Case study: Winning work from the US

Mason Hayes + Curran realised that attracting and securing business from the US to Ireland would demand a new strategic approach. They learnt a number of lessons about communicating with potential US clients.

By Declan Moylan, managing partner, Mason Hayes + Curran

The foundation of Ireland’s economic success is an institutional dedication to making the country the most attractive European venue for overseas corporates looking to establish subsidiaries, as well as conduct other business. There is a commendable unanimity of consciousness in
Ireland regarding this, shared by the government, business community, the professional-services sector and the financial community. The existence of a national will to compete for and secure foreign investment has been a cornerstone of the country’s transformation from relative poverty to one of the richest economies in the world. Ireland’s largest source of foreign investment is, of course, the US.

Bid for US business

When I was elected to my position I decided that one of my primary aims should be for my firm to achieve a large increase in the volume of activity and instructions received from US clients. It seemed clear to me that, if Mason Hayes + Curran (MH+C) was to maintain a prominent position in the marketplace, it would have to become a law firm of automatic choice for major US corporates coming to do business in Ireland. Traditionally, MH+C had a strong local Irish client base, but in order to grow and develop in alignment with the national economy, we needed to create and raise our profile in those places where the business and financial sectors would look to Ireland as a destination for the investment of
capital. This meant we had to make MH+C well-known in the US; a challenge to be sure, but an immense opportunity that we embraced with enthusiasm.

Our analysis of patterns of business activity coming from the US to Ireland demonstrated that, although players in certain industry sectors like pharmaceuticals, life sciences and financial services have a particular interest in investing in Ireland, there are also a wide variety of businesses likely to start activity here. From a market-positioning viewpoint, MH+C therefore faced the challenge of communicating news of its excellence and availability to a large and diverse US audience base.

Unless you have a genuinely top-quality product or service to sell, however, there is no point or justification in communicating with the market. The Irish legal services we had to offer were precisely aligned with the needs of our potential client base in the US. This task turned out to be easier than expected; as analysis showed the legal services required by US clients operating in Ireland were pretty much identical to the services we were already offering to our existing Irish and European clientele.

Of course, there were some differences in emphasis and priority required by US clients, but satisfying these was more a question of identifying cultural and systemic preferences than adjusting the nature of the services we were already providing to existing clients.

Communicating across the pond

So there we were, a manifestly competent and businesslike law firm looking to tell US corporate clients about our availability and attractiveness. How did we approach the task? The answer (unsurprisingly) is that we started out with a scattergun approach, making mistakes and spending too much money. Then we developed into an altogether more sophisticated communications operation, as we are now, with a concise, coherent and attractive message about our availability and excellence, well communicated and carefully targeted. Leaving aside some of our mistakes (who likes to dwell on their mistakes?), I can identify some key lessons we learnt, as well as steps we now take to get our message out to the US markets.

Lesson one

Very few US business executives will involve themselves directly in choosing a lawyer in Ireland. They will almost invariably leave it to an intermediary, either an internal intermediary like a general counsel, or an external intermediary such as their external US law firm. Therefore, marketing efforts focused on business people are frequently a waste of time and resources. Instead, we largely concentrated our marketing and communications efforts on the intermediaries, saving ourselves the frustration of rejection by uninterested executives, and saving them the irritation of hearing from us.

Lesson two

One very successful element of our strategy was to create a database of relevant general counsel, and then maintain a regular, focused and respectful pattern of communication. This calls for a lot of research, legwork and persistence. But the process does work and it’s important to remember that we’re providing a genuinely needed solution to this target audience – and that the audience appreciates and values relevant and intelligent communications from us.

Lesson three

The creation of a database of relevant lawyers in private practice across the US has also been core to our strategy. Again, there is much research and legwork involved, but the process has been very successful and rewarding professionally, as well as enjoyable socially.

Lesson four

Realising that the choice of Irish lawyer is not just a decision made in New York has been very important. We have learnt that building relationships in a range of cities across the US is necessary. New York is obviously important, but it’s only part of the jigsaw.

Lesson five

We learnt that many Irish lawyer recommendations are actually made by US lawyers based in Europe, mainly in London. This is because so many major US corporates have representation in the UK, and a number of US law firms have significant London offices. Naturally, US corporates looking at Ireland seek the views of their London-based lawyers as to which firm to use in Ireland. Thus,
the fostering of relations in London has a constructive and persuasive effect when it comes to choosing Irish lawyers.

Lesson six

Once we began to find our way around the US, we soon realised that a permanent physical presence in the country was going to be necessary if we were going to achieve a positive and lasting market impact. Other Irish firms had such representation, but we noted that most of them tended to
send lawyers at associate level on temporary tours of duty. We disliked that model, as we felt that the US market deserved more senior representation from MH+C. We also preferred the notion of a less transient representative. So we opted to engage the services of a senior, US-qualified resident lawyer to represent us in the US. We opened a small representative office in Park Avenue, New York. Our representative, Dan Walsh, had worked with Bear Stearns Bank in New York, and had also worked in Dublin for some years. So he had the magic combination of an American’s knowledge of his home markets and a personal knowledge of working in Ireland. Although Dan is based in New York, his work for us takes him all over the US, a core policy for us.

Lesson seven

We learnt the value of sharing some appropriate market intelligence and news of opportunities with other types of service provider, such as the Irish banks. As in all business situations, favours given are matched by favours received. News of potential projects coming to Ireland is a sort of currency in itself, and careful and professional information sharing can give a competitive edge in situations that are often hotly contested by a number of competitors.

Lesson eight

Finally, we realised that some of our lawyers are suited to developing our relationships in the US, and some are not. We decided we would only entrust such practice-development work to those of our lawyers who genuinely thrived in the US. As the people we send to the US are always enthusiasts for that country and its business style, we manage to give the right positive message to our contacts and potential clients there. The people we meet in the US know that we enjoy dealing with them and value their business highly.

Summary

Since we started approaching the US markets in an organised and imaginative way, we have added the names of a host of distinguished corporates to our client roster, many of them global household names. The experience has been both profitable and deeply fulfilling. We aim to keep our momentum in those markets, and continue to present ourselves as the law firm of natural choice for US businesses entering Europe through Ireland. 

Declan Moylan is managing partner of Mason Hayes + Curran. He can be contacted at dmoylan@MHC.ie