own ills) would lead eventually to finding the right help and a resolution of soul wounds and rediscovery of meaning in law practice, and in life.

James Dolan, M.A., is a professional coach and psychotherapist with 30 years of experience in private practice in the Dallas area. He works with lawyers and physicians in improving their business development communications, internal relations, and leadership and client-patient retention. His email address is [email protected].

 

Website Case Study: Kaplan Kirsch - Not your typical law firm

Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell is a 17-lawyer firm with a remarkable story to tell. Operating out of two offices in Denver and Washington, DC, lawyers’ work and clients span the U.S.  Kaplan Kirsch handles the legal work for the country’s most visible and important infrastructure, transportation and landmark projects. And, its competitors are among the nation's most prestigious law firms.

Peter Kirsch, a senior partner who was actively involved in the website redesign says, "The people who go to our website are not like most people who look for legal services. Most of our clients aren't lawyers – they are public officials. It was very important to us that we weren’t intimidating like lawyers can sometimes be." 

He continued, "We are not traditional lawyers – we don’t look at what we do in terms of legal disciplines. It was important to us that our clients be the focus.  On the new site, we wanted to convey the specific projects that we do – we didn't want to use any stock photos at all.

"Another piece that was very important – law firm web pages tend to be for everybody. Cluttery, hard to navigate, telling visitors 'whatever it is, we do it.'  We wanted to convey that we have a niche practice that is very deep, and it was essential that we convey this in a graphical way."

It was also clear to us in our planning sessions that Kaplan Kirsch is not a typical law firm. Lawyers are at the top of their fields in areas that are seamlessly connected: environmental law, airports (airspace, noise, safety/security, unmanned aircraft systems – and then all the usual things, such as labor/employment, litigation and bankruptcy), and everything related to rail, highways and transportation.

Content Pilot conducted a positioning strategy session and determined that, unlike most corporate law firms, Kaplan Kirsch is project-based, not legal discipline-based as Peter Kirsch notes above. That’s how clients buy their services and how they are organized.

Content Pilot identified a distinctive website strategy that lawyers immediately embraced: “Projects that keep life moving.” This led to our decision to highlight three global navigation areas: People, Projects, Practices, with less attention on a second level of navigation, which included About Us, Careers, News & Publications.  

The tagline, “Projects that keep life moving” lays the perfect foundation to showcase the beautiful client project photos; actual client projects are the backdrop for the lawyer photos, as well.
No law firm we know is organized around client work at a national level – this makes Kaplan Kirsch unique. The Practice descriptions are succinct, yet highly specific, so are also uniquely differentiating from other law firms – even those that might be competitors.

The home page before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new home page features a carousel of rotating high profile client projects, which are described inside the site under "Projects."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firm Administrator Lorri Salyards, who served as internal project lead, tells how they obtained the unique project photos. "Some of the photos were taken by the clients themselves; others were taken by our photographer. A couple  were taken by other photographers and we purchased the rights to use them.  The photo of Last Dollar Ranch was taken by well known Colorado landscape photographer John Fielder."

Kaplan Kirsch lawyers are experts in their fields - we wanted to preview this, so the People landing page gives a snapshot of the types of projects on which the lawyers work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The project descriptions are detailed and specific, but easy for a scanning reader to consume. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And everything is available - and the experience is equally good - on mobile devices, as well, because we used responsive web design (RWD).

   

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Kirsch says "All the feedback we have gotten is positive. People say, 'Wow, that looks different!' or 'That’s unique. I have never seen a law firm website that looks like that.'  We wanted people to view us in a very different light. This website achieves that.

"We view our website as a reinforcement and an affirmation of who we are and what we do. If people have heard of us, they will go to the website - we want them to say, 'That’s what I hoped they would be like.'

"The reason we appreciated working with Content Pilot was they were people who a) listened, 2) seemed to understand what we were saying, and 3) understood how to implement the thoughts we had. Getting any one of those things is difficult when working with service providers - we didn’t think we could ever get all three."

 

Branding and Website Case Study: Louisiana Litigation Boutique Keogh Cox

Investing in smart strategy isn't just a big firm luxury. Increasingly, aggressive, ambitious boutique firms with a good story are spending time and money to design plans to make smarter short- and long-term choices. Keogh Cox, with one office in Baton Rouge, LA, is one such firm.

With a 45-year history, Keogh Cox & Wilson, Ltd. had never engaged in strategic marketing planning. The firm had good lawyers, loyal clients, a nice reputation in the community and Louisiana and Baton Rouge bar associations.  So why shake things up?  Because firm leaders thought they could be better.

That's the key. The best lawyers always want to improve, work smarter and make a bigger difference in their clients' lives. This also means ensuring that you are attracting clients that are the best fit for your expertise and experience.

Using the firm's retreat with Altman Weil as its inspiration and launch point, partner Chris Jones reached out to Content Pilot in August 2014, initially to focus on improving this Keogh Cox website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content Pilot conducted a Ten Foundational  Best Practices audit of the site, which highlighted many areas of needed improvement. This motivated firm leaders to invest in and plan an overhaul of the site. At the same time, Content Pilot reviewed all firm marketing materials, advertising, budgets, website and SEO expenditures, and more - then conducted a positioning strategy meeting with firm leaders.  

Keogh Cox is a 21-lawyer litigation boutique, where lawyers of all ages and experience levels work closely together. They are aggressive advocates for local, regional and national clients who have difficult disputes in Louisiana.  It was clear in the positioning strategy session that lawyers have warm and important relationships with each other - there was lots of ribbing and laughing, but equal amounts of respect and reverence as they spoke about firm clients and partners' particular strengths and the high quality associates they were attracting.

Lawyers were unwavering in what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go. They have been known and want to continue to be known as a firm that successfully handles complex cases in Louisiana. Firm attorneys have many client successes to tell, and a feature of most of the new practice and industry descriptions is a series of short case studies.

The new brand strategy for Keogh Cox is: "The right ingredients for complex cases in Louisiana."  Capitalizing on how Louisiana is known for delicious food and spice, this "right ingredients" strategy is smart, especially as a reminder to out-of-state law firms who refer work to them, as well as clients in other parts of the U.S.

In addition, we recommended that the firm capitalize on its "street name," Keogh Cox, and get away from using the initials KCW.  You can see the former logo above on the website images - and here is our redesign - warm gray with a palette of curry and cayenne.

Speaking of spices, for years, Keogh Cox has private-labeled Leon's Original Cajun Seasoning, so the rebrand required a label redesign, as well.  Lawyers give the delicious spice concoction to clients, referral sources and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The website launched in late July, and was a complete overhaul, including rewriting all lawyer bios and practice descriptions.  Content Pilot interviewed the lawyers to write unique bios that highlighted the energy, distinction and experience of each one.  Jenn Ocken Photography shot new lawyer photos that captured the personality of each lawyer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Likewise, we interviewed lawyers for each practice area, focusing on overviews that (like the bios) are search engine friendly, and are filled with important keywords for the scanning reader.  As noted above, experience highlights/client stories are the centerpiece of most descriptions - here is one example from Business Law and Litigation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The firm owns its building on a prominent corner in downtown Baton Rouge.  Partner Chris Jones, who functioned as "project manager" for the brand roll-out and website planning, said, "We are getting a lot of recognition where people are noticing our sign and building.  Also for the website, new lawyer photos and advertising. We are committed to this campaign - and know we are building for the future."

During the website debrief, I asked Chris what advice he would have for other boutiques that are ready for change - he said, "Everyone is happy with the new brand and website, and we didn’t have an unrealistic expectation that we would see immediate results. We have to sustain this. We do expect a return on it, but it will take continuous thought and discipline to do the right things - make the right choices.  We know that it will take time."

Keogh Cox did it right. Leaders didn't put their toe in the water, they demonstrated courage and commitment from the first meeting that never wavered. It was an honor and pleasure for the entire Content Pilot team to work with them.

 

 

 

 

 

"Lean Data" makes more sense for law firms than big data.

Big Data is getting bigger.  According to research firm IDC, big data services and technologies will grow at a compounded rate of 27%, exceeding $32 billion by 2017.  The greatest challenge is knowing how to make it work for us in a law firm - how can we learn from it, affect change with it, make progress and grow revenue?

Data pours in from new sources and channels every day.  Sifting through all the signals and noise is an enormous daily undertaking, and extracting insights (the proverbial needle in a haystack) that drive smart business decisions is more difficult by the hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Fishburne's Marketoon shows how big data can "prove" almost any conclusion. Therein lies one of the greatest dangers: when the data set is so huge and your goals aren't clear, the data can tell you almost anything you want it to. 

I like "lean data" better. The Guardian says:

“The dirty secret of big data is that no algorithm can tell you what’s significant, or what it means. Data then becomes another problem for you to solve. A lean data approach suggests starting with questions relevant to your business and finding ways to answer them through data, rather than sifting through countless data sets."

Here are a few lean data opportunities for marketing and business development teams in law firms:

1. Google Analytics and other tracking of your website assets - what content drives longer visits to your site (e.g., video)
2. SEO statistics – how are you doing in your signature areas? How are you doing on trending topics?  Be specific in your improvement goals
3. Experience databases filled with intelligence about expertise, clients, qualifications
4. Litigation and corporate databases that reveal who else is representing your clients and for what (then do something about it)
5. Proposal win/loss analyses - why did you win? Lose? To whom and why?
6. Client loyalty interviews - use quantitative and qualitative questions
7. Financial data about your top 50 clients, then next 200 clients - what do the last 5 years tell you? Discover the stories in your numbers
8. Process improvement analysis – where can you streamline what you are doing, save time and get better results?
9. Track initiatives that are truly paying off and eliminate the ones that aren't

On the MediaPost Agency Daily (MAD) blog, Jason Harrison shares advice for marketers who want to be more effective in their data management in Making Sense of all that Data. Jason is the Founding CEO of Gain Theory.

1. Ask Answerable Questions - Don’t aim for something unattainable – start small and build small victories into something large. Don’t let the objective be “deal with Big Data” or something vague and unending.  
   
   With this approach, you’ll build capability, credibility and momentum, all while delivering better results. Then you will be better prepared to answer the big, ugly, complex questions your organization has been asking, like:  What is the long-term impact of our marketing on share price?
   
   
2. Free Your Data - Figure out where your key data lives and liberate it.  Take the opportunity to collaborate across the organization to unite seemingly disparate organizations and their data to see what connections can be made and what new questions can be asked and/or answered.  Build relationships with the stakeholders who control those data sets by creating a common set of goals right off the bat. In the end, you’ll need their partnership to build something meaningful and lasting.
   
   
3. Select Smart Partners - Work with a partner who will enable you to make progress quickly. Your partner should be your guide through the mountain, helping you navigate the data in jargon-free terms, simplifying the process while providing actionable options to deliver results quickly.  In delivering small, tangible results, you will be able to effectively manage internal stakeholder expectations.
   
   
4. Create SMART Data Goals - Just as you would set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) goals for your staff, set similar goals for your data. This approach helps you avoid becoming swamped by your data and instead tackle it in small chunks. This means setting extremely pointed, quantifiable goals for your team that are clear, concise and understood by all. Then continue to check in on how you’re doing against them along the way to ensure you’re on track and not veering from your intended outcomes.

Embrace lean.

 

What Lawyers can learn from "A focus group of one" - and dispelling the illusion that you're right

I've taken a hiatus from my blog for a variety of reasons - other than my normal workload, I'm co-authoring a book  with Greg Siskind (The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet, 4th Edition, published by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association), and I fell, broke four ribs and punctured and collapsed a lung in a hotel in San Diego while at the 2015 LMA Conference (in the hospital for a week and then grounded for another before I could fly home - more on this experience in a future post).  I've missed writing here and am thankful to faithful readers who stopped by to read previous posts.

Have you ever been seduced by your own brilliance?  Have you ever heard or read something and later disputed or supported it with fervor, based on your singular experience and personal opinion?

We do it ALL the time.  We are our own "focus group of one."  Your passionate opinion is fine when it comes to movie or book reviews, the most delicious Pinot Noirs or the best steak in New York. But when it comes to gauging how your clients feel about you without asking them, it's your ego trumping your good judgment - and it can be dangerous.

The Marketoon below, published today by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne, shows the oldest guy in the room confidently saying he knows what teenage girls would want.  It's absurd, right?  No, it happens all the time.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fishburne starts his post with this:  

"It’s tempting for marketers to assume we intuitively know what consumers want. After all, we’re consumers too. But listening to the focus group of one inside our heads can lead us astray. Trying to extrapolate our personal experience to how an audience will respond is risky. Many leaders don’t recognize this blind spot.

This is particularly common in hierarchical organizations that defer to the decision of the most senior person in the room. Google has a maxim to beware of the HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinions). There’s a classic quote from Jim Barksdale from his time as Netscape CEO: 'If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.'”

It's foolhardy for law firm leaders to assume they know what their clients want and like without asking them - and asking them over a game of golf or at a ballgame doesn't count - "Gee, how'dya think we're doing? Pass the peanuts."  

Law firm client interviews and other feedback programs have been around for years - I conducted my first ones in the late 1980s.  There are several excellent companies that specialize in it. There are countless reasons to invest in client loyalty interviews - deepening trust, identifying problems, relationship and business growth are key reasons - but the core of this post is about fighting the temptation to be your own focus group of one.  

Don't design strategy without the voice of your key clients in your head.  And, if you are the Highest Paid Person in the room? - don't be seduced by your standing and your cleverness - don't be a narcissist when discussing strategy that will impact the future of your firm. Collect data first, and ensure that your opinions are equally measured along with those of your respected colleagues.

Here are a couple more Marketoon-inspired posts from Law Firm 4.0.

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2015/02/law-firmsdatamarketers-the-love-hate-relationship-between-marketing-and-math.html

http://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/2011/11/how-does-the-last-mile-relate-to-lawyers-website-biographies.html

 

 

 

 

What law firms can learn from OpenTable's new Brand

OpenTable has become ubiquitous among busy professionals who want a personal valet to make reservations for us, check menus for gluten-free options, find out what other like-minded diners had to say about food, service, atmosphere and noise - and to fundamentally make our lives easier.  The promise they make is food and drink of my choosing at a time that's convenient for me. And that is high on my list of rewards at the end of a long day.

What you may not have stopped to consider, though, is that OpenTable is a brand that has to be created, designed, maintained, extended and protected - just like the brand of any other business.  

 

 

 

 

OpenTable launched a new brand this week.  The brand story on the website says, "The table is just the start."  Here is the entire story (I think it's concise, smart, moving, human):

At OpenTable, we love what happens around the restaurant table. We exist to power great dining experiences worldwide. We do so by connecting restaurants, people and communities around the table, enabling them to share some of life’s most enriching moments.

Our brand is based on a simple thought: The table is just the start… It’s the start of a new idea, renewed friendship, healthy debate, a cuisine first tasted, a great night out or the year ahead. There are so many universal, shared experiences that we create, capture and celebrate. And they all begin around the restaurant table.

The table IS just the start. Think of the deals literally inked on tablecloths, women in love who said "yes," new ventures born over a second bottle of Stag's Leap Cabernet, a blind date who should have remained blind - but who made for a crazy story afterward - the table is just the beginning.

What can law firms learn from this - in my view - brilliant new brand launch by OpenTable?

1. They have chosen a positioning strategy and tagline that speaks to its clientele - they make a captivating promise to us that is filled with possibility.  What promise is your law firm making to its clients?  Or, is it all about you?  Walk away from your mirror and look out at your various constituents.  When they look at you, what do they see?
   
   
2. OpenTable promises the world, but they also promise one dinner on one evening in one city. The scalability of this brand promise is remarkable.  It reaches millions and it reaches one. How far does your brand promise reach - if you have one?
   
   
3. OpenTable is creating an experience that they don't have to sustain. They are facilitating the perfect hand-off to me as a target consumer. They provide the table - but I have to create my own experience after that.  Law firms with an elevating position that addresses its audiences are also doing a hand-off. Prospects are attracted by the "promise," and they are sold by being convinced that these particular lawyers can help them solve a problem or seize an opportunity. Lawyers can be brilliant facilitators, setting the perfect stage for a company, business owner or other enterprise to succeed.  And then they hand the reins back to the executives who must carry on. Does your position or brand promise preview this for your target client?

The key for your law firm is to put that stake in the ground and know what you stand for. And don't forget to book your next reservation on OpenTable.com - and see what happens next.