Do Law Firms Know How to Market?

It is my opinion that most law firms have no real sense of what marketing is, what marketing can accomplish for their firm, or where to begin when they catch the "marketing bug."

The weakness of attorneys with regard to marketing is a product of their education, their high intelligence, and the legal structure and compensation models for most law firm partnerships. Great attorneys are great attorneys because they are focused, knowledgable and action-oriented.... But they're not always open to new ideas, and struggle in areas of expertise outside of their own.

Let's face it, great attorneys are valued for their ability to have and state an opinion, often across broad swatches of the business environment. They're used to forming opinions and having people listen to them. So it is logical to expect that they have opinions around "marketing". But the marketing they observe and build their opinions around is the marketing programs and strategies of their clients; an all-together different type of marketing to an entirely different target audience.

My goal on Law Firm Marketing Catalyst is to observe and discuss the marketing efforts of law firms, hopefully learning a lot and helping others to discover new directions and ideas.