Friday Agenda

Friday, November 16: Breakfast Session

Make Rain by Being You:
Developing Business by Leveraging Each Lawyer’s Unique Qualities

Lawyers can be effective business developers AND they don’t have to copy the firm’s best rainmaker to do it.  The secret is figuring out what they enjoy and building a go-to-market strategy that is based on their strengths, interests, and goals.  This program presents a methodology and tools for blending the personalities of each lawyer with the universal principles of client development in order to help them develop a sustainable and satisfying practice.
 
In-house marketing professionals will benefit from being able to assist lawyers without attempting to change their personalities or capabilities.   Attendees will be provided with the building blocks for a personal plan for each lawyer in the firm. 
 
Skills and tools attendees can expect to take away and use immediately, include:
•   How to help lawyers identify key strengths and interests
•   How to assist lawyers in identifying target markets given their interests
•   Ideas for personalizing the building of relationships with target clients, and ideas for building trust between lawyers and targeted clients

Friday, November 16: Concurrent Morning Educational Sessions 10:30-11:45 a.m.

How to Help Lawyers Develop Better Business Plans &
Assure Follow-Up

Effective business development must start with a plan. In this highly interactive panel discussion, three in-house legal marketers and a consultant  will provide practical tips and tools to help legal marketers support lawyers in developing and implementing more effective business plans.

Questions to address will include:
•   Should every lawyer have a personal business plan?
•   Why do lawyers have so much trouble building effective business plans?
•   What are the best ways to build commitment and assure long-term follow-up?

Panelists
Jim Hassett
President, LegalBizDev

Philip Austin
Director of Client Services, Nixon Peabody

Betsy Huntley
Director of Marketing, Choate, Hall & Stewart

Allison Nussbaum
Manager of Business Development, Goodwin Procter

Website Best Practices: The 2007 AmLaw 100 Web Site Research Study

In this informative program, the Ten Foundational Best Practices for law firm Web sites will be presented. Building on the benchmarks established in 2005 and 2006, the 2007 research presentation is a must-attend for anyone wishing to learn how to maximize the usability and memorability of a law firm Web site.

Topics include:
•   The Ten Foundational Best Practices for law firm Web sites
•   The 2007 results for each Foundational Best Practice
•   Trends and Surprises
•   How Marketers can use the data as competitive intelligence
•   The range of total scores and the top ten ranked AmLAW 100 Web Sites for 2007

Panelists
Deborah McMurray
Principal, Content Pilot

Catherine MacDonagh, Esq.
Co-Founder & COO, LSSO

Theresa Bomba
Manager of Marketing & Communications, Goulston & Storrs

Behind Closed Doors: Why 9 out of 10 Service Professionals Fail the
Prospect Meeting

You spend a lot of resources getting your lawyers in front of a prospect. You provide them with excellent firm materials, help, and coaching. But do you know what actually happens behind closed doors?

We secret shopped professional service firms and have been through many poorly run prospect meetings. Most make significant strategic mistakes in the meeting.  Find out what really happens behind closed doors when lawyers try to sell themselves and their firm

After this workshop you will be able to:
•   Work from reality when coaching lawyers on prospect preparation
•   Create learning programs that will make a difference
•   Have concrete statistics and shopping cases
•   Know the keys to good prospect meetings
•   Take back a checklist for great prospect meetings

Panelists
Wendy Nemits
Principal, Ingenuity Marketing Group

Dawn Wagenaar
Principal, Ingenuity Marketing Group

Friday, November 16: Concurrent Afternoon Sessions      1:45-3:00 p.m.

Strategic Review and Outlook for the Legal Services Industry: Closing the Client Focus Gap

Knowing your clients is more important then ever. This presentation will share key strategic insights about client relationships, marketing tactics, and marketing strategies based on 7 years of continuous client research.

This interactive presentation is built around BTI strategic research to accomplish the following:
•   Analyze strategic competitive law firm performance – with law firm names
•   Articulate how clients hire, fire, and spend on law firms
•   Assess client goals, needs and priorities – how they will change
•   Share how clients define client service
•   Demonstrate 7 tools to close the client focus gap

Panelists
Michael B. Rynowecer
President, The BTI Consulting Group

Marcie L. Shunk
Principal, The BTI Consulting Group

Victoria Arnold
Director of Marketing, Ropes & Gray

An Insider’s Guide to Proving Value to Firm Management

This session will provide two distinct views on effective ways to demonstrate marketing or business development value to law firm management.  Jeff will offer the perspective of an internal legal marketer, and Paul will offer the valuable perspective of both an external consultant and a former law firm leader.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
•   Defining and measuring key metrics
•   Tactics to effectively report to the Management Committee, Managing Partner, and/or individual partners
•   Creating a clear value proposition
•   How to appropriately self-promote without being perceived as self-serving
•   Communication strategies and tips

Panelists
Jeff Berardi
CMO, K&L Gates

Paul Clifford
Law Practice Consultants

Communicating with Lawyers about Marketing: How to Run with the Bulls, Charm Snakes, Dance with Wolves ... and Live to Tell About It

This session covers the fundamentals of effective communications about marketing as it connects to individual lawyers, practice/industry groups, client teams, leadership teams, marketing partners and managing partners.

You will hear:
•   Ten realities surrounding lawyer/marketer communications as identified by seasoned CMOs from firms across the country
•   Experienced-based tips and examples for dealing with each of the ten realities in one-to-one and one-to-many settings
•   The principles of running an internal campaign to engage a disparate and distracted audience of lawyers and the other professionals in your firm

Panelist
Joe Walsh
Principal, Greenfield/Belser Ltd.