Wednesday, March 14, 2012 | Pre-Conference Session

QuickStart – Legal Marketing Core Competencies

Are you a marketer with less than five years of experience working inside a law firm? Would you like to refresh your knowledge of the core competencies and best practices of legal marketing knowledge? Then LMA’s popular QuickStart program is for you. QuickStart is a comprehensive and entertaining one day program focused on the key marketing and business development issues you face on a daily basis. The speaker faculty is comprised of nationally recognized legal marketing experts who offer no-nonsense advice that will challenge you and provide you with practical skills and tools you can apply immediately.

 

7:30 a.m. Registration and Breakfast

8:15 a.m. Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks:

Lisa M. Simon
Chief Marketing Officer
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Jonathan R. Fitzgarrald
Director of Marketing
Greenberg Glusker

8:30 a.m. Navigating the Politics and Economics within a Law Firm

Navigating the politics and economics of a law firm requires a combination of emotional intelligence and a keen understanding of how a law firm runs its business. Compensation systems drive culture and can dictate who's in charge. Finding allies and steering clear of poisonous people can keep you happy in your firm. Learning the financial basics will help you understand how decisions get made and budgets get built. This presentation - law firm business 101 with a dose of practical, political advice - will set you on the path to a long and fruitful legal marketing career.

Stephen G. Blackwell
Chief Operating Officer
Thompson Coburn LLP

9:30 a.m. Tuning in or Turning Off: Do your Communications Convey Knowledge or Noise?

Communications skills are a make-or-break element in the success or failure of firm and team initiatives.  They can also determine the zoom or doom of your career in legal marketing. Sure, you have the ability to manage public relations, media, advertising, websites and social media… but are your communications with attorneys, co-workers, clients, vendors and partner organizations working for you or against you?  A high IQ and creative mind are wasted if your ideas fall flat because you did not understand your audience or speak their “language.” This lively session will examine message development and delivery from multiple perspectives, and review case studies of the good and not-so-good. You will learn how to develop powerful communicative skills that will advance your initiatives and can help propel you to superstar status in your firm.

Michael A. Webb
Vice President, Business Development & Public Reputation Services
Jaffe PR

10:30 a.m. Networking and Refreshment Break

11:00 a.m. From Sherpa to Guide:  Building Business Development Plans that Motivate your Lawyers to Act

Help your lawyers bring in more business by offering tools to help them take responsibility for their own book of business. Topics covered in this session include: organizing effective business development programs, working with firm financial incentives, creating pipelines, building trust with clients, using assessment tools, crafting meaningful annual business plans, uncovering obstacles, and coaching lawyers to build solid business development habits. We’ll also discuss the lawyer personality and ways to leverage unique traits of the non-salesperson to bring in business. You’ll learn how to go beyond merely responding to lawyer requests for information or collateral and be empowered to take control of your career and establish yourself as a trusted expert providing business development guidance.

Craig A. Brown, Esq.
Founder
Motivera Group, Inc.

12:00 p.m. QuickStart Morning Wrap Up and Open Q&A

12:15 p.m. Networking Tips for Marketers – Making the Most of the LMA Conference

This short, interactive session is designed to give you networking tools and advice that are practical and effective. Learn how you can develop your LMA network and get the most out of the conference experience while you attend - and after you leave. Get training tips to use back at the office too!

Catherine Alman MacDonagh, JD
Chief Enthusiasm Officer
Legal Mocktail

Roberta Montafia
Chief Visionary Officer
Legal Mocktail - Networking Training for Lawyers

12:30 p.m. Networking Lunch

1:30 p.m. The Fine Print: Better Marketing through a Better Understanding of Ethics

When law firms seek out clients, regardless of the media, their lawyers are bound by state rules of professional conduct. These rules apply to everything from basic directory listings to YouTube posts. Those attending this presentation will learn about the rules governing advertising, sales and marketing; how those rules apply to various marketing and client development endeavors, particularly those that are technology-based; and how to maximize the firm’s quests for clients while assuring the firm and its lawyers – and its marketing staff – are protected from adverse consequences.

Will Hornsby
Staff Counsel
ABA Division for Legal Services

2:30 p.m. What Is In Your Legal PR Toolbox? Key Tools and Tips for Effective PR and Media Pitching

Do you have a legal PR toolbox? If not, it’s time to grab those necessary tools and put them to work so you can start building your media masterpiece at your law firm. During this session, you will learn key PR tools and tips that will help increase your law firm’s visibility and attorneys’ credibility in the media. We’ll discuss how PR can connect the dots with other key law firm business (i.e. surveys and rankings, business development, pro bono, community and civic commitments) and what tools you can use to execute successful PR outreach, such as media training, crisis communications planning, and effective press releases and pitching. This session will also feature an award-winning case study on effective media pitching that will teach you the anatomy of a media pitch that gets results.

Kate Barth
Public Relations Manager
Carlton Fields

3:30 p.m. Networking and Refreshment Break

3:45 p.m. A Road Map for Your Career Development

This session will provide specific examples of the skills and experiences expected by law firm leadership so participants can manage their careers proactively and be of greatest value to their firm.  During this hands-on workshop, participants will assess their career progress through the lens of Wisnik’s Core Competency model and identify specific steps they need to take to further their careers.  Participants will: (1) determine where they can contribute the greatest value to their firm; (2) identify what competencies they still need to develop; and (3) create a Career Action Plan to take back and implement at their firms.

Eva Wisnik
President
Wisnik Career Enterprises, Inc.

4:45 p.m. QuickStart Final Wrap-Up and Open Q&A

We’ve saved time at the end of a busy day in which to share key observations and takeaways, and to identify the action points you’re going to take back to the office and implement.

5:00 p.m. Conclusion of QuickStart

5:00 p.m. First Timer’s Reception

The First Timer’s Reception is designed to welcome those who have not attended the LMA Annual Conference before. Use this reception as an opportunity to become acquainted with key members of the LMA leadership, your 2012 LMA Annual Conference Advisory Committee, and to meet other new legal marketing professionals or professionals new to the industry.