And the Award Goes To …

By David King Keller

The 2012 winners of the “Oscars of legal marketing”—the Your Honor Awards—were announced last week at the world’s largest gathering of legal marketers. For this week’s Friday Five, David King Keller points us to five of the nearly 60 2012 winners recognized at the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference at the Gaylord Texan Resort. Why? Because your clients are receiving this great stuff and, frankly, we think you ought to know about it. Maybe it’s time you got going?

Your Honor Awards 2012 Winners Raise the Bar

Each year since 1989, the LMA has presented the prestigious Your Honor Awards winners at its annual conference. Here are five standouts from this year—with a link to the rest at the end of this post. There’s nothing like perusing the work of the best in the business to inspire and motivate your own creative thinking!

Best in Show: Legal Project Management. Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP’s Sutherland Legal Project Management was recognized for delivering “easy-to-use tools that enhance client service, create efficiencies and support the tracking of metrics and tasks.” The LMA judges said, “Everyone faces this issue, and they took a very clever approach. It’s a breakthrough in legal project management.” This isn’t just marketing, it’s product development and packaging. Very exciting!
Online Interactive Marketing Tools: Video-Centric Site. Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP’s website earned first place in this category. “Testing showed that videos were one of the most persuasive forms of online communication,” said Adam Stock, the firm’s Director of Marketing & Business Development. “So, we created a full-scale video-centric website with nearly 100 videos that convey the services and expertise our attorneys can deliver.” Adam is co-chair of the upcoming 2012 LMA Tech Conference West.
Advertising—Single Ad: “Humanese Over Legalese.” The top award here was presented to Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland PLLC. “Our new online ad, ‘Humanese Over Legalese,’ supports our identity and positioning,” said Jason R. Miller, Director of Marketing & Business Development. “We give straight answers to complex questions that otherwise might leave a client’s head spinning.” LMA judges also pointed out that the online ad created “good stats on traffic and click-through rates.”
Marketing on a Shoestring: Business Development Book Club. Wiggin & Nourie P.A. received first place in this category. “Our young attorneys who lack business development training were feeling a lot of pressure to bring in business and keep their billable hours up,” said Jeannette Riendeau, Director of Marketing & Client Relations. “One of our solutions was to form the Wiggin & Nourie Book Club, which meets to discuss an assigned section of a business development book written for attorneys. After each discussion the attorneys are challenged to implement one of the book’s strategies.”
Event: Global Women’s Leadership Summit. The first place events prize went to DLA Piper for its Global Women’s Leadership Summit. “We believe no other law firm has put together an event of this kind,” said Maureen Migliazzo, the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer. “With nearly 100 women general counsel and other senior in-house lawyers in attendance, the event focused on topics of interest to women in the law, in business and in international communities.” LMA judges lauded the project for “collaboration with industry leaders and general counsel.”

The 3,000-member Legal Marketing Association consists of professionals involved in marketing, business development, client service and communications within the legal profession. On the LMA website, you’ll find full descriptions of the details and strategies involved with all of this year’s winning entries, as well as judges’ comments.

David King Keller is author of two books on how to grow law firm revenue, titled 100 Ways to Grow a Thriving Law Practice and the new ABA book The Associate As Rainmaker: Building Your Business Brain. He is CEO of Keller Business Development Advisory Group, which provides law firm business development training, 1:1 attorney biz dev coaching and MCLE instruction on various topics. Contact him at david@kbdag.com.