Legal Marketing & PR

Only 3% of Legal Work is Influenced by Directories

Posted on October 15, 2008
There are three ways that law firms can waste their money: Shoveling bales of cash out of the back of a moving pickup truck. Starting bonfires with wrapped packs of $100 bills. Buying a listing in a directory of law firms. Speaking at the recent Chief Marketing Officers' Forum in New York, Peter Columbus, the Director of Business Development for Kaye Scholer and Mark Messing, Chief Marketing Officer of Weil, Gotshal Manges, presented research showing that directory listings are worthless...

Make Friends, Not Contacts

Posted on October 14, 2008
Lawyers need to meet people to generate business and to retain clients, according to author Ari Kaplan. He suggests lawyers join a sports league, the chamber of commerce, and hook up with law school classmates. Start with those you have already met and have them introduce you to their friends, recommends Elizabeth “Betiayn” Tursi, the founder of Tursi Law Marketing Management...

Book Review: Some Assembly Required: A Networking Guide for Women

Posted on October 13, 2008
Get your copy of Some Assembly Required: a Networking Guide for Women in the LawMarketing store for just $22.95 Review by Margaret McCaffery: This book is a sequel to Thom Singer’s Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Grow, and Keep Your Business Relationships...

Portland Law Firm Boosts Website Visitors who became Leads by 400%

Posted on October 09, 2008
The law firm Gilroy & Napoli dramatically boosted traffic from target clients to their website by using a combination of search engine optimization and paid search marketing using Google Adwords. The firm employed sophisticated online techniques that any law firm could use, to make certain its top 10 most important search terms appeared on the first page of search results on Google...

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Nevada Law Requires All Emails about Clients be Encrypted

Posted on October 07, 2008
This law just went into effect in Nevada:   NRS 597.970  Restrictions on transfer of personal information through electronic transmission. [Effective October 1, 2008.]       1.  A business in this State shall not transfer any personal information of a customer through an electronic transmission other than a facsimile to a person outside of the secure system of the business unless the business uses encryption to ensure the security of electronic transmission...

Nevada Law Requires Encryption of Emails with Personal Info about Clients

Posted on October 07, 2008
As of October 1, the state of Nevada requires the encryption of all transmissions, such as e-mail, for all businesses that send personal, identifiable information over the Internet. Violations are criminal misdemeanors.   It's all in Title 52 - Trade Regulations and Practices, Chapter 597 - Miscellaneous Trade Regulations and Prohibited Acts...

Webinar: Getting Client Feedback to Generate More Business

Posted on October 06, 2008
To get more files from clients, lawyers need to know what is happening at their businesses.  To get this key business development information:  More than 50% law firms conduct client surveys. 63% of law firms say client satisfaction surveys are their most effective business development tool...

Web Marketing Association Honors Chicago's Schiff Hardin

Posted on October 03, 2008
The Chicago law firm Schiff Hardin  has been awarded the "Legal Standard of Excellence" WebAward from the Web Marketing Association. This annual competition recognizes the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective and best Web sites on the Internet today...

Law Firm Loses Web Trademark Fight for its Own Name

Posted on October 02, 2008
Have you trademarked your law firm name?  If not, it's a big mistake and invites cyber-squatters to buy a domain, hijacking your firm name. Just because you've been using your law firm name on stationery and marketing materials may not be enough to create a common-law trademark for you...

Rainmaker Peter J. Bilfield - Taking Control of Career as an Associate

Posted on October 01, 2008
Peter Bilfield gets it. He embraced business development enthusiastically, found a niche, markets in a disciplined way and is on the fast track to being an accomplished rainmaker.   And he is delivering results that his firm respects: Peter has originated a significant and impressive level of fees for Withers Bergman in New York in 2008...

Rainmaker Peter H. Klee - Using Unbeatable Results to Generate New Business

Posted on September 30, 2008
Peter H. Klee is the biggest rainmaker at Luce Forward in San Diego, bringing in between $10 - $15 million each year, and his insurance litigation practice continues to grow at a rate of 10 percent per year.  What sets him apart as a 2008 Rainmaker of the Year, in the category of partners who are litigators, is his unbeatable record:  no client represented in court by Peter has ever been found liable for breach of insurance contract, bad faith or any other tort...

Rainmaker Wilton G. McDonald II - Innovating to Build a Practice

Posted on September 29, 2008
Wilton McDonald II had some special challenges in building up a small legal practice. Hired in November 2006 by a small to mid-sized firm in Grand Cayman as a senior associate, he was charged with bringing in his own work and full responsibility for the Investment Funds Department...

Defections & Litigation Dropoff Mean Heller Ehrman is Likely to Dissolve

Posted on September 27, 2008
From the Saturday Wall Stree Journal: Heller Ehrman LLP, a prominent, 118-year-old San Francisco law firm, appears to be near the end of its life. Chairman Matthew Larrabee announced Thursday that the firm's partnership would vote Friday on whether to dissolve the firm, says a firm attorney briefed on the matter...

Defections & Litigation Dropoff Led to Heller Ehrman Demise

Posted on September 27, 2008
Heller Ehrman LLP, a 118-year-old San Francisco law firm, is shutting its doors after 118 years. Chairman Matt Larrabee broke the news to the firm's 500-plus employees on Thursday. The firm's partnership was voting last Friday on dissolving the firm, according to many published reports...

Rainmaker Lorelei Graham - An Entrepreneur Who Gives Valued Legal Services to Entrepreneurs

Posted on September 26, 2008
Lorelei Graham is quite clear on what it takes to bring in business: “I don’t believe in the file fairy magically delivering work to my desk. Perhaps some IP attorneys can hit a hot area and mine it for business for a long time. But, I haven’t been that fortunate...

Rainmaker H. Patrick Callahan -- Generating Business Via Relationship Building and Team Play

Posted on September 25, 2008
The winner of the 2008 Rainmaker of the Year award for the category “Partner – Transactions” is H. Patrick Callahan of Baker & Daniels LLP. The annual Rainmaker awards are sponsored by Originate! - the business development newsletter, and judged by the Legal Sales and Service Organizations (LSSO)...

When is it time to bring in a law firm marketing expert?

Posted on September 24, 2008
Attention do-it-yourselfers: Why did you go to law school? To be a marketer or to practice law?  I found this great post on the Grow My Law Firm blog: "Why should I pay somebody to do my law firm’s marketing when I can just do myself?" Well, that’s a good question; and only you can decide: Can you make more money practicing law than doing marketing? Do you enjoy practicing law more than marketing? Is your expertise in marketing or law? What is the most efficient use of your time? What daily activities bring the biggest payoff? Legal work or marketing planning and execution? Are you willing to commit a significant amount of time to keeping abreast of contemporary marketing techniques, tactics and their application strategies? Without the guidance of a legal marketing professional, do-it-yourself marketing is akin to the people that you shake your head about who have undertaken do-it-yourself legal work...

Badger State Lawyers Get Clients Using LinkedIn

Posted on September 23, 2008
Lawyers at the Wisconsin law firms of Davis & Kuelthau and Godfrey & Kahn are generating new business by methodically using LinkedIn, the online social network, according to a report in the Wisconsin Law Journal.  In fact, 70 percent of the lawyers at the Milwaukee firm Davis & Kuelthau have joined LinkedIn, at the recommendation of Michelle M...

Finding a $250K contract on LinkedIn Answers

Posted on September 22, 2008
LinkedIn has a great case history about how Steven Shimek, Senior Vice President, Ruder Finn PR in Los Angeles used LinkedIn not only to get his job, but to bring in $250,000 in new businesses.  Attorneys and law firm marketers should take note. His job is to find new business for the company...

Marketer of the Year Brings Big Results to Her Firm

Posted on September 20, 2008
Marketer René Stranghoner used an integrated marketing and branding approach resulting in her firm achieving a 28% increase in net revenue for fiscal year 2008, taking the firm to a record $51 million mark. Taking a 360° approach to marketing, Stranghoner simultaneously executed a variety of strategies, all with a common objective – grow the firm and build the brand...

Learn the Branding Secrets of the Top 100 Firms

Posted on September 19, 2008
Get competitive intelligence on what the best law firms are doing and learn from their examples with the Legal Brand Blueprint. Business development expert Steve Hoeft shows you how branding can be your most powerful marketing strategy to win new clients...

Today is the Last Day to Register for Subprime Loan Litigation Webinar

Posted on September 18, 2008
There is a tidal wave of subprime loan litigation against the entire financial services industry. In a live web seminar Liability expert Kevin M. LaCroix, Esq. will identify the causes of action, plaintiffs and defendants. Business development experts Michael G...

New York Lawyer Uses Online Video to Attract New Clients

Posted on September 17, 2008
From the LawMarketing Portal: “Welcome, and thank you for joining me. My name is Gerry Oginski, and I’m a medical malpractice & personal injury trial lawyer practicing law here in the State of New York.” This is my introduction in every one of my 100 on-line videos...

Last Days to Register: Multiply Your Caseload with Commercial Subprime Loan Litigation

Posted on September 16, 2008
SPEAKERS: Kevin M. LaCroix, Esq., Larry Bodine, Esq. and Michael G. Cummings   PROGRAM DATE: this Friday September 19, 2008 10 AM to 11 AM Pacific Time 11 AM to Noon Mountain Time Noon to 1 PM Central Time 1 PM to 2 PM Eastern Time LOCATION: on the web, on your computer MORE INFO: Program Director Laura Kresich; Tel: 773...

LSSO Launches 2008 Women Lawyers Study

Posted on September 15, 2008
The Legal Sales and Service Organization has launched a new online survey that focuses on the work lives of women lawyers.  This survey is intended to assess the professional experiences and working lives of female attorneys, with specific focus on business development practices and performance...

Five Outstanding Lawyers Win 2008 Rainmaker Of The Year Awards

Posted on September 11, 2008
Five attorneys who have generated millions of dollars in new business for their law firms won the Originate! 2008 Rainmaker of the Year Awards to honor their outstanding business-development skills. The winners are profiled in the September 2008 issue of Originate! -- the attorney business development newsletter at http://www...

The Death of Voicemail in Law Firm Marketing

Posted on September 10, 2008
Ask anybody in business who is age 30 or younger: which will you answer first: A voice mail? A text message? The answer, my fellow silverbacks, is No. 2.  I couldn't believe it when I read it in the New York Times, because I'll answer my phone and check voice mail before anything else...

One week left to register for the CMO Forum in NYC

Posted on September 09, 2008
  Chief Marketing Officer's Forum - Last Chance to Register! Only One Week Left.   The Westin New York at Times Square will be the place to be next Tuesday and Wednesday, September 16 and 17 when The American Lawyer Magazine’s Chief Marketing Officers' Forum takes place...

Multiply Your Caseload with Commercial Subprime Loan Litigation

Posted on September 08, 2008
There is a tidal wave of subprime loan litigation against the entire financial services industry. In a live web seminar Liability expert Kevin M. LaCroix, Esq. will identify the causes of action, plaintiffs and defendants. Business development experts Michael G...

Google Slaps FindLaw In Effort to Crack Down On 'Link Juice'

Posted on September 04, 2008
The Web's No. 1 search engine has charged FindLaw with the shady tactic of selling Web links -- a.k.a. selling "link juice," designed to boost a Web site's search engine rankings -- such as the law firms that are FindLaw customers...

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