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Lindsay Griffiths

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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.

JD Supra Readers Choice Top Author 2019

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.

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Today marks six years since Zen & The Art of Legal Networking made its debut in the legal blogging world. In some ways, it feels like it’s been longer than that, while in others, the time has just flown! 

I’ve only ever marked this "blogiversary" three other times – on the second, fourth and fifth anniversaries, when I shared a sort of "state of the blog," things I had learned, and tips for blogging. Blogiversaries, like anniversaries, should be a time of reflection, so today has got me thinking about what I’ve learned in the past year, specifically six things I can share with you from Zen. 

Before I jump into that, however, I’ll tell you another thing I learned today – the traditional gift for a sixth anniversary is candy! For those who know me personally, you’ll know that I have a terrible sweet tooth, so it’s a rather appropriate gift for me. Last year, for the 5th anniversary, I donated trees in honor of wood, and this year, I purchased some candy from my niece’s school fundraising efforts to help her meet her goal!

Lesson One: Blogging is NOT Dead

I’ve heard whispers in a few corners recently that blogging is dead; that no one is really doing it anymore or at least not in the same way that they used to. But I beg to differ. I still see it as a hugely valuable component of any content marketing strategy, and one of the best ways to own your content and engage with readers. Continue Reading Happy 6th Blogiversary to Zen & the Art of Legal Networking!

Staying with our theme of content marketing, today, I want to look at what happens once you’ve produced your content. It’s not enough just to write, present or produce something smart and insightful – you’ve also got to promote it. 

That may feel a little bit icky, but it’s important – it’s not about tooting your own horn; it’s about making your content available to those who may not be able to find it otherwise. And there are ways to do it without being pushy or obnoxious (which is very important). 

Through my RSS reader, I found a great website that offers a number of posts related to content marketing. Recently, there was one focusing on this very idea – "The Three Step Plan to Increase Your Content Marketing Reach" from Samantha Ferguson. 

Because it’s two for Tuesday, we’re just going to focus on the first two – but also because I think the third point might be pushing it a little bit for this audience. Let’s not reinvent the wheel just yet! 

Before we get into the tips, I want to start with the why. Ferguson does an excellent job of explaining why promoting your content is so important: Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Promoting Your Content

And here we are, at the last of my Superbowl Commercials posts. We’re talking about the worst of the worst of this year’s Superbowl Commercials and while there are only a couple for a change, they are really doozies. 

I’ll start with the least terrible of the two, to ease you into the cringing. 

T-Mobile: #KimsDataStash

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZTwzsV3I3OQContinue Reading Superbowl Commercials: The Ugly of 2015

I’m rather liking this theme of content marketing for our Two for Tuesdays posts, so we’re going to be sticking with that for a while!

Since the post I linked to last week offered us four mistakes to avoid when doing content marketing, and we touched on two of them, it only makes sense to revisit it to look at the final two in this week’s post. As a reminder, the post was by Amanda Jesnoewski, owner of Velocity Media + Communications, on Startup Smart, who discusses "Four content marketing mistakes you need to avoid." Let’s dive in.

Tip One: Write Your Own Content…But Use Others for Inspiration

This is a fine line – the best bloggers out there are the ones who are able to find inspiration in someone else’s content and put their own spin on it (and subsequently create relationships with those amplifiers and influencers whose content they’re linking to). 

But it’s a delicate balance.

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: More Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

With this year’s crop of commercials, there actually weren’t too many that fell into the ‘bad" category – the commercials were either pretty good or really terrible. But I did manage to find a few that I wasn’t happy with. 

The first one on my list will surprise many people, because it made a lot of "good" lists and seemed to be a popular favorite: 

Snickers: The Brady Bunch

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rqbomTIWCZ8Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Bad of 2015

I’m finally back with another Superbowl commercials post! In today’s post, we’ll cover my second tier commercials, those I’m calling the "good" of 2015. I’m going to look at three of them, as well as the lessons that lawyers and law firms can learn from them, and then I’ll list the other commercials that I liked and would consider worth a watch. 

Always #LikeAGirl

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTsContinue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Good of 2015

Focusing on content marketing for last week’s Two for Tuesdays worked so well that I’m doing it again this week. Today, we’re looking at mistakes that you want to avoid making in your content marketing. I found this great piece by Amanda Jesnoewski, owner of Velocity Media + Communications, on Startup Smart, where she discusses "Four content marketing mistakes you need to avoid." 

Her piece is excellent, but all of the marketing speak may scare of some lawyers – I’m here to tell you that her advice applies to you too. We’re going to focus on two tips today. 

Tip One: Think Like a Publisher, Not Like a Lawyer

How many times do you watch a medical show on television, and see someone ask the doctor to "tell it to them straight," meaning  give them the diagnosis in layman’s terms without all of the medical jargon? Lots, right? 

It’s not because the person isn’t smart enough to understand what a subdural hematoma is, it’s just more efficient to tell them that it’s a brain bleed. 

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

During the Legal Marketing Association’s Social Media Shared Interest Group’s 12 Days of Social Media last year (say that three times fast), my friend Lance Godard predicted that 2015 would be the year of content marketing. And he’s one smart guy, so I always listen to him. As he says: 

After all, content marketing has been around forever (long before that’s what we were calling it that, anyway). And we’ve been talking specifically about content marketing in the legal profession for a year or two at least. So why do we think it will change your life in 2015?"

Because it’s catching on in a big way (think LinkedIn Publisher, for starters)… And that means law firms – and legal marketers – are going to have a lot more competition for their written materials in 2015. They’re going to have to stop taking a haphazard, ‘let’s-keep-tweeting-and-posting-on-Facebook-the-links-to-our-content" approach to getting their work in front of the people who buy their services. They’re going to have to write better, to tell better stories, to articulate the skills they have to solve the problems their clients face, using the very language that those clients use to describe their problems. They – and that means all of us, too, – are going to have to get better at this, to spend more resources, to develop stronger strategies, to stop doing the things that don’t work and start doing more of those that do."

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Content Marketing

It’s one of my favorite posts of the year – my recap of the Superbowl commercials! Recall, if you will, those Staples commercials with "It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" playing as parents ride shopping carts gleefully through the store followed by glum kids, and you’ll have some idea of how excited I am over the superbowl of advertising. 

Before I jump into my absolute favorites (instead of just "The Good" this year, I’m splitting it into "The Great" and "The Good"), I wanted to make an observation – social media is a big part of any viewing experience for me, and the Superbowl was no different. While watching the game, I was also checking in on Twitter and Facebook, and it was interesting to gauge the reactions of the people I follow and engage with to the same commercials I was watching. 

Often, I would have one reaction to something, and then others would have a completely different reaction, and I’d find myself getting sucked into "groupthink" a little bit, and changing my mind. So I’ve worked hard to bring you the commercials that I like best, and offer my lessons for legal marketing. I heard several times last night that people were generally unhappy with last night’s crop of commercials, but I thought that while there were a few major duds – we’ll get to those in later posts – they were mostly very, very well done for a change. Now, on with the great! Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Best of 2015