The 'Out of Towners'

Public relations or not. If you are a reader of The New York Times, you may have noticed that when journalists quote an attorney for a particular piece, it seems that the quote comes from an expert in a firm outside of New York. What's going on? I will admit that for many years New York law firms shied away from being quoted at all, feeling perhaps that they were above it all and that their clients, for the most part high profile Fortune 500 corporations and large banking institutions would scowl at their outside counsel garnering attention. Now it seems that these firms have been relegated to the occasional quote while the regional/national firms have embraced the media and are truly “out there.” In speaking with Jay Jaffe, President and CEO of Jaffe Associates, about this issue, Jay indicated to me “that it is just inconceivable that New York law firms, with Madison Avenue as part of its demographic, have been a vast wasteland in the area of marketing and communications. Other professions get it … have you seen the marketing and communications that plastic surgeons and dentists have launched?” Jay and I are in agreement that New York law firms have resisted being high profile for a variety of reasons including the fact, as Jay points out “these firms didn't need it; times were good and there was little or no competition.” New York law firms saw national/regional firms as no threat to their client base. Jay also points out that this scenario mirrors that of London until competition from across the pond came calling.