The Trouble With Lawyers: A Post About Branding

by Abnu, who is not so stuffy when he writes for Wordlab

Lawyers don't have a clue about branding.

Some don't advertise at all. They're "too professional" they say. Others insist that, in order to be a successful professional these days, you have to run your practice like a business. Here's where it gets a bit fuzzy for most lawyers. They don't really know what business they're in.

Most lawyers think of the legal services they offer as the business. So, to them, running a law practise as a business means "selling" legal services, and advertising those services is a necessary evil—and necessarily evil. It's not surprising that lawyers who advertise their "services" often do a disservice to themselves, and the profession.

Believe it or not, most lawyers don't understand that the professional services business they're in is the business of the Trusted Advisor. Trust me, this book should be required reading for law students. It might be too late for lawyers.

In 2002, Robert A. Clifford, Chair, Section of Litigation of the ABA, put it in words a smart lawyer might understand.

We live in a world based on trust. Every day we are forced to trust strangers. We trust the school bus driver to get our children to school, the airline pilot to get us safely to our destinations, the hospital staff to administer the proper medication, the police officer to enforce the law, the other motorists not to drink and drive. Sometimes, though, we are let down. Lawyers are among those who can jeopardize trust, whether by not fully communicating the frailties of a case to the client or not being upfront about a fee. In any event, the lawyer becomes just another in a long line of those who do not follow through on a promise, and, with that betrayal of trust, however small, the entire profession suffers a bit.

Certainly lawyers are advocates for their clients, but, first and foremost, they are counselors. Maybe more than in any other profession, people turn to lawyers for their advice, their logic in seeing through a problem and perceiving issues, and their decision-making ability after examining all the options and likely consequences. Although consumers describe lawyers as greedy, manipulative, and corrupt, they also say that lawyers are educated, intelligent, knowledgeable, hard working, aggressive, outgoing, well spoken, and confident. These are traits they admire and even would like to emulate. It is on these virtues that those in need of legal services rely. On the basis of these strengths, each of us must formulate a plan to do our jobs better. We discussed and debated that very issue in the second part of the Town Hall Meeting April 25 in Faneuil Hall during the Annual Meeting. Public confidence in our profession is critical in doing our jobs right. We must live up to that great responsibility, and how we handle it is what distinguishes us as true professionals. Lawyers must earn the right to be trusted once again.

Lawyers, as a profession, will never gain the trust of the public as long as they continue in their business practices to advertise like car salesmen and political candidates and talk like pirates.

  

Comments

[Rob Hyndman]

One could write a book - several perhaps - on how the profession has squandered trust. And it would start with the billable hour, no doubt. And this is not just about lawyers - as a society we have had problems lately with trust in a wide variety of contexts. Enron. Worldcom. Martha. Priests. Athletes. The list goes on. Are we watching the slow death of trust?

But back to lawyers. Perhaps the profession has gotten too cozy believing that it knows best. Well, there is no question that this will change. Clients will require it. They have more power now, and this will go a long way to changing the way the profession behaves.

For myself, trust is one of the main reasons I left BigLaw to do it on my own. And building a brand to convey trust was the first thing on my mind as I established my practice.

Blogging, of course, changes everything. I wrote recently on my blog that blogging is the killer app of community - well, for similar reasons, it's a killer app of trust. People can come to my blog and learn about me. They can read what I stand for, they can find out what I believe, they can learn what I know. I blog because I think and because I write, but I also blog because I want the people I deal with to know who I am - to build trust. It's my way - the first way, at least - to create that relationship.

P.S. Thanks for the tip about the book - I've just ordered it.

[Prof. Yabut]

I'm not sure what your prescription is for building trust, Abnu. I believe consumers are smart enough to know that the tacky ads do not represent every sector of the legal profession, much less every lawyer. The profession's image problem existed centuries before lawyer advertising existed.

As I discuss in the post Brand LEX, most efforts at branding that I have seen and read about seem to be aimed at "gaining your trust so that we can charge you more." (see also my jackals post).

With over a million practicing lawyers, our profession is far too diverse to be "branded" and the consumer/client knows that lawyers play many roles and come in many tastes and sizes. The task of being seen as a Trusted Advisor can't happen overnight, but comes down to each lawyer and law firm practicing in a manner that gains that trust -- giving advice that fits the client's needs and truly puts the client's interests first (including financial interests), rather than the lawyer's goal of maximizing income and his or her own authority and prestige.

[JR]

"Believe it or not, most lawyers don't understand that the professional services business they're in is the business of the Trusted Advisor. Trust me, this book should be required reading for law students. It might be too late for lawyers."

Abnu: That book is assigned for me to read over spring break, i.e. right now. So, at least one school, Southern Illinois University, is making law students read the book.

[BrandomaticEsquire]

Hey, I advertise. I have a helluva brand. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it

[Evan]

Mr. BrandomaticEsquire: Do your clients choose you because of your wit or your charm? Or both? Please do tell!

[Adam]

Abnu, that pirate clip had me in tears.
Defenestration. Classic.
Thanks much.
-Adam

[Abnu]

Evan, Thanks for the opportunity to be a Guest Blogger here. It has now been posted over at Wordlab, too, with this footnote:

This piece was written as a Guest Blogger's post for the entertainment of lawyers and law students on Evan Schaeffer's Notes from the (Legal) Underground, a lawyer's weblog with a difference. It's not so stuffy.

It was fun to write, and I enjoyed reading the comments by your peeps, as well.

Jeremy, I'm glad to see that some law students are required to read The Trusted Advisor, and I hope others take advantage of the tip and read this book even if it isn't required by their law schools.

It was nice to hear from Rob Hyndman that at least one of the lawyers, whom I had practically written off as beyond taking a tip from a blogger, were quick to pick up on the real takeaway from this post and ordered the book, too. I hope other lawyers don't miss my point and think that this book is just good for law students.

David Giacalone can't find many answers in my post, allowing that I raised a few good questions, if I understand his post about it on his f/k/a blog. I found his take on branding by law firms, as a ploy to overcharge, a bit too cynical. Maybe I overlooked his tongue in cheek as much as he appears to have missed mine.

Adam was quick to pick up on the "pirate clip" as being the real point of all this. A while ago, I sent this clip to Evan by email and we shared a good laugh. When Evan didn't follow-up with a post about the pirate lawyer advertisement, I begged him to let me do a Guest Post about it. I'm really glad he agreed.

So, that's the story behind this post. I hope nobody got too offended when I said, "Lawyers don't have a clue about branding." I was overstating the point just a bit, for literary effect. Too few do, but some of those who hang out around here obviously have a very good understanding of branding. You know who you are.

[Taco John]

The biggest problem with not knowing what business you are in is that it's not just a marketing or branding problem, as many people (especially lawyers who didn't get enough business training) believe. It's a strategy issue which prevents you from probably growing your business and maintaining a competitive advantage. Too many law firms, especially tv-commercial personal injury lawyers and mega-firms believe what they are selling is the ability to win cases or get a better deal in a negotiation. More people and emphasizing large cash settlements or judgements are what you would do to further that strategy. But rarely is that really what a law firm is selling. And then on the flip side, there are law firms who think the idea of producing a product or service which is just like anything else is beneath them.

[Abnu]

The street is a sideshow from the peddler to the corner girl

Life is a carnival, it's in the book

Life is a carnival, take another look