Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Griffiths is a driven, strategic leader who implements creative initiatives to achieve the goals of a global professional services network. She manages all major aspects of the Network, including recruitment, member retention, and providing exceptional client service to an international membership base.
In her role as Executive Director, Griffiths manages a mix of international programs, engages a diverse global community, and develops an international membership base. She leads the development and successful implementation of major organizational initiatives, manages interpersonal relationships, and possesses executive presence with audiences of internal and external stakeholders. Griffiths excels at project management, organization, and planning, writes and speaks with influence and authority, and works independently while demonstrating flexibility in thinking, especially in challenging situations. She also adapts to diverse and dynamic environments with constant assessment and recalibration.
In 2021, the ILN was honored as Global Law Firm Network of the Year by The Lawyer European Awards, and in 2016, 2017, and 2022, they were shortlisted as Global Law Firm Network of the Year. Since 2011, the Network has been listed as a Chambers & Partners Leading Law Firm Network, recently increasing this ranking to be included in the top two percent of law firm networks globally, as well as adding two regional rankings. She was awarded “Thought Leader of the Year” by the Legal Marketing Association’s New York chapter in 2014 for her substantive contributions to the industry and was included in Clio’s list of “34 People in Legal You Should Follow on Twitter.” She was also chosen for the American Bar Association Journal’s inaugural Web 100‘s Best Law Blogs, where judge Ivy Grey said “This blog is outstanding, thoughtful, and useful.” Ms. Griffiths was chosen as a Top Author by JD Supra in their 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards, for the level of engagement and visibility she attained with readers on the topic of marketing & business development. She has been the author of Zen & the Art of Legal Networking since February 2009.
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, Carole Barrett of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco, California.
In one sentence, how would you describe
During our recent 2011 Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Hanoi, I gave a presentation on five hot tips for client and business development. These are all things that are familiar to the lawyers in our group, and probably all of you as well, but because they’re important, I felt they bear repeating.
Five Hot Tips
When using social media, listen first and never stop listening. Be authentic and vulnerable, share stories with your audience, ask questions, provide value for free (yes, for free!), and engage with them.
Continue Reading Five Hot Tips for Client and Business Development
A significant part of my job is planning our conferences, and we have four of these a year. Some people might consider me a party planner, but when you work for a network like ours, conference planning is much more than that – the purpose of our conferences is to facilitate relationships, and I need to plan each part of the conference around that goal.
Plus, I need to try to make everyone happy. Guess how often that happens?
Sometimes, facilitating relationships means pushing our delegates past their comfort zones (ie bike riding through rice paddies in Vietnam or sending them to a fish spa in Singapore) because it makes them feel a shared connection that leads to talking, laughing, and forming a relationship.
As I mentioned, we have four conferences a year – the Asia Pacific Meeting, the Annual Meeting, the European Regional Meeting, and the Americas Regional Meeting. As you might guess, anywhere from 2-4 of these are held outside the United States and that presents some interesting challenges, as well as offers some rewarding experiences.
I thought I’d share some of the lessons I’ve learned with you, because while these lessons were learned while planning conferences, they can also be applied to business done abroad as well.Continue Reading Planning a Conference Abroad
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, Margie Bodas of Lommen, Abdo, Cole, King & Stageberg, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In one sentence, how would you describe your
With social media gaining in popularity and importance, the ILN felt that investigating the usage and interest in social media among its mid-sized member firms would be a useful exercise.
In October through December 2010, the ILN distributed the Mid-Sized Firm Social Media Survey via email to member firm attorney around the world. Respondents included managing partners, equity partners, shareholders, associates, and marketing professionals.
Overall, the research revealed that while some firms have jumped on the social media bandwagon, others are still questioning its usefulness as a professional tool for business development.
Notably, the majority of firms were not using social media, and use of social media tools for professional reasons and as a source of news and information was fairly limited.
The results of this survey are particularly interesting when viewed in light of Greentarget, ALM and Zeughauser Group‘s survey of corporate counsel in the Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey. Continue Reading Highlights of the ILN’s Social Media Member Survey
Sometimes, I read someone else’s posts and am so inspired by them, I just can’t keep my mouth shut.
Such is the case this morning with Nancy Myrland’s latest post, "Social Media: It’s Time…Embrace it Already!"
As Nancy said:
Social Media are being used by employees of all ages and interests. You can no longer keep these communication tools out of their lives during the work day just as you can’t keep email, telephone and face-to-face communication away from people. These are tools that are here to stay, and will become a large part of every business around you, so it’s time to:
- Become familiar with them.
- Frame them.
- Train people on them.
- Monitor them.
- Integrate them in to your business and marketing plans.
- Then repeat all of these steps regularly.
Continue Reading Social Media – Why Are We Still Afraid of it?
On Saturday, February 26th, it will be our two year anniversary here at Zen & the Art of Legal Networking!
In the past year, we’ve had a lot of exciting things happen:
Yesterday, one of my favorite Twitter people posted that her daughter had said "this is the best day of my life. We went to the park, we’re going to mcdonalds, I found a penny. The best day of my life."
She’s 5, but she’s already been through a lot, dealing with a very scary brain tumor last year. And she got me thinking – the best days of my life really have been about the little things.
Sure, graduating from college was exciting, buying my first house was exciting (well, more nerve-wracking and expensive than exciting), but were they the "best" days of my life?
Nah.
Those have been about the little things – the first time I heard my two-year old niece say my name. (Superbowl Sunday, if you’re wondering – she said "Okay Wizzy" – close enough). Every time my dog comes racing over to see me like I’m his favorite person in the world (I am). My sister trusting me enough to be the first person to watch my niece overnight. An email from my best friend saying how much I mean to her. My niece wanting me to carry her in for ice cream, and squeezing me extra tight when my sister said "M loves her Aunt Lindsay." Those are some of my best days.Continue Reading Best Day of Your Life?
Being a part of the LexBlog network means I’m fortunate enough to participate in the webinars that they host. Today’s webinar was with the fabulous Cordell Parvin, a nationally recognized career and client development coach. According to LexBlog’s invitation, Cordell "is a lawyer himself [and] his 37 years of practice set him apart from other client development experts. He has actually done what he teaches and coaches; he knows the challenges lawyers face and helps provide solutions."
No greater testimony to Cordell’s expertise can be found than from one of his attorney clients, who said "Nothing my firm has ever done for my development matches the investment that Cordell’s program has made in my maturation as a lawyer, leader and person."
With those kinds of accolades, I knew we were in for some valuable information! Continue Reading Client Development 101 for 2011 & Beyond with Cordell Parvin – a LexBlog Webinar Re-Cap
The short answer?
Yes.
The slightly longer answer? It depends – on the firm and its strategy, and on the consultant.
Let’s talk about firms and lawyers first – some people have claimed that lawyers need consultants to explain social media tools and how to use them, while others have claimed that lawyers can figure out these tools themselves.
And that’s where the "it depends" comes in. Lawyers are well-educated, intelligent individuals – they’ve graduated law school and passed the bar, haven’t they? So they can certainly figure out these social media tools. It’s not rocket science.
The better question is, should they spend the time doing so?Continue Reading Are Social Media Consultants Really Necessary for Law Firms?