Trends in Legal Marketing and Career Planning

By Thom Singer, the former marketing manager for the Austin and Dallas Offices of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP. He can be reached at

Competition among law firms for new business is fierce.  Firms are searching for ways to connect with clients better and to put processes in place to gain more business.  As a result, they are looking for business development professionals who can sell high-value intangible services, according to recruiter Jim Cochran who places marketers in law firm jobs.

Jim Cochran, Managing Partner of ClearLeverage, spoke at the program “Trends in Legal Marketing and Career Planning” at a recent meeting of the Austin Legal Marketing Association (which is in the process of becoming part of the Southeast Chapter of the LMA).  He has over 18 years experience in the legal field, including time as an attorney for a large firm, general counsel, consulting, legal placement, and now marketing and business development placement with law firms.

Jim has both a JD and MBA from Southern Methodist University, and started off with a laugh as he referred to himself as a “recovering attorney.”   Describing his own background and career path, he said, "one never knows where life will take you."  When he graduated from law school he had no idea how many different perspectives he would have on the legal profession over the next two decades.  

Key Trends

Some of the key trends that Jim talked about were:

·       The rise of the global law firm
·       Continued consolidation of law firms
·       The development of client teams for key clients and industries
·       The increase in the number of RFPs for big-ticket litigation
·       Firms finding ways to differentiate through client service
·       The arrival of business development (sales) professionals

What’s in a Name?

Currently law firms are all over the map in their use of titles for marketing, business development, public relations and communications positions.  Often the titles are not clearly related to the actual tasks the individual is asked to perform.  The audience laughed when asked who had responsibilities that were not part of their job description.  It seemed unanimous that marketing professionals wear many hats.

The most common titles that exist in law firms are:

·       Marketing Director (most common)
·       Chief Marketing Officer
·       Director of Client Services
·       Marketing Manager
·       Marketing Coordinator
·       Any number of other variations

But the trend appears that senior titles may move away from “Marketing” and more toward descriptions that include “Client” and “Development,” but these titles many times appear to be based on firm history or culture, and may not necessarily be reflective of what the person does.  Firms many times will make one person responsible for many things, including:  marketing, P.R., event planning, research, database management, advertising, branding and community involvement.

Focus on the Client

The audience agreed that law firms and the way law firms get business is changing.  Firms are actively trying to find new ways to develop more business from existing clients and find new clients.  Many law firms have begun to talk about “business development,” which is another name for “sales,” but few have actually hired experienced professionals who can sell high value intangible services for their firms.  The accounting and consulting firms have been doing this for the past 10 years. Law firms are not there yet, but are headed that direction.

There are many great lawyers and great law firms, but clients still select their attorneys based on chemistry, relationships and reputation.  Competition is fierce.  Firms are searching for ways to better connect with clients and put processes in place to gain more business.  In the past 18 months business development professionals have begun to appear on the scene, but the percentage of firms that have begun moving in that direction is still very small.  Between 10% and 15% of those in the meeting said that they actually have a role that includes interacting with the firm’s clients or prospective clients.  Cochran was confident that number will grow, but cautioned that law firms were not sure how to incorporate sales professionals into the organization.

Moving Forward Toward Biz Dev

As more firms make the move toward a true business development function, they will need to reconsider the results that they expect from the marketing position.  “Biz dev” requires a completely different skill set than the traditional law firm marketing manager has.  Firms may need to look outside the industry to hire experienced sales people.  Marketing will have more of an internal orientation and Business Development should have more of an external focus with client contact. 

Because the skills required are different, firms should not expect one person to handle all aspects or marketing and business development.  Both positions should report to the same person, preferably the Managing Partner or Managing Committee.  To have business development and marketing reporting to HR or the administrator can be a setup for failure.   The most senior person responsible for these functions should be present at the executive committee level so that the firm’s management is informed and remains committed to the effort

The larger, multi-office firms will be out in front as this trend progresses, but smaller and medium sized firms will not be far behind once successes in this area become evident.  While marketing in the legal business is an accepted and mature industry, business development is going to be expanding rapidly over the next three to five years.