The situation

A law firm speaks to several audiences at once: clients, partners, staff and prospective employees. Each needed to hear from the firm differently, across different practice areas, without the firm’s identity fragmenting.

What I noticed

The firm’s real asset was its people’s expertise. Marketing’s job was not to sell harder; it was to make that expertise easy to understand, and easy for the firm’s own people to share.

What I did

  • Put the associates in front of clients. The seminar campaign used the firm’s own associates to introduce legal topics, with speakers, subject and event details presented together in one consistent design.
  • Wrote the playbook. I created a seminars, workshops and conferences playbook so staff could market an event themselves, and delivered in-house marketing training for staff and partners.
  • Matched the message to the moment. Client updates, including through COVID-19, and recruitment material for graduates and clerks each needed a different message within the same firm identity.
  • Grounded the strategy in evidence. Market analysis and client surveys informed the marketing strategy, and I presented regular marketing reports to the partnership board.

The work, with context

Select an image to enlarge it.

AWS Legal seminars and events playbook cover
The playbook I wrote for seminars, workshops and conferences. Its purpose was to give staff practical guidance for marketing an event.
AWS Legal Trusts Act seminar invitation
Seminar invitation: legal expertise presented through the firm’s associates, with event information in a consistent firm design.
AWS Legal COVID-19 client update
Client update from the COVID-19 period (historical communications work, not current legal guidance).
AWS Legal graduate and clerkship recruitment creative
Recruitment creative: adapting the firm’s communications for prospective graduates and clerks.

What happened

The firm gained a documented marketing strategy, staff playbooks and training, a program of client-facing campaigns and regular board-level marketing reporting.

What I’d bring to your team

Professional-services marketing that combines clear writing, subject-matter input and stakeholder coordination, and supports the people whose expertise is the business.