Biglaw, Blogging, Technology

Non-Blogging Law Firm Managing Partners And CEOs Playing With Fire?

Managing partners who don't blog are losing out on the opportunity to effectively reach, engage, and connect with their team, their clients, and the public.

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It used to be cute, or least politically correct, for a law firm not to blog. Why would a law firm throw busy lawyers at what’s little more than an online diary that could only lead to ethical and liability concerns?

No more. Law firms not blogging effectively are at a competitive disadvantage. They have no voice in discussions led by influential lawyers.

Now it’s law firm leaders not taking blogging seriously. Only a handful of leaders of large law firms (managing partners, CEOs, chairs) are blogging. The others, as best I can tell, are ignoring blogging.

What’s the problem? They do not have a voice to effectively reach, engage, and connect with their team, their clients, and the public.

Look at the recent K&L Gates and Law360 skirmish. It began on Tuesday, July 21st, when Law360’s Andrew Strickler (@AndrewStrickler) reported that “K&L Gates Faces Tough Road As Future Leaders Exit (sub. req.).”

Though Strickler’s story sits behind a paywall, an excerpt is available in David Lat’s July 23rd follow-up, “Barbarians at the K&L Gates,” here on Above The Law.

Flat profits and spreading concern about the firm’s ability to keep talent are among the reasons more than 80 partners have K&L Gates LLP since the beginning of the year, an exodus that includes many up-and-coming leaders who had been seen as key to the firm’s future, according to some partners who recently left and other experts.

Those leaving the 2,000-lawyer firm include rising partners in prized corporate and financial practices and a number of high-profile veterans, including intellectual property litigation heavyweight Michael Bettinger [who moved to Sidley in San Francisco]. Litigators Greg Jackson and Danny Ashby joined veteran Steve Korotash, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission associate director, in a jump to Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP’s white-collar group in Dallas in March.

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If you are K&L Gates Chair Peter Kalis, news like this spread across Law360 and Above The Law—some of the most widely read business-of-law publications in the free world—is nothing to sneeze at.

Thousands of employees, clients, prospective clients, and the business community hearing of partner departures, flat revenues, and leaders of the future seeking new opportunities. Imagine the calls from headhunters and conversations with spouses—the type of stuff that has led to a run on the bank at lesser law firms.

In Monday, July 27th’s Wake Up Call, Bloomberg, citing Above The Law, asks “What’s Going On At K&L Gates?”

K&L Gates LLP has been hit with 80 partner departures since the beginning of the year amid concerns about flat profits and a perception that the 2,000-lawyer firm’s single biggest merger — with Australia’s Middletons two years ago — has not produced as expected.

On July 30th, a week and half after the news broke, Kalis fired back with a firm-wide memo ripping Law360 for what he called inaccurate reporting on his firm, sharing a list of facts indicating the firm was in good shape and asking others in the firm to join him in standing up to false reports in the media.

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The memo leaked to Above The Law and Kalis spoke to Bloomberg on July 29th for a July 30th piece reporting that the partner departures were a natural result of the firm’s strategy.

I can’t help but see the irony in Kalis calling for everyone at K&L to take a stand in the media when neither he nor they have an effective media presence. Where’s their voice?

How are he and others going to share facts and stand up to traditional media? K&L has no voice as best as I can tell through a chairman’s blog or Twitter presence.

How does Kalis build trust with the influencers in the business of law today? Influencers who are actively blogging and using social media—and engaging others who do so. Does he know the influencers on blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook—who if they knew and trusted him—would help shape opinion favorable to K&L?

How does Kalis expect others on his team to voice facts if they are not actively blogging and using social media on relevant business matters?

Times have changed. Even though the legal business and how it’s covered is lagging, law firms need a media presence which they create through their leaders’ thought leadership and engagement.

Law firms cannot wait almost ten days to respond to news; a near-immediate engage with social media is needed. Law firms need to have influencers on social who know and trust their firm’s leaders. Talking to traditional media and memos to team members are not enough.

Content strategist Marie Alonso nailed the point in a piece in the Philadelphia Business Journal on 4 reasons your CEO should be blogging like Richard Branson. One of the reasons being brand loyalty.

If your CEO is blogging, he or she is social sharing. This is a great platform for the entire company – fresh, personalized content that carries a distinct voice and recruits distinct followers and sharers. If your CEO is social sharing, they are building brand ambassadors and recruiting brand advocates. With every blog post, your CEO is inspiring, information, engaging or entertaining the masses – all of which boosts the social platforms of the company as a whole.

I am not alone in my views that law firm leaders—whether it’s a CMO, CEO, CTO, Chair or Managing Partner—need to blog and use social media. There was near consensus on Facebook among law firm professionals commenting on the K&L/Law360 situation.

One person on Facebook volunteered that Kalis would be great at blogging. And why not? Law firm leaders got to where they are because of their reputation, influence and ability to build relationships. Each of these traits are at the heart of what blogging and social media are all about.

(Image courtesy of Flickr by Beverly & Pack.)

Earlier: Barbarians At The K&L Gates?
Déjà Vu All Over Again: Peter Kalis Of K&L Gates Strikes Back At Law360

Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) is the CEO and founder ofLexBlog, which empowers lawyers to increase their visibility and accelerate business relationships online. With LexBlog’s help, legal professionals use their subject matter expertise to drive powerful business development through blogging and social media. VisitLexBlog.com.

LexBlog also hosts LXBN, the world’s largest network of professional blogs. With more than 8,000 authors, LXBN is the only media source featuring the latest lawyer-generated commentary on news and issues from around the globe. Visit lxbn.com now.

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