November 24, 2006
Marketing Diversity in Law Firms - Part One
I was in the midst of researching and writing an article on the topic of law firms incorporating diversity messaging into their marketing today when I came across this picture which seemed like a good visual metaphor for the subject. (Conveniently, it also gives me the opportunity to launch a new feature on the Legal Marketing Canada Blog - photos!)
I will provide a more detailed post on diversity marketing next week once I've completed the article but my sense is that diversity messaging is going to become more prominent in the year(s) ahead. The impetus is being driven both by larger corporate clients who are looking at law firms to mirror the clients' own diversity initiatives and also by the younger generation of legal talent who are themselves more diverse in composition than their predecessors and who are increasingly demanding a demographically and culturally inclusive working environment.
Posted by dougjasinski at 05:20 PM | Permalink
November 17, 2006
Can Vancouver law firms function without coffee?
Can Skunkworks for that matter?
Approximately 2 million residents of the Greater Vancouver area currently are under a boil water advisory (note: pdf file) as a result of a week of heavy rainstorms that have caused landslides into the local reservoirs. In practical terms, this means that local Starbucks outlets weren't serving any coffee this morning, no trifling matter in a town as coffee-mad as this one. Is there a chapter in the law firm emergency preparedness binders for this contingency?
Posted by dougjasinski at 11:35 AM | Permalink
November 10, 2006
Canadian Legal Blogging Panel
Many thanks to all who participated in yesterday's Canadian Legal Blogging Panel seminar and to the event sponsor XEROX Canada. We had a lot of back and forth between the panelists and the audience, which was terrific to see and as Steve Matthews noted, it felt we had barely scratched the surface by the time we wrapped up. There is clearly a lot of curiousity about blogging in the Vancouver legal market, even though only a handful of firms have gone ahead and started blogs to date. I anticipate we are going to start seeing the next wave of firms dip their toes in the water early in 2007.
Posted by dougjasinski at 04:56 PM | Permalink
November 06, 2006
A Client Relations Refresher
Item 1.0: ALWAYS GET THE CLIENT'S NAME RIGHT.
It is somehow very jarring to see or hear one's own name misspelled, mispronounced or otherwise mangled. With a last name like Jasinski, I know this all too well. However, I was reminded of this small, obvious but nevertheless important point again this past weekend while reading a post on Kevin O'Keefe's blog. As mentioned here recently, Kevin O'Keefe will be joining us here in Vancouver this Thursday, as part of a legal blogging panel seminar I will be moderating for the LMA Vancouver chapter. Somehow, in a rushed moment last week while I was posting the event details on the LMA chapter website, I inadvertently renamed Kevin O'Keefe as Kevin O'Neill. As it happens, Kevin O'Neill is a terrific lawyer here in Vancouver that I know from the early part of my legal career, and not the legal blogging guru to whom I meant to refer.
If you make this kind of mistake with a new client prospect you are typically headed for an awkward start in your bid to win his or her work. If you make this kind of mistake with a blogger who is as widely read as Kevin is, you get to wear a little egg on your face in the blogosphere for a day or two. Lesson learned. Once again, my apologies to Kevin for the mixup and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Posted by dougjasinski at 10:14 AM | Permalink
November 01, 2006
The rise of the non-lawyer professional class in law firms
There is an interesting article in the November 1, 2006 edition of the National Post on the growing role within law firms of professionals in disciplines such as human resources, I.T., marketing and professional development. The article quotes David Garner, Managing Partner of Skunkworks client Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP extensively on the growth of this professional class within that firm. Garner notes that having a team of professionals in place allows him to move away from micro-managing and to focus on the larger issues of law firm strategy and direction. According to the article he also sees sales professionals as the next growth area for many firms, pointing to the experience in the accounting sector as evidence.
Posted by dougjasinski at 01:48 PM | Permalink
