Gibson and Johnson join LMA Hall of Fame.

• Author: Stickel, Amy I.
• Position: 23RD ANNUAL LMA CONFERENCE - Ann Lee Gibson and Marceline O'Connor Johnson

AT THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN APRIL, LMA welcomed Ann Lee Gibson of Ann Lee Gibson Consulting and Marceline "Marcie" O'Connor Johnson, manager of marketing and communications at Schiff Hardin LLP, into the Hall of Fame.

"They led by example," Jennifer Manton, president of LMA, said during the video that introduced this year's inductees. "Their openness to giving guidance, direction and support and to share their knowledge is what has perpetuated the entire LMA community."

Ann Lee Gibson

Gibson, a former member of the LMA Board of Directors and past vice-president of the LMA Los Angeles Chapter, calls her induction into the Hall of Fame "tremendously gratifying."

Gibson joined the legal marketing profession in 1991 in California, when she became Nossaman's first marketing director. "I was lucky to have been at Nossaman, which has so many wonderful partners and clients," Gibson says. "I was also lucky to have had Bill Guthner as my boss. Bill was a tough managing partner with very high standards. He gave me complete freedom to succeed or fail."

Gibson, who is also a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, points to big changes happening now in legal marketing. "The media world is like the Wild West right now, as we navigate toward digital and Web 2.0 media from print and mainstream media. And today's big shift in the buyer/supplier power relationship is driving client-focused marketing more than ever."

She predicts that competitive intelligence, which has become a significant marketing function, will become much more important. "In five to 10 years' time, the CI function will be one of the major values added by business development," she promises.

Gibson says because legal marketers have always led change in law...