Legal Promotion: Identifying

Alena A. Chernyavskaya

Over the last couple of yearsthelegal business has become very inventive and creative in terms of promoting services, positioning its brands on the market and competing for new clients and projects. For this reason, Yuridicheskaya Practika Publishing initiated the First International Forum for the Promotion of Legal Services that was held on 5 December in Kiev.

Legal practitioners, business development, marketing and PR professionals, representatives of professional media and consultants from different countries came to Ukraine to exchange the latest developments in promoting legal services, share practical experience and discuss emerging opportunities. Among others, designing effective legal services sales, trends of business promotion, foreign markets developments, crisis-management, internet activity, PR service performance assessment, challenges in compiling law firm rankings and other topical issues made up the forum’s agenda.

Conventional trends vs. unconventional challenges

The forum was opened with a welcome speech from Rustam Kolesnik, editor-in-chief of the Yuridicheskaya Practika Weekly, who represented the speakers and stressed the importance of the first conference of this kind for the legal community. Armen Khachaturyan, senior partner of Asters, paid special attention to the latest trends of legal business promotion in Ukraine and abroad. Having dwelt on the conventional promotion tools, he turned his attention to new instruments like content marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing. As for forecasts, Mr. Khachaturyan focused on the personalization of the firm’s brand — when the personality of the CEO is at the foreground; social media optimization and its development; a mobile site version as well as video content.

Valentyn Gvozdiy, managing partner of Gvozdiy & Oberkovych, at his presentation entitled “Can foreign markets serve as an additional source of customers in 2014?” explained several ways of attracting clients to new markets, in particular references from clients, membership in networks and best friends alliances, development of contact bases, direct exit of firms to new markets. He classified several types of new markets: according to propositions (new service, practice, industrial vector), according to the audience (new segment of clients) and geography (regional or international desk). Among others, the breath of life, focus on client and evolution stipulate entering the new markets. Mentioning the frame of presence on new markets, Valentyn Gvozdiy pointed out new services, regional desks and international representation. In his view, the obligatory conditions for entering new markets should encompass a precise plan, competitive advantages, strict focus on market specifics, as well as patience and trust.

Analyzing collaboration of partners, marketing professionals and lawyers in a law firm, Maksym Lavrynovych, managing partner of Lavrynovych & Partners, characterized five factors that can cause problems at a company. These are absence of strict tasks, interpersonal conflicts, huge dominance of the partner, no future plans as well as shortage of investment in the professional development of staff. One of the key recommendations sounded by the expert is good adjusted team performance in unison with personal responsibility of every team member. Oleh Malskyy, partner at Astapov- Lawyers international law group,touched upon the main dangers from risks in legal business, explaining the reasons for the occurrence of risks. At the same time, if the risk came true, typical solutions may include discounts, additional services and loss compensation; insurance of professional responsibility. It is rather reasonable to work out a team decision and to discuss it with colleagues, the speaker emphasized, as well as to attract partners and PR professionals.

Anthony White, head of International Business Development at CMS Cameron McKenna (London) in his presentation “Feedback matters: engaging advisors and analyzing results” explained the criteria that CMS use to establish which clients to approach for feedback, the process of gathering feedback and following up based on the example of the international heavyweight. Thus, CMS followed an approach of hiring a third party for investigating client feedback. Mr. White emphasized that it was the third consecutive year that CMS has shared client feedback results (an average of 8.3 out of 10.0).

Sophisticated client demands

Within the framework of the second session, participants actively discussed the secrets of attracting new customers to the market and retaining existing ones. Vyacheslav Korchev, partner at Integrites, focused in detail on the development of effective legal services sales on the example of the firm’s office in Kazakhstan. He pointed out the dynamic strategy in the development of the legal market in Kazakhstan in contrast with Ukraine. It was quite evident as since 2009 Integrites in Kazakhstan has grown to 4 partners and 32 lawyers. The speaker advised colleagues to encourage partners selling legal services and attracting new clients.

Aleksandr Onufrienko, head of the legal department at KINTO asset management company, shared some valuable insight into the choice of a legal advisor by corporate counsel. Obviously, the basic criteria are professional ones. However, corporate counsel may change an advisor if not enough time is paid to the existing clientele and legal work is passed to mid-level and low-level lawyers. In his opinion, it is almost impossible to win a client back.

Tetyana Gavrysh, managing partner of ILF, is convinced that today clients want more from their legal counsels. She admitted the increasing role of in-house counsel of late and the necessity to understand clients’ industry specifics. That is the reason why the traditional model will undergo some changes pursuant to understanding a client’s business, knowledge of the best practices in industry, effective project management, value added for clients, communication in the client’s language, leaving one’s own comfort zone, etc.

Making the promotion tools work

During the second part of the forum two parallel sections enabled delegates to examine different promotion tools, namely media and events, legal networks,Internet activity.

Natalia Tkachenko, marketing manager at  DLA Piper Ukraine, stressed that successful marketing is impossible without the involvement of lawyers in PR. In her turn, Tetyana Benko, partner of Legal Marketing Solutions spoke about innovations in legal marketing, the importance of microsites that can replace information mailing while the investment put into creating such sites is not so high. Touching upon the development of video production, she outlined the scarcity of such products, but at the same time the positive influence of ensuring a firm’s site is visited. Alexander Lipsky, business development advisor at Law Group Pavlenko & Poberezhnuk and the moderator of a number of popular business-oriented groups in social networks, recommended lawyers to determine their objectives in the use of social networks — business contacts or communication in general.

Iryna Khymchak, head of the marketing and business development department at Sayenko Kharenko, shared her experience of maintaining beneficial relations with business media. In her opinion, legal marketing should be targeted and selective to ensure better feedback. While summing up the media session Olga Binda, head of promotion and development service at RAPSI (Russian Legal Information Agency) analyzed PR service performance assessment and stated that there are no strict or standard criteria for PR assessment, but the main thing that does matter here is customer satisfaction.

Recognition and market feedback

The final panel of the forum examined a rather sensitive but probably the most anticipating topics of the program — investment in marketing and recognition.

A review of effective investment in communications was carried out by Iryna Nikitina, independent business consultant. She attracted the attention of the audience to the top 5 instruments of internal communications: individual meetings, policy of open doors, e-blasts, corporate events and regular newsletters. Moreover, she said that 89% of executives are certain that reputation depends on effective communication with staff, 81% state that understanding the purposes of organization by staff raises the profitability of business, while 61% know that open communication with the team reduces the risks of losing valuable employees. The consultant recommended communication without delay, enlistment of the team into finding decisions to the points of the firm’s development, don’t  manage information but manage expectations.

Evgeniy Bessarabov, managing partner of PSA Consulting & Management Systems, explained the advantages of using automated CRM and billing systems to assess spending on marketing. Basically, investments without accurate economic considerations may entail financial problems for business.

Olga Usenko, editor of The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law and head of research programs Ukrainian Law Firms. A Handbook for Foreign Clients and Law Firms in Ukraine. Annual Market Research  reported on the challenges in compiling law firm rankings faced by both researchers and legal market participants. She said that the primary objective of a law firm is to single out the whole firm, certain practice areas and legal practitioners on the market. The objective of a professional researcher is to present a comprehensive and complete legal market landscape. Keeping this in mind, the core challenges in making law firm rankings are, according to the editor, as follows:

— The efficiency of rankings or a legal directory as a business promotion tool;

— Competition of market players to be present on top positions;

— Specific questionnaires for submissions that are dramatically important for every researcher;

— Confidentiality issues that require the editorial team to be reliable and win market credibility;

— Competences that demand a high level of market expertise from researchers and permanent monitoring;

— Desire of lawyers to be recognized and such an important human feature as ego.

Georgia Brooks, editor of Chambers Europe, Chambers & Partners, described how clients use legal directories. She emphasized that client questionnaires are the core element of Chambers publications. Mike Nash, editor of The Legal 500 (Europe, Middle East & Africa), gave practical recommendations on how to maximize their participation in legal referral guides and directories.

Despite the fact that each methodology is different, the speakers stressed the importance of persistent communication with market players and the necessity to follow methodological requirements, first and foremost, the terms of submission of the required information. In his turn, Rustam Kolesnik, section moderator, explained the problems of conducting polls of clients  in Ukraine. From his point of view, interviewing clients does not work as a sociological method at the moment, while assessment by peers is sometime influenced by interpersonal relationships.

Summing up the session discussion the panelists concluded that there is huge potential in the  development of legal publications, methodological approaches and culture of the legal infrastructure industry.