“It’s a community, it’s a movement.”

These were among the closing words from Mary O’Carroll, the Head of Legal Operations at Google and CLOC board member, as the first CLOC EMEA Institute wrapped up last week. And for those of us in attendance, you could certainly feel the energy. It was not unlike what we saw at the CLOC Institute in Las Vegas in April.

“There’s so much passion here!” was a phrase you’d hear a lot throughout the day, and it was not misspoken. CLOC is a young organization, but in the last two years, the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium has grown tremendously and is creating a tidal wave of enthusiasm and change throughout not only legal ops, but the legal industry itself. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll delve deeper into a couple of the sessions that I attended at the conference, but for now, I wanted to leave you with a couple of important things.  Continue Reading CLOC is a Community, a Movement

Today, you’re in for a treat, as I’m bringing you a post from ILN marketer, Jennifer Smuts. Jenn is with the ILN’s member firm in Delaware, Connolly Gallagher, where she is their Director of Marketing & Business Development, and today, she’s talking about how the time is always right for client and new business development. She’s got some great actionable tips that you can implement right away!

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The new year presents all of us with a renewed sense of ambition.  Outreach to existing clients to indicate where you can be a resource is invaluable.  It is also appropriate to contact the “connections” you made throughout 2017 and remind them how you could help them in 2018.

Work with your marketing and business development professional in order to effectively assist with this timely exercise.

Some ideas on where to get started …

 

  • Develop a process in order to capture your experience.  This effort can be a basic excel spreadsheet that tracks deals, litigation matters or other cases.  Think of 4-5 keys components of the deal or matter and commit to capturing the intelligence upon opening of the file or when the matter hits a certain financial threshold or whatever benchmark you set. This tracking tool will be helpful as you develop proposals, complete directory submissions or you simply want to update your bio.
  • Update your website bio.  Give it a breath of fresh air by updating representative matters that showcase your recent experience.
  • Be social.  Visit your LinkedIn profile and give it a refresh. Don’t forget to post a message to your LI community.   Whether it’s a comment on trending news or insight on an area of interest –engage!
  • Ask to see your firm’s “marketing collateral”.  Does that brochure afford your contact insight about you or the firm that they can benefit from?  If yes, spell it out for them in a handwritten note and set a date to meet in-person (or a phone call). If no, consider developing a simple customized mailer that you can use to target a segment of your client base.

Jennifer L. Smuts is the Director of Marketing & Business Development at Connolly Gallagher LLP in Wilmington, Delaware.  She is active in The Legal Marketing Association and currently chairs the Chief Marketing Officer SIG for the Philadelphia Steering Committee.  Connect with her on LinkedIn here.

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, David Conway of our member firm Connolly Gallagher LLP in Delaware, USA.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
I close M&A deals, negotiate commercial agreements and provide Delaware law advice for local, national and international companies.

Who would be your typical client? 
My clients are of two main varieties. One being small local companies, to whom I provide soup to nuts services as an outside general counsel. The other being national and international companies who are formed (or have subsidiaries) in Delaware, to whom I provide advice on Delaware law issues and structure corporate transactions such as reorganizations, mergers and sales of assets.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you? 
I was a finance major in school, and am a former in-house general counsel. So I bring a practical business perspective to negotiations that some law firm lawyers are lacking. Continue Reading ILN-terviews: David Conway, Connolly Gallagher LLP

The ILN is proud to announce our latest firm of the month, Otto Mittag Fontane, Frankfurt, Germany!

Otto Mittag Fontane is a boutique-style firm that focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate finance, banking and capital markets law.

Founding partners Hans-Jochen Otto, Gabriele Fontane and Jochen Mittag brought together more than twenty years of experience to form the firm in early 2009. Since then, they have built a team of experts with a strong reputation for advising on M&A and private equity transactions, as well as banking and financial matters. Continue Reading ILN Firm of the Month – Otto Mittag Fontane, Frankfurt, Germany!

For better or for worse, we are living in a hyper-connected world. Which means that whether we are always reachable, the person on the other end of the email or phone believes us to be. None of us is ever really “away.” (And we can debate the necessity and impact of that another time).

When it comes to managing your business relationships, a lack of communication can have a huge detrimental effect. Where you might be assuming that “no news is good news,” your client or other business relationship may be left feeling anxious about the status of your last conversation and wondering whether it’s even still on your radar. I’ve had contrasting incidences of this recently, which have illustrated some important lessons for me about managing expectations in all of my business relationships.  Continue Reading No News is Not Always Good News for Business Relationships

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be attending CLOC’s first EMEA Institute in London, which has me revisiting some best practices on building relationships and networking. When I attended my first CLOC conference in April, I found an exceptionally passionate and enthusiastic group of legal professionals that straddled the legal ecosphere. Bearing that in mind, it’s unlikely that we’ll see anyone ducking out early or skipping conference functions, because everyone is invested in being there, driving change, and working together.

But what about in other areas where we have the opportunity to meet new people and develop the relationships that can lead to new business? It’s entirely possible that even with the best of intentions, we can end up with networking fatigue. With that in mind, I’m revisiting an old post on the importance of showing up in order to build relationships.

 

Sometimes, when attending a conference, it’s tempting (and often reasonable) to combine other business with the business of the conference – maybe you have clients or friends in the same city, and it doesn’t seem like a big deal to miss an afternoon or a meal at the conference. You may even be worried that the social functions of the conference are more of a boondoggle, and the “value” is only found in the educational sessions. So what are you missing out on if you skip group outings or meals?  Continue Reading To Build Relationships, You Have to Show Up

A lot of people I know were happy to see the backside of 2017. But even with the enthusiasm for a new year in our pockets, it can be hard to find the motivation to kickstart our plans and projects as we head back to work this week and find ourselves facing the same day to day grind as before the holidays, as well as a backlog of vacation work and emails to catch up on.

Even though I know it’s coming every year, it still feels as if the new year sneaks up on me, and I’m never prepared with either resolutions or a “word of the year,” like it seems that so many other people are. I have my professional plan in place by mid-December, but finding a way to dive in with gusto can be challenging. So today, I’m bringing you three tips to kick off January with some grace.  Continue Reading 3 Tips to Kick off Your January with Gusto

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, Jonas Forsman of our member firm Hellstrom in Stockholm, Sweden.

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
My practice is within company law with focus on M&A, contract/corporate law and negotiations.

Who would be your typical client? 
My clients range from listed companies to one-man-holding companies. In essence the typical client is a mid size shareholder-driven Swedish limited liability company with an international business, market and/or ownership.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you? 
I strive to add value, not only invoices! I put the legal issue into context with the clients’ business for a legal and business-oriented way forward. Continue Reading ILN-terviews: Jonas Forsman, Hellström

The ILN is proud to announce our latest firm of the month, TGS Baltic, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania!

TGS Baltic is a top-tier commercial law firm with offices in all the Baltic countries. Their mission is not only to be the best legal experts in their region, but to use their expertise, experience and skills to support the business of their clients. They believe lawyers should not only be experts in the law, but that the real added value for their clients comes from their ability to help them succeed in their business objectives.

 Full descriptions of TGS Baltic’s services, expertise, and lawyer profiles are available on their ILN profile. Continue Reading ILN Firm of the Month – TGS Baltic, Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania!

The ILN’s Real Estate Group is delighted to announce today the release of the second (and updated) edition of their guide, “Buying & Selling Real Estate: An International Guide.” This collaborative electronic guide offers a summary of key real estate law principles in 18 countries across the globe, serving as a quick, practical reference for those establishing an entity in these jurisdictions. In 2017, we have added seven new jurisdictions, which includes Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, India, the Netherlands, and Michigan. The group continues to work collaboratively to update the guide with the latest figures and regulations for their countries, and we’re really excited to provide this valuable resource for firms and companies with multinational business needs.

As the facilitator of the guide, I can say that we’re delighted to publish this collaborative work and showcase the strength and depth of the combined expertise of our real estate lawyers. We already have plans to add additional jurisdictions to the publication, which will be regularly revised, to make this a comprehensive and up-to-date source of information. Like our corporate guide on establishing business entities, this is a real labor of love.

To view the guide, please click here: http://bit.ly/ILNRealEstate2nd

About the ILN Real Estate Specialty Group
Co-chaired by Amy Fracassini of Davis, Malm & D’Agostine in Boston, Massachusetts and Tor Erlend Framstad of Okland & Co DA in Oslo, Norway, the Real Estate Group fosters relationships among practitioners in this area to support the making and receiving of referrals.