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

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, Anders Lundberg of Hellström in Stockholm, Sweden.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
It’s a business law practice with a focus on mergers & acquisitions, but also specialized advice to the finance and energy sectors and to businesses in general. Hellström, where I am a partner, is a 30 lawyers business practice located in Stockholm.

Who would be your typical client?
Swedish and foreign corporations.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
That I am an experienced and skilled lawyer who is dedicated to my clients' success!

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
Probably some litigations early on in my career that kept me up at night worrying about the outcome. Some were eventually won, others lost. I can think of a few major transactions as well that were challenging because of the complexity and values at stake. My latest transaction was in the food wholesale business, a merger between two large Swedish corporate.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
Again, winning in the court room early on in my career. Nothing compares to that as far as professional satisfaction goes.

What do you do when you’re not practicing law?
I am married and a father of two daughters. Much time is spent with the family. In the summer we go boat riding in the archipelago outside Stockholm. I also enjoy hunting a couple of times each year and pictorial art and art history.

What would surprise people most about you?
No surprises I’m afraid – or perhaps that I actually managed to quit smoking some time ago! A lot of people had given up on me in that regard.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
The ILN-events in New York and Houston were both great. I have always enjoyed the U.S. and all the friendly people over there. In terms of referrals, I had the opportunity to work with Epstein Becker a few years ago and they did great work.

What career would you have chosen if you weren’t a lawyer?
Good question, when younger, I saw myself as potentially a great writer of fiction!

If a movie were made of your life, who would you want to play you?
Bill Murray..? Only I’m not that funny so he would have to hold back.

How would you like to be remembered?
As someone who grew wiser with age but managed to keep a youthful mind.

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Today's Ask Friday! question comes from legal client/business development coach and teacher, Cordell Parvin, who suggested today's post focus on "How to ask for business."

To answer this, I went back into our archives to find LegalBizDev'sJim Hassett's thoughts on this very subject.  Since Jim's an expert in this, I'll give you his suggestions for how to ask for business from our 2009 webinar series with links to some resources on his site (we'll start with some planning tips):

• Selling is a numbers game (let's say for argument's sake that "selling" isn't a bad word here).  "In order to succeed, sales professionals need a lot of contacts to make a small number of sales." 
  
  

• Meet the Right People: Jim suggests that the attorneys start with a plan, which should include defining their niche, defining their ideal clients, meeting the right people, and then qualifying the prospects into who will buy, who will buy soon, and who will buy from them.  

Once you have your plan in place, you can start working on getting that new business.

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This week's Ask Friday! question comes to us from Jennifer Herendeen, the Marketing Manager for Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton.  She asks "What are typical items included in a marketing/business development budget? I'm trying to create a first ever budget at my firm."

I think this is a question that a lot of marketers will face at some point in their careers. Since I've never worked in-house, I asked Jennifer Smuts, the Director of Marketing at the ILN's Delaware firm, Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz for her thoughts.

Jenn says:

Depending on your law firm, Marketing and Business Development budgets vary. How is your department structured? What is Marketing & Business Development responsible for? For instance some budgets include staff salaries, firm retreats and professional training. As you can imagine, these specific items fluctuate and create a top-heavy affect. In general, mid-sized law firms tend to exclude these items and core budget categories include; Advertising, Business Development (new client development), Charitable, Client Development, Conferences, Consultants, Directories, Photography, Printing, Professional Memberships, Sponsorships, Promotional Products, Web (Interactive) and CRM/ Database.

The budget is a blessing, not a burden. Use it to prioritize key projects. Allow it to keep you accountable. Your successes will may even afford you a larger budget next year!"

Jenn, thanks for your excellent comments and good luck to Jennifer at Wyrick! 

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Today, we held our annual luncheon at the INTA conference for ILN members. I always enjoy this lunch because I get to meet and reconnect with attorneys who are not necessarily attendees of our Regional and Annual Meetings.

We had a wonderful lunch again today at One Market Restaurant here in San Francisco, with great company and conversations.  The attorneys also agreed, some of them saying that they so appreciated something more intimate than some of the huge parties that take place at INTA.  They said that it's not easy to get to know people when you just smile at them and exchange business cards, but don't have an actual conversation.  

With so many attorneys attending this conference (I've heard it's over 8,000, and that's not including those who are in town just to network who didn't register to attend the conference), it's easy to get lost in the shuffle.  So it was great to take a breather, spend a few hours together talking and connecting and renewing and establishing relationships.

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This week's Ask Friday! answers the question of what blogs I read.  I'll break this down into three categories - ILN member blogs, the blogs I read for professional reasons and growth, and the blogs I read for fun - feel free to add your favorites to the list in the comments!

Professional Blogs:

• Above the Law - often funny, always irreverent, they're often at the forefront of legal news.
• Bad for the Brand - after I got back from LMA 2011, I started religiously reading Jonathan Fitzgarrald's Bad for the Brand. Every time I see a new post, I drop whatever I'm doing just to read it - they're that good.
• Bill's Blog - written by Bill Pollak of ALM, it's a helpful look at the legal publishing industry from an in-house perspective.
• Case in Point - a cartoon series that "illustrates the lighter side of eDiscovery."  Those of you who know me well know I'm a sucker for legal cartoons!
• Corcoran's Business of Law Blog - I read this not just because I know Tim, but because he's always got thoughtful, thorough insights that push me to be a better legal marketer and not just go with the status quo.
• Escaping Mediocrity - if you've ever wanted more than where you are right now, Sarah's blog is the one to check out - she'll push you and get you thinking.
• Patrick Lamb's In Search of Perfect Client Service - who can't use tips on better client service? 
• In-house ACCess - I admit to mostly scanning these in-depth posts, but the insights from in-house counsel who are part of the ACC can't be beat.
• Martindale.com Blog - always touching on topics of interest to me as a legal marketer.
• The Matte Pad - after making a splash at LMA 2011, I wanted to see what else Tom Matte had to offer. His posts are thought provoking and always useful. 
• Myrland Marketing - you already know I'm a huge fan of Nancy Myrland, and her blog is a great reason why - Nancy always has actionable tips not only for strategic social media, but also for legal marketing and business development.
• Outspoken Media - not a legal blog, this was recommended to me during the Social Fresh conference I went to last year in Portland - it's a fabulous blog on internet marketing that gives me great food for thought in all areas of my work.
• Real Lawyers Have Blogs - I'm always interested to hear what Kevin O'Keefe is thinking about and seeing in the legal sphere, and he doesn't hold back.  Plus, the blog showcases their tops blogs of the day, which helps me see what else is out there.
•  Social Media for Law Firms - Sam Collier gives the Canadian perspective on social media for law firms, and often gives step by step tips and tutorials for how to make the most out of your social media efforts.
• The Legal Watercooler - Heather Morse's Legal Watercooler was the first legal blog I started following, and it's never disappointed.  Heather ties in whatever she's thinking about or going through with how we can make ourselves better legal marketers in a way that inspires me.
• The PR Lawyer - great posts from Furia Rubel on public relations and strategic marketing in the legal world.
• The Virtual Marketing Officer - Jayne covers a variety of topics focusing on marketing and business development strategies for law firms - definitely a must read!

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With our Annual Meeting coming up in just a few short weeks, I wanted to dedicate this week's "Ask Friday" to the question of "how can I make the most out of attending a conference?"  You might think that just showing up and attending the events is enough, but with a little bit of strategy, your pre, during and post conference activities can really make a difference in your experience.

Pre-Conference

Before heading to the conference, take a few minutes to look over the agenda and the attendee list (if it's available).  The agenda can give you an idea of what topics will be discussed and where you can contribute - when you contribute to a discussion (especially in a conference like ours where the main purpose is to develop relationships), it can help people to identify you with a certain area of expertise, and make you a thought leader who is sought out for later conversations.  It also makes you easier to remember.

Review the attendee list and identify who you'd like to build relationships with.  This can seem a bit "icky," but you know where your clients are doing business, so it's a good idea to connect with possible referral partners so that you start to build that level of trust necessary for referring work.  You may even see someone on the list that seems to have a cool job, or a unique value proposition - meet these people just to expand your horizons if nothing else.  When we stretch our comfort zones, that's when we really learn and grow.

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