LPT: Great Expectations? Getting a Young Lawyer’s Marketing Efforts off the Ground

My first sit-downs with law firm management to discuss marketing strategies were 20 years ago. In the subsequent two decades, I held those discussions in the board rooms of Amlaw 100 law firms and in conference rooms of law firms with ten or fewer. Their approach to marketing expectations from young attorneys was consistently inconsistent.

Back then I was somewhat of a young lawyer. At least youngish. Not so much anymore. But there is certainly an increase in business development training and marketing support for newer attorneys. How quickly you are expected to assume a marketing role depends on the law firm. The larger the law firm, the less likely you will be asked to originate business any time soon. However, that does not mean you should not be laying the groundwork for when that expectation arrives.

Small and midsize law firms often like to indoctrinate young lawyers into marketing efforts sooner. After all, everyone at a boutique firm is a potential salesperson when out and about. There is a little more pressure to put you in a position to generate opportunities.

In the Young Lawyer-themed August 2016 edition of Law Practice Today (LPT), I’ve written a feature on Great Expectations? Getting a Young Lawyer’s Marketing Efforts off the Ground, detailing some easy to implement approaches to marketing for a young lawyer.

Regardless of the firm, your practice area, your personality and comfort zones, there is always something you can do to at least begin “playing the long game” toward developing a marketing acumen and accompanying plan. This article should reinforce some of those ideas and concepts. If you have any questions about ideas or strategies, don’t hesitate to reach out.