A Blog About Law Firms And Their Clients

I recently attended LMA New England’s annual conference, held at the spectacular Moakley Courthouse in Boston. The theme of this year’s conference was Lawyers v. Technology, which was incredibly relevant and timely. The conference’s opening session featured a panel discussion among three practicing lawyers about their use of social media. The panel included two bloggers and one Tweeter (Twitterer?). It was fascinating listening to their perspectives on the relative value of these tools; however, what was consistent among them was their view that their use of social media constituted a conversation with prospective clients. I was also stuck by the amount of preparation each of the bloggers undertakes on a regular basis to keep on top of their practice areas. Most of them are ably assisted by their marketing and business development teams who also spend considerable time making sure their lawyers are fed a steady diet of relevant and timely information.

On the second day of the conference, I was asked to be a last-minute substitute on a panel on Competitive and Business Intelligence: What Really Matters is ROI with Christina Fritsch, President of ClientsFirst Consulting and Patrick Fuller, Managing Account Director at HubbardOne. Our goal was to explore various CI and BI tools, focusing on how a partnership between buyers and sellers can provide real value and help achieve strategic goals. We had a great time discussing some of the internal and external resources (including the Manzama Listening Platform) that we can use to provide actionable intelligence to the lawyers and why we would choose those resources. Some of them were new to me, such as checking AdAge to see if clients have changed branding or announced new products. There was wide agreement that while sometimes we’re looking for something specific, more often than not, we’re panning for gold in the fast-moving information river. We also had a lively discussion about the relationship between vendors and law firm buyers and some of the ways we can work together to facilitate success. Having just made the leap back to the vendor-side, the conversation was particularly relevant for me.

This was my favorite kind of session because everyone got involved in the conversation, and I think we all had fun and learned some new stuff. (It probably didn’t hurt that Patrick was launching prizes into the audience…)

At the end of the day, I was left with one overriding impression: Social media is no fad, and just as firms need to figure out how to effectively contribute to the “conversation”, they also need help learning how to be consumers of the vast amount of information that lives outside traditional news and information sources in ways that help identify and inform business opportunities. At Manzama, we are engaged in creating innovative new ways to help firms cut through the information clutter. This week’s conference solidified for me just how important this is.

– Allison