Legal directories have been both valuable, and a source of frustration, for lawyers and in-house counsel alike. Recently, a new directory appeared on the scene, threatening to disrupt what we’ve all been accepting for the last several decades – Top 3 Legal. In today’s guest post from founder Gareth Stephenson, learn more about the platform, and what makes it unique from other traditional directories.

***

Top 3 Legal (www.top3legal.com) launched last month alongside some compelling market research.  Their key finding was that clients instruct new lawyers based on peer-to-peer recommendations 8x more than they use traditional legal directories.  This desire of in-house counsel to collaborate and pool experiences is also reflected in the proliferation of in-house counsel networks. Continue Reading If you knew how clients choose new lawyers would you engage differently with legal directories?

The ILN is proud to announce our latest firm of the month, Müller & Partner Rechtsanwälte, Liechtenstein!

MÜLLER & PARTNER RECHTSANWÄLTE was founded in 1998 and has since then developed to become one of the most respected independent law firms in the Principality of Liechtenstein.

The firm specialises in litigation, specifically in representing clients before courts and public authorities under civil law, criminal law and public law, as well as legal consultancy in all fields of law. Within this context, the legal team of MÜLLER & PARTNER RECHTSANWÄLTE advises and represents clients from Liechtenstein and abroad. Continue Reading ILN Firm of the Month – Müller & Partner Rechtsanwälte, Liechtenstein!  

If you haven’t had the opportunity to read retired soccer player, Abby Wambach’s remarks to the graduates of Barnard College, it’s worth taking a few minutes to give them a read. Wambach’s speech, and the discussion that we recently had at our Annual Conference with facilitator Wendy Merrill of Strategy Horse, which incorporated the concept of finding your “why?” are both things that have resonated deeply with me over the last few months. The idea of finding your “why?” focuses on digging down into the reason behind everything that you do, so that you give a purpose to it – it will be the driving force behind why your clients hire you, why you practice law, why other lawyers want to join your firm, and why young lawyers want to come into and stay with your practice.

A network is no different – it’s more than just a directory of names. It’s a living, breathing organism, and the thing that keeps people coming back to it and investing their time and energy into it is the why. Our “why” is defined by three guiding principles:  Continue Reading Collaboration, Passion, and Integrity Are The Hallmarks of a Successful Network

We’ve talked a lot in recent posts about the idea of “relationship equity” and I’d like to revisit it again today – it particularly struck me as a friend of mine recently accepted a job offer and when she announced the company she was working for, suddenly people were coming out of the woodwork to ask her for favors and help. Many of those people aren’t connections she’s regularly in touch with – in other words, they have no relationship equity with her. It reminded me of another story.

Recently, I received an email from someone I don’t know – like everyone, I get LOTS of these, but this one struck me. He must read my blog, because he mentions it in his note. He even manages to spell my name correctly.

However, the purpose for his email is to tell me about this blog post he wrote, to suggest that I use it as the subject matter of one of my own posts, and that I tweet out his link to my Twitter followers. In fact, he goes so far as to mention that his is a topic worthwhile of discussion by the entire legal blogosphere. Really?

Well, I’m certainly not biting. Continue Reading You Won’t Get Anywhere Without Relationship Equity

Today, we’re bringing you a special guest post from the folks at Legal Gateway, who are looking at the changing legal industry. In-house lawyers: this one’s for you, but it’s equally essential for our outside counsel readers to dive into this one. This was originally published on Plexus.

***

“As CEOs plan their strategies to take advantage of transformational shifts,” the consultancy PWC suggests in their annual survey of CEOs “they are assessing their current capabilities – and finding that everything is fair game for reinvention.”  Most legal functions continue to cling outdated operating models with no transformation plan. They do so at their peril. Continue Reading Legal Transformation: The new playbook

The ILN is proud to announce our latest firm of the month, Bouchoms & Braesch, Luxembourg!
Bouchoms & Braesch is an independent law firm in Luxembourg, which serves private organisations, family businesses and public entities.
Bouchoms & Braesch was created by two lawyers with more than 10 years’ experience working at renowned law firms and financial institutions. The members of Bouchoms & Braesch sought to create their own firm with personalized services for its valued clients.
Bouchoms & Braesch offers a full range of services to its clients. These services include corporate law, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, national and international tax law, collective procedures and liquidation of regulated and unregulated vehicles and business litigation.

Continue Reading ILN Firm of the Month – Bouchoms & Braesch, Luxembourg!  

“Authenticity” has become a dirty word.

It’s right up there with some of the other most hated buzzwords and phrases – “at the end of the day,” “thinking outside of the box,” “synergy,” “value add,” “circle back,” “bandwidth.”

Are you cringing yet?

But even though the word “authenticity” might make your skin crawl, it’s actually a pretty important concept – it’s a buzzword for a reason.

For the purposes of this post, let’s look at a definition for “authenticity.” Merriam-Webster says it means:

: real or genuine : not copied or false

: true and accurate

: made to be or look just like an original”

Continue Reading “Authenticity” Might be Cliche, but it’s Essential to Building Client Relationships

The idea that you would be so busy, that you’d send your assistant or an associate in your place to a client meeting, wearing a mask of your face and pretending to be you, is ludicrous, right?

But we build relationships online via proxy all the time. And not just with potential clients, but with current ones.

“That sounds crazy!” I can hear you saying. But does it? Are any of these scenarios familiar?  Continue Reading Who’s Building Your Client Relationships Today?

The ILN is proud to announce our latest firm of the month, SJA Avocats, Geneva, Switzerland!
SJA Avocats was established over 25 years ago. They were among the first firms to practice across cantons, with offices in Geneva as well as Lausanne, covering all the Suisse Romande.

Continue Reading ILN Firm of the Month – SJA Avocats, Geneva, Switzerland!

Today, I’m bringing you a post from an ILN marketer, Amanda Schneider. Amanda is with ILN member firm Epstein Becker Green, where she is the Chief Marketing Officer. Amanda provides tips on how firms can leverage the multigenerational attorney workforce through involvement in business development initiatives.

***

It is critical for firms to understand that attorney engagement in business and client development must begin in the early stages of an attorney’s career to ensure that he or she is prepared for the prospect of partnership. However, in order to do this, the firm’s culture must be accepting of providing true business development opportunities to non-partner attorneys. Continue Reading How to Leverage Multigenerational Talent to Achieve Business Development Success