Features

Taking a page from the corporate world, law firms are adding a variety of new positions to help their lawyers and staff, to benefit their own operations, and to improve their relationships with clients.

We at <i>MLF</i> are pleased to announce this new bi-monthly column featuring knowledge and information about sales and service excellence tips and tools, and thank LSSO for contributing authors and content.<br>We begin with guidelines for establishing the firm's major client sales initiative for success.

Despite their importance, many law firm Web sites are outdated ' having been designed, developed and launched several years ago when Web technologies were far less advanced than they are today. As a result, many law firms are not taking advantage of new technologies that could simplify site maintenance, improve the 'user experience' of site visitors, and more effectively promote the firm's expertise. <br>This article reviews some new technologies that firms should consider when evaluating whether their Web site is in need of a functional upgrade.

With the exception of about 15 firms nationwide, there are no solid programs that truly benefit women in law firms. Yes, many firms list their women in law programs on their Web sites, and several tout their programs as being at the forefront of the movement, but this is not the reality. While there are lots of women in law firm programs, most of them merely exist to 'paint a picture' that will demonstrate to clients that they are diverse. For all intensive purposes, this is a joke ' and the joke is on the women in these firms. Is it any wonder that many women leave law firms to either go in-house or leave the profession entirely?

One of the questions I am most often asked relates to the area of public relations and particularly how media is handled in law firms as it impacts marketing and business development. To answer those questions, I am pleased to introduce a new series that will feature interviews with top law firm in-house public relations professionals. These interviews will be conducted by the public relations team of Jaffe Associates.

I found your Op-Ed piece, 'The Land of Wannabe,' in the May 2006 issue of Marketing The Law Firm, to be a valid assessment of what I believe to be a failed incursion of 'marketing' into the business of law firms. You conclude that if the right marketers were available, law firms might figure out how to use them. However, I don't see this happening by any evolutionary or natural process, for all the reasons it has failed to date.

As a marketing junkie, I am always looking for that yet-untapped space in which to implement good business-development practices. I found that the legal field area was crying out for attention. <br>Law firms are slow to warm up to dedicated marketing programs. The most tactical entry was a flank attack. By working my way through the third-party sidelines, I maneuvered to my ultimate goal: Director of Marketing at a respected firm.

The careful negotiation of the rights and responsibilities involved with the operation of parking facilities associated with commercial properties is an often-overlooked component of the acquisition and leasing of those properties. It has been noted that the inadequate resolution of the competing interests between owners, lessors, and lessees of parking facilities can harm the interested parties' businesses and ultimately drive the parties into costly and time-consuming legal battles. Stacy E. Smith, Negotiating Parking Privileges in Commercial Leases: What Every Tenant Should Know. <i>Com. Leasing L. &amp; Strategy</i>, July 2005, at 1. Unfortunately, the presence of a real estate investment trust ('REIT') among the concerned parties adds an additional layer of complexity to an already challenging situation.