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

Today, I attended one of the Social Fresh conferences, which took place here in Portland, Oregon - for those of you wondering what Social Fresh is, it's a conference about social media, focused around case studies, and it takes place in some "underserved cities," as the conference website describes them.  Although it's not a conference focused around the legal field, I felt that broadening my social media education to find out what other companies are doing and what works for them would be useful in my own professional social media efforts, as well as for the law firms we work with.  

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Last night, I had the opportunity to attend a socialmediatoday webinar on "Social Media in Asia: Where are the Emerging Opportunities?" (For the webcast and slides, visit: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/webcasts/184500) What follows is a re-cap of the highlights, but the key takeaways that came out of the webinar are the following:

- Culture is hugely important - In order to succeed in Asia, you must have people on the ground who understand the social meda ecosystem for that country and can help you to navigate it.

- Mobile devices will be the primary source of access for a lot of people because broadband access is not always available.  So compatibility with mobile devices is hugely important.

- Face-to-face interactions are still paramount.

The speakers for the webinar were Thomas Crampton, Asia Pacific Director of 360 Digital Influence for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Peter Auditore, head of SAP's Business Influencer Program and a Senior Fellow at the Society for New Communications Research, and Robin Carey, CEO of socialmediatoday.  They began with comments from Crampton on scale - he said there are 338 million "netizens" (citizens of the net) in China versus only 62 million in France (as of a report from 2009) and also greater than the population of the United States.  However, the top social networks in China are not the familiar ones in the West - Qzone has 183 million users, Xiaonei has 40 million, kaixin001 has 30 million, while Facebook only has 0.4 million.  Crampton observed that the government is very savvy in China - Twitter is blocked, but Google Wave is not.  He also noted that Friendster used to rule Asia, but now Facebook is "romping across the nation."

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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, Lorna Patajo-Kapunan of Kapunan Lotilla Garcia & Castillo Law Offices in Manila, the Philippines.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
Our firm is a medium-sized law firm with 17 lawyers and support staff totaling 20, all committed to our vision of "quality legal service with competence, integrity and courage."

Who would be your typical client?
Our typical client would be the good guys -- good corporate citizens who aspire for a level playing field, aggrieved individuals who still have faith in the justice system.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
I want my clients/potential clients to know that I eat my enemies for breakfast, that I will fight even against overwhelming odds, that I can and do walk the extra mile.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
As an advocate for women's rights, my most challenging and high profile case was defending a male against a female for allegedly taping a sex video of the sex act and purportedly distributing it to the public. My legal position (to the horror of the women NGOs) was that the male was the victim.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
My proudest moment as a lawyer was when our firm was judged by the Bishop/Businessmen's Council of the Philippines as the only law firm in the country deserving of the ISQ (Institutional Spirituality Quotient) award - this is equivalent to a "good housekeeping seal" at the workplace.

What do you do when you're not practicing law?
I have many "hats" -- dedicated father/mother (I was widowed 9 years ago) to my 5 boys, 2 grandsons, 9 dogs; volunteer Trustee on the Boards of several foundations/socio/civic groups, such as the Philippine National Red Cross, World Wildlife Fund, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Rotary International, Zonta Foundation, UNIFEM, National Heritage Society; devoted daughter to my father (94-year-old retired justice of the Supreme Court) and mother (87-year-old retired dean of one of the biggest nursing schools in the country); confessed shopaholic -- my "cure-all" remedy for my stress is shopping.

What would surprise people most about you?
People are surprised that I can be a softie -- that despite the Dracula fangs, I have a heart that beats/bleeds.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
My most memorable ILN experience was when our former Firm hosted the ILN Regional Conference in Cebu in a distant past.  It gave us the opportunity to showcase the typical Filipino hospitality.  Looking forward to hosting another soon.

What career would you have chosen if you weren't a lawyer?
If I weren't a lawyer, I'd like to be a CNN/BBC Anchorperson -- reporting news when and where it happens, or a professional tennis player, earning some 6-7 digit figures while having FUN.

If a movie were made out of your life, who would you want to play you?
My favorite movie is Casablanca -- but I identified more with Humphrey Bogart rather than Ingrid Bergman. I need to sort out my fantasies first.

How would you like to be remembered?
I'd like my epitaph to read "She lived, laughed and loved!"

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As I mentioned yesterday, I've been following along as attendees of Georgetown's Law Firm Evolution Symposium have been tweeting the conference highlights.  Rachel M. Zahorsky of the ABA Journal was in attendance, and wrote a great article that summed up a theme of the conference - BigLaw must change or die.  She quotes several speakers, who make ominous statements:

- Patricia Gillette, Orrick partner: "It is a mistake to think of change in terms of silos...Change must be sweeping. If you do not change, you will die."

- Susan Hackett, Association of Corporate Counsel vice president & general counsel: "The window is open for another year to year and a half for firms before clients start walking and looking at firms they've never looked at before...Whenever a firm says [it] can't hold to a budget number because of unpredictability, the GC still has a busted budget. It's not unpredictable. It's unforgivable that they don't know and unforgivable that we haven't held them to that."

- Robert Ruyak, managing partner and CEO of Howrey: "Partners must be willing to sacrifice some short-term profitability for greater success and profit in the long-term.  That's something many partners don't want to do, but we have to.  There is no choice because some firms will, and they're the ones that will be eating our lunches tomorrow." 

But some are saying that there are firms that think that the legal industry will soon be back to the way it was, and so they don't have to worry about changing. 

Mid-sized law firms, like those in the ILN, often find it easier to adapt than BigLaw because their size makes them more nimble.  But even though this is the case, clients are asking all of their firms to more strongly consider their needs, focus on strengthening their relationships.  As was said at the LMA Conference this year, clients have always had the power, but now they know it.

So what are your firms doing to adapt to the siren call of change?  How are you providing your clients with better service, more value, strengthened relationships?  And how are legal marketers supporting their attorneys to make these changes possible? 

Or, on the flip side, are you one of those who believes that the legal industry will rebound, and so there isn't any need for change?

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Last week, I wrote a re-cap on a panel I attended at the Legal Marketing Association's Annual Conference on Alternative Fee Arrangements.  The panelists said that the law firms that are "pyramid-shaped," with the larger part of their firms being made up by associates, would have difficulty adapting to the make-up needed to accommodate alternative fees.  They said that those firms that are "diamond-shaped," with the majority of the firm being made up of experienced partners would be more successful, implying that firms may be heading in this direction in the future.

However, during Georgetown's Law Firm Evolution Symposium (whose Twitter stream can be followed here), Jeff Haidet of McKenna Long says that "the pyramid will be replaced with the rocketship, associates hired to perpetuate partnership, more efficiency."  Firms will need to redesign entry level assessment and paths to partnership and leverage different resources, not just high-cost lawyers. 

Howrey's Managing Partner, Bob Ruyak said (also at Georgetown's LFES), that firms need to change almost everything about how they do business, including bringing in non-lawyer professionals, lowering costs, and lowering prices.  He said "The risk of uncertainty has to be shared," and that firms have to change how success and productivity are measures, from revenue per partner to productivity of every resource.  But later, Mari Sako of Oxford said that lawyers mistrust of non-lawyers means that partnerships are reluctant to cede control of work decisions to clients.  Professionals distrust non-professionals' competence and ethics.  So what does this mean for the changing law firm and what future law firms will look like?

What do you see the law firm of the future looking like?

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One of the important messages in terms of social media that came out of this year's LMA Annual Conference is that "you cannot be a proxy for someone else's relationship - the lawyers have to do it themselves."  But in the busy world of attorneys, where time is quite literally money, what about ghostblogging? 

For the uninitiated, ghostblogging is much like ghostwriting, where someone else is paid to blog posing as you or your company.  Aside from the usual concerns about liability, which I would say are magnified when discussing the idea of having someone else pose as an attorney, it seems to go against the very idea behind social media, which is to use these new technologies to form personal relationships with people, sometimes for business and sometimes not.

Reading "The Death of Social Media" this morning, I had to agree with Mitch Joel when he asked "Can we stop the madness?"  He says:

"I'm being naive (I know), people will say, 'someone writes the speech for the President' or 'if people like it and connect to the content, who cares who writes it?' I dunno, I do. People have lost faith in marketing (just like they have lost faith in those who serve the public office and celebrities). We allow things that shouldn't be... to be. Saying that ghostwriters have been around for years doesn't make it right or authentic. Times have changed, and these platforms are (or should be) celebrated for the human and real side. Can you imagine that some Blogs, Twitter and Facebook feeds that you follow are not the real person, but the musings of someone else who simply interviewed the person you thought that you were following? Sure, there's a place for ghostwriters, but maybe Social Media isn't one of them? If we keep heading down this road, doesn't Social Media become nothing more than a boring, traditional mass media channel?"

I'm curious to hear what those in the legal community think about ghost blogging, and how lawyers can manage the balance between their valuable time and pursusing social media (Disclaimer: I'm a strong believer that lawyers spending time creating relationships through social media and then taking these offline is a valuable use of their time.)

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For my last session of the conference, I attended "The Digial Firm 2015 - The Changing Face of Professional Services Marketing Communications," with opening remarks from Anthony Green, President of Concep, moderated by Dwain Thomas, Managing Director of Concep, and panelists Susan M. Snyder, Senior Consultant at Hay Group, Jodie Kaminsky, Vice President of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and Royal Simpkins, Firmwide Communications Manager at Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP.  The panel looked at new marketing channels and how they impact marketing professionals in a fee earning environment.  When the room was polled, we learned that a lot of the audience is using social media in their communications mix.  Jeannette McGarr wondered on Twitter what her attorneys would say about social media becoming the norm in firms. 

The panelists went into three case studies of firms using digital strategy with Concep, starting with J.P. Morgan.  They needed a reduction in cost, which for them, meant getting away from paper. They were looking for both strategic and tactical recommendations to help them to migrate their current contact strategies to digital, and used their competition to convince naysayers to get into social/digital communication tools.  It took 2-3 years for them  to switch entirely to digital communications, and now their marketing plans are much more integrated with digital media and have the same messages across platforms.  At the start of this process, they had 15 different databases, and have since merged all of them.  When all data repositories begin to communicate, the power is exponential for intelligence and relationship management. 

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The client panels held during the LMA conferences always provide a wealth of useful information for legal marketers to bring back to their firms.  This year's panel was no different - moderated by Michael B. Rynowecer, President and Founder of The BTI Consulting Group, the panel featured Eric Hilty, Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO), Carmel Gill, Corporate Counsel, Legal Department of Level 3 Communications, Jeffrey K. Reeser, Vice President and Secretary of Newmont Mining Corporation, and Julie DeCecco, Associate General Counsel and Director of Litigation at Sun Microsystems, Inc.  The session was titled "What we love most about our lawyers," and the panel started by saying that in order to stand above the competition and become a prefered provider, firms need to step up partner engagement and have a proactive knowledge of their clients' business.  The clients listed a few of the law firms that they consider top of their lists, and one included ILN member, Holland & Hart.

So what gets a firm "on the list?"  One of the panelists counseled that lawyers shouldn't make them jump through legal hoops, but should do as much for them as they can, so that they don't have to do it themselves.  Another said that lawyers should identify the obstacles for their clients, think two steps ahead to the solution and articulate it.  Their impressions of firms come from their experiences with the attorneys of that firm, reinforcing the theme that it's all about relationships.  The panelist admitted that she thought saying service was the most important thing to her might offend the audience, but as Kate Haueisen said via Twitter "we influence service too!"  The panelists suggested that firms have a dialogue with their clients about their expectations for communication, workflow, and sharing the work burden and they agreed that they are trying to isolate the firms that they have good relationships with and save some money. 

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The first session on Friday was another session that delegates were excited for, and the big room was packed.  Moderated by Patrick Fuller, the Managing Account Director at Hubbard One, the presenters included Twitter favorites like Melanie Green, Director of Business Development and Marketing at Baker & Daniels LLP and Tim Corcoran, Senior Consultant at Altman Weil, as well as Robert D. Randolph, Jr., Director of Marketing and Business Development at Bryan Cave LLP and Steven B. Bell, Chief Client Development Officer at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC. 

Tim started the session by saying that the difference between business development and marketing is that marketing is the tactics to build awareness and identity, while business development is what you're doing to further that relationship.  Steve wondered why there should be a distinction between marketing, business development and sales, saying that "we all want to ring the cash register."  He said that everyone in the room is engaged in the buying process every day, and it's marketing's role to create awareness.  Anyone can take their own lessons from the things that they buy - buying legal services is no different.  Buying is emotional and justifying a purchase is logical, though he clarified that an emotional purchase doesn't mean it's illogical.  He emphasized that companies don't make purchases, individuals do.  So you have to understand the individual.  As we all know, clients buy services from peope they trust, like, are capable, and understand their business.  This isn't an illogical process, but they have to trust you.  Lawyers sometimes think that they can't do this business development "stuff," but it doesn't have to be a close relationship.  They just need to build a relationship of trust.  Lawyers also think that they need to explain their capabilities in the buying process, but most clients are not even considering you if you don't already have the skill set they need. 

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The second social media panel of the day was one that we tweeters had been waiting for, since our friends and fellow "tweeps" (as people who tweet are often referred to) Heather Milligan, the Director of Marketing for Barger & Wolan LLP, Jayne Navarre, the Director of Law Gravity LLC, and Russell Lawson, the Marketing Director at Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, P.C. would be presenting.  The topic was Social Media Strategies for Small to Mid-sized Law Firms.  Jayne began by introducing the attendees to the term "social web" as a catchall for technologies like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and blogging.  Russell commented that entering social media is "like drinking from a fire hose," echoing sentiments from the earlier panel.  Because of this, he said that he did research before engaging online.  Jayne asked them what their greatest challenge in social media has been - Russell said that it is getting people to engage frequently and Heather answered that it was finding champions in her firm who are willing to speak up in and about social media.  She added that legal marketers would be surprised at who the champions at their firms can be.  Laura Gutierrez commented via Twitter that educating attorneys about social media and time are her biggest challenges. 

In terms of strategy, Jayne advised that social media should be part of your day - it's important to integrate it into your work flow and carve out the time needed to make it effective.  She said that social media tools are things that lawyers are already using, just reinterpreted through technology.  The role of the legal marketer is to help them transform what they're doing into the 2010 version.  At the heart of it, social media is about engaging people, and if you're not doing that, you're wasting your time.  The panel pointed out that social media doesn't require that lawyers stop other kinds of business development, like attending alumni events, only that they consider it as another tool they can use.  Russell talked about his firm's use of social media, saying that he is having a tool built that will allow him to feed attorneys topics daily, which they can then write about on the social web in blog posts.  He already sends a social media tip out twice a month to his attorneys, and his firm has started @sociallawyers to help educate other lawyers as to what his firm thinks works in social media.  To get buy-in from the attorneys within his own firm, they write an internal document called "Look Who's Famous Now," which shows the exposure that  lawyers are garnering online.  He said, "We think clients want firms who understand social media." 

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One of the most well-attended panels of the conference was "Leveraging Social Networking - Real World Applications of Web 2.0 That Have Led to New Business."  On the panel were John M. Byrne, Director of Communications at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and John J. Buchanan, Chief Marketing Officer at ILN member firm Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin.  The panel was moderated by Darryl Cross, Vice President of Client Profitability at LexisNexis. 

Though the irony of attending a panel on social media at a conference without any wifi for the attendees was not lost on those there, we made do Tweeting from mobile devices and using internet cards on laptops.  The panel started by saying that social media is a way to collaborate, and firms should do it to serve their clients and get closer to them.  Cross gave some statistics that lend credence to the idea that social media is a "trend" that is not going away: there are currently 400 million people on Facebook, 60 million on LinkedIn, and 50 millions Tweets per day.  91% of the users of social media connect through their mobile devices.  Though many lawyers are reticent to join social networks for privacy concerns, Cross pointed out that there is Sermo, an online community of 130,000 physicians who share and deal with highly sensitive medical information thorugh social media.  The message was that if doctors can do this, surely lawyers can figure out how to engage with social media. Cross also mentioned Martindale-Hubbell Connected, which is an online network for legal professionals (If you'd like to connect with me there, you can do so here). 

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My second session on Thursday, March 11, 2010 was "Examining the Current Use of Alternative Fee Arrangements," with presenters Lindley J. Brenza, a partner at Barlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP and Reed S. Oslan, P.C., a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and moderator Gabriel Miller, general counsel at Sokolove Law.  Because this is a hot topic in the legal industry, the session was well-attended and spawned some interesting conversation.

Oslan started by saying that Kirkland & Ellis have been doing a lot of alternative billing, and believe there will be even more in the future.  Brenza agreed, saying that at his firm, they do nothing by the hour anymore for new matters.  To clarify for everyone, they put up a graphic of the four types of legal fees - hourly, fixed, contingent and hybrid.  Brenza said that his firm doesn't do hybrid billing arrangements, because they are too problematic.  Interestingly, he added that the ABA considers non-hourly billing more ethically sound and client-focused than hourly billing.  The panel agreed that because of financial constraints in this economy, clients are willing to take more risks with their lawyers on how fees are structured - this was borne out in the general counsel panel the following day by clients who admitted to being reticent to use alternative fee arrangements, but felt pressured to find the most economically efficient way to handle legal work. 

One of the panelists pointed out that despite the industry's seeming fear of moving away from the billable hour, hourly billing rates have only been around for the last sixty years.  When they took an informal poll of the room, most of those present were from firms doing some type of non-hourly billing.  Oslan said that it has taken his firm some time to get comfortable with the idea of alternative fees, and observed that clients aren't always ready to take that route.  Brenza agreed and said that although his firm does work entirely on an alternative fee basis, clients come to them for their skill, and not their fee schemes, and it often takes some time for them to become comfortable with it.  But at heart, the panel said that basically, clients want less expense and more certainty.  Law firms can't say that their work is too unique for a budget - it may be a leap of faith to handle work on an alternative fee basis, but other vendors are already doing it.

That being said, the panel agreed that the discussion over alternative fees is actually a lot bigger than the demand for them.  There are a lot of downsides to discounts, which the attorneys don't always consider as part of alternative billing.  Oslan pointed out that most firms are pyramid-shaped, with the majority of the lawyers being associates, and billable hours are rewarded.  These types of firms can't easily do alternative fees.  Firms built for non-hourly billing are structured differently - more diamond shaped with the greatest number of attorneys being experienced partners.  To be able to do alternative billing at a firm shaped like this, the partners doing it must be supported by the firm. 

The key takeaway from this presentation was that although the demand for alternative billing arrangements isn't as high as it's hyped to be, clients are looking for less expense and more certainty in their billing and firms will have to be able to adapt to best service their clients. 

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For the first session of the day, I was in Track One - the Business of Law: Recovery: Refocusing the Inside Counsel/Outside Counsel Partnership to Maximize Profitability.  Presenting was Harris E. Berenson, Esq., the Assistant Vice President/Chief Counsel for Liberty Mutual and Senior Counsel for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.  His presentation focused on the idea that inside and outside counsel have a partnership, and he started by saying that a partnership, at its core, is nothing more than a relationship.  However, although this is a simple concept, the challenge comes when trying to execute it.  Relationships, both personal and professional, must be built on trust, support, consideration, respect, caring and the mutuality of responsibility.  Inside counsel are looking for a long-term partnership - similar to what people are looking for in a relationship as they get older.  They don't want someone who just wants to be "on the list;" they want a true business partner who knows their business and understands industry issues.  Because of this, they'll often go with their gut instinct and recommendations from trusted friends and colleagues.  Berenson said when looking for outside counsel, he checks with his counterparts, industry peers, and internal teams - when later asked, he emphasized that he does not look at directories and rankings lists for outside counsel and said "they don't matter."   

Once the decision is made to work together though, how do both sides get the most out of the relationship?  Berenson said there needs to be a "mutuality of expectations."  As an example, he said that if the client needs the firm to be available 24/7, the firm needs to be able to articulate how they will do that, not just that they can.  He said there must be "mutual hand-holding," similar to being in a romantic relationship, but he clarified that by "hand-holding," he didn't mean constantly taking people to lunch or asking for their business, but showing the client that you're a valuable business partner.  He also said that lawyers should show their clients that they can do what they said they could do, to suit up and show up, and to keep their promises.  Berenson said that each side comes with their own baggage, and it's up to each side to figure out what that is, and how they can learn from each other. 

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This morning, I was reading about Morrison & Foester's launch of their free iPhone app, the first to be developed by a corporate law firm.  Reviews on this article in The Lawyer seem to be mixed - some think it was an expensive mistake, while others commented that they would be interested in it.  The app, which will have four function areas, will allow users to search MoFo attorney bios, read firm news, find information on the firm's offices and nearby attractions, and even includes a maze game.

What are your thoughts on this?  My initial question was whether they'd interviewed their clients to find out what would be of use to them in an application.  The article says that the app came about after "noticing that the lawyers at the firm used their phones and handheld devices as 'portable offices.'" but doesn't make mention of finding out why their clients would want to use it.  I can see how it would be useful for clients to be able to search attorney bios on the go and perhaps easily locate the firm's address and contact information, but how can the firm make their app relevant to their clients on a longterm basis?

Are any of your firms working on deploying iPhone applications?  Do you think they have any value for clients aside from making a firm appear cutting edge?

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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, Ioana Racoti of Zamfirescu Racoti Predoiu in Romania.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
I am a business lawyer assisting a broad spectrum of clients, particularly in the corporate and financial sectors, in M&A, Banking & Finance, Energy, and Capital Markets matters. 

Who would be your typical client?
Local companies and multinationals with business interests and business activities in Romania, no matter the industry area they focus on.  We offer a full business law service and this enables us to support our clients in all areas of operation.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
ZRP always meets and exceeds a client's expectations, by delivering flawless and outstanding legal services.  We are always one move ahead and know how to play the winning game.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
Every project has its own particularities and characteristics, involves and develops different skills. Starting with approach, vision, innovation, legal work, team structure, capabilities, client relationship, set objectives all the way to how these objectives are achieved, make a project unique and challenging.

Still, there is one project I would like to share with you: the IPO listing on the London Stock Exchange of one of our clients - it was the first project of its kind on the Romanian market, involving a multidisciplinary team of over 10 lawyers. We worked with prestigious law firms and financial companies, and it was a great opportunity to share experience and knowledge.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
The set up of my law firm in 1996, at the age of 26, in partnership with my colleague Catalin Predoiu, at present Minister of Justice in Romania.

What do you do when you're not practicing law?
Travelling around the world. And wandering through the streets of New York at least once a year.

What would surprise people most about you?
I usually deliver bluntly my ideas and opinions, my likes and dislikes. This could sometimes take other people by surprise.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
The Annual 2007 ILN Conference in New York, where I had the chance to meet extraordinary people and outstanding professionals.

What career would you have chosen if you weren't a lawyer?
I would have probably been a biochemist.

If a movie were made out of your life, who would you want to play you?
Definitely Uma Thurman.

How would you like to be remembered?
Professionally, as an outstanding lawyer. Personally, as a reliable friend and travel companion.

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During the first morning session of the conference, the attendees were treated to a presentation by Andrew Zolli, founder of Z+ Partners, curator of PopTech, and exploration fellow at National Geographic.  His Z+ Partners bio says: 

"Andrew Zolli is an expert in global foresight and innovation, studying the complex trends at the intersection of technology, sustainability and global society that are shaping our future. His firm, Z + Partners, helps senior leaders at some of the world's preeminent companies, institutions and governments see, understand and respond to complex change. Andrew is alsothe Curator of Pop!Tech, the renowned thought leadership forum and social innovation network. Andrew serves as a Fellow of the National Geographic Society, where he is leading development of a global initiative to envision new scenarios for a sustainable world in 2030 and beyond. He was also recently named the first Business and Society Fellow of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship."

In a presentation that was "engaging, clever [and] funny," according to Lance Godard, Zolli focused on future trends affecting us both personally and professionally.  Using demographics as evidence, he showed the audience that by 2025, there will be more elderly people and children at the same time than ever before in history.  Additionally, the "Boomers" will be in the workforce even longer, which will cause "intergenerational chafing" between them and Generation X.  Those who were born after 1970 are likely to take care of their mothers longer than their mothers took care of them.  We are also seeing a shift in education, with statistics showing that the most educated man in the United States is 56, while the most educated woman is 28.  These ambitious women are having a hard time finding ambitious men, and there are more single women buying homes. 

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I just got back from the Legal Marketing Association's Annual Conference and I'm still trying to process the whirlwind of sessions and networking opportunities that I was able to be a part of.  I'll post a series of re-caps from the individual sessions over the next few days, but I wanted to start with my feelings about the conference as a whole.  For me, the main theme of this conference was relationships.  Perhaps I'm biased to look for that as a theme, since that's an essential part of our ILN conferences, but I was struck by how important it was during LMA10.

One of the things that's been drilled into me during client panels since I joined the ILN five and a half years ago is that "clients hire lawyers, not law firms," essentially saying that it's all about relationships.  This was backed up once again by the client panel on Friday morning when the panelists talked about how important chemistry is when choosing a lawyer to hire.  But this principle doesn't just apply to law firms - everyone makes purchasing decisions based on chemistry.  For example, if I'm looking for a new web designer for our group's website, I'm going to want to work with someone I trust, someone who understands my personality and how I work, as well as what I want to communicate through the site.  If I'm interviewing people for that work, I'm already going to weed out anyone I think doesn't have the appropriate skills, so it's assumed that the finalists will all be talented.  So it comes down to chemistry - who can I work with?  That applies both in my personal and my professional life and I've talked to others who feel the same, so when working with my own clients, I always try to think about how I would want to be approached. 

But why wait until you need to hire someone to network and form relationships with people in your own industry?  I have gained and continue to gain so much from the relationships I have formed with other talented, passionate people in the legal marketing industry and last week's conference showed me that very clearly.  Social media also played a large role in enhancing my experience, and was best explained by Heather Milligan over on her blog.  By connecting with people through social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and then taking those relationships offline by meeting my contacts in person, I am able to build friendships that inspire me professionally, support me personally, and give me a collective expertise to draw on among people I already trust. 

I've come away with a lot of good ideas and excitement about future projects thanks to the LMA conference and the people I interacted with there.  But overwhelmingly for me, my greatest takeaway was about the relationships - whether you're connecting online through social media, in person at a conference or cocktail party, or over the phone, it's all about engaging people and finding that right chemistry.  Not only can it lead to business (and it doesn't have to), but it enhances my life in many other intangible ways.  Nancy Myrland's video about connecting with legal marketing Twitter contacts does a great job of summing this up. 

I'll also mention that relationship-building doesn't end when you get back on the plane to come home - you've got to continue to connect and follow up with the new contacts that you've made.  Heather talked about that today and has some great tips for what to do when you return from a conference.

**(Photo from Nancy Myrland)

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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, Andrey Zelenin of Lidings Law Firm in Moscow, Russia.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
Protecting foriegn business in Russia.

Who would be your typical client?
Foreign legal entities (from SME's to multinationals) investing in Russia or otherwise affected by Russian legal regulations.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
That I'm easy to deal with, ready to react, and always willing to protect their interests.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
There have been some of them, and I'm sure there will be more.  One of the recent ones was representing a client in an investigation by the antimonopoly authority.  The hearings lasted for 12 hours (with a lunch break though!).  It was quite challenging to get out of the FAS building at 1AM.  But the client was happy, as all charges have been dismissed!

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
Well, again, it's difficult to pick one.  Most encouraging, I think, is when you see your team of lawyers gain expertise and succeed in very complicated cases.

What do you do when you're not practicing law?
I'm telling fairytales to my children.

What would surprise people most about you?
That I'm 27 and I have three kids: a daughter, 4.5 years old, and two sons, 3 and 1.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
Fantastically warm and friendly welcome to the world of ILN - at every ILN meeting!  And of course, the after Gala Dinner Istanbul night club party.

What career would you have chosen if you weren't a lawyer?
I'd better not think about it. Do not want to disappoint myself.

If a movie were made out of your life, who would you want to play you?
It's a tough one. I'd let my wife choose.

How would you like to be remembered?
As someone taking care of other's interests first.

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As I prepare for next week's Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference, I'm revisiting the list of sessions I'll be at and tweeting from.  Heather Milligan over at The Legal Watercooler will be posting a list of which attendees will be tweeting from which sessions if you'd like to follow a certain "tweep" (as people who tweet are referred to) or session.  I'll be attending the following sessions (all times are local to Denver, Colorado) and you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/lindsaygriffith:

Thursday, March 11, 2010
9:00 - 10:30am: Keynote Event
11:15am - 12:45pm: a) Recovery: Refocusing the Inside Counsel/Outside Counsel Partnership to Maximize Profitability and b) Examing the Current Use of Alternative Fee Arrangements
2:30 - 3:30pm: Leveraging Social Networking - Real World Applications of Web 2.0 That Have Led to New Business
4:00 - 5:30pm: Social Media Strategies for Small to Mid-Sized Law Firms

Friday, March 12, 2010
9:00 - 10:00am: Creating and Implementing a Sales and Business Development Culture in Your Firm
11:30am - 1:00pm a) Managing Your Professional Reputation and b) The Digial Firm 2015

I'll also be attending the general session on Friday, "What We Love Most About Our Lawyers - A Client Panel" and may tweet from there as well.  In addition, I'll follow up my tweets with posts about the sessions, so if you prefer not to jump into the twitter stream, you can see the re-caps here.

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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, Toomas Taube of Tark & Co. in Estonia.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
As the head of the corporate & commercial practice group at Tark & Co, my work involves a broad range of corporate and commercial matters. I am also active in litigation.

Who would be your typical client?
Most of my clients are companies and a large part of them are multinational corporations that plan to have, or already have, a subsidiary or investments in Estonia. I have assisted many foreign clients from the very beginning of their business in Estonia, and in many cases, the relationships have developed into a long-term, full range cooperation.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
That I really value my clients, and I want to be of value to them. If a client is happy, I am happy.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
There have been many challenging cases during my practice. One of them was a major and complex litigation matter that has lasted for six years, and the case has been heard and reviewed in different court instances a total of nine times. I expect that this "court marathon" is close to its end soon, and the result is so far, and expected to remain, positive for my client.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
Positive results make me feel good and proud of myself.

What do you do when you're not practicing law?
Live my private life, which includes some sports, some shorter and longer trips, some friends, some books, one girlfriend, many thoughts, lots of feelings...

What would surprise people most about you?
Other people should be the ones to say that.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
All of the ILN events that I have participated in have been memorable for me - well-organized, nice places, and friendly people. Maybe one of the more memorable ILN experiences was my first ILN meeting (in Stockholm in 2001). I was a young lawyer and did not know any of the other participants, but I was impressed at the close friendships most participants had with each other. Such friendships are one of the real values of the ILN network.

What career would you have chosen if you weren't a lawyer?
I have never considered an alternative career. Probably a good sign concerning my almost 15-year career as a lawyer.

If a movie were made out of your life, who would you want to play you?
I think my life is yet too short to make a movie of it. Let's wait at least some 25 years, then it would be easier to pick the right characters and actors to play me. Meanwhile, I will try to live so that it would be a really interesting and exciting role for that actor!

How would you like to be remembered?
As a very good friend to all my close ones, and as a good person to all who know me.

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