Zen & The Art of Legal Networking : Lawyers & Attorneys in an International Legal Network for Relationships & Referrals

One of the ILN's member firms, Fogler Rubinoff, recently launched a new website, focused on responsive design and definitely very cutting edge for the legal profession. We invited Michael Slan to present on the site during our 2013 Annual Meeting, and Michael had some great best practices for law firms on redesigning their websites, which I'd like to share. 

Michael began by addressing some of the issues that they had with their current site, which had last been redesigned in 2005. The site itself was fine, but it had some issues: 

• Looked like everyone else's 
• Required too many clicks
• Too much scrolling
• Inefficient layout of content
• Text-heavy and lacked visual content

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It's a rainy Friday here in the northeast, with the remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea hitting the coast. So without further ado, here is this week's roundup!

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• Eleventh Circuit Overturns NLRB’S Petition to Seek Injunctive Relief Against Mardi Gras Casino from Epstein Becker & Green
   
• Trade mark application for SUPERMAN WORKOUT made in bad faith from Gadens Lawyers
   
• Italian language trade marks ORO and CINQUE STELLE distinctive, despite simplistic English translations from Gadens Lawyers
   
• High profile case highlights critical importance of obtaining permission before using copyright material from Gadens Lawyers

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Today, we bring you another great recommendation from rainmaking expert, Jaimie Field! 

***

Let me start by saying, I am not a golfer. I don’t particularly have the patience for the short game, but I do like going to a driving range and beating the _____ (fill in the blank) out of a ball. However, on a daily basis I get invited to play golf for outings, fundraisers and by potential clients.

While I don’t play, and have found other avenues to spend a lot of time with potential clients and referrals sources (which will be written about on jaimiefield.com), golf can be an amazing way to do business. You have 3-5 hours of unfettered time with people who can become referral sources or prospective clients.

Notice I say “prospective clients.” This is because golf should not be considered the place where deals are made – sometimes they are, but more often than not, it’s about spending time with 3 other people in your foursome and getting to know more about them both personally and professionally.

In law, where creating relationships matters for obtaining referrals, golf can be an extremely effective networking tool – even more so than going to networking events where you are meeting many people in one event and going from one person to another.

Those 3 to 5 hours will allow you to create relationships. One of the major advantages of all of the time you spend on a golf course is getting to know the people in your foursome. Remember, “people do business with people they know, like and trust.” You don’t have to pitch them while on the golf course – you have to use this time to start creating the relationship which will lead to more business.

So I say, if you are a golfer – go play! Bring one or two people who you don’t know well but with whom you would like to do business. It’s a great way to get out of the office too!

P.S. That niche you would like to become well known in probably is having some sort of golf outing this summer. Why not get set up in a foursome where you can learn all about that niche? You have hours to ask a lot of questions about how to break into that niche.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS INFORMATION TO A COLLEAGUE WHO YOU THINK WOULD BENEFIT; IT MUST BE FORWARDED IT IN ITS ENTIRETY. ALL INFORMATION IS THE COPYRIGHT OF MARKETING FIELD, LLC © 2013

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They are bite size tips that when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog.

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Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network. For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Michael Lasky of our member firm, Davis & Gilbert in New York!

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
I feel privileged to be the trusted advisor on various litigation, employment, intellectual property and business law matters to many longtime clients of Davis & Gilbert, a substantial portion of which are in the media communications or financial services industries.

Who would be your typical client?
An entrepreneurial and fast growing company that is looking for legal counsel to guide them through new regulations, changes in the law and trends to help them grow and stay highly profitable.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
I try to approach their legal and business problems from their perspective, not mine.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
Here are two that kept me awake at night. Defending the business model of a well-known worldwide transportation company in a lawsuit seeking to claim that the workers of the transportation company were improperly classified as independent contractors, instead of employees. Establishing that my client’s quantitative program for stock selection was a trade secret which he owned, and which was not unlawfully derivative from the quantitative model used by his former joint venture partner.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
Perhaps my first oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals which was a case I handled pro bono for the families of four nuns killed in El Salvador in the mid-1980s. The purpose of the case was to obtain records held by the U.S. government concerning the circumstances surrounding the tragic killings of the four nuns. I left the federal courthouse that day feeling as if I could conquer the world.

What do you do when you’re not practicing law?
Serving on the boards of non-profits, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities; singing in my synagogue choir; bicycling with my wife, Peggi; gardening; going to the theatre; reading; planning my next “off the beaten trail” vacation (in excruciating detail); and enjoying being with my 27 year old son and 30 year old daughter.

What would surprise people most about you?
That I manage to do many things when I am not practicing law.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
As I begin my third year as an ILN member, I hope and expect my most memorable ILN experience is yet to come. And I look forward to sharing it with fellow members.

What career would you have chosen if you weren’t a lawyer?
To be the next great American novelist….. or a Broadway theatre critic…… or a university president.

If a movie were made of your life, who would you want to play you?
I don’t have a clue. But in my acting days, I had a series of roles as character actors: Loneson PoleCat in Li’l Abner, Donald in You Can’t Take it With You and Dr. Chumley in Harvey. It’s amazing what can be done with good makeup!

How would you like to be remembered?
Someone who made a difference to his family, service to his friends, clients and in the community.

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Tonight, we kicked off the ILN's 25th Anniversary Annual Meeting with our welcome reception and dinner! We've been busily preparing for the conference, so today, I've got a great rainmaking recommendation from expert, Jaimie Field!

***

The part of Rainmaking that I try to pound into my client’s heads is “follow up, follow up, follow up.”

But how many times should you try to get in touch with someone before you become a pest?

There is no magic number. While some may say 3 times, others say 6 times and some say more. But if you think about what you do for a living, being an attorney, you need to realize that many people may not need your service at the exact moment you meet them.

Rainmaking = Relationships

It is your job, as a rainmaker, to keep your name and services (and the services of your firm) top of mind at all times so that when a potential client, current client or even a potential referral, has a need your name comes up first in their heads.

For example: if you are a real estate attorney, a person you meet may not be buying a house or leasing a business space at that time. However, when they do (and statistics prove that at some time they will), you want to be the one they call. However, if you aren’t the first person they think of, they will go to someone else.

There are so many ways to keep in touch without bombarding them with “sales calls” or non-stop emails about your work.

• Send emails with information that is germane to their businesses or lives – it may have absolutely nothing to do with what you do. It’s about what’s of interest to them.
• Call to find out how they are doing – just a friendly “what’s going on with you” call
• Send newsletters about your work
• ·Invite them to a seminar or event – even if you are not the one giving the event or presenting at the event, it
• should be of interest to them. You can go with them and continue to build that relationship.
• · Take them to a fun event – does your potential client like golf? Invite them to a golf outing that benefits another
• group or charity.

What other ways can you think of to keep in touch without “selling” your services?

Rainmaking, as I reiterate over and over again, is about creating relationships. Each time you “touch” a client, in many different ways, you have the opportunity to create and deepen a relationship.

Please forward this information to a colleague who you think would benefit; It must be forwarded it in its entirety. All information is the copyright of Marketing Field, LLC © 2013

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They are bite size tips that when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog. 

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With less than a week to go until the ILN's 25th Anniversary Meeting, things are very busy here at the ILN! So just a quick roundup for you today - happy reading! 

• Can you challenge a Will based on a broken promise? from Clark Wilson
• Steps for integrating CSR and anti-corruption compliance from Corrado Ferrari Mainieri Pedeferri e soci
• Fallout from Failing to Conduct a HIPAA Risk Analysis from Epstein Becker & Green
• New Family Law Act and Wills Variation Act Claim from Clark Wilson
• Sexual Harassment at Workplace– The Impetus on the Employer from LexCounsel Law Offices
• Employees at a Non-Union Worksite May Select a Union Representative for an OSHA Inspection from Epstein Becker & Green

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Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of speaking with a Canadian reporter who is doing a series of stories about the importance of networking for lawyers. She wanted to get my thoughts based on my eight and a half years of networking experience with the lawyers in the ILN, and I thought I'd share some of those tips here on Zen too. These are all tips I use myself, as well as recommending them to our attorneys!

• Have a plan: It's important to have an overall plan for your business development activities, but also one for each activity that you do. The overall plan should be a written one, that you check in on quarterly - this allows you to review what you've done over the past three months, as well as set up in your calendar the activities you'd like to commit to over the next three months.  For individual networking activities, you should set up goals for yourself for the event, so you know in advance what you'd like to achieve.

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At this year's LMA, we were fortunate enough to have not one, but TWO sessions with General Counsel. This one took place at the end of the first day, and included a procurement guy - a first for the LMA. The session was titled "GC Focus: Project Management. Position Your Firm in Alignment With the Unique Challenges Faced by In-house Counsel." 

Panelists included Keith Isgett, the Managing Attorney-General - Global External Legal Relations, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Justin Ergler, Sourcing Group Manager, Legal Services Procurement, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nat Slavin, Founder and Partner of Wicker Park Group, along with Moderator Alicia Brown, Director of Strategic Relationships for Bloomberg Law. 

After their introductions, Isgett kicked it off by saying that he wants to receive the best representation for the best price, and part of the "best representation" is having a good relationship with the law firm. The procurement team is there to make sure that what they're paying for is what they receive, and that there is value there. Isgett noted that "People are still talking about discounted hourly rates, which means we're not as far along as I'd like us to be." 

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Jaimie Field is back on this cloudy Monday afternoon with another rainmaking recommendation which may seem like common sense to most of us, but she's absolutely right in pointing it out - manners matter. 

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Lately, I have noticed a horrific lack of manners (even more so than usual):

• Not saying “excuse me” when you have to interrupt someone;
• Not saying: “thank you” for being helped;
• Not apologizing for making a mistake or offending someone inadvertently;
• Looking at your smart phone at inappropriate times (like when you have a client or colleague sitting in front of you);
• Eating like a slob/pig or reaching across a table;
• Taking phone calls when someone is in your office or worse using phones in inappropriate locations (like when you are with a cashier or in a restaurant or in the bathroom);
• Being at a networking event and barging into a group without introducing yourself or asking to be introduced;
• Walking through a door without holding for the person behind you (it doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman);
• The lack of the word “Please”;
• Interrupting someone who is talking and
• Rudeness;

And so many more examples.

We have become a society which expects to get and get quickly without the traditional niceties with which some of us, or our parents, or our grandparents, have grown up. However, manners matter.

Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust and one of the ways to get people to like us to have common courtesy.

Excellent manners can only help you to have better relationships with people you know, and help to create relationships with those you will meet.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS INFORMATION TO A COLLEAGUE WHO YOU THINK WOULD BENEFIT; IT MUST BE FORWARDED IT IN ITS ENTIRETY. ALL INFORMATION IS THE COPYRIGHT OF MARKETING FIELD, LLC © 2013

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They are bite size tips that when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog.

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We've reached the end of another busy week here at the ILN, which means that there is under two weeks left until our Annual Meeting is under way! 

So without further ado, here are this week's top posts: 

• McDonald Hopkins' Ohio Statehouse Update: McDonald Hopkins looks at the top issues from this week (April 26th) including a push by the Ohio Manufacturers' Association to maintain Ohio's energy standards, a challenger for Governor Kasich, and legislation being considered. 
   
• The controlled transactions, made in 2012, are to be reported to by 20 May 2013 from Lidings Law Firm: Lidings looks at changes to the Russian tax code and their implications for controlled transactions. 
   
• Report from Russia: Strengthening Government Control or Striving for Compliance with International Standards? from Lidings Law Firm: Lidings discusses state regulation of the pharmaceutical market. 
   
• McDonald Hopkins' Government Strategies: This Week in Washington:  McDonald Hopkins looks at the top issues in government for this week, including internet sales tax, immigration reform following the bombings in Boston, tax reforms, banking and furloughs. 
   
• In A Case Against Retail Clothing Boutique, NLRB Finds Facebook Posts By Non-Union Employees "Classic Concerted Protected Activity" from Epstein Becker & Green: The NLRB is at it again, again finding social media posts by employees to be protected activities. 

Enjoy your weekend!

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In yesterday's post, we learned that building relationships is still of primary importance to clients - and some of the ways to do this including figuring out what benefits the client the most, and focusing on what business solutions will make them look good. 

The panelists agreed that the role of their lawyers needs to be that of strategic partners, and for their part, they need to inform outside counsel about what they need. But outside counsel can also be proactive to learn more about their clients. The panelists suggested that attorneys read company filings and public documents before they meet with them. They emphasized that outside counsel should understand their customer before asking them to be their customer. Post-matter debriefings, at no cost, are also helpful.

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Another of my all-time favorite conference sessions at LMA is always the client panel.  For me, the panel always makes the investment in the conference worth it, because I can impart what I learn from the GCs there to my lawyers, to help them to understand their own clients better, and that adds value for everyone. 

This year's client panel didn't disappoint. It focused on best practices for building and maintaining your law firm's relationship with in-house counsel and featured Megan Belcher, the VP and Chief Employment Counsel for ConAgra, Kevin Schubert, the Associate General Counsel, Transactions for LV Sands Corporation, Simon Manoucherian, the Assistance General Counsel/Director of Litigation GRIFOLS, and Karen Cottle, Senior Counsel for Sidley Austin and former in-house counsel. The panel was moderated by Inside Counsel magazine. 

The panelists said that they would discuss the role of social media for general counsel, the challenges that they see over the next five years, and the change in inside/outside counsel relationships since 2008.  Since the economic downturn, GCs have changed the way that they evaluate outside counsel, and the process by which trust is built. 

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So if you've been hiding under a rock instead of reading my blog posts, you may not already know that my favorite session from LMA13 was "Delivering Happiness: Fresh Ideas for Service-Driven Brands Deploying Social Media Tactics, Seeking ROI" with Graham Kahr, Social Scientist for Zappos and Jayne Navarre of Law Gravity LLC. 

Rather than a typical session, Jayne and Graham let us know right away that it would be different when they introduced themselves in the third person. Their session took on the tone of more of a conversation, which also included those of us in the audience. 

They began their conversation by saying that they wouldn't be talking about social media per se, but really focusing instead on creating experiences for clients (which is something we could all identify with). Graham said that Zappos doesn't push their own brand stories - they want their customers to tell the brand story for them.

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As of yesterday, we are now only three weeks away from the ILN's 25th Annual Meeting, and our 25th Anniversary celebrations! We're really looking forward to celebrating with everyone, taking a look back as well as looking toward the future. But while we've been focused on getting ready for our conference, our members are putting out some high quality content. 

This week's top posts are: 

• Changes to litigation funding and insurance from April 2013 from Fladgate LLP: Fladgate details recent changes to the rules surrounding how a law firm can charge their client in litigation, as well as the costs of insurance for parties in a litigation. 
   
• Employer Illegally Seized Former Employee's LinkedIn Account, But Employee Suffered No Provable Damages from Epstein Becker & Green: EBG discusses Eagle v. Morgan, which found in favor of the employee in terms of ownership of the LinkedIn account in question, but determined that she could not prove any specific damages as a result of her former employer's actions.
   
• Ebb and flow of courts' enforcement of contract notice requirements from Clark Wilson: Clark Wilson looks at recent court cases that deal with whether a contractor's compliance with contract notice requirements is a prerequisite for payment for extra work. 
   
• New federal regulations require material changes to notice of privacy practices from McDonald Hopkins: McDonald Hopkins talks about the HIPAA Omnibus Rule as it relates to notices of privacy practices. 

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