Thoughts and musings of a retired chief marketing officer.

• Author: Bond, Thomas R.

Soon to turn 65 years old, and about nine months from retirement, I have found myself reflecting on my career in law firm marketing. At the same time, I am trying mightily, and thus far unsuccessfully, to create a clear and permanent vision of my post-retirement life.

Some days, I picture myself retired, and just as the younger set would be apt to say, simply "hanging." this picture of tranquility, however, is interrupted abruptly by a scene where my wife of 42 years (whom I dearly love) is rattling of a long list of household assignments for me. All the while, she is reminding me that, in reality, I have not done anything of real substance around the house for many, many years. Truth can really hurt!

I then conjure up the recurring fantasies of being a successful law firm marketing consultant or molding myself into a renowned civil rights or criminal lawyer, a workers' compensation judge, or a legal scholar of some sort. This all, quite frankly, seems like way too much WORK to me!

As I was enjoying a light-dream state the night before I started this article, the thought struck me that it may prove to be a constructive exercise for me to share with members of the law firm marketing community and the legal community some recommendations that I can advance to assist in their marketing efforts.

Please indulge me a bit as I relate some background information regarding myself, which I present not to impress you, but simply to impart to you the success that I have been able to attain through the implementation of my marketing recommendations.

In 1988, I joined the law firm Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin as a lateral partner hire. The firm had decided to establish its very first, full-fledged workers' compensation department. After finding no one in the firm having any interest in developing this frequently distained area of the law, they extended a job offer to me. It proved to be a truly golden opportunity.

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The vision of our then chief executive officer and president, Robert J. Coleman, esquire, was to build a 50-attorney workers' compensation department. When Bob shared his vision with me, quite frankly I thought that it would be impossible to achieve this lofty goal. Within eight years, however, we were able to develop a 64-member workers' compensation department.

While I worked very hard in our marketing efforts to achieve this growth, I have always attributed this accomplishment to the following:

* a combination of hard work,

* the great reputation of the firm in the insurance and defense communities; and

* the fact that the workers' compensation practice, especially in Pennsylvania where I maintain my practice, was extremely "hot."

During those days workers' compensation litigation was out of control, resulting in files coming in at such a rate that we actually had to hire attorneys in anticipation of yet the next wave of cases arriving.

With this backdrop in mind, you can readily understand why, as one of my younger partners recently related to me, "You have to...