Burns & Levinson LLP, a mid-sized, Boston-based law firm, is seeking a highly motivated individual to join our dynamic and fast-paced Marketing Department.

The Internal Communications Specialist will be responsible for the delivery of a comprehensive and coordinated internal communication strategy that supports the Firm’s mission and integrates internal and external news. A primary responsibility of the role will be to drive the mid-to-final stages launching the Firm’s new intranet platform. Once live, the intranet will maintain a sound site navigation and a proper balance of content and tools, as facilitated by the Internal Communications Specialist.

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By David Whiteside, Director of Client Growth & Success at CLIENTSFirst

Most legal sales professionals understand the need to match  their firm’s practice and lawyering strengths to the type of legal, compliance and consulting work a client or prospect may need, and know the benefits that come from presenting a good “first glance” fit to your firm. For example, the client likes to acquire specific types of biomedical companies and your firm has the legal talent and connections within the biomedical space, so at first glance there is something there to pursue. 

But let’s take the matching process to another level. Although the first glance test looks good, does your firm’s internal technology profile match up well to your client’s or target client’s technology profile? 

Legal departments today consider great legal work as a commodity. Relationships, responsiveness, billing accuracy also all play an important role in selection and especially retention. Companies today now look to a deeper level when evaluating legal providers often referred to as the firm’s “Technology Profile” as they seek to minimize the on-boarding challenges of a new firm. How technologically proficient is a firm and how closely do the tools and processes the firm uses or has skills for match up to the tools and processes the legal department uses to manage files? 

Common examples are:

• Invoicing systems – client uses Legal Track, Serengeti or another e-billing system – is your firm skilled in the usage of the system the prospects department uses?

• Collaboration Platforms – Many legal departments are adopting these platforms – are they on HighQ, Segment, SharePoint or Workstorm? Is your firm adept at using these tools?

• Westlaw or Lexis? If your firm sends them a document with linked citations can they easily get to them? 

• E-Discovery – Do they use Relativity, Ringtail or other common systems, and do you have teams already skilled with these options? 

• Project Management – do your lawyers have LPM skills and if so any proficiency with various software commonly used?  Are they good with Excel which is the number one Project Management tool used?

• Do they have any unique internal systems you would need to master in order to work with them? Are you prepared to offer a plan to get up-to-speed at no cost to the client? 

• Does your firm offer any unique or innovative systems that will differentiate your firm and a plan to educate the client? 

The gauntlet of requirements to win new clients as well as retain existing clients gets more challenging every day. Your ability to profile your firm’s capabilities, and often a competitor’s capabilities, against the systems a prospect currently uses can be a real differentiator in a tight battle, and today they are all tight.  This may not be as high on the clients list if the file is a “bet the company” scenario. But for most work where the prospect has a wide range of hiring options the ability to differentiate your firm beyond checking the skilled lawyering box can make all the difference.   

About the Author:

Dave Whiteside is Director of Client Growth & Success at CLIENTSFirst.

Dave’s focus is helping the company grow and expand its CRM, Data Quality, eMarketing and Client Intelligence service offerings, and building alliances that help deliver additional value to Clients.

We are very excited to announce that John Livesay will be our keynote speaker at the upcoming 2020 RainDance Conference.  John Livesay, aka The Pitch Whisperer, will share the lessons learned from his award-winning sales career at Conde Nast.  Learn how to stand out in a "beauty contest" when you have to present against other law firms to get new clients. No longer will it matter whether you present first or last once you learn how to become a master storyteller.  Whoever tells the best story of origin and brings case studies to life in a story will be the one to win the new client.

• Put the 4 elements of what makes a story compelling and concise to work for you. 

• Gain increased confidence in your storytelling skills which will make you magnetic to your ideal clients. 

• Discover what the best storytelling genre is to use to make your team memorable.

• Answer the unspoken questions in your stories that everyone has when they hear a presentation.  

After John's keynote, you will go from Invisible to Irresistible and become a "Revenue Rockstar".

Attendees will receive a copy of John’s best-selling book, Better Selling Through Storytelling.

Register for RainDance 2020 now!

Goulston & Storrs is looking for a creative Marketing & Business Development Specialist for their Boston office. They should:

• Be a high-energy, creative professional with strong communication skills.
• Act as a key adviser to the Corporate Practice Group Co-Chairs and attorneys, proactively monitoring internal and external issues and trends affecting the practice, and suggesting initiatives and solutions to address them.
• Provide support to the Senior Manager, Strategic Growth, and the Real Estate Practice Group Co-Chairs and attorneys.
• Work with Business Development colleagues and individual attorneys to identify, develop and follow through on business development activities.

Visit the LSSO Job Bank for more details. 

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Listen  to Andy Peterson's podcast interview with Adam Stock, Founder, Law Intelligence Group. Adam talks about the role of salespeople inside of law firms, and why you should come to the 2020 conference. 

"What I love about RainDance are the interactive sessions. You look around the room and it is intentionally a smaller conference.  I would tell you that easily a third of the people in the room could be up there speaking."

Thank you to Andy Peterson and Design Build Legal  for producing this podcast! Listen to more Legal Ops Rising podcasts.  

Kirkland & Ellis is seeking a Business Development Specialist in the San Francisco, CA office..  This position supports the Bay Area, and as necessary, the West Coast Business Development Department.  The Business Development Specialist will report directly to the Business Development Manager for the Bay Area and will have a dotted line report to the West Coast Director of Business Development. The Business Development Specialist will be primarily responsible for executing initiatives included in the development plans for Kirkland’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices.    

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By Rudy Gaines

As a Client Service Director shepherding business development in a law firm, you live for the moment when the business dinner that you’ve helped plan gets a little bit louder. You look around the table, and see everyone engaged in good conversations. There’s laughter, the foods good, the wines flowing and people who were strangers a half hour ago are talking like old friends. Having hosted a few that didn’t go so well, these are moments to be appreciated.

Client dinners are an integral part of the legal industry and they come in all shapes and sizes. Obviously if you have a great client with whom you have dinner frequently, there’s an ease about it, a familiarity which is a beautiful thing. The regular client dinner helps your relationship grow both professionally and personally, which leads to trust and longevity. But if you’re putting together a hosted dinner with new, or potential clients, the planning and execution can be nervous time fraught with peril.

Here are a few quick thoughts to help the planning of those dinners go more smoothly.

• Find the right spot. Just because a restaurant is expensive doesn’t mean it should automatically be the choice. In fact, if you go too high-end a potential client might be put off by your inattention to cost. Better to find a great eatery known for good food and wine, that’s geographically easy for your guests to get to. And make sure you go early and check out table and set up -- nobody likes to sit by the kitchen.

• Who’s on the list? If you’re having a number of guests, try to invite an eclectic mix of people who’ll be comfortable at a table. A good client is a smart choice to park right in the middle, someone who knows you and wants your dinner to turn out well. For guests that you know less-well, seat them beside someone who’ll be engaging and get them involved in the conversation. And make sure you’ve got names, titles and affiliations cold, so there’s no stumbling during introductions. A pre-dinner check on Linkedin might also yield connections between guests that can help ease conversations.

• Be a good host. Probably not your best idea to be stuck in a corner talking to one person all night. You might want to say a quick greeting to everyone after the wine is poured, thank them for coming, and offer a brief toast. If during the meal, you see a guest who’s between conversations, engage them. Or if the meal’s wrapping up, feel free to move around the table checking in with guests who may have been out of ear shot. Keep in mind that you are the social glue holding the dinner together, and it’s your job to make sure everyone walks away smiling.

• Unless there’s a mutual agreement that work will be discussed over dinner, avoid talking too heavily about business. Nobody likes getting pitched while they eat. If a potential client asks specific questions about your firm, obviously feel free to have that conversation. Just don’t let it dominate the evening. Strategically, you may want to seat a good client beside a potential client, especially if, when asked, they’re willing to brag on the firm. Nobody pitches your firm better than a happy client.

Client dinners can be difficult to plan, but they should never feel that way. There’s an Italian term, sprezzatura which essentially means making a hard thing look easy -- and a successful client dinner has sprezzatura written all over it. So, think of it this way, if you can throw a nice dinner party at home for friends, you can do the same at a restaurant for colleagues. Just remember to email your guests to thank them for coming. After all, it was your pleasure.

About the Author

Rudy Gaines, Client Service Director
Womble Bond Dickinson, USA

Warner Norcross + Judd is seeking a Business Development Manager (BDM) to serve as lead generator and salesperson for the firm’s Business Practice Group. Primary responsibilities are to proactively identify, qualify opportunities and help close business. We are seeking a candidate who can work in either our Grand Rapids or Southfield office.

The BDM must be comfortable interacting with all levels of personnel at clients/prospects as well as working with senior-level partners from the Business Practice Group throughout the business development process. The BDM will report to the firm’s Director of Business Development & Marketing and work collaboratively with the firm’s other BDMs (who assist other practice and industry groups) and firm marketing. Proven results identifying sales prospects and securing the business is required, and specific experience with law firm business development is desired.

Learn more and apply here

Fenwick & West LLP is hiring a Senior Business Development Coordinator. This position can be based any of their offices!  See the full job description in LSSO's Job Bank.

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New Year - New Job! Goodwin is hiring a Business Development Specialist in New York NY. See the full job description on LSSO's Job Bank.

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