Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms

by Sean Larkan

Overview

The success or failure of your firm is determined by how your clients and employees view your brand - simple. An effective brand strategy that is clearly understood and supported throughout your firm is crucial if you want to attract and retain profitable clients and sustain a talented workforce. Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms report provides a comprehensive framework and guidelines for developing a brand strategy tailored to your firm. Packed with key concepts, practical tools, tips and advice this report will give you an understanding of brand and how it can be developed and strengthened as your firm's most invaluable asset. Specifically, this report will help you to: * Understand the key elements of personal brands, firm brand, and the employment brand - and how they relate to each other; * Align your brand strategy with your overall firm strategy, vision and values; * Realise the importance of brand names, icons or logos, design and aesthetics; * Understand the key brand considerations when using online channels - websites, blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook; * Create a customised brand stress-test and make improvements to strengthen your firm's brand accordingly and ensure its success; * Get partners and staff on board to support and grow your brand; and * Avoid brand mistakes and overcome the common challenges - including recommended steps for managing your brand before, during and following a merger. Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms features insightful case studies, examples and expert contributions from the likes of Norton Rose South Africa, DLA Phillips Fox, Lex Mundi, Lex Africa and more - They reveal practical tips, lessons learned and mistakes made that will prove invaluable in the development and management of your own brand strategy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787427655
Publisher:	Ark Group
Publication date:	11/30/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	132
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Sean Larkan BA LLB MBA MPh CMC is a partner in Edge International, the leading specialist consultancy to the global legal profession. He specialises in assisting firms and legal entities with strategic issues including growth, market penetration and dominance, governance and structuring, mergers, and all activities necessary for strategy implementation and getting results. He is responsible for devising the Edge International vision and strategy as well as its brand strategy, and drives their implementation for Edge. He is a former commercial/tax lawyer, is MBA-qualified, an accredited Human Synergistics practitioner and is an internationally-accredited Master Coach. He works closely with firm leadership to get the results they seek and has a deep understanding of management and leadership challenges and methodologies. He specialises in assisting with strategic issues such as performance optimisation, governance and firm structures, growth and competitive market dominance, brand (organisational, employment brand and personal brands), strategy implementation, alignment and stress-testing, and all matters pertaining to partnership, where he has a track record of optimising partner-team (the 'critical cog') performance. Sean has six years' experience providing strategy, leadership and management consulting to professional service firms (PSFs), law firms and businesses and 20 years' experience leading large corporate law firms in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in managing partner/ CEO roles. Sean has a track record as an innovator in the professional services industry, for example: He established Lex Africa (the oldest and largest network of exclusively African firms - countries); Achieved a first in linking bank mainframes to law firms and developing unique document assembly packages in the 1990s; His unique Brand FusionA' methodology (to get brand understood and to build real brand value); His Responsible Partner (R) program (to optimise partner/professional performance); Capital FabricA' (the most important contribution a partner can make in a firm); and Unique ways of developing vision and strategy, and reporting on performance. Specialties: Law firm review, strategy and planning development at organisation, division and support service sector levels, focused on implementation, achieving dominance and getting results; Organisation/division/department/group/leadership review and development in particular around culture; About the author Performance development, market dominance and growth development, team performance excellence, partner/leader performance and support management; Staff engagement and management systems; Strategic financial management, professional firm governance, unique brand and innovation strategy development. Sean can be contacted through his blog: www.legalleadersblog.com.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Understanding brand - The fundamentals...1 Introduction and trends...1 Why brand is vital for law firm success...2 The role of design, creativity and innovation...5 Why brand is challenging.6 Who to involve in developing, maintaining and building brand...9 Three important types of brand for all law firms...9 Subsidiary brands...10 Why it is critical to develop a brand strategy...11 Chapter 2: The key elements of a brand strategy...13 The elements of a brand strategy...13 Brand vision...15 The charismatic brand...16 Brand offeringA'...17 Strategic key objectives...17 Strategies...18 Avoiding a Brand Gap...19 Brand management, monitoring and discipline...21 Who should manage and lead the process?...21 Stress testing your brand strategy...23 Case study 1: DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox merger...24 Chapter 3: The brand offering...25 What is a brand offering?...25 The importance of the brand offering...25 What are the elements of the brand offering?...26 Why a one-page brand offering?...27 A framework for a typical brand offering: Bloggs and Jones Lawyers...28 Chapter 4: Brand fusion...29 What is brand fusion?...29 Achieving brand fusion...31 Unity and amplification is key...32 Issuing a brand compass or brandometer to partners and staff...33 Chapter 5: Where brand rubber hits the road - The role of design and aesthetics...35 Law firms can take real lessons from this approach...37 The challenge of left-brain thinking...37 Brand icons...37 Websites, packaging and the reading sequence...38 The written word...39 What's in a name?...39 Taglines or mantras...39 The role of leaders...40 Chapter 6: Avoiding a brand gap and building strategy alignment...41 Strategy alignment...41 How can these gaps arise in practice?...42 Inherent challenges impacting alignment43 Chapter 7: Stress testing brand strategy - A road map to strategic implementation...45 Why stress test strategy?.45 Challenge your strategy..46 Other recommendations.46 How to get there...47 A stress test checklist...49 Chapter 8: The employment brand...51 What do we mean by employment brand?...51 Challenges in developing your employment brand...52 The benefits of developing a separate employment brand...53 The importance of good people practice in your employment brand...54 Stress testing the firm's brand strategy...55 The foundational elements of building a strong employment brand...55 Building engagement levels...56 Employment brand fusion...58 The critical role of trust...58 Good times sometimes create a false sense of security...59 Assessment and review of employment brands...59 Education...60 Employment brands for partners...60 Employment brands and firm websites...61 Chapter 9: The firm brand...63 How do we develop the firm's brand?...63 Addressing the fundamentals...63 Leadership involvement..66 The importance of USA (unify, simplify amplify)...66 SWOT test your brand...67 Identifying brand SKOs...67 Developing brand strategies - An action plan and timeline..68 Crafting the firm's brand offering...68 Staff involvement...69 Where 'brand rubber hits the road'...69 Chapter 10: Personal brands...71 Personal brands - Why bother?...71 Developing a personal brand strategy...71 A personal brand strategy framework...71 A personal brand offer...72 Personal skills and soft skills...73 A summary statement or value proposition...75 Personal brand key objectives...75 The importance of thought leadership skills...76 Building a personal profile...76 A personal plan...77 Chapter 11: Brand challenges...79 No formal brand strategy...79 Brand seen as comprising the firm's name, logo and aesthetics...79 Brand management left solely to the marketing department.79 No brand discipline...80 Lack of brand fusion...80 No personal brand development...80 Variable recruitment and retention success rates for the firm.81 Brand strategy is developed then lapses..81 Chapter 12: Brand and strategic communication...83 Means of communication...83 Digital communications..84 Key factors law firms need to consider...85 The importance of online digital communication channels...86 Other digital media...86 Chapter 13: The brand implications flowing from law firm mergers...89 Challenges for a firm's brand post-merger...90 Name usage...91 Recommended steps for a merger...92 Chapter 14: Brand discipline, management and brand champions...95 Management...95 Brand champions...96 Brand compasses and brandometers...96 Staff meetings and functions...96 Chapter 15: Brand and law firm networks...97 Brand challenges for law firm networks and members...97 Particular strategies for law firm networks...100 Encouraging trust and pride...101 A brand vision - Towards a charismatic brand...101 Case study 2: Lex Africa...102 Case study 3: Lex Mundi...105 Index...109