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Torts and Taglines!
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More and
more attorneys are marketing their services.
By William Poe
These days, a lot of attorney briefcases are bulging with more than
warrants, waivers, and writs. These days, attorneys are just as
likely to tote taglines in those satchels. To whit:
“Choose Experience.”
“Have an Aggressive Harvard Lawyer Represent You.”
“Fighting Hard for Our Clients and their Families.”
“Serious Help for the Seriously Injured.”
It’s enough to make you long for the days before Brown & Crouppen
started advertising “421-HELP” on local television. And it’s enough
to make you yearn for the days when the lawyer pitch only came on
the golf course or perhaps over drinks at the clubhouse bar.
Those were the days. And, for better or for worse, they’re gone
forever.
“We’re now forced to pitch our services. You’ve got to get your
product out there, or there won’t be any awareness of your product,”
contends Susan M. McCourt, client development manager for Blackwell
Sanders Peper Martin LLP.
“The legal landscape has changed quite a bit and has become more
competitive,” agrees Lois La Driere, marketing director for Armstrong
Teasdale. “Because it has become more competitive, law firms have
to become more proactive in their approaches.”
And that they have.
Personal injury plaintiff attorneys are the most aggressive marketers
with TV advertising and full-page color ads in the telephone Yellow
Pages. But even corporate law firms engaged in antitrust law, intellectual
property law, securities law, labor and employment law, and other
specialized practice areas are marketing their services like never
before.
McCourt says that Blackwell, Sanders last year rolled out a national
advertising campaign. Armstrong Teasdale, says La Driere, has a
new firm logo and is in the process of branding its various practice
specialties in much the same manner that Procter & Gamble brands
its products.
“Law firms are tending to mirror corporate America in their marketing
approaches,” says La Driere, a former United Press International
reporter who has been engaged in law firm marketing for more than
13 years.
For example, travelers passing through Lambert–St. Louis International
Airport now see more than lighted signs for lodging and rental cars.
Visitors may also catch sight of an Armstrong Teasdale sign touting
its patent and intellectual property attorneys. “If you want a thing
done really well, ask someone who practices every day,” the ad proclaims.
And the sign is working, La Driere says. “We’ve gotten some new
clients, and we are going to keep it up.”
Before the mid-1980s, Armstrong Teasdale would never have posted
a sign at the airport, adds La Driere, who notes that the nationwide
1,500-member Legal Marketing Association did not even exist before
1985. But a convergence of factors has prompted the explosion of
law firm advertising and promotion, marketers say.
Factors include corporate mergers, which have concentrated legal
services hiring decision-making in fewer and fewer hands; increased
specialization in law (Blackwell Sanders, for instance, now has
40 practice areas.); the ever-growing number of lawyers and firms;
consolidation of big law firms into even larger mega-firms with
hundreds of lawyers; and attempts by corporate clients to cap legal
fees and to purchase legal services in much the same manner that
they buy other professional services, such as engineering.
One of the most significant changes in the legal services landscape,
says McCourt, is that many corporate clients “are no longer giving
one firm all of their business” and may retain several firms to
provide services in particular areas.
“Unlike 10 or 15 years ago, clients are looking for specialists
rather than one general law firm,” La Driere agrees.
Companies now routinely issue formal requests for proposals for
legal services, say McCourt and La Driere, and many law firms now
have staff members whose primary responsibility is to process responses
to RFPs.
“Law has become more of a commodity,” La Driere says. “Clients find
it harder to differentiate among law firms and legal services.”
Price sensitivity among clients as evidenced by RFPs in which firms
are asked to provide hourly rate schedules and fees is also prompting
law firms to alter their non-promotional marketing strategies. “Bottom
line results in terms of cost play an important role,” La Driere
says. “Clients are trying to get firms to bid on price.”
McCourt adds: “Pricing is a constant concern, a constant conversation.”
A result is a slow but probably irreversible move away from the
formerly sacrosanct billable hour, whereby the amount of a client’s
monthly bill is based primarily on the number of hours invested
by attorneys and other law firm personnel, such as paralegals and
even clerks.
McCourt acknowledges that Blackwell Sanders does have “alternative
fee arrangements” while Armstrong Teasdale, says La Driere, is billing
more services on a flat-rate basis (Law firms call it value billing.)
and providing more value-added services.
“Clients are looking for more partnering, with the law firm taking
part of the risk,” says La Driere.
The increasingly competitive marketplace has also prompted law firms
to devote more resources to client satisfaction programs and to
grow business with existing clients.
At Armstrong Teasdale, La Driere says about half of the firm’s promotional
efforts are directed to existing clients. McCourt says Blackwell
Sanders focuses much of its attention on current accounts.
“We are continually marketing to both clients and potential clients
on a daily basis,” McCourt says.
New technology, too, is changing the client-firm relationship. At
many firms, clients can use the Internet and extranet components
to access billing information and to share documents. Other firms
including Bryan Cave, the area’s largest law firm, have developed
proprietary interactive Internet information channels to provide
on-line legal information and advice to clients 24 hours-a-day.
“Technology has really changed the practice of law and to some extent
altered how and where legal services are provided,” La Driere says.
While some law firms are trying to emulate corporate America through
branding activities and image advertising, La Driere says some of
those efforts may not be as disciplined as they should be.
“There’s a branding trend right now,” La Driere says. “But in the
future I think you will see less general branding and more targeted
efforts.”
William V. Poe is principal of Poe Communications, a St. Louis
advertising and marketing communications firm. |
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