"ABA Law Practice Magazine"

Published on: November 8, 2018

LP Magazine – In Search of…Lawyers and Clients (For 2019 and Beyond)

LPcoverNovDec2018-235x300 Perhaps life has really been about search all along. We search for the right job, the right spouse, the right schools, the right restaurants, pretty much the right everything. So Google has either made searching easier, or harder, depending on how you look at it.

In today’s legal marketplace, as lawyers, we want to make sure that we can be found by those doing the searching. What complicates things for people like me in the “law marketing biz” is that the methods, tools, tricks and rules keep changing—those pesky algorithms—meaning that you need some sort of online PhD to keep your law firm clients on track, so they can be found by their prospective clients. So it made sense for me to address this fluid subject matter in my November/December 2018 ABA Law Practice Magazine column, In Search of…Lawyers and Clients (For 2019 and Beyond).

As is the case with most of my marketing columns, the topic finds me. Every day, I’m working and talking with different attorneys at different law firms in different parts of the country—and whatever topic comes up the most is often my next column. A few conversations on the most effective search mechanisms left my head spinning. I’m not going to lie about it either. I had no idea what newsjacking or hyperlocalization or geo-fencing was. I did not know all the nuances of what could and could not go into various forms of Facebook advertising. And focusing on things like “snippets” in Google definitely helped me steer some of my law firms in the right direction.

Published on: July 3, 2018

LP Magazine – Law Marketing Model Rule Revisions: Better Late Than Never?

by Micah Buchdahl

LPcover_JulyAugust2018-234x300 Whenever I pass a roadside diner promising something like “world’s best cherry pie,” I think about lawyer advertising restrictions. Because no law firm or lawyer could tout themselves as the best or greatest—and many of the taglines, phrases and symbols used to market products and services to consumers are restricted or outright prohibited in the legal profession.

Of course, I’m a sucker for that cherry pie. And it never is remotely close to the best I’ve ever had, but I also know the difference between a marketing message and stark reality. Which all somehow leads into the topic of my marketing column in the July/August 2018 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine, Law Marketing Model Rule Revisions – Better Late than Never?

It remains to be seen what will actually happen to the proposed model rule changes to law marketing and advertising when it gets to the ABA House of Delegates in August. After all, it is a long way from the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (which arrived via multiple reports starting in 2015 from the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers—APRL) to the House floor. The debates at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Vancouver this past February volleyed back and forth between those that thought the suggested revisions went too far, and others who firmly believed they did not go far enough. Of course, once something is approved—state bars often like to remind us that they are nothing more than “model” rules, and that the states will decide themselves what direction lawyer advertising should go in down the pike.

Published on: March 2, 2018

LP Magazine – Marketing to and for Millennials

by Micah Buchdahl

LPcover_MarApr2018-235x300 Oh, remember the ‘80s? Alf, Madonna, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Garbage Pail Kids? I was in New Orleans to see Keith Smart’s last-second shot for Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosier over Syracuse in the NCAA Championship Game in 1987. I watched the Baltimore Orioles defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1983 World Series (when the O’s still were more important to me than the Phillies). And I was at the Stanley Cup Finals between the Flyers and the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and 1987. Those were just some of the games I attended in person. I worked in the Major Indoor Soccer League and the NHL during the 80s—attending hundreds of games. I remember the end of high school, my college years, first jobs, and the start of law school. Little did I (we) know at the time that those babies being born were—Millennials! And that—in the here and now—it would all be about them.

It certainly seems like every day over the past few years has had an issue or conversation regarding the topic of Millennials at the law firms I routinely visit. How do you hire them? (Can we even fire them?) How do you retain them? How do you work with them? How do you make them happy? And, as I write in my marketing column for the March/April 2018 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine, Marketing to and for Millennials.

The reality is that Millennials today are often the core focus for marketers. And for law firm marketers, there needs to be a shift in the approaches taken to be successful in this space. I’ve worked with law firms on efforts geared toward Millennials for a few years now. In 2016, I spoke on an ABA panel, Bridging the Generational Divide: How Millennials Can Communicate with Baby Boomers and Succeed in the Workplace. There was a Law360 article on How to Manage the Millennial Lawyer. And in 2015, I served as the Editor in Chief for an entire issue of Law Practice Today geared to Law Firm Management Struggles with Multigenerational Issues. As detailed in the column, I have had to shift my own marketing strategies—not only to engage the millennial lawyer, but more importantly, engage the millennial client.

Published on: November 2, 2017

LP Magazine – Revisiting Lawyer Ratings and Rankings

by Micah Buchdahl

LPcover_NovDec2017-235x300 When I wrote my marketing column for the November/December 2017 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine, Revisiting Lawyer Ratings and Rankings, I lamented how dealing with the R&R industry felt like it took up time during every single working day. So it seemed somewhat ironic that the magazine arrived in my mailbox on the same day that I penned more than a half dozen press releases for law firms announcing their results from the 2018 U.S. News/Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms” honors.

Now it happens that as ratings go, I have respect for the good people at Best Lawyers and U.S. News. They are always easy to work with—and unlike some others named in the column—they avoid the used car sales approach with my law firm clients. They lend a guiding hand with the process, regardless of how much the firm might be spending on the “award” product line. Perhaps your experiences have varied. We all have very subjective feelings to who and what in this business is credible. You may find the ones that give you the highest honors to certainly be the most legitimate!

What entities are referenced by name in this month’s column? In order of appearance: Best Lawyers and U.S. News, Chambers USA, Avvo, American Lawyer Media (ALM), Lawyers of Distinction, Expertise.com, Yelp, Super Lawyers, Rising Stars and Martindale.

Published on: July 17, 2017

LP Magazine – Evaluate Your Networking: See and Be Seen

by Micah Buchdahl

ABA Law Practice Magazine

Ah, the ancient art of face-to-face. Ironically, it is still perhaps the greatest business development tool known to man (and woman). Yet, as we seemingly get busier and busier each day, face time has been replaced by FaceTime and Facebook and all other sorts of live-people-avoidance tools aided by a variety of technologies.

This is not to say that those all-important “touches” that remind people of you, your law firm, your brand, your expertise—delivered by e-mail, newsletter, social media, pure advertising, online search or secondary public and media relations efforts are not effective. A touch is a touch. But actually seeing someone in the flesh in their office, at a meeting, over lunch or some other public space is still the most powerful and likely way to generate a new referral or matter.

Published on: December 2, 2016

LP Magazine – Law Firm Marketing Spending: How Much is Enough?

by Micah Buchdahl

ABA Law Practice Magazine

Although I typically write my marketing column around four months before publication (in this case, it was July 4^th weekend), my timing for the November/December 2016 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine was spot on. It is early December and I’m in the thick of figuring out 2017 marketing budgets for about a dozen law firms. Micah…how much should we be spending?

In Law Firm Marketing Spending: How Much Is Enough? I provide the answer.

Published on: July 8, 2016

LP Magazine – A Business Development Coaching Clinic: Culture Beats Scheme

by Micah Buchdahl

LPM_JA16_1FrontDepts 3.indd As National Football League coach Chip Kelly begins his first training camp with the San Francisco 49ers, my column in the July/August 2016 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine, A Business Development Coaching Clinic: Culture Beats Scheme, seems quite timely.

Much like many law firm BD coaching efforts, I wonder if Coach Kelly—who I believe is a smart guy, as are many of the attorneys I’ve coached—will make the necessary adjustments to learn from his past failings (and past successes). Unfortunately for me, his failings came with the Philadelphia Eagles, where I am a season ticket holder, as opposed to the Oregon Ducks, in which I have no personal allegiance.

The column looks at the heavy investment of time and money many law firms put into “coaching,” often with lukewarm results. I talk about the all-star attorneys—the rainmakers—that already know what they are doing. And the process that needs to be undertaken to make these efforts pay off.

Published on: March 15, 2016

LP Magazine – Do Lawyers Rule the Internet?

by Micah Buchdahl

In the March/April 2016 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine, my column asks the question: Do Lawyers Rule the Internet? Well, I would not ask the question if the answer did not lean toward “yes.”

With the 30th anniversary of ABA TECHSHOW on the horizon (and this is the TECHSHOW issue of the magazine), I examine the role that technology has played on the marketing and delivery of legal services. Google AdWord sales in 2015 approached $70 billion–and with 78 of the 100 most expensive keywords belonging to the legal profession, you realize just the impact the Internet has had on the practice of law, and vice-versa.

Throw in the changing landscape of social media, including changes LinkedIn made to accommodate attorneys (and the rules of professional conduct), and you can judge for yourself–do we indeed rule the web?

Published on: January 7, 2016

LP Magazine — Struggling with Ethics Issues Surrounding Branded Networks

by Micah Buchdahl

In the January/February 2016 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine, I was asked to put on my ethics attorney hat in authoring Struggling with Ethics Issues Surrounding Branded Networks. Issue Editor Nick Gaffney asked me to write this sidebar in a magazine dedicated to the theme of branded legal networks–a huge topic of discussion in law practice management.

There is not a more controversial area of lawyer marketing when it comes to interpretation and enforcement of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) than the issues that arise from the ever-growing legion of branded networks in the legal profession. From Avvo and Justia to Best Lawyers and a slew of entities that may or may not be “lead generation,” the issues, rules and opinions vary from state to state. They remain…consistently inconsistent. One thing is for sure, these companies are not going anywhere. The question is where they end up fitting in the long term approach to business development among attorneys.

Published on: November 6, 2015

LP Magazine – Content Marketing Is Outpacing the Ethics Rules

by Micah Buchdahl

It was watching and reading news coverage from the aftermath of the deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia earlier this year that my marketing column topic came to light. Usually the theme finds me, and in this case, with each press conference, e-mail, press release and newspaper article–it occurred to me that Content Marketing is Outpacing the Ethics Rules (ABA’s Law Practice magazine, November/December 2015).

You can put this column under “Marketing” or “Ethics.” It works out well for my areas of focus. I spend the bulk of my time working with law firms on business development efforts. But I also maintain a niche ethics practice that only looks at marketing and advertising issues. Perhaps you will read this column and think of it as an ethics primer. Or you might read it and gain ideas and insight into marketing for a plaintiff’s practice. Before submitting my final draft to the Law Practice editors, I decided that I needed some differing perspectives beyond my own. The result was some hefty editing based on those thoughts. You’ll read some comments from the ethics attorney I myself turn to for advice, Tom Spahn of McGuireWoods. Some differing views came from my fellow LP columnist, Greg Siskind, who was focused on the value of content. A few unnamed ethics friends gave me some additional feedback and direction.

A number of pieces from The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s law firm beat writer Chris Mondics touched on many aspects of what I reference in his coverage of the Amtrak disaster–and the issues surrounding “the race for clients.” The simple speed of selecting counsel in today’s society–ramped up through social media and related technology tools–means that an attorney seeking a piece of this very lucrative pie needs to get moving fast. You might argue that your marketing needs to arrive before the actual matter at hand. The most successful lawyers in this space have figured out how to generate promotional opportunities without violating the Rules of Professional Conduct. If you are waiting for the dust to settle–as the 30-day moratorium was built to provide–you will find yourself a day late to the game.