GETTING ON THE "A" LIST.

• Author: Knapp, Amy

Want to instantly strike up a rapport with another legal marketer whom you don't know yet? Share how you feel about Chambers submissions, and you'll be kvetching like old friends in no time! As Chambers season cranks into high gear for another year, we bring you an inside look at firms that have demonstrated excellent results.

In recent years, Knapp Marketing has twice published surveys of AmLaw 200 firms' representation in Chambers.

A quick look over those survey results indicates that a small number of firms have a disproportionate percentage of their lawyers listed. In 2014, 29 firms had more than 15 percent of their United States-based lawyers listed in Chambers. In this article, we spoke to a few successful firms and Laura Mills, Chambers USA editor, to get their inside tips for creating submissions.

Process

The firms we interviewed agree that having a process is a critical component of not ending up with a monthly fire drill from June to December. However, the exact process varies from firm to firm, and often from practice group to practice group, based on how the attorneys prefer to work.

Helena Lawrence, a business development manager at Proskauer, discussed the firm's ongoing efforts: "We have been creating a streamlined process for the last few years to ensure that it's managed efficiently."

Tim Delaney, chief marketing and business development officer at Ballard Spahr, recommends you stop thinking of Chambers as a seasonal process. "The key to doing this well is to not treat it as a Chambers submission; treat it as an ongoing process," he says. "We collect matters from our attorneys in real time when the matter closes and is still fresh in everyone's mind. Chambers is a fairly heavy lift, but if it is a living, year-round process, that lift is a lot less."

Success doesn't seem to be a function of insider knowledge or having your hand held by Chambers.

Chambers USA Editor Laura Mills says, "Without naming names, I note that the majority of the firms on this list aren't large consumers of my time (approaching Chambers with many questions or for guidance). They seem to do a good job internally without needing a lot of advice from us. Overall, the firms who do a great job submitting are the ones who just do exactly what we ask. The firms that stick out to us are the ones who leave out things that we obviously need." Mills noted that while these particular firms do not ask her a lot of questions, she encourages firms to reach out to...