A new frontier.

• Author: Gravit, Aleisha
• Position: President's Podium - Column - Interview

In February, LMA launched the new Client Value shared interest group (SIG), which is focused on pricing, project management and process improvement. The group is led by Toby Brown, director of pricing and strategic analytics at Akin Gump. one of the primary benefits of this new SIG is the ability to bring all constituents into the same conversation--including business development and marketing professionals, those in corporate law departments, corporate procurement professionals, law firm pricing experts and vendors who are building tools to help firms more accurately analyze and track their data. Here, I spoke with Brown about the new SIG and related industry trends.

AG: tie legal marketing and business development profession is evolving rapidly. this evolution is driven primarily by the client demands being put on law firms around efficiency and the need to rethink how we deliver services and add value. Can you talk a little about the intersection of legal marketing and pricing, project management and process improvement?

TB: I believe the market is turning a corner. Pricing for many firms has been a defensive action. It is quickly becoming an offensive tool--a differentiator for firms. his means firms are taking the game to clients more often, making pricing a tool to better align service strategies with client goals. This is also bringing project management and process improvement into the picture. These two efforts will be the manifestation of the new alignment created via pricing options. And all of these efforts are becoming focused on building the business, which is front and center for marketing.

AG: For those who have not been part of these conversations, how can legal marketers best prepare themselves to participate and add value?

TB: Marketers already appreciate the need to understand client motivations. Adding clients' fee motivations to the puzzle is the next step. But marketers will first need to understand their firms' fee and pricing motivations. All revenue is no longer good. Marketers will need to develop deeper financial skills that will allow them to know how a given pricing deal will impact the firm before it is pitched to a client. Marketers would do well to take an active role in moving their firms toward new profitability approaches.

AG: our Client Value SIG comprises...