For law firms, the product is people: The best business development comes from within, say experts

by Gary Gosselin Dolan Media Newswires DETROIT, MI -- (July 29, 2013) The biggest asset a law firm has in marketing itself is its people. And law firms go to great lengths to educate their staff so they are not only knowledgeable about their practice areas, but the firm and its culture as well. And while this may not be a direct way to market a firm, having an educated and knowledgeable staff gives a law firm yet another outlet to sing its praises - or at least present it in a professional manner. "An early associate should look at those partners as their clients; that's who they are getting work from," said attorney Vincent A. Romano of Attorney Services Marketing in Grosse Pointe Park. "I tell associates to start practicing their marketing skill development by applying good marketing skills within the firm, to the partners. "Typically the big firms will keep first- and second-year associates away from clients to some extent ... because the new associate has to learn how to fit in and what the relationships are," Romano explained, so they must first hone their skills mainly within the confines of the firm. The very first thing is to do high-quality work, he said. And when treating those partners as clients, that includes good work, keeping them informed, and managing expectations - all of which are the foundation of building a good relationship, he said. Associates at Detroit-based Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP work in a program called "Making Rain Your Way," in which they receive training from various sources, said Julie K. Norris, director of attorney development and recruitment. Partners often participate in training, as does Norris, and the firm has two business development coaches who teach half-day workshops that include marketing. The associate also are partnered with a more seasoned attorney in the firm and spend three months developing their own business plan, taking into account their individuals strengths, passions and practice, she said. "In doing this, the attorneys get to know each other more, they can cross-sell, and they become more interested in knowing how to serve their clients," Norris said. Many of the educational offerings are firm wide - across all five offices in Michigan. Norris said they encourage newer associates to come together at those sessions, and also at an occasional cocktail party or out to a nice dinner, where they can not only learn about each other but hone their skills in social settings. "One of the most important byproducts is to help them create networks - [attorneys] can trend to be siloed, and most of my offerings are firm wide to bring them together," Norris said. "It's helping them build relationships and also helping them learn something regarding networking." "A firm should come up with ways in which those associates can have some exposure to clients, usually at an event, like a labor seminar, for example, with a change to mingle," Romano said. He said another way to help young lawyers is to encourage them to join affinity bars, and they can often become part of the young lawyers section. This not only helps socialize them, but helps develop networks for them as well. "It's all about relationships - it's interactions between people and not buildings. They are the face of your law firm," said Kimberly Houtman, marketing and communications coordinator at Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey PLC in Grand Rapids. Detroit-based Bodman PLC has a formal two-year mentorship program, said member Thomas P. Bruetsch. New associates are paired both with a partner and with a more senior associate, Bruetsch said. The associate can work with day-to-day matters, questions, and the general layout of the land, and the partner can help with professional development and issues like marketing. "We've had this for almost 10 years now and before we had [an informal process], and many people did fine in that process, but we also found people falling through the cracks ..." Bruetsch said. They put guidelines out and talk to mentees about the responsibility they shoulder, he said. In addition, less formal mentorships are also encouraged. "It's a broad-based professional approach here; they have various skill sets they need to learn, and need to do the highest quality work," Bruetsch said. "They need training, they need to understand what kind of client service expectations are in the firm, and how to start building their professional resume, and network." Houtman said younger associates are encouraged to join bar associations as well as community and professional organizations not just to market or network, but to be involved in the community and be informed about their community. "So one of the things I do is say, 'What is your interest?' And we try to guide them toward something they are interested in," Houtman said. Her department provides support for all the attorneys in the firm, helping with press releases or announcements, putting information together for clients or potential clients, and keeping all the staff informed about accomplishments and what other attorneys are doing throughout the firm. The bigger challenge may be with a young lateral hire, Bruetsch said, because there is a firm culture that must be integrated into the learning process, and laterals may have learned a different culture. "We take a long-term approach to new attorney development," he said. "Our model is to hire people for the long term, want to invest in their future, want them to be trained and able to manage client relationships down the line ..." Entire contents copyrighted © 2013 by The Dolan Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is expressly forbidden. 222 S. 9th St., Suite 2300 | minneapolis, mn 55402 Deal Finder Published: Thu, Aug 22, 2013