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ABA's two-day national marketing conference

To commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the seminal law firm marketing case - Bates v. Arizona, the American Bar Association has planned a two-day Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference. The conference will be held on November 8 and 9, 2007 in Washington, DC. It is organized by the ABA's Law Practice Management Section.

The unique conference will feature several all-attorney panels to study how law firm marketing has evolved. It will also take a look at the trends in the profession. The conference aims to assist lawyers and firms with improving their business development strategies.

Law firm marketing continues to puzzle the bar. Micah Buchdahl, chair for the conference, said it is time for a review of the legal industry set by Bates. After assessing what works for law firms at present, measures for further improvement will also be worked upon. Buchdahl also said that the meet apart from addressing "the concerns, will also teach best practices for moving forward with smart initiatives."

The two-day event will feature some of the top-notch law firm marketing gurus. Experts like Van O'Steen from Bates v. Arizona will talk about legal ethics; Chris Lehane, strategic communications specialist and Jamie Diaferia, Infinite Public Relations' will deliberate on crisis communications. A program on the impact of diversity initiatives on law firm business is also envisaged.

In addition, two Extreme Marketing programs will also be organized with 10 speakers. These 10 speakers are partners from 20 national law firms who will talk about different topics.

04-06-2007

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Liberal bar rules help Baker & McKenzie strengthen its Tokyo office

International firm Baker & McKenzie fortified its Asia presence by hiring prominent Japanese lawyer Fumio Koma and his team this April. Koma and his attorney team, both from Asahi Koma Law Offices and the Janssen Foreign Law Office, joined Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Law Office. Koma's team-mates include Yasunori Hashiguchi and Shinichiro Abe, two Japanese lawyers, besides Markus Janssen, a German lawyer, who join as senior partners. The firm also comprises three other partners, associates, and counsel.

With the bar rules getting more liberal, the Japanese legal market is expanding. The new bar rules permit Japanese and foreign law to combine practices. Hence, lawyers in Japan are now getting more opportunities to advise domestic and multinational companies on both sides of the borders.

Koma is excited to join Baker & McKenzie. He hopes to expand Baker's international practices, including multijurisdictional transactions apart from the traditional M&A, IP, and international business restructuring. He envisages building up of a substantial Euro-Japan group to benefit both its clients as well as its team in Japan and Europe.

Koma practices in international commercial affairs, finance, M&A, and antitrust law. He specializes in domestic and international M&A and has extensive experience in representing banks and security companies, chemical companies, healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, besides various others. Yasunori Hashiguchi's practice includes IP, entertainment, and sports law. Shinichiro Abe handles business restructuring, insolvency law, and litigation. He specializes in Japanese and international business restructuring, insolvency law, structures requiring insolvency protection, and solutions. With nearly two decades of experience in Japan, Markus Janssen established Janssen Foreign Law Office. It was a joint enterprise with Asahi Koma. Janssen has extensive contract and transaction experience in various industries. He focuses on foreign direct investment of European enterprises in Japan, and also assists Japanese enterprises in important projects in Europe.

04-06-2007

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U.K. law firm partners find U.S. firms in London more attractive

The U.S. law firms in their London offices are on a hiring spree. According to a survey conducted by Legal Business, 71 partners left the U.K. law firms to join the U.S. firms in London in the last year.

The findings are part of an annual report on 50 U.S. law firms in London.

The major reason for this trend is better profitability of the U.S. firms. "In 2006, each equity partner in the U.S. law firm in London, on an average, received $1,322,739 in comparison with $1,083,967 for U.K. firms," informed Stephen Doggett. Doggett was instrumental in conducting the survey at Legal Business.

Another attractive feature of the U.S. law firms, according to the survey, is the billings per partner. The top American law firm partner bills $1.97 million a year, while the maximum that a British law firm partner can make annually is $1.58 million.

The U.K. lawyers are also attracted to the U.S. firms because of their robust financial strength. Despite the strength of the sterling against the dollar, U.S. law firms in London have been able to raise their total revenue by 17 per cent to $2.76 billion in 2006 in comparison with the last year. In comparison, the growth in the biggest 50 U.K. firms have been only 13 percent.

The survey also revealed the source of the U.S. firms' profitability. Despite rumors about the firms' branching into insurance and disputes, the U.S. firms have held on to more expensive areas of corporate and mergers and acquisitions.

04-05-2007

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Hunton & Williams play home to Jenkens' attorneys

Jenkens & Gilchrist, one of the largest law firms in Dallas, closed its doors and quietly slipped into history. The law firm earlier owned responsibility of promoting illegal tax shelters for its clients. Its lawyers move on.

Richmond-based international law firm Hunton & Williams, LLP, absorbed the 93 dislodged attorneys from Jenkens. This mass addition made Hunton's attorney count rise to 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices. With the new expansion, the firm will also broaden its practice areas to include financial institutions, financial services, real estate, litigation, bankruptcy, corporate, tax, and estate planning.

In Dallas alone, the headcount rose to 157 from 70, with majority of the Jenkens lawyers joining here. Jenkens' Patrick E. Mitchell, a new partner in the firm, will serve as managing partner in the Dallas office. He will be assisted by Hunton & Williams' partner Curtis G. Carlson as administrative partner. The duo will also look after the administration of the Houston office.

Hunton will also open its new office in Austin with the five Jenkens attorneys. Chet A. Fenimore will serve the Austin office as managing partner, while Jeanne P. Breckinridge will serve as the office administrative partner.

Wally Martinez, managing partner of Hunton, said that it was a year's luring that culminated in the mass addition of the Jenkens' attorneys. He was confident that the "controversy over the tax shelters did not dissuade Hunton from going after Jenkens' lawyers." These "high-quality lawyers align with Hunton's current national practices. These additions will allow Hunton to provide major capabilities in the energy lending arena," he stated.

04-05-2007

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Rules pulverize lawyers' ad`missions'

We can solve almost….Ssh…ssh…!!

This is what meets the marketing efforts of New York lawyers nowadays, thanks to the caution put on them to cap tall claims.

Since February 1, new regulations have been introduced to the New York lawyer advertising. The new advertising regulations, though, are meant to pulverize some of the big time, belligerent firms; their effect is also evident on the smaller non-vocal firms as well. This has no doubt streamlined ads to a great extent.

However, the dilemma that besets most attorneys is, how to say, `Try me?' The regulations asked newsletters and email-soliciting clients to carry prominent tags labeled "Attorney Advertising" or, rather, hit-the-spam button! The same dilemma rears its head even in the case of snail mail too. "We're trying to do the right ethical thing, but logistically, there comes a point where it becomes ridiculous," says Liber Raines. Firms like Damon & Morey, LLP, and peers in the Western New York arena are putting the rules in the scanner to read and re-read between the lines, says bizjournals.com.

The result: A few exempt have been uncovered. They include written communication to current clients; attorney-attorney communication, sponsorship ads in theater programs; and youth-league promotional sponsor jerseys bearing the law firm's name. Other let off the hook are billboards.

The eighth Judicial District, which enforces the regulations, has issued a handful of warnings till Feb. 1, informs Vincent Scarsella, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Attorney Grievance Committee.

The scrutinizers' scanner lenses have thickened to coke bottle dimensions. To track rule-breakers, they pour down details on newspaper ads or on soap commercials, apart from scanning phone-book ads. But the lids go off when peers complain and the attorneys' colleagues do some talking. And the slip can be a casual miss, almost unnoticeable as a phone number or address line.

Firms like Hurwitz & Fine question if their e-newsletters, which contain information sans any ads, also fall to the axe? Many others too are still groping their way.

04-04-2007

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Schiff Hardin energizes Washington, DC, and Boston Energy practice

One of the major national players in the energy/Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) law field, Schiff Hardin, LLP, expanded its energy team with more power. The firm added eight attorneys and one legislative affairs specialist to its much-reputed energy practice group. Of the nine new entrants, six attorneys and the legislative affairs specialist will join the firm in Washington, DC, while the other two attorneys will join the Boston office. All of them earlier served Sullivan and Worcester LLP.

Among the six attorneys in Washington, DC, Sherry A. Quirk, Regina Y. Speed-Bost, David A. Fitzgerald, and Thomas B. Ingoldsby have joined as partners; and Montina M. Cole and Stanley P. Wolf have joined as counsel. Christopher E. Eckl is the new legislative affairs specialist in this office. Of the duo in Boston, Robin E. Remis joins as a partner, while Monica M. Berry joins as an associate.

All the attorneys, including the legislative affairs specialist, have wide experience of dealing in all aspects of energy law ranging from administrative and regulatory law, transactional, regulatory, litigation, and legislative matters to ISO development. Robert H. Riley, Chairman of the firm, is confident that both the firm and its clients will benefit from the enhanced capabilities of the already established team. A full service national law firm, Schiff Hardin has nearly 400 attorneys serving wide clientele from offices located all over the country.

04-04-2007

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K&L Gates expands IP practice with new Seattle partner

Prominent international law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart hired leading IP lawyer W. David Shenk to its intellectual property and patent litigation practice in Seattle. Shenk has vast experience in patent litigation and copyright cases including database software, digital devices, inhalable antibiotics, architectural plans, and exercise equipments, among many others. He joins K&L from Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness. During his illustrative career as an IP lawyer, Shenk made several representations before the state and federal courts in matters comprising all aspects of trademark law, trademark clearance and prosecution, administrative proceedings, and litigation.

K&L Gates' Seattle administrative partner Robert Mitchell, welcoming Shenk, said that the firm hopes to leverage on Shenk's "skills and experience with a diverse range of technologies." The firm hopes to serve its clients better with enhanced capabilities. The firm's clientele includes some of the global giant companies. The firm has more than 1,400 lawyers in 22 offices located across the globe. They represent clients ranging from entrepreneurs and middle market companies to leading international Fortune 100, and FTSE 100 companies.

04-03-2007

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