Graduating lawyers and young associates need to develop personal brand
Good read in this morning's New York Times by Alex Williams explaining that a law degree from a top law school is no longer a ticket to riches in large law.
Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa, an associate in 2006 at Pillsbury in San Francisco was willing to work mammoth hours "for the prospect of Caribbean vacations, a convertible and a big loft apartment."
Those days are over. As the profession lurches through its worst slump in decades, with jobs and bonuses cut and internal pressures to perform rising, associates do not just feel as if they are diving into the deep end, but rather, drowning.Lawyers who entered the field as recently as a few years ago could reasonably expect a life of comfort, security and social esteem. Many are now faced with a different landscape. Firms shed more than 4,600 lawyers last year..., and an increasing number of firms now compensate associates based on grades for performance -- shades of law school -- rather than automatically advancing them on the salary scale.
Knowing she'd have to work a million times harder just not to be laid off, Musiitwa left Pillsbury after a year to start her own firm.
It gets wilder.
One 2008 graduate of a top-10 law school, who worked at a large Chicago firm for a year, said she spent days trying to look busy as business dried up while not billing a single hour, before being laid off last fall along with a quarter of the other first-year hires."We used to gather in someone's office, close the door, and say, 'I hate my life, why are we doing this?' " she said.
Williams says the main reason for the associate 'squeeze out' is the recession with fewer deals in financial services, real estate, and high tech. In reality it's highly unlikely that law grads and associates are headed backs to the days of Camelot, even with an economic recovery.
Corporations are learning to operate with less. They're demanding reduced and flat fee billing. And with lawyers leaving large law and opening shops with far fewer trappings than at large law firms, those corporations are going to find lawyers ready and willing.
Rather than fine tuning your resume and knocking on doors, only to be rejected, it's time for graduating lawyers and young associates to develop their own brand. Developing a brand that makes you more valuable to a law firm than other associates or developing a brand that allows you to be successful outside large law.
Law firm marketing and business development people in law firms, as good as they may be, are not thinking about developing your career as a young lawyer and making you more valuable to the firm. They are thinking about developing the firm's brand and expertise - and maybe promoting the skill and expertise of one of the firm's heavy rainmakers.
Many placement people in law schools have never had to get out and get a law job like you. They've certainly never faced an economic decline and law firm re-structuring like we have today. I wouldn't be placing my future in their hands.
It's up to you to develop your brand. A brand in the professional service business is not a logo, a font on letterhead, a fancy website, or a tag line. A lawyer's brand is their expertise, usually in a niche area of the law.
Fortunately, there's never been a better time to develop your brand. One, Social media, including blogging, has been the great equalizer for lawyers. You don't need the budget of large law firm PR and marketing to develop a brand. Two, your competition is lazy and a child of the 'expecting generation.'
Sound and strategic blogging allows you to develop a name and network with leading authorities in a niche. A focused and professional use of Twitter allows you to become an intelligence agent in an area of the law or for a particular industry. Your tweets culled from highlights in your newsreader will get you followers from your target audience and be re-tweeted to even more. LinkedIn allows you to connect with the people you meet, that you'd like to meet, and network among groups of companies and professionals you would like to be hired by.
Second, and more importantly, your competition sucks. Sure they graduated from top law schools and had high LSAT's. But they are not Phd's - poor, hungry, and driven.
The vast majority of your competition has come to expect things to be handed to them. They are not used to hustling. They are not used to doing what they need to do to build a personal barnd. In my mind they are lazy.
I got my first full time job out of law school by cold calling on law firms. I knocked on the door and asked to see the top partner in the firm, whose name I looked up in Martindale-Hubbell. I did not have an appointment. The receptionist told me the firm was not hiring and that the lawyer was not available. I told them I'd wait. Heck, I didn't have a job, what else could I do that would be a better use of my time.
Maybe, you're too scared to knock on doors. But that doesn't prevent you from networking with the leaders in the area of law you want to get into. Getting to know them through blogging, Twitter, and LinkedIn would circumvent the 'cold knocking.' You could ask them to get to together for a cup of coffee. And they'd gladly accept an invite from a go getter like you who's developing niche expertise.
You're scared because you've got large student loans, you need to get that large law job for the big bucks. You're afraid to use social media because your large law firm or your placement director frowns on it.
Get over it. Don't let that fear paralyze you. The future is always going to belong to those who think differently and hustle more than the next guy.
The associates at my law firm recently did a personal branding exercise in lieu of the template marketing plan we've had for the past five years.
They had to recap the main legal areas they did work in and their marketing efforts in 2009, like associations, articles, new clients and contacts, and social media. We also had them identify the top 3 legal areas they want to focus on in 2010 and why, and who could benefit from these services. We used that information to figure out how to demonstrate their expertise in these areas, reach their target clients/contacts, and which marketing channels to use.
These personal branding plans were so helpful for me in suggesting applicable communications platforms to use. I think they were also helpful for the associates in making them focus on where they are in their careers and where they want to go!
Absolutely,
In this day and age, the more connected you are in the world of Social media, the better.
As small business marketers, we have also seen a huge shift in trust happening. Due to less than ethical large corporations, "ambulance chaser" lawyers (No offense meant to the genuine lawyers out there ;) etc - people trust more open, transparent individuals - and the easiest way to do that is by harnessing the right social media for your Professional, or personal brand.
And at its simplest - having a blog is a great way of getting your resume in front of lots of eyeballs. Eyeballs that might just be hiring. (http://creativestramash.co.cc/ for an example of a very basic, clean layout) Add a blog to that resume site and you're showing off your knowledge to the search engines, and therefore recruiters, savvy firms, etc.
What a spot-on post!
Great article, Kevin. I agree that a college degree is no longer enough. Lawyers need to learn how to market themselves and establish their own personal brand!
I couldn't agree more with your emphasis on personal branding and your comment, "The future is always going to belong to those who think differently and hustle more than the next guy." In response to Alex Williams' article about my 'mammoth hours' at Pillsbury, I still work 'mammoth hours' and enjoy it, not primarily for the financial gains, but for the satisfaction I have for my work. On the point of branding, even though a large focus of my practice is on corporate and intellectual property law here in the United States, I also focus on my passion for Africa. So when I opened up Hoja Law Group, I decided to incorporate my Africa interest into my practice and create and Africa practice area.
As a result of Africa's continuing economic growth there are so many great opportunities that have not yet been tapped into. Even though economies have slowed down globally, there are still numerous natural resource, commercial agricultural, privatization, infrastructure etc deals taking place on the African continent. The increase in intra-African trade and South-South trade (especially with China, India and Brazil) are helping keep African trade vibrant as well. There is also a large number of Diaspora Africans that in addition to remitting are investing in Africa. Therefore, it is getting harder and harder to deny that Africa is the last investment frontier.
Knowing that so many opportunities exist, I wanted to play a role in Africa's economic growth. Since entry into African markets is not always easy, I decided to help ease some of the burdens and hurdles by assisting clients to navigate the mythical African landscape. I have the advantages of having been born and raised in Zambia and having lived, traveled and worked in different parts of Africa and also, having lived, travel and acquired the Western (American and Australian) education I know "both sides of the coin".
As for my social media strategies, I use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and focus my discourse on Africa. It helps if you talk about an area you have experience in and are passionate about. Mine relate to issues about Africa and the Diaspora and their law, public policy and economics, for instance, I lecture in international law and Africana studies, founded Transitional Trade, a non profit that focuses on post conflict economic issues (primarily Africa) and I consult for the African European Affairs Consulting firm and in light of the earthquake in Haiti (African diasporic nation), Prese Prese! (http://preseprese.org) which is an initiative to encourage lawyers to donate money as well as pro bono hours to Haitians in the US in need of assistance with the Temporary Protected Status process.
Lastly, even though the economy is tough now I am at least optimistic that the change in the industry will force law graduates to be more creative about their career choices and better yet pursue areas of law they are passionate about. The bottom line is that we all need to find our bliss in law; I have found mind.
Excellent and important article, Kevin! I think you could go even further and drop the "new attorney" qualifier in your title. Attorneys at all levels should pay attention to your points. We are looking at a "sea change" in our industry. With the massive layoffs and other morale-busting maneuvers of last year, we're already seeing significant turnover in the ranks at every level. As the facade of loyalty cracks, lawyers are going to wake up to the fact that they are each their own portable profit center and that they better leverage the heck out of it, or "perish" (to borrow an old phrase from the academic community). Sadly, the attorneys who ignore your sage advice will need it the most.
I agree whole-heartedly that young lawyers need to form their own brand. As few as five years ago, people were told to keep their online lives private and separate from their professional lives. Any online activity was considered a risk to future career development. But now, it's a serious impediment to be absent from the online conversation. More than that, you want to be the person who starts conversations, not just follows others.