There is a shift occuring in the world of legal marketing and business development. Firms are beginning to recognize that their clients aren't necessarily hiring "the firm" but rather the experience of working with one or more individual attorneys. Some firms have already started to embrace this trend by spotlighting individual attorneys with specific practice specialties and impressive records of success. This is espcially true online. Lloyd Pearson fortells in his blog post, Who to Market: The Firm or the Individual Lawyer? that the successful lawyer of the future "will have a good law firm bio, probably through a flexible micro-site attached to the regular firm-wide website, and will also have a strong online presence through the likes of Linked-In, blogs, and the better legal directories.”

Steve Bell, chief client development officer at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC, and John Hellerman, partner and co-founder of Hellerman Baretz Communications LLC argue that it is individual lawyers, not law firm institutions that draw clients in. Biserka Anderson in her blog post, Marketing the Individual Lawyer Online: An Asset for Law Firms? references two forward-thinking law firms she thinks are doing individual marketing well. 

Levenfeld Pearlstein created biography videos for YouTube that reflect the personality of its lawyers within the context of the firm's brand.

Arent Fox created an employmentt law video podcast series modeled after episodic television programming, "After Hours With Harry Johnson" hosted by the firm's partner. Each segment summarizes and draws a conclusion about an issue that is important for clients to know. Produced with very high production values, it lives up to its name as you will see when you click the link. Pay particular attention to Johnson's Twitter handle and email address and the invitation to a webinar in the text description.

Both of the firms noted in Ms. Anderson's blog post are embracing individual attorney marketing in very different ways but the effect is the same--drawing attention to skills, abilities and yes, likeability of one or more of their firm's attorneys.

I have observed with my own clients that they are more open to my coaching around individual attorney marketing.

What is your firm doing? Have you embraced individual attorney marketing? If so, what are you doing and how is it working? Tell us about it.

Until next time,

Robin