12-Hour Armed Hostage Standoff Ended By Legal Marketer
Wait... what?
Has your firm ever bypassed hiring a professional legal marketer because you and your partners are positive you can sell the world on the idea of paying you hundreds of dollars for a two-hour “internal meeting”? Before you get so cocky about your persuasive skills, this legal marketer JUST NEGOTIATED THE END OF AN ARMED STANDOFF!
Ross Fishman of Fishman Marketing works with law firms from the Am Law 50 down to firms with fewer than 50 attorneys. A few days ago, he earned the “Citizen Citation for Meritorious Service” from Highland Park, Illinois, for his efforts ending an armed hostage situation.
Three months ago, a man barricaded himself inside his home with another local resident and an unknown number of weapons. From 10 a.m. until 10:30 p.m., over 50 police and SWAT personnel tried to end the standoff. The hostage left the house, but the resident was still locked in the home and neither the SWAT negotiator nor the man’s mother or brother could talk him out.
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“At 10:30 p.m. I persuaded the Chief of Police that being a lawyer I might be able to help with some of the issues, and, having run out of options, he let me try,” Fishman said. Fishman emailed and called the resident and, “I was able to talk the perpetrator out safely within 15 minutes.”
FIFTEEN MINUTES. No lawyer ever gets results in less than 2.7 hours.
Ross Fishman is holding the certificate, with Mayor Nancy Rotering to the left and Chief Lou Jogmen to the right, surrounded by some of the other police officers who were on site that day.
The specific citation bestowed upon Fishman is “awarded to a private citizen for an act which involves uncommon risk to the citizen when providing assistance to the Police Department, or for an act which results in the saving of a life or attempted saving of a life in which extraordinary efforts were used and uncommon risk to the citizen was involved.” Among a gathering of cops in tactical gear armed with assault rifles, Fishman was wearing a blue blazer. Because a hostage situation is not an excuse to overlook style.
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“I never envisioned myself as a hostage negotiator, but my litigation and negotiating training (that I use regularly when pitching marketing campaigns to law firm marketing committees) certainly came in handy that night!” That’s an understatement.
Thankfully everyone turned out safe. But to bring this back around to the legal industry, marketing just isn’t something firms should be winging and definitely isn’t a hat you should be wearing while simultaneously trying to practice. The professionals who devote themselves to this job understand how to convince people.
Though as far as we know, Fishman is the only one capable of ending an armed standoff.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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