Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms

Sean Larkan BA LLB MBA MPh CMC is a partner in Edge International, the leading specialist consultancy to the global legal profession. He specialises in assisting firms and legal entities with strategic issues including growth, market penetration and dominance, governance and structuring, mergers, and all activities necessary for strategy implementation and getting results. He is responsible for devising the Edge International vision and strategy as well as its brand strategy, and drives their implementation for Edge. He is a former commercial/tax lawyer, is MBA-qualified, an accredited Human Synergistics practitioner and is an internationally-accredited Master Coach. He works closely with firm leadership to get the results they seek and has a deep understanding of management and leadership challenges and methodologies. He specialises in assisting with strategic issues such as performance optimisation, governance and firm structures, growth and competitive market dominance, brand (organisational, employment brand and personal brands), strategy implementation, alignment and stress-testing, and all matters pertaining to partnership, where he has a track record of optimising partner-team (the 'critical cog') performance. Sean has six years' experience providing strategy, leadership and management consulting to professional service firms (PSFs), law firms and businesses and 20 years' experience leading large corporate law firms in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in managing partner/ CEO roles. Sean has a track record as an innovator in the professional services industry, for example: He established Lex Africa (the oldest and largest network of exclusively African firms - countries); Achieved a first in linking bank mainframes to law firms and developing unique document assembly packages in the 1990s; His unique Brand FusionA' methodology (to get brand understood and to build real brand value); His Responsible Partner (R) program (to optimise partner/professional performance); Capital FabricA' (the most important contribution a partner can make in a firm); and Unique ways of developing vision and strategy, and reporting on performance. Specialties: Law firm review, strategy and planning development at organisation, division and support service sector levels, focused on implementation, achieving dominance and getting results; Organisation/division/department/group/leadership review and development in particular around culture; About the author Performance development, market dominance and growth development, team performance excellence, partner/leader performance and support management; Staff engagement and management systems; Strategic financial management, professional firm governance, unique brand and innovation strategy development. Sean can be contacted through his blog: www.legalleadersblog.com.

• Chapter 1: Understanding brand - The fundamentals...1 Introduction and trends...1 Why brand is vital for law firm success...2 The role of design, creativity and innovation...5 Why brand is challenging.6 Who to involve in developing, maintaining and building brand...9 Three important types of brand for all law firms...9 Subsidiary brands...10 Why it is critical to develop a brand strategy...11 Chapter 2: The key elements of a brand strategy...13 The elements of a brand strategy...13 Brand vision...15 The charismatic brand...16 Brand offeringA'...17 Strategic key objectives...17 Strategies...18 Avoiding a Brand Gap...19 Brand management, monitoring and discipline...21 Who should manage and lead the process?...21 Stress testing your brand strategy...23 Case study 1: DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox merger...24 Chapter 3: The brand offering...25 What is a brand offering?...25 The importance of the brand offering...25 What are the elements of the brand offering?...26 Why a one-page brand offering?...27 A framework for a typical brand offering: Bloggs and Jones Lawyers...28 Chapter 4: Brand fusion...29 What is brand fusion?...29 Achieving brand fusion...31 Unity and amplification is key...32 Issuing a brand compass or brandometer to partners and staff...33 Chapter 5: Where brand rubber hits the road - The role of design and aesthetics...35 Law firms can take real lessons from this approach...37 The challenge of left-brain thinking...37 Brand icons...37 Websites, packaging and the reading sequence...38 The written word...39 What's in a name?...39 Taglines or mantras...39 The role of leaders...40 Chapter 6: Avoiding a brand gap and building strategy alignment...41 Strategy alignment...41 How can these gaps arise in practice?...42 Inherent challenges impacting alignment43 Chapter 7: Stress testing brand strategy - A road map to strategic implementation...45 Why stress test strategy?.45 Challenge your strategy..46 Other recommendations.46 How to get there...47 A stress test checklist...49 Chapter 8: The employment brand...51 What do we mean by employment brand?...51 Challenges in developing your employment brand...52 The benefits of developing a separate employment brand...53 The importance of good people practice in your employment brand...54 Stress testing the firm's brand strategy...55 The foundational elements of building a strong employment brand...55 Building engagement levels...56 Employment brand fusion...58 The critical role of trust...58 Good times sometimes create a false sense of security...59 Assessment and review of employment brands...59 Education...60 Employment brands for partners...60 Employment brands and firm websites...61 Chapter 9: The firm brand...63 How do we develop the firm's brand?...63 Addressing the fundamentals...63 Leadership involvement..66 The importance of USA (unify, simplify amplify)...66 SWOT test your brand...67 Identifying brand SKOs...67 Developing brand strategies - An action plan and timeline..68 Crafting the firm's brand offering...68 Staff involvement...69 Where 'brand rubber hits the road'...69 Chapter 10: Personal brands...71 Personal brands - Why bother?...71 Developing a personal brand strategy...71 A personal brand strategy framework...71 A personal brand offer...72 Personal skills and soft skills...73 A summary statement or value proposition...75 Personal brand key objectives...75 The importance of thought leadership skills...76 Building a personal profile...76 A personal plan...77 Chapter 11: Brand challenges...79 No formal brand strategy...79 Brand seen as comprising the firm's name, logo and aesthetics...79 Brand management left solely to the marketing department.79 No brand discipline...80 Lack of brand fusion...80 No personal brand development...80 Variable recruitment and retention success rates for the firm.81 Brand strategy is developed then lapses..81 Chapter 12: Brand and strategic communication...83 Means of communication...83 Digital communications..84 Key factors law firms need to consider...85 The importance of online digital communication channels...86 Other digital media...86 Chapter 13: The brand implications flowing from law firm mergers...89 Challenges for a firm's brand post-merger...90 Name usage...91 Recommended steps for a merger...92 Chapter 14: Brand discipline, management and brand champions...95 Management...95 Brand champions...96 Brand compasses and brandometers...96 Staff meetings and functions...96 Chapter 15: Brand and law firm networks...97 Brand challenges for law firm networks and members...97 Particular strategies for law firm networks...100 Encouraging trust and pride...101 A brand vision - Towards a charismatic brand...101 Case study 2: Lex Africa...102 Case study 3: Lex Mundi...105 Index...109

BOOK REVIEW BRAND STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT FOR LAW FIRMS By Sean Larkan The Ark Group ISBN: 978 1 908640 53 6 (hard copy) www.managingpartner.com AIMING FOR EVEN GREATER SUCCESS IN THE LAW? HERE'S BEST ADVICE ON DEVELOPING YOUR LAW PRACTICE AS A BRAND An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers Think of a celebrity and you're thinking about a brand. Think of a successful company or indeed law firm, and equally, you are contemplating a brand. There are any number of marketing and PR guidebooks about brands and branding, but this new publication from Ark, as its title indicates, is specifically about branding and brand strategy for law firms. If you run a law firm, with the aim of making it even more successful, this book can help you on your way. As the author Sean Larkan comments in the executive summary, 'Brand permeates everything - How a firm's brand is viewed by existing and potential clients and other influencers determines a firm's success of failure' As he points out, this book, presented in the format of a management report, covers all the pertinent aspects of branding within a simple, clear and practical framework'. Reassuringly for lawyers, the book is not aimed at marketing gurus, or brand managers, which most law practices don't have anyway. The author's objective is to advise senior management of law firms, including partners as well as staff in order to enhance understanding of brand and its significance in building the success of a law practice. The author's approach to brand is, in the tradition of most Ark publications, thorough, systematic and practical. To help the interested lawyer in developing, implementing and sustaining brand strategy, Larkan - an acknowledged expert in this field -- starts with the fundamentals, including what brand is and what it is not. He then goes on to discuss brand strategy and introduces the concept of brand fusion, (where basically, what you see is what you get) thereby highlighting the importance of communication, education and consistency. All this and a wide range of related issues focus on the branding of the actual firm - its employment brand - and the branding of key individuals within it. Also, of immediate relevance to law firms is the advice on brand and strategic communication, including online digital communication (good advice on the aesthetics of websites here) and other digital media. In line with its practical approach, the book is easy to navigate. There's a detailed table of contents, a useful index, at the back, plus any number of suggestions for further research at the end of most chapters in the form of bibliographical references and websites. In fact, if this book were a brand, clarity, readability and accessibility would rank high among its major benefits If you are involved in any way with the business development of your law practice, including marketing, this book offers the advice you need to help you formulate and organize a coherent, efficient and potentially profitable brand strategy.