<b>Meyerowitz on Marketing:</b> Creating Ambassadors of Goodwill

It takes a lot of effort and funds for a law firm to recruit and train its attorneys. If they stay for a sufficient period of time, improve their professional skills and start to bring in new business, the firm is likely to see a nice return on its investment.<br>These days, however, lawyers at some point typically leave the place that gave them their start; unlike days gone by when lawyers typically would stay at a firm for their whole professional careers. Today, they may go to a competitor firm, to a smaller firm, in-house or to a business that may or may not be a client of the firm. Yet, this does not necessarily mean that a law firm should just write off the time and money it spent on developing its former lawyers. Rather, as increasing numbers of law firms are coming to understand, a firm's former attorneys can play an important role in the firm's marketing and client development activities. To tap that resource, many law firms are creating alumni programs or are formalizing or expanding the basic elements of alumni programs that they already have in place.