Rolling out a law firm merger: Getting attention, supporting integration, reaching clients

Negotiating and agreeing a merger is only the start of a long process that should ultimately provide a better client service across a deeper and broader reach. Communicating the benefits of that process to existing and potential clients, however, can be challenging. Richard Levick, president, and Elizabeth Lampert, executive vice president, of Levick Strategic Communications examine the ways to effectively spread a firm’s merger message.

Successful merger media is about early and honest planning, not public mutual backslapping. It communicates why your clients and prospects should care. When it comes to law firm merger media, most law firms still do not get it quite right. It’s not about the media achieved on merger day. It’s how you roll it out over time that counts.

During a two-year period from 1999 to 2001, there was, on average, a law firm merger every four business days somewhere in the world. While a merger is big news for the lawyers involved, it has gone, like the space programme, from revolutionary to passé in a terrifically short period of time. If you cannot articulate the value to clients repeatedly over time, you will have failed to take advantage of a crucial positioning opportunity.

The essential question that needs to be articulated – beyond how pleased everyone is about the merger and how many offices the firm will now have – involves the benefits the merger will provide to clients and prospects, broken down by industry and practice area.

There have been a handful of truly important mergers, each one presenting unique strategic challenges. In each case, there were lessons learnt in terms of opportunities that were effectively taken, and opportunities that were squandered.

Strategic factors

There are dominant themes that firms must emphasise in a merger campaign. What makes it unique? Clifford Chance-Rogers & Wells-Puender was about globalisation. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw was about an American firm deeply penetrating the UK. Foley Lardner Weissburg & Aronson was about creating the largest health care general-practice law firm of its time.

Howrey Simon Arnold White was about creating the largest IP general practice firm and further cementing the entire firm’s national stature. What are the truly unique advantages your firm will provide as a result of your merger?

Size matters: What is your “st”? Will your merger make the firm the first, the largest, the deepest? What is your differentiating point? For a lot of firms, mergers are stepping stones. Even Clifford Chance will argue that they are “not done”, and that the merger gives them a unique global management platform. Piper Rudnick, Nixon Peabody, and (soon-to-be named) Bingham McCutchen are law firms positioning themselves for even greater things. There is nothing wrong with saying so.

Practice area expansion: Presumably, there will be one or more practice groups that will gain significant critical mass as a result of the merger. The opportunity presented for the firm will be to send a strong message, in the trade press as well as the legal press, that the merger decisively affects whole industry groups. When Steptoe & Johnson merged with Rakisons, such benefit was clearly articulated as the firm focused extensively on communicating its rich telecommunications expertise. (In fact, the firm organised the first telecommunications roundtable in a British telecommunications industry magazine.) Target audiences would not have cared about comments from the respective managing partners about how happy they were because of the merger. But they did care to hear about something they actually wanted to buy, and now could buy from the firm’s deep new practice area.

Firm integration: The message must be sent that the merger has succeeded because it truly integrates the lawyers in its various offices.

The firm should begin early in the planning stage to develop concrete examples of how and why the culture of its merger partner plays a large, salutary part in how the whole firm operates, both internally and in the marketplace. It is truly a linchpin issue, since the media will segregate those firms it perceives as integrated (Jones Day; Shearman & Sterling) from those that it believes are not (Holland & Knight). Being global was yesterday’s hot-button media issue and is still of some interest, but being globally integrated is today’s top issue, particularly as it affects client service.

Target publications

While a firm’s merger will probably not be the first of its kind, a merger of significant size still has legs if it comes as a surprise. It is essential, therefore, to maintain utter secrecy until the story is ready for release.

Assuming the story does not leak, information should be released first to the most important legal, business and financial publications as well as to the daily media in appropriate markets. Long Aldridge’s merger with McKenna & Cuneo garnered substantial coverage in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, while a Womble Carlyle merger into Atlanta a few years ago even received television coverage. These are by far the exceptions, however, and partners should never be led to expect such coverage.

After the merger, immediately develop first-party interview opportunities for firm spokespersons to comment in the press. Also develop ongoing third-party opportunities for firm spokespersons to address substantive legal issues related to their practice areas, particularly if those practice areas have been decisively affected by the merger. Even if they are not, such press appearances are worth the effort. When CVS buys out drugstore chains in local markets, it takes every opportunity to communicate the new name. Law firms need to do the same.

What if it leaks?

Unfortunately, the sheer number of journalists covering the legal profession increases the chances of a leak, particularly in a crowded legal media market like London. The aggressiveness of the reporters will naturally add to the problem.

Try and keep the information to a minimum among partners and staff within both firms. Only those who need to know should know. Those in the know must be formally advised – if they haven’t been already – against needless communication with outsiders. The dangers of a leak will only increase as the deal moves closer to completion.

Leaks are sometimes inevitable, in any environment. Create an action plan, including a statement to use in the event of a leak. Respond to early leaks with honest but very general comments such as: “Of course we are speaking with firm X, as we do with many firms, to explore opportunities for synergy. In this market, it is the only wise course of action.”

At some point, if the story leaks, a general statement may not suffice. As the merger nears completion, you may need to provide a reporter with a promise of exclusivity in exchange for his temporary silence. You must then keep your promise. Later there will be other bargaining chips after the merger is announced – access to high-profile partners, for example, or valuable new information. Such tactics require careful planning and communication with the multiple reporters involved.

Firm spokespersons

Identify spokespersons in both firms. By having them appear together to address substantive issues related to law firm mergers, they become powerful messengers able to make convincing arguments about how well their newly constituted firm is integrated. Few professional observers were unimpressed by the multiple interviews and speaking engagements that Lee Miller and Jeffrey Liss made together right after Piper Marbury and Rudnick & Wolfe merged. Their mutual admiration was obvious and served as a metaphor for the entire merged firm.

Media tour

During the early weeks of the newly merged firm, it is important to create and develop relationships with key reporters, as press coverage within the first year will decisively affect the ongoing media rollout.

The tour should include the managing partners of both firms meeting with important reporters in the print and broadcast media in all key markets. The conversations can encompass the merger, substantive practice-related legal issues, and trends in the legal industry. The relationships being formed are most important, not the topic of conversation. In many cases, these meetings will result in future stories involving the firm.

Year-end reviews

In addition to the ongoing interview opportunities, we advise working the firm into “Year in Review” stories. These features bring the firm and its merger once again into the forefront of the legal and business press, as these stories always include the year’s major mergers. It will thus give you another bite at the apple.

Prepare ahead of time by identifying what has been accomplished over the course of the year and why it is important. The legal industry, even globally, is a small realm, and one that is changing rapidly. It is an environment ruled by stare decisis. When you have accomplished something unique, it is well worth taking the time to get credit. A decade later, Howrey Simon is still rewarded in the marketplace for the first law-firm advertising campaign, as the firm “that thinks differently”.

What will you be able to take credit for?

Message points

Message points are brief statements that serve as guidelines to answer questions in a way that support the firm’s strategic objectives. They flesh out the broad themes. Each message point expresses a benefit of the merger, a motive, a goal, or some combination of the three. For example:

The merger positions Jones, Smith & Jones as the largest US-based Paris firm (benefit, motive);
Our growth is part of an ongoing, well thought strategy (motive);
The merger means immediate and unique depth and access for Jones, Smith & Jones’s clients in the X industry (benefit, goal);
Jones, Smith & Jones is a fully integrated firm (benefit, goal). If possible, this benefit is best articulated by clients, not the law firm spokespersons.

In addition to the message points, anticipate the questions reporters are likely to ask and rehearse answers, always getting back to the message points.

At the end of the day, the merger should always be communicated exclusively in terms of benefits to clients. The messages should be provided vertically; that is, by industry or practice area where the firm is now particularly deep. Finally, the message should be communicated repeatedly at every opportunity, not just on merger day.

As Coca-Cola advertising executives know all too well, “If we stopped marketing, you’d forget who we are within ten days.” Find your client-centered benefit mantra and start chanting.

Elizabeth Lampert is executive vice president of Levick Strategic Communications.She can be contacted at: elampert@levick.com. Richard S. Levick is president of Levick Strategic Communications. He can be contacted at: rlevick@levick.com.