October 31, 2007
Canadian law firm student recruitment video - McInnes Cooper
Following up on my recent post about video coming to law firm websites (particularly in the context of student recruitment), I received a note this morning from Tara Erskine of McInnes Cooper alerting me to that firm's efforts in this regard.
Their video was shot and directed by a summer law student and articled clerk at the firm. Watch it and I think you will agree that you've got a richer sense of the firm's culture and what it would be like as a place to work than you are able to glean from the standard-issue page of prose that occupies most firms' student recruitment page on their website. That's why I believe you are going to keep seeing more rich content like this in the future.
You can access the video here: www.mcinnescooper.com/students/
Thanks to Tara for the heads-up and kudos to McInnes Cooper for being one of the leaders in this category.
Posted by dougjasinski at 01:09 PM | Permalink
October 30, 2007
American law students make diversity a recruiting priority
It seems that law firm practice management advisor David Bilinsky has scooped the New York Times on this story. Recently David posted on his blog about an initiative of some law students in the United States that had set up a blog with a diversity scorecard for law firms. The project, dubbed "Building a Better Legal Profession" uses data provided by the firms themselves. As David so aptly summarized it - "These students are hitting law firms in the numbers."
Lo and behold, yesterday there was a New York Times article on the project, which, needless to say, is the kind of PR that makes an impact.
Jumping to the Canadian context, there is no question in my mind that law students in this country are - as a cohort - equally supportive of workplace diversity, and that the associate recruiting wars here are scaling up to a level where it is going to be incumbent upon leading Canadian firms to examine their own diversity initiatives in the context of both student and client demand.
A year ago I wrote an article in the Lawyer's Weekly on diversity issues, and pointed to pressure from the junior ranks as well as from larger corporate clients that are ahead of the firms themselves as being the drivers of change in this arena. At that time, I suggested five actions law firms concerned about this issue might consider for the year ahead. A year later, they still seem relevant and so I will repeat them here:
1. implement commitments to specific diversity goals and create tracking systems to measure progress;
2. prepare an up-to-date diversity statement for inclusion in RFP responses;
3. make diversity an element of your firm’s student and associate recruitment platform;
4. add a diversity profile to your firm’s Martindale listing; and
5. create a diversity section on your firm website.
Posted by dougjasinski at 11:19 AM | Permalink | TrackBack
October 02, 2007
Video is coming to law firm websites
Earlier this month Skunkworks Creative Group launched a new law student recruiting micro-site for Vancouver law firm Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP that prominently features a multimedia section called BHTV. BHTV features video interviews of several of the firm's young associates speaking on topics such as the firm culture, their expectations and the reality of work at the firm, as well as a guided office tour.
My personal view is that you can expect to see a great deal more use of both video and audio content on law firm websites in the year(s) ahead. 5 key reasons why:
1. Video makes a law firm's core offering - it's people - the centerpiece of the marketing;
2. Video is an excellent tool to help law firms differentiate from their competitors;
3. Video is sticky, meaning that people will stay on your website longer;
4. Video is becoming more prominent both in other professional services and on the Internet generally; and
5. Video is becoming less expensive and easier to produce over time.
Will video replace the written word? (I am reminded at this juncture of the late 70's new wave song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles) The short answer is no. But will most major law firms have at least some video content on their website within the next five years? My bet is yes, for the reasons already noted.
Posted by dougjasinski at 06:17 PM | Permalink
