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During a recent product liability trial, the plaintiff's expert opined in his original disclosure that the subject machine was defective because it lacked a clutch safety mechanism. Trial counsel, retained just weeks before jury selection, learned from the same expert that no machine in the industry contains such a mechanism. They concluded that cross-examination of the expert on this point would probably outweigh any benefit that such testimony might add to the plaintiff's case, and that a simpler explanation for the accident was the manufacturer's failure to place conspicuous warnings to the user on how to operate the device properly. They decided that it would be wise to have the expert testify about the missing warnings instead of the design defect. The problem was that the expert's design defect theory had been presented in the plaintiff's pretrial disclosure statement, which had been served on the defendants, but nothing was disclosed about the failure to warn.

Asbestos litigation finally may be winding down, and personal injury mold litigation seems to have been stopped in its tracks. That means something else must rise and be the next wave of inhalation litigation, and it looks like it is the emergence of engineered nanoscale materials. Venture capitalists and the government itself predict that engineered nanoscale materials will transform the field of engineering. Such engineering proclamations have been made in prior generations; Henry Adams once warned that 'every day nature violently revolted, causing so-called accidents with enormous destruction of property and life, while plainly laughing at man, who groaned and shrieked and shuddered.'

Many attorneys ask us, 'What is the ideal prospecting plan for attorneys? Can't my associates and younger partners just follow our top rainmakers for a few days and then just do what they do?' These are two of the initial questions that we hear when we begin working with law firms. Many attorneys assume that there is an easy magic formula for developing new clients, and if they can just get their hands on this secret formula their business development problems will be solved forever. Unfortunately, our experience tells us that a 'one-size-fits-all' magic formula for success does not exist.

Client co-marketing builds relationships and sends an unmistakable message.

Welcome to the new era of law firm marketing. It's been a long time coming. The profession didn't even allow formal advertising until the mid-1970s, and now the prospect of selling seems a bit distasteful to some law firm partners. But lately there are signs that some law firms are starting to truly understand the value of marketing and are empowering their CMOs.

When Jenner & Block's Chief Marketing Officer Theresa Jaffe was being recruited for her current job nearly eight years ago, she became intrigued by the marketing challenge that the then-87-year-old powerhouse Firm represented. Here's how she met the challenge.

By the late 1990s, many law firms adopted a practice that significantly changed the original partnership paradigm. They created a new position, called nonequity, income, or contract partner, into which associates who were not admitted as equity partners could be placed. In effect, they created a two-tier partnership. This permitted them to retain associates longer, with the prospect that equity partnership might still be in their futures. But it was seldom made clear just how far into their futures.

The top three competencies or strategies a lawyer needs to succeed today are the abilities to generate new business, to learn the business of his or her clients, and to do top-notch networking. This article offers helpful hints on how to achieve them.