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Bruce Feuchter is a partner with Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, a Southern California law firm and member of the International Lawyers Network. In this episode, Lindsay and Bruce chat about the challenges of business development in a pandemic, why phone calls are better than email when it comes to your clients, and how to engage with your lawyers and professionals over the challenging issues that arise as part of a pandemic. Listen here! …
Continue Reading Law Firm ILN-telligence Podcast | Episode 11: Bruce Feuchter | Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth

Four years ago, we joined with HighQ in looking at the question, “What do you believe lawyers and law firms need to do to prepare for the future of legal services?”

Considering how much has happened even in the past six months, and looking at the way the legal industry adapted to being fully remote in many countries in 1-2 weeks, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to look back at what some of the leading experts in the industry had to say in 2016, and put that into today’s context.

In reading what many of us thought in 2016, the overriding sense is less that firms have been preparing for change and more that COVID has forced firms to have to be innovative and creative because they have no other choice. The old adage that when something is painful enough, THEN we will make changes, is just as true for law firms as it is for each of us.

But is change a challenge…or an opportunity?…
Continue Reading Law Firms: Change as a Challenge, or an Opportunity?

Melissa Kano is a partner with KLA – Koury Lopes Advogados, a law firm in Brazil and a member of the International Lawyers Network. In this episode, I talk to Melissa about why collaboration is so essential during a pandemic, how working remotely may last longer than the quarantine, and why it’s essential to…

The saying goes “If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

In modern times, we should be asking ourselves, “If you write an article [insert other content format] and no one reads it, does it matter?”

The short answer is no.

For me, content is very much tied up with content audiences – if you’re taking the time to write or create something to add value and promote your message, then it should matter to and reach your audiences, right?

How can you make that happen?…
Continue Reading Lawyers: Answer These Two Questions to Make Your Content Relevant

“Keep Showing Up” is a phrase that Des Linden, an American long distance runner, and winner of the Boston Marathon, repeats often. It’s a mantra that I use in my own running, particularly as I come back from injury and need to regularly remind myself that training is about showing up, even when it’s hard, and even when I don’t want to. I recently put it on a letter board in my office to remind myself of its importance in my life.

But its importance in other ways really crystallized for me recently as the Black Lives Matter movement gained global traction and became something that (as it should) matters too to brands, to white people, to all of us. …
Continue Reading Keep Showing Up

In our third episode of the Law Firm ILN-telligence Podcast, we welcomed Attilio Ferrari, a partner with FPB Legal in Milan, Italy and a member of the International Lawyers Network. In this episode, Attilio and I discussed emphasizing being a trusted partner over business development, the importance of communication, and how no one is…

People have remarked that the word “unprecedented” is certainly having a moment right now. I think that’s something we can all agree on. And one of the things that is truly unprecedented is the sheer amount of content coming out of law firms. While firms have long been known for producing a variety of client alerts, articles, blog posts, and more, the amount of information that is pouring forth from legal minds around the world is quite a torrent.

We’ve already talked about it in recent weeks here on Zen, and it has me looking back to some of our previous discussions around content marketing, and its best practices. That may seem a bit superficial at a time that is a dire as this one is, but we’re going to delve into some content conversations over the next few weeks and I’ll tell you why I think they’re essential for firms at the moment:

  • Number one on every lawyer’s list right now is being their clients’ trusted business advisor. And if it isn’t, it should be. My saying that here isn’t news to anyone, and the engagement with each of your clients to best serve their current needs will be very individual.
  • As all of the chaos surrounding the initial lockdowns begins to settle and we either continue to remain remote, or we return to limited work, there will continue to be some slowdowns. Firms are expecting this. We know we can’t engage in the previous ways that we used to for knowledge sharing, like networking events, seminars, client lunches and dinners. But we can improve our content marketing and use it to stand out among the noise.
  • “Content marketing” isn’t a dirty word. When used well and effectively, it’s a targeted, smart method of adding value in a way that reduces the burden on lawyers while expanding their profiles and allows for relationship-building opportunities. Currently, those opportunities will remain virtual, but they still exist!

…
Continue Reading Fixing the Two Biggest Problems with Legal Content Writers Amid COVID-19

I’ve been ruminating on this post for a few days, as I struggled to decide what to blog about this week. This is a tough and heavy topic, but I finally settled on discussing it because it *is* so important, particularly at this moment in time when so many people are struggling and vulnerable. Why add my voice when so many others have already provided great resources and their own stories? Well, I hope I have something of my own to add, because of my own struggles with depression for the past twenty-plus years and because I think that we can never talk about it enough to break the stigma and ensure that people get the help that they need.  (Please note, **trigger warning** for this entire post). …
Continue Reading It’s Okay to Breakdown

If you’re new to working from home, by now, you’ve seen or read about 15 posts on what to do, from putting on regular work clothes to setting a schedule and having a dedicated work space. I’m a work from home veteran with fifteen years under my belt, so I know a thing or two about it. It’s true that it does take a certain personality – I fall into the category of finding it hard to walk away from my computer at the end of the day (I’m not sure if that means I’m more or less successful at working from home, but it does mean I get a tremendous amount done). …
Continue Reading Working from Home During a Pandemic – 3 Atypical Tips