Global marketing

Marketing trends for a shrinking planet

The fact that the legal industry is undergoing a period of rapid change is hardly a revelation. But the impact of that commonplace observation requires more careful analysis. The evolution from profession to industry requires re-developing many of the functions within the law firm. In particular, it highlights the vital role that marketing plays in running a successful and expanding legal business. Danny Collins, Associate Publisher at American Lawyer Media International, provides an overview of where legal marketing originated from, and where it’s heading. Accompanying his article are some fascinating insights from legal marketers around the world.

Some commentators have predicted a four or five-fold increase in average law firm marketing spend over the next few years, and some have even gone as far as seeing marketers running law firms, just as they do in so many other industries.

Successful marketing of professional services is one of the hardest disciplines to undertake due to an internal culture of law firms that see marketing as a non-essential, and in some cases frivolous, activity. Clearly, establishing a successful and substantial international brand is one of the key challenges that law firms face. Some firms have gone about this with great gusto. Others are more conservative, but have nonetheless made the recognition that marketing is more than a set of tasks (brochures, seminars, etc.) that are added on to, as opposed to embedded in, all the functions and services that the firm provides. Every lawyer and law firm employee should have marketing as one of their key goals, ingrained in every piece of work that they do.

In our more modest moments, Europeans may quietly concede that trends from the US usually influence the culture and social climate of the ‘Old World’. We used to scoff at the idea of the hamburger; now we scoff the hamburger. We used to cringe at training shoes and baseball caps, but now our stores are full of them. The same may be said of legal marketing.

Ten years ago, the view from across the water was that advertising was uncouth and undignified. Quite simply, shouting into the proverbial megaphone was seen as improper and ill befitting a law firm. A law firm didn’t brag. A law firm didn’t boast. They kept a modest silence and the PR department consisted of satisfied clients speaking well of them. All this has changed, changed utterly.

The UK legal market was the first to realise that an integrated and targeted marketing strategy is essential, not just in terms of growth and development, but for survival. While this could never be described as an overnight revolution, the speed of change has been extraordinary. PR departments have ballooned in size and a whole industry has been created in the wake of this sea change. Recruiters, PR agencies, specialist ad agencies and legal newspapers have been swept along with the tide. The UK has the most combative and competitive legal press in the world. Three major weekly newspapers, a host of monthlies and a veritable glut of directories all fight for the fruitful attentions of the commercial law firm. Marketing departments are experts in playing one newspaper off against another, whether it is over advertising rates or exclusivity on a good story. Today, the law firm that thinks of marketing as improper is going to be flattened by the surrounding stampede.

The rest of Europe has followed at a different rate. There are various reasons for this:

a) In almost all European countries, Law Society regulations have, in the past, prevented law firms from actively advertising their services. The rate at which these regulations have become redundant has changed from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The most common theme is that the restrictions are an obvious restraint of trade, but nobody can be bothered to formally challenge them and so they become almost irrelevant. One must acknowledge, however, that this has an effect on the attitudes towards marketing within the legal profession.

b) The prevailing legal culture of the country. For example, the French market has historically been rather introverted and, it may be fair to say, more suspicious than most of the American marketing culture. One look at the legal market in Paris will show you that the UK and US firms often mop up the most lucrative work and the native firms have suffered a rash of high profile departures to the internationalised and PR-savvy new kids on the block. The Swiss, however, have been far more willing to embrace the new marketing culture and are far more eager to invest in a thoughtful and consistent marketing policy on a national, European and global scale, often punching far above their perceived weight.

c) The nature of a legal marketing structure is inevitably influenced by the type and quantity of international work carried out by a firm. The past decade in Ireland has seen economic growth as never before in its history. An avalanche of investment from the US into the thriving high-tech economy has lead to the major law firms in Dublin fundamentally reviewing their marketing strategies. The US is now as important to the Irish as London and they have been quick to adapt their marketing accordingly.

When in Rome…

While some countries still loathe running advertisements, some are beginning to realise that for an overseas firm, an effective campaign involves a high level of branding and naming recognition. Some are quick to realise that the US firms are used to placing advertisements within the US. Realising that the locals know best, they are happy to follow the sound advice, ‘When in Rome, do as the locals do’.

The arrival of non-US law firms to American shores will add spice to the marketing mix. US firms with an international presence must re-appraise the approach they take to the profile of their satellite offices. Do they go head to head with the leading native firms or do they rely on the strength of the mother office? Competition in the battle for corporate America is bound to affect US legal marketing behaviour. The change is irreversible and a non-US law firm attempting to increase the flow of work from the US cannot afford to ignore this trend. The "King Canute" school of legal marketing is well and truly closed for business

The next generation…

In most law firms across Europe, the norm is for the marketing department to be comprised of partners. Partners are generally older lawyers, and tend to be more conservative about marketing than the young. It’s a generational thing. The young bucks breaking through the ranks today have been weaned on a diet of television, consumerism and advertising. Older partners have suffered no such exposure. They are now either retiring, being replaced by marketing-friendly youngsters, or they delegate marketing responsibility to the ‘Pepsi’ generation. This is the generation that will take legal marketing onto a truly global stage.

Marketing quotes from around the world

United Kingdom

"International marketing is about focus, consistency and integration of approach. This takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to make sure that what you are seeking to deliver globally reflects what happens locally. It cannot happen in isolation but must be part of the overall development of the law firm itself."

Chris Hinze, worldwide communications director, Andersen Legal

Poland

"After my ten years’ experience with two large international law firms that have been operating in central and eastern Europe, and my current, three year long practice while running the local 25-person large law firm, I must say that international and local marketing concepts are, after all, very similar. In those large firms, I felt like I was in a cocoon, in which whole departments were helping partners to hunt for fresh (and sometimes not so fresh) 'meat'. We were frequently sending not-so-busy staff to conferences or matchmaking events, and writing short articles for whichever publication offered it cheaper.

“Brochures and other promotional materials are not very effective, but are helpful in some circumstances. In real life however, in a large as well as in a smaller law firm, if you keep your clients happy, provide a solid effort while running their projects and treat your professional conflict situations fairly, people will come back to you. But when you are one of only a few partners, life becomes more interesting. You then often feel like the whole world is all out there for you, but you are limited by so many factors. Time, energy and means are counted twice before spending. And, if we take Poland as an example, this is where virtually all forms of professional advertising are forbidden by the Professional Code of Conduct. Serious discussions are pending to establish if even web pages are legal! It's a tough situation.

“Our law firm's practice, is mostly oriented toward the foreign clients: American, British, German, French, Austrian, Italian, Spanish, etc. And thank God, there are publications in which we can sometimes speak about ourselves more openly without taking an immediate risk of being accused of bad professional conduct. In my opinion, potential American and British clients are the most responsive to such efforts. They simply, more often than other clients, read about these things. And then they call back and ask about our local, hourly rates in comparison to those in other parts of the world with which they are all too familiar."

Piotr Kochanski, managing partner, Kochanski Brudkowski & Partners, Warsaw, Poland (Note: Piotr Kochanski was formerly a partner with White & Case, New York, and was one of two co-founders of the Warsaw Office of Hogan & Hartson from Washington, D.C. Mr. Kochanski has in-depth practical experience in establishing and expanding law practices designed to respond to the most contemporary needs of European and US businesses).

France

"The global economy constitutes a wonderful opportunity for overture between law practitioners the world over and has already greatly narrowed the gap between the types of consumption of legal advice. On the one hand, the global economy has created a need for standardisation and de-personalisation of certain current services. The multi-disciplinary international networks propose large structures that apparently offer less costly services. The similarity of knowledge and skills advocated by these types of services, for reasons related to profit, tends to erase national and individual identities. It often triggers a loss of traditional and fundamental values.

On the other hand, the global economy is inevitably resulting in a need for personalised services to be adapted to national and European particularities. Our foreign clients depend on our lawyers' contextual knowledge of economics, finance, law, politics and labour issues to protect their investment. We enjoy the distinction of being a law firm that offers realistic and competitive alternatives, which allows our clients to benefit from expert advice, availability and a personalised relationship. Our lawyers deliver personalised services because those that are standardised do not adapt well to the real needs of our clients. We are convinced that nothing replaces a personalised relationship or the privilege of having an insightful listener.

“We are different from the multi-disciplinary international networks in that we do not believe in rigid structures, and we have developed an independent organisation which adapts to the needs our clients and which provides them efficiency and results."

Delphine Deschamps, partner, Rambaud Martel, Paris, France

Italy

"Legal Marketing is a totally new world to explore, at least in Italy where law firms are starting to conform to the Anglo-Saxon way of doing legal business. As a matter of fact, Carnelutti is truly innovative with its new marketing office. Our managing partner, Luca Arnaboldi, thought it was time to shift from individual marketing to firm marketing: a completely new perspective in our country. This decision is due to Carnelutti's exceptional growth over the past few years and in a highly competitive market, successful law firms and lawyers are becoming more aware that marketing is one of the essential ingredients for success.

“In the US and UK, legal marketers are moving to more sophisticated value-added tasks, here in Italy we are still concentrated on image-building activities such as newsletters, co-publishing and press relations. Furthermore, our office works only on an international basis, this is due to the fact that law firms in Italy are not allowed to use traditional marketing and advertising tools.

We also have a very important internal job to do: relate the value the marketing staff brings to the firm. In fact the key role of a marketing department in other kinds of firms seems to be acknowledged by now, whereas a marketing department in a legal firm still has to prove its effectiveness and value. Partners need to be involved in what's happening, they need to share the same vision and see the results. Gaining the firm's confidence is probably the greatest challenge we have to face at the moment.”

Sara Mormino, marketing director, Carnelutti, Studio Legale

Latin America

"When marketing a global law firm, it is very important to be aware, and respectful, of the local culture and customs of the places where our law firm operates to be able to blend our globalised world with the day-to-day local happenings. Clients are sensitive and appreciative of the respect their attorneys show for their culture. It should be a constant topic on law firms' client care programmes, given that this will help attorneys understand their clients better. Clients have a right to expect that their global law firm will demonstrate cultural awareness in their performance and attitude. Global law firms that fail to embrace cultural awareness as one of their core values will suffer."

Ellen van Waveren, marketing manager, Baker & McKenzie- Latin America

Spain

"The key element of marketing, as we understand it, is to demonstrate our expertise to clients and potential clients. To this end, and in line with our firm’s long standing academic tradition, we write books and law review articles, prepare doctoral dissertations, give seminars and teach courses at law schools.

“This in turn helps us to recruit the graduates from the best universities. We try to improve their training by providing them weekly with four hours of continuing legal education during their first two years with us, as well as seminars on topics such as client care, professional ethics, drafting and communication skills, etc. We believe that these young talented lawyers are essential to foster the good reputation of the firm.

“Most importantly, we strive to consolidate our good name by providing our clients with legal advice of the highest quality and with efficient service, because we are convinced that a satisfied client is our best publicity."

Romana Sadurska, partner and head of marketing, Uría & Menéndez, Madrid, Spain

Danny Collins is the Associate Publisher at American Lawyer Media International. He can be contacted at +44 207 936 9847 or dcollins@amlaw-international.com .