Re-caps of Sessions

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The final session I attended at the P3 conference was TyMetrix’s "Navigating the New Normal – Where to Start." The panel was moderated by John Strange of Baker Botts, and included Holly Montalvo, TyMetrix, Peter Eilhauer, Elevate Services, and Toby Brown, Akin Gump. 

The attendee guide reads: 

As law firms navigate in the new normal they are being asked by corporate clients to deliver their services in a more predictable and transparent fashion. Join our panel of experts in a collaborative discussion on ‘Where to Start’ on this path to deliver a more efficient and effective legal service deliverable while demonstrating value to your client in a transparent way."

As we’ve seen, there is a corporate appetite for more data to analyze what companies are spending on legal services. But where are we today in terms of understanding "big data?" The panelists say "in between a rock and a hard place." Continue Reading Navigating the New Normal – Where to Start

I may be out on vacation this week, but I’m still bringing you some content! 

My first session at the P3 conference on Friday was titled "Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Borrowing Lessons in Pricing and Metrics from Other Industries." If you’ve been reading Zen for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of looking to other industries for new ideas. And in P3 that’s especially helpful, since we’re not reinventing the wheel here – a lot of the challenges firms face have been seen in some other way somewhere else. 

The program description states: 

As the legal services industry continues to define what works and what does not in the opaque world of pricing, efficiency and process innovation, one can’t help but notice that other industries have been doing these things for quite some time, and not without success."

‘Borrowing’ best practices from others is a business best practice itself, and this panel of pricing professionals from non-legal organizations will share their methodologies, observations and recommendations that will provide both law firm and corporate legal department executives with food for thought on methods for addressing some of the challenges they face and finding effective solutions to conquer them."

Continue Reading Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Borrowing Lessons in Pricing and Metrics

We had high hopes for the final session on the first day of P3, with my friends Tim Corcoran (@tcorcoran), John Byrne (@johnmbyrne), Catherine MacDonagh (@CathMacDonagh) and Amy Hrehovcik (@hRovingChik) presenting – and we weren’t disappointed! 

As per the attendee guide: 

We will examine a typical corporate business case and how it incorporates internal and external factors such as market demand, competitive pricing, cost of production, cost of delivery, client mix, channel strategy, profit targets and resource allocation to make a go/no-go decision for a new initiative. By contrast, law firms have traditionally taken a less rigorous approach to quantifying new initiatives, relying instead on each practice group or even each partner to drive business decisions."

We’ll illustrate how a law firm fully embracing an integrated P3 mindset can dramatically improve its approach to business strategy, improve financial performance and maximize its resources and capabilities. We’ll demonstrate how law firms can embrace data, process, tools and incentives to make better business decisions." 

Continue Reading Anatomy of a Business Case – Integrating P3 Discipline into Law Firm Business Strategy

After lunch on the first day of the P3 Conference, we had the opportunity to listen to a client discussion – which, if you read Zen regularly, you know is a favorite of mine!  Moderator Vince Cordo (@vcordo), the Global Director of Client Value at Reed Smith led a panel that included Nick Bagiatis, the COO of Reed Smith, Lesley Garafola (@plgarafola) of Duke Energy, Gonzalo Frias of Duke Energy, and Kimberly Levinson of PNC. 

The delegate packet told us: 

Tracking and reporting on the value and the cost of legal services had become top priority. Value promotes the adoption of management practices that allow all participants to achieve their key objectives. This session is a discussion on how clients are working with firms to track spend by a law department with a focus [on] measuring value. Until you can get that data, you[r] best option is to keep pushing for lower costs. Comprehensive performance management programs are being introduced by corporations in ever economic sector. Most include key performance indicators (KPIs). These indicators and the programs they support are comprehensive because they are much more far-ranging than budget and other financial indicators. Clients want programs which reduce waste and which encourage all resources to be dedicated to the top priorities set by executive leadership. It reflects the transition of the legal function from a classic position of support to one which is likelier to add value." 

Continue Reading Law Firm Partner and Client Discussion: Creating the Win-Win

The second breakout session that I attended on Thursday morning at the P3 conference was "A Case Study on Profitability through Pricing and Client Value," presented by Redwood. 

The program told us: 

For years the legal profession’s main focus with respect to ‘profit’ has been on driving productivity and revenue. Well before the boom in alternative fees this perception had changed drastically. Now in a new world with heavier client demands, budgeting needs, alternative pricing, and changing structures the true drivers of profitability have come under additional scrutiny."

Attendees of this session will learn about the components and changes within the drivers of profitability. In addition they will engage in a case study using real data under a pseudonym to analyze trends, identify wayward pricing strategy, and hone in on alternative ways to look at a firms’ [sic] profitability." 

Continue Reading Driving Profitability through Pricing and Client Value

The first breakout session that I attended at P3 was "Value-Based Pricing, Legal Project Management and the New Value Proposition."  The session was presented by Doug Woods (Strategic Pricing Manager Ogletree, @dougwoodsCPA), Jim McGrew (Chief Marketing Officer, Ogletree), Ashley Tenney (Business Development Manager – Corporate Department, McKenna Long, @latenney), and Crissy Wolfe (Attorney, McKenna Long). 

LMA gave us the key takeaways right in the program, so I’ll list those upfront before we get into the full recap! 

  1. What are the common "value drivers" of clients, and how can legal marketers help attorneys have a deeper conversation about what is valued by the client?
  2. Which pricing arrangements are most (and least) appropriate for various client value drivers?
  3. How do legal marketers market, and assist in developing, pricing arrangements and project management?
  4. How do pricing and LPM complement each other and what role should legal marketers play?

Continue Reading Value-Based Pricing, Legal Project Management and the New Value Proposition

Weather seemed to factor into almost everyone’s travel into Chicago last week for the P3 conference, and unfortunately, it resulted in the cancellation of our keynote speaker for the morning. Instead, we were treated to an open and interactive discussion – as one of the speakers joked "We wouldn’t be business leaders if we didn’t know how to adapt." 

And adapt they did – had we not known the schedule in advance, you never would have guessed that the session wasn’t well-thought out and planned. 

Challenges for the People of the Three P’s

The main challenge to pricing is the obvious one: overcoming culture and history to make these changes within our firms. Setting a price and managing costs are two different things, but both of them have this same challenge of getting lawyers on board.  Lawyers want to press an "easy button," but it’s more complex than that. 

Wrapped up in this challenge is another one – that of being able to empower our attorneys to say "no." Firms don’t have to agree to pitch everything that comes in the door (and shouldn’t). But there must be sound business reasoning behind these decisions. Continue Reading P3: Project Management, Pricing & Process Improvement – An Open Discussion

Today, I’m bringing you my final recap from LMA14 – and while it’s last, it’s certainly NOT least! We’ll be looking at one of my favorite sessions from the conference, "Generational Marketing: Strategies and Tactics for Engaging Different Generations." Heather Morse (@heather_morse) of Barger & Wolen and Jonathan Fitzgarrald (@jrfitzgarrald) of Greenberg Glusker started talking several months ago about how there were four generations currently in the workplace, but no one was really looking at how that affects our external business development activities and efforts or our internal challenges. 

So they did. 

And in this well-researched, thoughtful and thought-provoking presentation, they got many of us thinking and talking about it as well. 

For me, it brought a number of "a HA!" moments, as I recognized some of the very issues among some of the attorneys I work with that Heather and Jonathan were referring to. Their presentation gave me not only a lot to think about, but a lot of tools to use moving forward. Continue Reading Generational Marketing: Strategies & Tactics from Heather Morse & Jonathan Fitzgarrald

Today, I’m bringing you another recap from LMA’s 2014 Annual Conference, from an excellent session I attended on the first morning, called "Playing the Relationship Game in Today’s Connected World." 

Kalev Peekna (@kpeekna) and John Simpson (@onenorth) of One North Interactive ran a great interactive session. According to the conference materials: 

For relationship-based businesses like law firms, the connections that firms make with their clients – and the connections these clients have with each other – have a profound effect on the amount of ongoing business and new opportunities they’ll win. Thanks to the ever-connected world we live in, it is now essential that firms align their digital marketing and business development efforts along what we like to call The Relationship Cycle."

In this session, we’ll provide examples of how businesses are using interactive marketing to reach their clients at every point in the decision-making experience, establish trust and create advocates that help drive new business opportunities with current and prospective clients. As this is The Relationship Game, a handful of contestants from the audience will participate game-show style to help us identify key interactive trends, reveal best practices for building digital relationships and uncover key findings from our latest General Counsel Survey." 

Continue Reading Playing the Relationship Game with One North Interactive

Ask anyone what they thought the most memorable session of the recent LMA conference was, and I’m sure they’ll tell you, "Kat Cole’s keynote."

Kat (@KatColeATL) is the President of Cinnabon, Inc., and although more than one person was heard to ask, "what do cinnamon buns have to do with lawyers?" (only before the session, not after!) we all learned lesson after valuable lesson during her speech. 

If you’re still not sure what Kat’s words had to do with legal marketing, take a look at my comments after last year’s Zappos session here and here. And read on. Also, take a look at Chelsie Givan’s recap of the session. 

Before I dive into the session itself, let’s talk a little bit about Kat. 

Kat Cole is the president of Cinnabon, Inc. where [she] is accountable for leading, evolving and building the team and multi-channel brand. Ms. Cole is also a member of the leadership team within Cinnabon’s parent company, FOCUS Brands Inc…Prior to her role with FOCUS Brands at Cinnabon Inc., Ms. Cole was Vice President of Training and Development for Hooters of America, Inc."

Continue Reading Cinnamon Buns & Leadership – Lessons for Legal Marketers & Lawyers