Targeted Personal and Practice Development for Lawyers

Improve presentation skills with storytelling

Something I have learned from being a member of my local Toastmasters speaking club is just how important stories are for any kind of presentation or speech.  So I was pleased to see that a conference on storytelling for the legal profession was held at City University, London, UK this month.   Applied Legal Storytelling

I recently attended a conference where all the speakers were either lawyers or accountants.  The audience were all lawyers apart from me and one other person.

The speakers had been chosen for their specific expertise and generally performed well.  However, the subject matter was highly technical and one speaker stood out.  How? By bringing his technical subject alive with short, pithy stories.  The stories illustrated the points he was making and made them memorable.  This was true for me and for lawyers in the audience too.  Checking at the afternoon break it was clear that the people I talked to could remember the stories far more than the drier presentations.  The question is how many of them will take their conference notes out of the filing cabinet over coming months to remind themselves of what was said by the other speakers?  It's much more likely that they will repeat the stories to colleagues or use of the information that the stories illustrated directly themselves.

As keynote speaker Patricia Fripp says "We speak to be remembered and repeated".  And I would add to have the materials or the information we have provided used or revisited.

Law Blawg Directory lists 1000+ blogs by lawyers

The American Bar Association Journal now lists 1000+ blawgs from lawyers who are specialists in their field.  In addition it list blogs under headings such as Careers, Law Schools, Paralegals etc.  It also has a weekly featured blog.

The ABA has provided an easy way to check out blogs in areas of law that you are interested in.  It's also useful to see the style and quality of the blogs.  Perhaps you'll be inspired to start one?

Law Blog Directory

Law Firm Marketing - Women Lawyers Career Change and Employer Brand

The issue of women lawyers leaving Big Law to go to smaller firms or other jobs using their legal skills was highlighted in The National Law Journal June 2007 edition. A follow up article in the Wall Street Journal law blog has created lively discussion.

There seems to me to be law firm marketing issues that haven't so far been mentioned in the comments.  Surely it can't be good for a firm's employer brand if the number of senior women is reduced?

In the UK more than half the traininee solicitors are now women.  I know a successful regional firm where the partners are concerned about the difficulty of persuading women with young children to become partners.  They are interested from an employer brand standpoint.  There is also a concern that they are reducing the pool of associates from which partners with good management as well as technical skills can be found.

Read the WSJ article and discussion here

Read the orginal article at the National Law Journal (free trial subscription)

Does Law Society President need PR training?

On 26 June 2007 Fiona Woolf president of the Law Society of England and Wales was interviewed by Claire Marshall on BBC Radio 4's PM.  Asked why central London law firms lose almost twice as many staff as other professions Ms Woolf described the law as "very detailed finicky work...you have to love writing documents and almost, sort of, massaging them into shape."  The next stage is apparently "more interesting."  To focus on one aspect of the process of legal work seems a strange way to describe such a varied profession.  Is there a PR or Media Trainer brave enough to tackle this issue with the Law Society?

Are your Powerpoint Presentations getting results?

As we know presentations are an important route to communicate your expertise to potential and existing clients.  But how effective are they?  Following a review of material from leading law firms Powerpoint guru Dave Paradi gives his analysis of 5 problems and their solutions to make legal presentations far more effective:  www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/articles/legalpresns.htm

Is your website holding visitors’ attention?

Or are they taking one look and moving on?  Recent research found that visitors make up their minds about the quality of a website in a twentieth of a second of viewing.

"The judgements were being formed almost as quickly as the eye can take in information."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4616700.stm

I recently spoke to a lawyer whose firm has only had a website for a few months.  He was surprised by the number of new clients who'd read his website before contacting him. The clients were looking for a lawyer based near where they lived. Their review of local firms’ websites led them to email or call him rather than his competitors. Does your website hold people's attention for long enough to get the same results?

Differentiating individual lawyers and attorneys

We all know we should be doing more business development as individual professionals.  Every lawyer and attorney has a personal brand which can be developed successfully.  Differentiation from peer and competitors is crucial in a competive marketplace.  Using an individual marketing planning form can be a good place to start.  For a useful template word document see:

http://www.morepartnerincome.com/blog/_archives/2005/9/20/1232661.html

Does your brand image reflect your law firm as it is today?

An article in today’s New York Times describes the way a firm changed its stodgy image to one which accurately reflects their current way of working.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/business/16law.html

With so much going on it’s easy for your brand image, web identity and marketing materials to become outdated.  Attracting the right clients and potential employees, and differentiating yourself from your competitors is what it's all about.  So monitoring and managing your law firm’s image particularly in the fast moving world of the internet is key.  Just another thing to keep on your to-do list!