ACROSS THE BRIDGE

The law firm is on one side of the divide and the client or business is on the other side. There is a chasm uncrossable between them both and a bridge is the only way to get across. It is our opinion that this bridge is Law Firm Marketing.
Generally, bridges are made up of several materials such as concrete, cement, stones , water, metal rods, rail guards, tarmac and white wash and the Law Firm Marketing bridge is composed of several materials as well.
Once the bridge is firmly in place and well maintained then the law firm can get its value to the client and the client can receive value from the firm. Every one is happy.
The aspect of the several materials that compose the bridge is an indication of the fact that there is no one solution that covers the entire process of presenting the law firms services to the market place rather what you have are growth drivers and a cluster of initiatives you can adopt based on the demands of your law firm's current reality. You cannot snap your fingers and wish it all away. There may be a major foundation upon which everything else is built say for example, the iron rods that form the core support structure of the bridge but the said core support structure needs to be fleshed up to make the road motorable and able to generate its maintenance costs and profits for the owners or concessionaires of the road.

On the importance of marketing you can take a cue from successful companies like IBM who have usually had a killer marketing unit (the blue suits) to cross the chasm and slaughter the competition. Then the BMW group which focuses on three arms of operations: product design, procurement of resources and marketing which have made it the best selling luxury car maker worldwide ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
A current attitude is generally pervasive that the bridge should not be or is not a law firm marketing bridge but rather it is a Technical competence bridge hence the exclusive emphasis on production and the contents of production in legal education and the continuous emphasis on technical knowledge CPD. The following questions address the law firm growth process more professionally than the overwhelming emphasis on technical matters.
What is your value, who is your market, how will you get to your market and how will your market get to your law firm?
The law firm needs minders who keep the peace generally, grinders who labour on the details of the deal and finders who bring in the business These three roles build the law firm reputation, book of business and have proven effective in other services businesses such as financial services. The Lazard Finance house with its Great men who saved entire countries from financial disaster, initiated monumental financial restructuring and projects as full partners with its clients during the Andre Meyer era and used heavy finders skills to be a part of every major and even minor financial transaction over a twenty-five year period and then to become a fortress in financing during the Felix Rohatyn, Steve Rattner Era (1970s to 1990s).