The question: our firm is making a big push to bring in more lateral partners with big books of business, but they haven't involved the marketing department much in the process. How can I convince our management to get us involved?

• Position: Ask the Authorities

John Hellerman

Lateral should mean up, not sideways, and what laterals want when they switch firms is a better platform on which to build their practice and more aggressive marketing support to help build it. So your executive committee and lateral hiring partner should be banging down your door.

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If not, offer to 1) create marketing plans to share with target laterals (i.e., "this is how we'd market you if you came aboard"); 2) train your partners to effectively communicate the firm's value to laterals (few do this well without specific training and practice--just ask them for their pitch, you'll have a green light as soon as they're done sputtering); and 3) live up to the firm's promises and, once the lateral is settled, rebrand them as your firm's by marketing the $&!% out of them.

Increasing your firm's ability to attract more valuable lateral partners (that is, those with quantifiable books of business) and rebranding them as your own, will make you indispensable to management. Remember, marketing is the draw--go make the case.

John Hellerman is a partner at Hellerman Baretz Communications (www.hellermanbaretz.com). He can be reached at 202/274-4762 or jheller-man@hellermanbaretz.com.

Steve Nelson

When firms involve their marketing departments, strategic lateral initiatives tend to be more coordinated and better-implemented than in those that do not. Moreover, lawyers in charge of lateral partner recruiting often tend to have trouble articulating the firm's vision, both generally and how it might apply to laterals with particular specialties.

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First, explain to firm leadership that lateral hiring is a critical element in any type of key client or client team program. In fact, a firm can increase its client base much more quickly and comprehensively through lateral hiring than through more conventional business development activities. The results of lateral-partner recruiting also tend to be easier to measure than other marketing activities.

Second, outline the various ways that existing marketing and business development activities can be utilized immediately.

Examples include applying talking points from RFPs and other marketing materials in which the firm has differentiated itself from its competition, using existing competitive intelligence vehicles to determine who represents your firm's existing clients in other areas and helping the firm put together a brochure aimed primarily at...