Marketing marketing.

• Author: Grove, Richard

I don't accept the premise that Magic Circle firms are better at marketing and business development than their counterparts across the globe. At most, I'd say "yes" and "no" to it. You don't have to go back very far to find a time when that wasn't the case. It wasn't that long ago that we were way, way behind the accounting firms, for example. One issue was a firm's self-perpetuating obsession with recruiting from within and a model at some firms that saw a partner charged with responsibility for marketing in addition to running a practice That began to change as you started to see professional services "marketeers" come in to the Magic Circle firms from elsewhere, especially those with account management backgrounds. But I'm not saying we've got it all right or that we're habitually setting the pace. We have plenty to learn from others. But it's good to know that it's now acceptable to be talking to our partners about brand and market share.

One reason I think it's said that we have led the market is that there is a requirement at firms such as A&O that marketing, client development and communications operate in a globally coordinated manner Marketing and business development are regarded as one of the key means of assuring the whole network is coordinated As I often remind our partners, we are a large part of the glue that binds the organization together. We are responsible for positioning the firm and its offerings as a global provider We manage our international clients through international client teams. And you've done the same analyses as we have--the more jurisdictions that are involved with a piece of legal work, the more profitable that piece of work is going to be That means we in marketing and business development play a very important part in targeting, cross-selling and similar So if we're seen as setting the bar higher, it's by virtue of being forced to operate effectively across global markets.

I would agree with those who say the Magic Circle firms are very good at staying close to their clients--when a client can be worth tens of millions a year in fees, you tend to be pretty rigorous in your application of best practice relationship management We have a whole portfolio of tools used to manage relationships with clients, but it often starts with changing the behavior of partners When I joined A&O, I learned a lot about a lawyer's attitude to client relationships Lawyers are incredibly obsessive about the matter at hand...