Category: Driving Revenue

Branding is a Strategic Asset that Morphs into Revenue Generation

Has your brand with its “unique selling points” been incorporated into your marketing initiatives to propel your business development success? Are you using it to demonstrate how and why you are different from others in your space?

The first questions to consider when delving into a brand’s impact involve exploring the clarity of its messaging, its unique appeal, its market position, and the effectiveness and depth of differentiation it offers from the competition.
Consider answering these questions about your own brand:
Are my unique distinctions and areas of focus uniformly and clearly presented in all marketing efforts?

When a new viewer comes to the Home page on my website, do they get who we are, what we do, and why we do it, all within seconds?

Does my LinkedIn Profile pay off my brand and unique essence in the same way? Do my posts demonstrate clear thought leadership and industry knowledge?
Is the messaging throughout my website consistent and clear? Do I offer examples of client successes that pay off my distinctions and areas of expertise?
Have I considered how I am distinct from others in my space and do I offer that up to potential clients? (Why would a potential client/customer choose us?)

Branding is no fool’s errand. It is a deep and involved process that can provide a big payoff in driving revenue. Very few professionals have the luxury of being the only person in their space. Take marketing consultants, for example. I was recently in a Zoom networking meeting in which there were three marketing consultants. Each of us offered distinctive services and positioned ourselves completely differently.

For example, take Susan Gold, of Susan Gold Coaching. Susan’s position clearly shows her position in the marketplace as a “Marketing Strategy Coach working with B2B businesses to help them attract their ideal clients.”

Susan works with her clients digging deeply to uncover the best marketing strategies that will produce the most effective results. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanmgold/

When Michele Correnti, of Correnti Marketing & Events, explained her line of services we quickly understood that she helps law firms build and clarify their online presence. She offers a niche market service in her well-defined area of focus. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelecorrenti/

When it was my turn to reveal the areas of competence at EM Consulting, I shared our brand or tag line, “Our business is developing yours℠.” I included the words from my LinkedIn Profile headline copy, “Award-winning biz dev consultant driving revenue connecting your distinctions with the unique and sustained client and potential client interactions.”

Our services start by clarifying the client’s brand messaging. Next, we apply it to their website (or create a new one if the site is older than three to four years as web technologies have morphed) and also to LinkedIn. We create solid marketing and business development plans creating a unique and sustained offering. The goal is to combine clients with potential clients in their targeted industries, vertical market, or the space the client plays in. Simply stated, our brand is driving revenue. https://www.linkedin.com/in/merryneitlich/

Three consultants, all marketing professionals, but offering different and specific areas of expertise.

At another meeting I attended, there were three insurance professionals present. Each one worked in a different space and was well branded.

By way of example, take Frank Campbell of Stratus Financial Planning. Frank’s company performs custom analysis of life insurance plans because – wait for it – 88% of all plans do not deliver what the owner of the plan expected. There are a myriad of reasons why so many plans fail. Frank uncovers them and can correct over 80% of those policies’ deficiencies. https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-m-campbell-clu-98b91040/

Then, there’s Jim Better. Jim shares a personal story of a family member who ran out of funds needed for their long-term care. This had a devastating effect on his family. Jim took his years of experience selling insurance now singularly focusing on helping individuals secure long-term health care insurance. Jim understands the devasting outcome of having no such policy in force. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbetter/

And finally, we share the story about Aaron May, who heads his company which sells employee benefits for companies’ employees. His firm serves small to mid-size organizations taking great pride in their white-glove and personal service. They work closely with their client companies and their employees taking as much time as needed time to educate them and have them completely understand all of their benefits. The professionals at Ancile Insurance always take the time to answer the myriad of questions to deeply explain coverage offerings, clearing up any confusion. This focus offers true compassion and lots of education creating differentiation for the company in the crowded insurance market. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-may-930a2572/

Is it the time for you and your company to reflect on your brand’s clarity? Are you using it effectively to create a distinction in the marketplace and to drive new revenue? Branding, after all, is the backbone of strategic marketing. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/branding-is-the-strategic-backbone-of-84058/

Drive Revenue Through LinkedIn

How do professionals increase their book of business through LinkedIn?

A great many professional service providers continue to avoid the reality of how to effectively use LinkedIn to increase revenue. We tend to see way too many posts of people enjoying a meeting or charitable event. While there is nothing incorrect about these posts, they do nothing to share one’s knowledge and expertise with fellow LinkedIn members. (Help me learn why I should do business with you.)

Social media and content marketing are the reality in which we are living. But excuses and resistance to change still abound. With so many different social media platforms let’s narrow the conversation to the #1 platform for business – LinkedIn.

According to Forbes, LinkedIn drives 64% of all social media visits to company websites. And 74% of those on LinkedIn use it to research companies and people. Do you really want to offer an incomplete LinkedIn profile when others come to check you out? Yet Forbes also tells us that over 50% of the LinkedIn profiles are not completed or optimized.

When professionals say they do not have time for LinkedIn, in actuality it does not have to consume a great deal of time. In fact, once your profile is truly optimized you can spend 10-minutes on most days to be a part of the conversation and to let your other connections know you are in the game and also noticing their posts and articles.

Take a Moment to Learn the Ease of LinkedIn

To begin, simply scroll down through your feed that appears on the Home page when you sign in to LinkedIn. This is also the location of your status update page. Make a few comments to some of the posts from your connections or simply click on “Like” and they will know you read their post and took the time to notice it.
Posting original content on your status update page is part of the process but this can be just a few sentences in which you post about a meeting or event you went to, or an article you read with a comment about it and a link to it. Whenever you post a blog be certain to repurpose it by posting it on LinkedIn and attaching a link to it. Perhaps you are sharing some information your firm posted or information that one of your colleagues posted about a case or other legal discussion.

Have you written an article? You can post fresh content, such as an article, to your profile page and also to your status updates. This is a free way to continue to demonstrate and enhance your expertise on a topic. Yes, business actually happens from consistently raising your profile by sharing your knowledge and engaging with LinkedIn.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce it can take between 8 to 20 touch points before someone knows you well enough, understands the depth of your knowledge in a particular area, and feels comfortable enough to want to do business with you. So after your next meeting, speaking opportunity, networking event, this free tool we call LinkedIn can assist you in making numerous touch points demonstrating your knowledge, expertise, and ability to connect and care. Be certain to add new connections after every meeting you attend. Stay top of mind by connecting with your clients, prospective clients and referral sources.

What is all of This Talk about Optimizing Your Profile?

LinkedIn is the go-to social media for business. In fact, Forbes’ research tells us that most individuals will go to LinkedIn before going to your firm or company website.

Optimizing your LinkedIn Profile helps others find and learn about you. To optimize your profile start by looking at the following two areas in your profile. There is more to be considered than what is included in this article but this is a great place to start to connect and get noticed on LinkedIn.

Let’s start by creating a clear Profile Headline (120 character limit) which appears under your name. Do not be generic, rather be specific. Try, “Resolving complex business litigation disputes,” rather than “Litigation attorney”, or consider “Forensic accountant who makes it happen in court” rather than “Accountant.”

Do not use the name of your business or firm in your headline. Consider incorporating key search words in your headline and also in your profile. LinkedIn automatically provides the name of your company and your education on the next line under your Profile Headline.

Your Profile Summary comes next (2,000 character limit). A well-branded Profile Summary helps distinguish you from the competition and allows viewers to get a deeper understanding of what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. Generic descriptions just don’t work well on LinkedIn. Emphasize your professional skills.

1. Avoid the use of “I.” After a few times of seeing that word it begins to sound like “me, me, me and then there is me!” Instead of saying, “I am a forensic accountant. I help companies…” Consider, “As a forensic accountant, we assist companies….” You might also consider writing in the third person such as, “As an attorney who successfully closes M & A transactions, Stacy spends time honing in on each client’s business goals before any transaction begins.”

a. Include keywords that clearly describe what you do so that LinkedIn and search engines can connect those searching for your area of practice, experience and expertise. As of January 2020, LinkedIn has over 675 million users and therefore is one of the largest search engines in and of itself. And you, as a LinkedIn user, get the enhancement of LinkedIn when folks are searching the web. For most of us, the first thing that comes up under our names on a Google search are several LinkedIn connections, posts, article and the like. This is powerful stuff.

b. Modify your Summary from any other online bios or profiles just a bit. Search engines will discount your Summary if it is taken literally from your website bio since that information is already online.

Engage in the LinkedIn Community

Now it’s time to polish and complete your profile. The following aspects of your profile page are next after you complete your Headline and Summary.

  1. Upload a professional high-resolution color photo.
  2. Establish credibility with recommendations.
  3. Manage your endorsements.
  4. Use the Media section to link to content on your website and blogs. Post presentations, articles and other content on your profile page. It provides the reader with a sense of the depth of your expertise and your distinctions.
  5. List education, projects, certifications, volunteering/causes, honors and awards. Use logos, colorful images and photos.
  6. Join and work a few targeted LinkedIn groups.

Conclusion or Can I still Ignore LinkedIn?

We are way past the tipping point for the adoption of the effective use of LinkedIn. And we are years past the Innovator, Early Adopter, Early Majority and are firmly in the Late Adopter and Laggard stages of those increasing revenue through LinkedIn.

Ignoring social media at this stage is akin to Late Adopters who avoided disruptive technologies like email, company websites and branding. Get connected and help spur new business through the number one business social media in the world, LinkedIn.

The Sky is Falling, the Sky is Falling!

The results of the 2019 Altman Weil annual Law Firms in Transition is receiving well-deserved interest from law firm leadership. This year, 362 law firms participated in this annual benchmarking survey. The good news is that most law firms are experiencing improved financial performance. And the issues surrounding what clients are expecting is becoming clearer. Lawyers are busier, per se, and many firms have raised rates.

According to the results, managing partners have long accepted the fact that there is a permanent trend in how the practice of law is and will be practiced. Change is continuing. But increased profits have some law firm leaders relaxing a bit about the impending discussions of “doom” about how the practice of law is changing. Is the sky really falling?

Apparently the sky has not fallen. But at the same time forward thinking firm leaders recognize that high collaboration with firm clients is increasingly essential. And according to the survey, almost all firm leaders agree that the pace of change will remain high or even accelerate.

What do Clients Want?

While clients may not be looking for the low cost leader they are seeking greater transparency and accountability in the delivery of legal services. Over 50% of the firms responded that they are invested in capturing data on the cost of their services. The basics of strong experience and expertise along with a high level of communication, good service and efficient processes remain important criteria for clients when choosing outside firms. And a whopping 96% of law firm leaders agreed that a focus on increased efficiency, and perhaps with it better predictability and innovation, are areas clients are seeking.

A clear, strong and distinctive law firm brand remains important to clients. About half of the respondents of this year’s survey said their firms are clearly differentiated from the competition. But what about those firms that have yet to go through a brand development process to identify, codify and implement a clear brand which consistently supports and reflects their unique distinctions? These firms make it difficult for clients and potential clients to understand why a firm with a muddled brand should be chosen.

The survey results report 78% of firms have created a more collaborative culture resulting in improved firm performance. Altman Weil suggests compensation systems should reward increased collaboration and better client service.

The survey did not explore additional issues that are increasingly vocalized by legal departments such as which technologies are preferred, how they use artificial intelligence, or how to incorporate problem solving solutions such as process mapping to minimize pain points.

Altman Weil’s 2019 Survey states that the demand for law firm services has been flat for years and that the acquisition of new clients is essential for continued growth and sustainability.  And according to the summary, managing partners are highly concerned about the impending recession. The sky may not be falling but savvy law firm leaders are making sure their firms are realistically facing the changing landscape in the practice of law to secure their futures.

The full survey results provide greater details and explanations.

 

Tipping Point: Transformation and Innovation in the Legal Department

This ARK Group book was just released. I was pleased to be tapped to write a chapter on the specific steps a legal department can take to increase efficiency, predictability and collaboration with outside firms.

Information about purchasing the book can be found here: http://ow.ly/cw5A30o0lN7 

The following is the ARK Group description of the book.

“The contemporary legal landscape is no longer a rigid hierarchy composed of limited and complacent behemoths, but rather an ecosystem, filled with a wide variety of players that facilitate disruption and revolution and jostle for clients’ attention with agility and innovation. This includes – but is certainly not limited to – entities such as technology companies, consultants, alternative legal service providers, and paraprofessionals.

“Law firms are not the only ones in this environment that must adapt or fail; the legal department and in-house counsel, too, must transform in order to remain relevant and competitive.

“The world of the general counsel (GC) has already seen massive shifts – ever-increasing globalization has meant more legal issues and corporate activism, which in turn has generated new challenges and heightened demand. The GC cannot simply act in the role of outsourcer of work to external counsel, as in the past. With the growth of legal departments (it is now not uncommon for legal departments to number in the hundreds or even thousands, often formed of expensive lateral hires) the GC must now wear a number of hats, including that of the “CEO” of their department.

“The introduction of data analysis into the legal space and the oft-repeated mantra of “less with more” has meant that the GC must now think in terms of spend and budget more than ever before, transforming the legal department from a cost-center to a value-add. They must cultivate a breadth and scope of vision, able to organize and lead their department as an innovator. The flourishing legal ops role also provides yet another challenge for the GC. As the incorporation of legal ops within the law department becomes increasingly essential, the GC must work to ensure alignment and manage change.

“The present time has been hailed as the golden age of in-house lawyering, yet – and perhaps because of this – it is an uncertain and challenging time for the GC. Tipping Point: Transformation and Innovation in the Legal Department is intended as a handbook for the GC looking to build a truly modern legal department and revolutionize their role. Encompassing aspects from leveraging influence with the c-suite to reimagining organizational hierarchies and seeking the right operational professional, this publication features contributions from those at the frontiers of the profession as it transforms and embraces new areas of expertise”.

Finding True North: How Corporate Legal Departments are Leading the Legal Industry Forward

For over 25 years internationally renowned legal futurist Richard Susskind has been researching and opining on alternative ways law firms might work best with their clients. In his book Tomorrow’s Lawyers Susskind writes, “Law firms in the coming decades will be driven relentlessly by their clients to reduce costs.” All of his books, lectures and keynote addresses have intimated for decades that law firms must change from the traditional billable hour and become more focused on service delivery based on client preferences, creating better efficiencies, using more technologies and offering predictability.

During the last several decades many feel law firms were and are calling the shots. They primarily bill by the hour, grudgingly discuss alternative ways of delivering their services and raise their hourly rates almost annually. From the legal department’s vantage point an hourly fee-based model does not encourage true partnering, rather it tends to focus on profitability for law firms. Creating true alternative fee arrangements generally turns out to be disappointing for in-house counsels as typically nothing more gets offered than perhaps a 15% discount on the hourly billing rate. In-house counsels have been frustrated not being able to change processes and service delivery options. They want predictability and efficiencies not championed by the billable hour.

Out of their frustration, about five years ago, a group of in-house counsels from larger corporations started to meet informally. They expressed their specific frustrations with how their departments were run and also surfaced issues surrounding the way legal services were being delivered from law firms. Up to this point legal departments owned a fair share of blame for the dysfunction and inefficiencies in the system as they didn’t know what to do to change things, they just wanted to create an easier and more productive way to work. These soon-to-be change agents started to share information, processes, and technologies such as e-billing, e-discovery and knowledge management to create better efficiencies. In addition they discussed how they might work with outside law firms more proactively and in a way to minimize costs, frustrations and repetitive tasks. They wished law firms would approach them to ask what would make the delivery of services better for the client. These visionary leaders became the founders of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) and included Connie Brenton from NetApp, and includes Mary O’Carroll from Google, Jeff Franke from Yahoo, Christine Coats from Oracle, Lisa Konie from Adobe, Steve Harmon from Cisco, and Brian Hupp from Facebook.

In 2016, CLOC incorporated as a nonprofit trade association and it has become one of the fastest growing nonprofit legal organizations in the world. Since incorporating, CLOC has grown to include over 1200 members, 600 member companies, 26% of the Fortune 500, and spanning 40 states and 36 countries.

“Everybody keeps saying the legal services industry is broken, that radical change is badly needed, but only a few, like industry thought leader Richard Susskind, were even looking at the issues industry wide. No one had tried to set forth what true north is for this industry.  Most legal departments focused on law firms as the only ones really needing to change.” said Jeff Franke, Assistant General Counsel of Global Legal Operations at Yahoo and founding member of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC).

But the challenges the corporate legal services industry face go way beyond the billable hour; beyond the intransigence of law firms to change their basic operating model.  Said Jeff Franke, “We need lots of change with respect to the six core ecosystem players.”

  • corporations
  • law firms
  • regulators
  • law schools
  • tech providers
  • outside service providers

Corporations have started making changes and we will see more radical change over the next three to five years than we have seen in the last twenty years.

The industry has come a come a long way from the days when GC’s were seen primarily as risk managers who relied almost exclusively on outside counsel to support a corporation’s legal needs.  Today, forty to sixty percent of all corporate legal work is done in-house.  As GC’s have brought legal support in-house to meet the mandate to deliver strategic, efficient legal support, operations excellence has become a critical necessity.  Unfortunately, historically the only way to develop that excellence was from the ground up: legal operations did not exist as a discipline.  No one offered a “how to guide” on this complex topic.

With the mandate to “Run legal like a business,” thoughtful in-house operations professionals got to work defining the space.  It was initially a slow evolution of legal ops. CLOC, through its members and leadership, quickly created a thoughtful, effective base of knowledge, templates, benchmarking capability, and best practices anywhere to help solve the frustrations they were feeling.  Their efforts led to the creation of CLOC’s 12 Core Competencies, a reference model for legal operations excellence.

CLOC’s Core Competencies chart goes here.

Among the many resources CLOC offers members, and the industry as a whole, its annual Institute offers a deep sharing of resources, templates, training ideas and implementation strategies. The CLOC conferences, 12 Core Competencies, templates, articles, and materials, are helping  legal departments and other core ecosystem players better understand what corporate legal departments need and want.

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has jumped into legal operations in a big way as well. Amar Sarwal, Chief Legal Officer and Senior VP of Advocacy and Legal Services, spearheads the ACC Legal Operations program and has aligned it fully with the ACC Value Challenge.

In addition to supporting and advancing the legal operations profession, ACC views its role as assisting the general counsel’s office to fully leverage legal operations. According to Amar, “Our role will not only make the legal operations function more coherent, but also help unify the process for its stakeholders. We help many legal departments that have previously not had a legal ops function open up to the possibilities. Wherever a department finds itself in this process, we can share concepts, leadership strategies, conferences, tools, and written guidelines to enhance the legal ops function. Both the ACC program and CLOC are committed to the success of the legal department.”

ACC legal ops focuses in two areas. It offers assistance to onboard new legal ops professionals sharing and leveraging materials and knowledge with a foundational toolkit. ACC also helps advance those legal operations counsels already immersed by providing continued assistance, strategies and information to get them to the next level.

What Your Department Can Do

As lead operations counsel for Yahoo, Jeff Franke added, “Many in-house legal operation counsels feel a legal department might begin by defining the largest areas of frustration working with outside law firms, vendors and legal project management. Ask your law firms to step up. Invite them to visit and share ideas how you might work together to create better communications and stronger relationships. Legal ops in-house counsels anticipate more and more law firms will get the message and proactively come to them to find ways to create mutually beneficial strategies.

“As an example, we spend money just to pull stats for our quarterly reviews. It would be wonderful if law firms proactively did this for us. Come to a quarterly review with statistics. Law firms need to understand that as legal departments are tasked with running a business within our company’s business, we need law firms on board too.”

Those working in-house looking to deepen their involvement might explore CLOC’s 12 Core Competencies selecting just a few to start the analysis process. What technologies do you already have and which ones are most important? Which will relieve your biggest frustrations and headaches with outside firms? Do you have a legal operations team in-house devoted to creating better efficiencies and partnering with outside firms? How might you start this process?

Pratik Patel, VP of Innovation and Products at Elevate Services, says without a legal operations function, the result is often overworked teams and inefficient practice of law.  “Legal operations can tame the chaos of running the legal department,” says Patel, who provides consulting services and technology implementation to in-house legal departments. “Without the legal ops function, lawyers are forced to design and develop the business aspects of their function in self-service models or in silos, often leading to limited or non-existent processes and fairly pedestrian use of technology.”

Pratik explains that developing a framework around legal operations and prioritizing the competency areas can build efficiencies that better align with a company’s business objectives.

He recommends four simple steps to get started:

  1. Identify the law department’s business objectives.
  2. Gauge each core competency’s ability to influence those objectives.
  3. Assess the overall levels of maturity in each area.
  4. Focus on the maturity areas most likely to “move the needle” towards your objectives.

Conclusion

Today, the legal operations function at major corporations has migrated from an uncoordinated disparate set of actions by individual players to a more carefully defined, cross-disciplinary profession loosely aligned across hundreds of companies and government entities.  The focus is on changing not only the way corporate legal departments deliver legal services but on the way the whole corporate legal services industry should function. Corporate legal departments are in the driver’s seat.

The first CLOC conference in 2016 drew 500 registrants. In 2017 there were 1,000 attendees and CLOC leaders are predicting that the upcoming April 22 to 25 Institute in Las Vegas will secure more than 2,500 attendees. https://cloc.org/conference

There is no doubt that legal operations is a growing force in the competitive landscape for law firms to keep and expand client relationships. CLOC leadership predicts 2018 will be a watershed year in which we see many more legal departments jump into legal operations and for those already involved, the prediction is the level of use of legal operations will significantly deepen. Legal operations is a partnership between legal departments and their outside law firms. If the steady and impressive growth of CLOC membership and legal operations professionals who take advantage of the numerous legal ops offerings from ACC continues, it will not be too many years in the future when law firms who resisted learning about legal operations will wish they hadn’t.

Written for the March 30th Publication in Today’s General Counsel

 

Is 2018 the Year that Law Firms Close the Gap on Legal Operations?

The practice of law is changing – of this there is no doubt. But if the energy and forward movement keeps up at the current pace, it seems that 2018 may be the tipping point for law firms to start to become more than just aware of legal operations.

Five years ago a group of visionary in-house counsels from large corporations starting meeting and sharing information informally with the goal of creating more effective and productive relationships with their outside law firms.

In 2016, these founding members, Mary O’Carroll from Google, Connie Brenton from Net App, Jeff Franke from Yahoo, Christine Coats from Oracle, Lisa Konie from Adobe, Steve Harmon from Cisco, and Brian Hupp from Facebook formed the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, CLOC, and planned their first CLOC Institute that very year. Over 500 legal ops professionals and legal services providers attended this first conference. The movement took off. At the 2017 conference there were over 1,000 attendees. The 2018 conference organizers predict over 2,500 attendees will flock to this year’s conference from April 22 – 25 in Las Vegas. www.cloc.org

“The CLOC Institute is the largest gathering of corporate legal professionals in the world focused on optimizing the delivery of legal services to businesses. The energized, inclusive and open community we’ve created welcomes industry veterans and newcomers, allowing attendees to create a breadth and depth of connections not available anywhere else. With more than 75 curated educational sessions, provided by industry leaders, the CLOC Institute offers unrivaled opportunities to learn, share, and connect”, according to the institute’s conference proceedings.

And according to an article by Jennifer Brown published in Canadian Lawyer, it is, “Not Yet the Tipping Point.” Full article here

In the article, Ms. Brown reported that Mary O’Carroll, while speaking on a panel during LegalWeek in New York in January, discussed the fact that her role is an emerging one.

“Legal operations used to be one that existed only in large departments focused on efficiencies and effectiveness. It’s now often the first hire after the general counsel in a new legal department. ‘The value and impact of this role is being recognized and the voice of the client has really started to come together and demanding we change the legal industry,’ Ms. O’Carroll said.

“Now, when the legal department at Google has a piece of work that needs to go external, a series of questions are asked: Does it need to go to a law firm? Can it go to an alternative services provider? Can it be done in-house? Can it be automated? Can technology satisfy the problem?”

The upcoming CLOC Institute is not only for legal department members, both in-house counsels and legal operations professionals, but also law firm attorneys, other legal service providers and consultants that assist law firms and/or legal departments to create and implement successful legal ops programs. Legal ops is about creating better efficiencies, predictability in fees, and increased transparency between outside law firms and legal departments. With an open and sharing mentality enveloping the conference, the networking opportunities will be front and center.

The educational offerings are deep and wide for law firms. They include an inside look for those starting up a legal ops function – for either a legal department or a law firm wishing to grow their practice through client focused legal operation preferences. A few additional topics in the myriad of offerings include knowledge management, connecting legal ops technologies for better ROI, strategies to more effectively partner with outside counsel, and additional concepts for pricing, profitability and legal project management.

Conference organizers are hoping more law firms will attend sending their client relationship partners, those attorneys responsible for firm management, and IT and marketing professionals who can coordinate the process, the training and implementation. There is no better conference on this topic anywhere.

Directors of Legal Operations are the folks who hire and fire outside law firms. And more and more corporate legal departments are making a deeper commitment to expand their company’s legal operations’ programs.

This is the right time and this conference is the right place for law firms wishing to stay relevant and grow their firms. Learn how to transform your firm’s culture in order to adapt to this major shift in how law firms will deliver services in the future – and that future is now.

 

The Sky’s the Limit!

The sky may be the limit now for small and mid-size firms to successfully target, court and convert larger company clients. In fact during a recent interview with the Director of Legal Operations at a Fortune 500 insurance corporation, I was told, “We like working with mid and smaller size firms because they tend to give better service and are more open to forming ‘sticky’ relationships with us. They seem more interested in understanding our pain points. Frankly, we find it easier to form strong relationships with them. Mid-size and small firms are starting to capture a big slice of the work these days.”

According to this article published by General Counsel News, “Companies want Smaller Firms But are Having Trouble Finding Them.”

Full Article Here

Law Firms that are Leading the Way

More and more corporate legal departments are requiring their outside law firms to adopt legal operations. In fact, every week 10-20 new legal departments join CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium). This blog highlights two law firms, Baker & McKenzie and Davis Wright Tremaine, that are well entrenched in legal operations and are effectively leading the way for other law firms. Find out how and why here.