Firms Seek to Forge New Connections to Alumni

By Brian Pitts, currently Assistant Director of Public Relations at Mayer Brown and former Public Relations Manager at Kirkland & Ellis.  His profile is online at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-pitts/6/20b/265.

Colleges and universities have been at this game for a long time -- forging strong ties to their alumni, who provide financial support and also help enhance a school’s brand.

Corporate America, however, is all over the board in terms of committing resources to maintaining connections with former employees. At many companies, once you leave, that’s it. No more contact. But, some forward-thinking companies such as Microsoft and Proctor & Gamble see the value in maintaining relationships with former employees and have robust alumni programs. Microsoft has a full-time director in place to manage its alumni group, while a former brand manager runs Proctor & Gamble’s alumni program.

In the professional services arena, consulting firms have been ahead of the curve when it comes to developing programs that cater to former employees. For example, McKinsey & Co., which has more than 15,000 alumni, realizes the importance of staying connected to consultants who are scattered around the globe.

Law firms have seen the light too. A number of larger law firms have maintained an alumni program for years and plenty of firms of all sizes are either presently considering initiating one or are beginning the process.

This topic was covered at a meeting of the Chicago chapter of the Legal Marketing Association’s. The program was titled, “Creating an Alumni Relations Program at Your Firm.” The veteran panel included:

• Wendy Cartland, Senior Director - Firmwide Human Resources at Kirkland & Ellis
• Kyle Heath, Chief Marketing Officer of Foley & Lardner
• Jan Anne Dubin, currently Director of Business Development at LECG in Chicago and former Director of Client Relations at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary

The trio discussed various aspects of starting and maintaining an alumni program while Barbara Sessions, Chief Marketing Officer at Winston & Strawn, moderated the session. Ben Ortman of SelectMinds, corporate alumni software and services consultants, organized the powerhouse panel and was on hand to respond to questions.

It’s important to stay in touch

Although each of the firms was at a different stage of their alumni programs, one prevailing theme emerged. It is important to stay in touch with former partners and associates. These people can serve as a great source of referrals and may even become clients one day.

Dubin jump-started the conversation by talking about the commitment that a firm has to make in order to develop a robust alumni program. With 3,000 lawyers now after a series of mergers, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary has a lot of alumni out there. The firm launched the alumni section for its U.S. platform in 2006.

“Don’t just dabble in it,” Dubin said. “You need to do it well. You want to build your network and make it successful for your lawyers. Make it easy for the firm to use.”

At Kirkland, the firm launched its alumni site in 2005. According to Cartland, it was a collaborative effort between the human resources and client service/business development departments working with the firm wide development committee, a group of partners who oversee marketing and business development efforts.

When Cartland first presented the idea at a committee meeting in the fall of 2004, the partners wanted to know how quickly a directory could be printed. They were wedded to paper, but Cartland argued that as soon as a book was printed, it would be outdated.

Working with SelectMinds, Kirkland instead chose a Web-based model, one that would feature live interactive data that lawyers could draw from. To get things going, Cartland assigned one member of her team -- a summer intern -- to scrub the incoming data so that they could broaden their outreach to all alumni.

“There was the issue of offending alums -- whom do you include and whom do you not include?” Cartland said. “We wanted to be all-inclusive. There is no downside in trying to have a better relationship with your firm’s alumni.”

The Kirkland Alumni Network Web site includes a searchable Alumni Directory, recent news and events, industry-focused articles and spotlights featuring successful alumni. Kirkland uses the site as a vehicle for disseminating information regarding upcoming events, job openings and recent legal developments. The Career Center houses both internal Kirkland jobs as well as external jobs provided by clients and alumni.

Getting Honda as a client

Foley & Lardner has had various ad hoc alumni programs in place over the course of the last few years; but, last year they decided to bring a real focus to the program. Heath mentioned a great example of an associate who had gone over to Honda and contacted Foley based on the knowledge she had about Foley’s expertise that corresponded to a specific need at Honda.

“That really got the ball rolling for us,” Heath said. “One of the first things we did was to identify who internally had a vision for this and use their enthusiasm as a springboard. Our program goal is really to maintain and enhance relationships with those who have gone in-house.”

In addition to alumni specific programs, Foley also makes it a priority to include alumni in all the various programs the firm offers. Heath related the example of a Web conference that they held in conjunction with the National Association of Women Lawyers.  Foley made a specific outreach to include women alumni and as a result, more than 40 alumni signed up, many of whom had not previously kept strong ties to the firm.

This was a great success, especially since many state bar associations require lawyers to attend programs to fulfill continuing education requirements. Alumni programs can help lawyers meet those needs with different online and off-line events. “This was a good way to show the return on investment and see the actual results,” Heath said.

Regarding tips for launching alumni programs, the panelists shared their experiences. Heath noted that the data piece was a “real headache” and that their firm “spun their wheels for a couple of months” trying to get a grasp on that information.

Cartland advised other firms to outsource the “heavy lifting.” Trudging through all the names was a time-consuming project too -- a perfect one for a summer intern. But perhaps the most important thing is to find people within the firm who are enthusiastic about the program. It’s is important to find partners and others who can champion the alumni program.

“This is a really fun area -- one that has to be started by people who are excited about making these connections,” Dubin said. “But once it gets going, that energy is contagious.”