Marketing Attorney Blog

Published on: October 22, 2012

WSJ Breaking News: Clients don’t like getting nickeled and dimed

On an obviously slow news Monday, the Wall Street Journal front page touts “Law Firms Face Fresh Backlash Over Fees.” Jennifer Smith reports on the “widespread revolt” over big bills for “legal miscellany.” I can tell you that there is nothing new in this news from much of the last decade. But it does allow me the chance to once again discuss the issue of nickel and diming clients–often those that are paying seven figure invoices based simply on billable time.

Is this a marketing issue? It sure can be. While many in big law won’t change things anytime soon, small, midsize and boutique law firms recognize that this provides an opportunity to offer up a “differentiating factor” in selling its legal services. Often lost in price comparisons are the costs that go beyond the billable hour, depositions and filing fees. Those extra costs–planes, trains and automobiles; hotels, dinners, legal research and copying–can inflate the final tally by quite a lot. It is like looking at the $25/day rental car rate, only to find the actual cost to be around $70 after taxes and related charges.

All I know is that when I meet litigation friends in Philadelphia, often in town for a matter in federal court, we are usually getting together at the Four Seasons. Dining ranges from Morimoto to Buddakan; Morton’s to the Fountain. When you are working hard and traveling extensively, I’m not suggesting that we treat ourselves to anything less than first class accommodations. Unless, of course, the corporate counsel is staying at the Marriott. It is important to get a feel for the travel policies of your clients, and come in even or lower. There is nothing more damaging than outclassing the guy or gal that hired you during a trial. And when you get less work later, nobody will ever tell you why–the GC will just remember it when glancing at the final bill.

Published on: October 19, 2012

LPT: Billings and Collections

by Micah Buchdahl

It is my pleasure to serve as Editor-In-Chief for the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Today monthly webzine for the 2012-2013 bar year. This month’s theme is “billings and collections.” Thank you to issue editor George Leloudis of the Woods Rogers law firm in Roanoke, Virginia, and Associate Editor Andrea Malone of White & Williams in Philadelphia, for their hard work on this issue.

Among the interesting articles in this month’s issue is Arthur Greene’s “Collecting Your Fees with Ease,” Ed Poll on “effective collection requires a collection policy,” and Richard Goldstein discusses “inspire your clients to focus on the value rather than the bill.” In addition, we have our interesting monthly practice management themed columns.
To read the October issue, click here. And be sure to subscribe to receive LPT at no cost each and every month, compliments of the ABA and LPM.

Published on: October 16, 2012

The Value of a Website Video – or how not to do one

by Micah Buchdahl

In an upcoming column for Web Marketing Today, I am going to discuss the value of videos in law firm marketing, focused on internet marketing efforts. I’ve had the opportunity to work with people that know how to do them, such as my friends at TheLaw.TV. Last year, as chair of the American Bar Association’s Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference, we held the first Golden Gavel Awards, recognizing the best law firm and legal industry videos. Nick Gaffney of Infinite PR organized the video awards and panel, with the end result being some phenomenal videos used by law firms on web sites.

This brings me to my own recent work on redevelopment of the HTMLawyers website. I wanted an effective welcome message, but ended up with something that looks like a bad local business ad on cable television. You won’t see this on the business site, but I did marvel at how my eight year old daughter Lily watched me sweat, flub lines and deliver a mediocre performance–only to have her show me how it is done. I’m not sure if she is showing me the way or mocking me, but I enjoyed her performance far better than mine. Lily first appeared on this blog–in the fourth post–when she was born in May 2004, so this is her triumphant return.

Published on: September 10, 2012

Too Soon! Too Soon! Impact of ABA Model Rule Changes Will Take Some Time

by Micah Buchdahl

If you are like me– seemingly spending half your life reviewing state bar rules, regulations and ethics opinions for my clients that seek to ensure compliance in the states in which they practice–I’m sorry to hear that. Hopefully, like most attorneys, you are more of a casual observer. In August, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association approved a series of changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Many in my realm of marketing and business development circles ask how it will impact them and what, if anything, they should be doing about it.

For starters, I remind you that these are “model rules” as opposed to “rules.” As someone long involved in various aspects of ethics and professionalism in the ABA, I can assure you that the time it will take many states to implement all or some of the rules will be “not tomorrow.” I’m pretty sure some states are still mulling over pieces of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 initiative. But it is only 2012 now, and you really just want to update your rules before the year 3000 hits or risk being seen as behind the times. And these changes come from Ethics 20/20, which is 20 years longer than 2000, divisible by 20.

Of course, the impetus for the ABA changes is simple–technology has far outpaced the long arm of the professional conduct law. The Ten Commandments would be delivered today via cloud computing, as opposed to having a long hike and getting stone tablets. Oy veh!

Published on: August 27, 2012

Consumer Reports Says To Get a Real Lawyer, Not a Dot-Com

by Micah Buchdahl

In thumbing through the September 2012 issue of Consumer Reports, my “thumbing” came to a halt, somewhere between best values on cars (my Toyota Highlander ranked high, as did my wife’s Camry) and televisions (I could have done better), when the monthly money column headline “Legal DIY sites no match for a pro” stopped me in my tracks.

Would CR tell its readership that the do-it-yourself web sites for legal information (not “advice”, because we know they can’t do that) would suffice when it comes to the “simple”–a will, a trademark, forming an LLC, getting a divorce, a real estate lease. Of course, if you are an IP attorney, a real estate lawyer, a family law attorney–you would (and should) take offense at the idea that your practice can be replaced by a cyber-lawyer (and I don’t mean a lawyer doing cyberlaw, I mean an automated machine). And thankfully for most of us, CR agrees. You probably need a lawyer to review and/or draft anything that goes beyond the extremely mundane.

The article leads by saying that for a fraction of what you’d pay a lawyer, websites such as LegalZoom, Nolo and Rocket Lawyer can help you create your own will, power of attorney, etc. ..and those sites are full of pleased customers that have avoided dreaded attorney fees from the comfort of a desktop.

Published on: August 14, 2012

Lawyers Are Big Players in the SEO Game

by Micah Buchdahl

This month’s Web Marketing Today column focuses on the impact, cost and level of sophistication that search engine optimization (SEO) has had on law firms–primarily in regard to the plaintiffs’ bar. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there when it comes to finding your next client online…or really the opposite, the next client finding you. And if you are in a “high rent” space – geographically or practice-wise–the cost of competing can be ridiculous.

The impetus for this column topic came from re-reading “The Plaintiffs’ Bar Goes Digital: An Analysis of the Digital Marketing Efforts of Plaintiffs’ Attorneys & Litigation Firms,” prepared by the Institute for Legal Reform, a politically-motivated think tank, which begins its nearly forty page report by stating that the U.S. tort system costs $265 billion in 2010. Personally, I was fascinated by the report–not in regard to whether the system is right or wrong–but more as to the various digital media techniques that have changed the marketing landscape for many of these law firms.

I was impressed by the sophistication of some law firms. I was appalled by the questionable ethics issues by others. And I found the three top spenders to be interesting as well. While I would have expected Sokolove Law to be number one, they were number two in spending (at $6 million-plus) to Danizer & De Llano, who blows away every other law firm in spending north of $16 million annually in online spending (according to the report). I had never heard of them. Third in spending was The Lanier Law Firm at nearly $5 million. In this case, I certainly know who Mark Lanier is, and was surprised to see him spending at this level. Of course, I always remind other law firms of two things. First, they have the money to spend; and second, if these efforts were not paying off, they would not likely be investing this heavily in these initiatives. When you get some big hits, there is no reason not to reinvest additional dollars in channels that might deliver the next huge award and fee.

Published on: August 6, 2012

Buchdahl Receives ABA Presidential Appointment to Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education

by Micah Buchdahl

Micah Buchdahl is honored to have been appointed by incoming ABA President Laurel Bellows to the Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education. The committee is chaired by Vince Polley. The Director of the ABA Center for Professional Development is Jill Eckert McCall.

The ABA Center for Professional Development (formerly Center for CLE) is guided by this committee, working closely with experts from the ABA Sections and other entities and from the profession at large in developing programs and products. It serves as the central resource for the ABA and the profession for up-to-the-minute, quality CLE distributed through a variety of convenient formats.

Micah’s experience with educational programming inside and outside of the ABA makes him well suited to serve in this capacity. As a former section officer (a past chair of the Law Practice Management Section), he has been involved in decision-making discussions of the ABA’s CLE arm for many years. In LPM, he served as the education board chair (many years ago, where his ABA staff liaison on CLE was Ms. McCall). In LPM, he also helped create and develop the organization’s first standalone ABA Law Marketing Strategies Conference. He has been a faculty member, teaching ethics, for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute for over a decade, and frequently teaches CLEs internally at law firms, as well as through every “delivery mechanism” possible for CLE. For the ABA Center for Professional Development, he has been both a program chair and speaker. Of course, as an ABA member, he has also been a client–taking advantage of many of the member benefits regarding CLE programming. Outside of professional development programming in law firms, Micah does not participate in for-profit CLEs, limiting his teaching time to professional organizations such as the ABA, PBI and state bars.

Published on: August 1, 2012

PBI CLE — Lawyer Rankings & Ratings: The Impact on Ethics and the Profession

by Micah Buchdahl

If you are a PA lawyer, and it feels like you’ve been hearing me deliver marketing ethics CLE hours for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute for more than a decade now, it is because you have. My very first ethics CLE ever was given in Philly, New York and Houston in the summer of 1997. I opened with some lame canned joke involving Morgan Lewis and domain names. Trust me, I’ve gotten better. But the even weaker handout is now a collector’s item. I still have an original (see “Hoarders” and related illnesses).

Each year, I change the focus and try to cover hot topics, and changing rules, as they relate to areas of law marketing ethics. Quite honestly, some years my “show” (as I call it) is better than others. Last year’s focus on ethics of social media was very well received. But this year’s focus on ratings, rankings and reviews might be the best one yet. I mean, really, who does not debate the value, interest and impact on the multi-zillion dollar “sell stuff to attorneys” industry?

I’ve written and spoken on the rankings & ratings subject for many years, including multiple ABA Annual Meetings, as a focus of the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference, for PBI and in at least a half dozen publications. I’m not sure if the publishers of these companies will tell you they love me or hate me (it is probably a mix, leaning more toward the negative), but it is a market that continues to fascinate. This holds true in my marketing roles, in my ethics roles, and certainly in speaking as a leader in law practice management circles.

Published on: July 26, 2012

Yes Virginia, A Law Firm Blog is Advertising

by Micah Buchdahl

In April, I organized a CLE teleconference for the ABA Center for Professional Development entitled, “Is Your Legal Blog Compliant? Ethical Considerations in the Wake of Hunter v. Virginia State Bar“. The roundtable featured me, Virginia legal ethics legend Tom Spahn of McGuireWoods, big-time blogging employment lawyer Molly DiBianca of Young Conaway, and the man himself–Horace Hunter of Hunter Lipton. While the case, and the discussion, touched upon a number of legal ethics issues, the one that I personally paid the most attention to was the ongoing debate as to whether a lawyer blog constitutes advertising (thus, marketing) under the Rules of Professional Conduct.

As many of you know, as a marketing ethics guy, I’ve argued for years that a blog constitutes advertising, in the same way that any other web site would. The marketing part of me would love to agree with those that claim a blog is an editorial vehicle of sorts, and not necessarily promotional in nature. Hint: If a blog was not a marketing vehicle, I would not be writing this post! However, Micah the Ethics Lawyer will argue vehemently that a blog is unquestionably a form of marketing. You simply can’t start evaluating every online presence–a web site, a blog, a microsite, a Facebook profile, a tweet–to determine “on a case by case basis” if the content is marketing or not. If you’ve read hundreds of ethics opinions, disciplinary letters to firms, state by state versions of the model rules, you know that most state bars are simply incapable of effectively and accurately making those distinctions.

Recently, a three judge panel reaffirmed what I believed. The blog is advertising. Thus, an appropriate disclaimer was necessary on the web site. Mr. Hunter did prevail on the charge that probably was more serious in nature (for him) on whether client confidences were violated in the posts themselves. But in this case, Virginia has spoken–a blog is a web site and requires disclaimer language in step with what you would include on any other similar advertising component. Of course, this interpretation is limited to a single state. But everyone was watching to see this outcome, as a lawyer pushed the envelope and challenged the bar. According to Horace Hunter, though, he will appeal…and this story is not yet over.

Published on: July 23, 2012

Print Makes A Comeback! Wait…Did YOU just say print makes a comeback?

by Micah Buchdahl

A law firm marketer from an AMLAW 200 firm called me after reading my marketing column for Law Practice, the ABA Law Practice Management Section‘s bi-monthly print publication. In the July/August 2012 issue, I discuss the revival of hard copies. “You, the Internet Marketing Attorney, wrote about going back to print?” Yeah, I said, but it is true. And he said, “yes it is.”

Like it or not, lawyers are screaming for print stuff. And I’ve found they are not in the wrong. Much like a handwritten thank you note stands out so much more in an e-mail world; strong “handouts” are also standing out as well. We can talk from now until the end of time about electronic this and that, but the truth is that the biggest deals still come through most doors the old fashioned way–in-person communication, networking and meetings. In a world where many large firms are using the same digital proposal systems, a carefully and cleverly crafted print piece (you can still use a computer, feather pen and ink are not required, nor is carbon paper), will go a long way. So, the next time you (the attorney) or you (the marketing team) find yourself racing to put together a hard copy print piece, think of me. The concept won’t sound so ridiculous.