Challenge the status quo.

• Author: Sutor, Alycia
• Position: President's Podium

The following message was constructed from Alycia Sutor's opening remarks at this year's LMA conference.

Last month, I was with more than 200 LMA members in NYC, celebrating the NY Chapter's 20th anniversary, and I heard time and again from members how special this community of people is to them--that our relationships extend far past the professional and into the personal and most meaningful realms. As I talk to our members, I hear this over and over again.

This feeling and these relationships are usually something that would be celebrated--and I do encourage you to cultivate meaningful relationships with your LMA peers--but instead of dwelling on that message, I want to ask you, "So what?"

Is it enough that we are working hard to bring a more strategic and competitive edge to our firms so that we help really smart people become a little smarter in their businesses? Is it enough that we help relatively wealthy and well- resourced people become wealthier and more resourced?

Personally, I'm not satisfied with the status quo. I don't like that the profession that we work in is the butt of countless jokes ... because they're often true. I don't like the fact that as I work with lawyer after lawyer across the country in firms big and small, across all practice areas, that I keep encountering people who feel like they're walking dead and that what they do doesn't matter in the end. I don't like the fact that we, as legal marketers, often tell ourselves that what we do isn't that important in the overall scheme of things and that we tell ourselves, "It's just a job."

And, so, in addition to "so what?", I'd add the question, "What if?" What if what we do really matters because we have the ability to impact the profession of law in a way that can change the world? What if we take very seriously our opportunity to make a...