The vanity distortion in law firm marketing.

• Author: Doll, William

In 1909, the editors of "Editor & Publisher," the newspaper industry trade paper, concluded a long diatribe against nagging publicity agents this way: "And the lawyers! No class of men on earth know the value of publicity better than the New York lawyers, who, to let them tell it, are the best in the business."

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Imagine that--self-promoting lawyers, nearly 70 years before the U.S. Supreme Court's Bates v. State Bar of Arizona permitted lawyer advertising! This may not come as a surprise to law firm marketers, and it is probably not confined to members of the Empire State's bar. So the bane of self-promotion--seeking publicity, marketing and advertising to satisfy an attorney's vanity, rather than implementing the dictates of a productive firm marketing strategy--has been with us for quite some time.

Why is this "vanity" part of the law firm marketing mix? It will inherently fail to do little more than make the attorney feel good. By their nature, marketing and business development take time and planning. Bouncing from one possibility to another, seeking to showcase an attorney's visage, name or inclusion on a "best" list (one of publishing's own smartest money-making strategies ever) are one-offs that contradict the cardinal rules of marketing: analysis, planning, money and steady commitment.

Remember, the tortoise won, not the hare. Though the hare may have more press clips.

Bates, of course, at its core wasn't about lawyers promoting themselves at all and it wasn't about law firms advertising. It was about educating potential clients: "assuring informed and reliable decision making" by providing consumers "relevant information," Justice Blackmun wrote in the ruling.

What Ads Do

On the one hand, maybe law firm marketers shouldn't complain about creative interpretations of Bates to get one's name in print and face on screen. Finding ingenious ways to work within the rules to reach a client's goals is the point of doing law and some of its visceral kick for practitioners. On the other hand, vanity promotion distorts law firm marketing, distracts it from its true objectives of getting new business or branding the firm, frustrates marketing professionals and wastes money.

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Consider, for example, law firm advertising. With the exception of some large and sophisticated firms, advertising seems less about getting business than making the firm's attorneys (and their families) momentarily happy.

An...