Marta Carreira-Slabe is the chief counsel for Aon plc in Latin America. She is responsible for managing Aon’s team of in-house attorneys throughout Latin America and for advising the business on legal, and compliance issues related to key corporate and regional initiatives as well as on overall business strategy. She also is responsible for supervising corporate transactional matters on mergers and acquisitions as they relate to Latin America; managing litigation and regulatory matters; and counsels and educates Aon Latin America on FCPA/anti-corruption policies, including third party compliance, as well as AML and date privacy issues. 

Before joining Aon in 2006, Marta was an associate with Sidley Austin, LLP in Chicago from 2003 to 2006 where she practiced civil litigation, including copyright, media access and publishing-related issues, class actions and ERISA. Marta was responsible for several aspects of litigation and also represented clients before the International Chamber of Commerce.

She began her legal career in 2001 as a law clerk for the University Of Illinois Office Of Legal Counsel in Champaign, Illinois.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Marta was a television news anchor and reporter at WCIA-TV, in Champaign, Illinois.

Matt Nolan is Vice President of The Heico Companies, a family-owned global group of 40+ manufacturing companies spanning a number of industries.  In his role as General Counsel of the Ancra Group, one of Heico's four platforms, Matt handles corporate, commercial, litigation, real estate, labor, employment, regulatory and all other legal matters for 18 companies operating on five continents.  In his role as Director of Heico Compliance, Matt oversees and operates Heico's global compliance program (policies, training and process).

Prior to joining Heico, Matt served a brief stint as General Counsel of the American Football League of China (AFLC), an American-rules football league comprised of 90%+ domestic Chinese players headquartered in Shanghai.  He spent two years in Shanghai as Manager of Ethics & Compliance for Greater China for Dow Corning Corporation at the end of a seven-year span with that company that also included commercial counseling and lobbying law.  Matt started his career with Kirkland & Ellis LLP's private equity practice in Chicago.

In 2016, Matt was named one of the Association of Corporate Counsel's Top Ten Thirtysomethings.  He was Chair of the ACC's 6,000+ member Law Department Management Committee in 2017, served two years as Vice-Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai's Legal Committee from 2014-2015.  Matt received his JD from Michigan Law School, where he serves today on its Development & Alumni Relations Committee and as Co-Chair of his class's reunion committee.  He is a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP), and speaks increasingly-less-fluent-with-time Mandarin.

David Cambria is the Director of Global Operations – Law, Compliance and Government Relations for Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) where he works with the General Counsel to develop and lead a “best-in-class” law department operations function with a primary focus on aligning the department’s day-to-day operations with the business strategy. His team is responsible for overseeing the non-legal and tactical aspects of running the department, including day to day management of the following: finance, information technology, law firm and vendor management, client service/delivers and general administration. Prior to this position, David was the Senior Director of Enterprise Information Management for CDW Corporation. There he led CDW’s Information Management program by driving information security, data management, records management, eDiscovery and intellectual property initiatives across the organization. 

In 2013, David was named by the National Law Journal as one of the Top 50 Legal Business Trailblazers & Pioneers. He is chairman of the advisory board for the Annual Law Department Operations Survey, where he also serves as editor and contributor. He received his BA, with honors in Political Science and Economics from St. John Fisher College and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Dayton, School of Law.

John Cunningham will lead this fast-paced panel will be unlike any you have seen, featuring: direct one-word, one-sentence and one-minute answers to poignant questions about client concerns with legal service and sales; specific examples of sales or service techniques that have annoyed GCs or produced results; and insight into what clients value in terms of technology use, process improvement, service training, or other approaches to legal service and marketing.

John Cunningham is a freelance writer and communications consultant who practiced law for nearly 17 years. During nine of those years, he served as V.P. and General Counsel to a publicly held international company and as General Counsel and Secretary to a Fortune 100 subsidiary.

He also served as a news editor and reporter for Lawyers Weekly publications for more than four years. As a reporter and writer, John has produced articles for more than 20 press publications, covering stories about virtually all legal practice disciplines, as well as the marketing and management of law firms.  As a freelancer, he has also written white papers, newsletters, marketing materials and Web site content for trade associations and professional service firms.

John attended Boston College Law School, where he was a magna cum laude graduate, member of the Order of the Coif, and an editor for the Environmental Affairs Law Review. For a complete profile, including information about his business, click on the “About” tab at: http://johnocunningham.wordpress.com

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Stephanie Hinrichs, is the Director of Client Service at Womble Bond Dickinson. She brings more than a decade of experience in sales and marketing, specifically in the legal, economic development, airline, and transportation industries. Ss Director of Client Service, she works closely with firm attorneys and clients to initiate and expand relationships, as well as to ensure that the firm is providing the highest quality client service. Stephanie also leads the firms Manufacturing and Transport, Logistics & Infrastructure Industry Sectors.

Neel Lilani serves as Managing Director at Orrick where he drives new global business opportunities through coordinated strategies across the technology sector.  He leads Orrick’s global corporate development group and manages the firm’s venture capital relationships to help companies with growth financing and business strategy evolution. He has served in senior strategy roles at some of the world’s leading law firms and Fortune 500 companies and is passionate about international growth, strategic planning, and technology-driven businesses.

Stephanie and Neel are leading the Role of the Sales Professional in a Client Pitch. In this workshop, you will be challenged to communicate value-add services, broader firm practice offerings outside of the core pitch focus, geographic footprint and leverage personal connections to potential client(s).

The Role of the Sales Professional in a Client Pitch - Workshop

June 6 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

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David Cambria is the Director of Global Operations – Law, Compliance and Government Relations for Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM)where he works with the General Counsel to develop and lead a “best-in-class” law department operations function with a primary focus on aligning the department’s day-to-day operations with the business strategy. His team is responsible for overseeing the non-legal and tactical aspects of running the department, including day to day management of the following: finance, information technology, law firm and vendor management, client service/delivers and general administration.

Michael Caplan serves as the Goodwin's Chief Operating Officer. As COO, he manages the firm's business, financial and administrative operations. He serves on Goodwin's Executive and Management Committees, and focuses on the firm’s growth strategy and execution. His background includes roles in both corporate and consulting management positions where he has worked with over 30 general counsels in managing data analytics, technology project implementation, law firm relationship management and financial management.

David and Mike will share lessons learned from running corporate legal departments and serving as the COO at an AMLaw100 firm. You will hear what they “wish they had known” and how you can apply their insight to help you create stronger partnerships between your law firm and corporate legal departments.

Inside Out – Lessons Learned from Leading a Corporate Law Department and an AmLaw 100 Law Firm

June 6 1:00 PM - 1:50 PM

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As the Legal Sales & Service Organization prepares for 15th Annual RainDance Conference, its co-founders talked with the National Law Review on how it started and the future.

Q: What was your vision for the Legal Sales & Service Organization when you started it 15 years ago?

A – Silvia Coulter, LSSO Co-Founder:

The legal industry was shifting from a profession to a business. Part of the shift was introducing marketing, and therefore a means by which firms would compete, into the industry. We knew that highly-experienced, seasoned sales professionals would be part of the next wave of change. And while it has taken longer than expected, sales professionals are in fact joining law firms and bringing a new level of strategic sales to the practice of law, allowing partners to focus on what they do best—legal work and servicing clients. Sales professionals are providing the firms with a heightened ability to compete effectively for new business.  The vision for LSSO fifteen years ago is realized with these changes.

Q: What is the role of sales professionals in law firms today?

A – Beth Cuzzone, LSSO Co-Founder:

Now, more than ever before, there are sales professionals helping partners guide the way to retaining and growing existing clients, and to bringing in new business. This year we launched the “2018 Legal Sales Uncovered: Trends and Salary Survey” along with our partner Hellerman Communications. This first of its kind survey will provide valuable insight and benchmarking data on how firm’s are structuring their sales roles. We will reveal the results at RainDance and provide copies to all the respondents.

Read the full interview with Silvia and Beth in the National Law Review.

Steve Bell, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer

Join us at the RainDance Conference June 6-7, 2018 in Chicago where you will learn, share and network with industry leaders like Steve.

A pioneer of professional services sales with more than 25 years of experience in the field, Steve Bell was the co-founder of the Sales Department at Price Waterhouse, the founder of Sales at Grant Thornton, and the legal profession’s first director of sales. 

In his current role as Womble Bond Dickinson’s Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Steve is responsible for engaging and serving clients ranging from entrepreneurial companies to major multinationals, principally in manufacturing and distribution, telecommunications, technology, hospitality and financial services. Among his innovations are professional services sales processes, the use of CRM in professional services, sales compensation systems and national sales contests.  He was an early advocate of the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Value Challenge and is an ombudsman for inside counsel and strong supporter of the ACC, its chapters and committees. 

Follow him on Twitter at @SteveMBell.

Meet all of our speakers, see the full agenda and register here for RainDance 2018.

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RainDance 2018 is in 6 WEEKS! Have you registered?

Here's what we have on the agenda:

• The State of Law Department Operations 2018
• The Role of the Sales Professional in a Client Pitch
• How Your Competition Closes Business
  
• Building a Winning Team
  
• Design Thinking Workshop
• Live Coaching Session: YOU be the coach
• Achieving Client Centricity through Data
  
• Inside Out - Lessons Learned from Leading a Corporate Law Department
  
• Rapid Fire Client Panel
• LSSO's 2018 Sales & Service Awards

See the Full Agenda

Meet the Speakers

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Thompson Coburn LLP currently has an exempt position available in our Chicago office for a full-time Marketing Manager to consult with the partners in the Chicago office to develop and execute marketing, communication and business development initiatives.

Learn More and Apply

By Deborah McMurray is the founder, CEO and Strategy Architect of Content Pilot LLC

The early AmLaw 100/200 firm reports suggest that many of America’s largest law firms saw increases in revenue and profits in 2017 over 2016.  Some of the pre-release headlines are, “…revenue inches up,” or “…partner profits surge” or “…revenues are up 10% or 19% or to a record high or rocketed up 49%…” Yet, there are other firms that saw a tougher 2017 – “…declines in net income,” and “…a 10% drop,” and “…revenues and profits dip.” The stated reasons for growth are most frequently attributed to outside events, such as mergers, hiring of important laterals, investing in new offices and markets, and growth in non-U.S. regions. Occasionally they are attributed to a keenly focused business model and set of service offerings. For example, Kobre & Kim states, “We are trying to stay very disciplined to our model, just focusing on our specialties,” Kim said. Or as Kobre puts it, “We are staying in our lane.”

Declines and downturns are attached to a variety of explanations: fewer successful contingency cases, higher associate and other non-partner compensation, failed merger discussions, the departure of profitable partners and groups.

Where do marketing and business development fit into the discussions behind these sound-bites? How does the chief marketing and business development officer (and his or her team) become one of the drivers of the financial success that’s reported each year? If you keep up with today’s blogs and podcasts that cover the legal industry, you now have a long list of potentially expensive things you can do: new marketing technologies (proposal automation, experience management, CRM), artificial intelligence-something, strategic planning, office and market expansion, lawyer training, new client acquisition and more effectively cross-serving existing clients, a new and better website. Plus, more. These are critical and high-potential tools and initiatives, yet we know that success doesn’t happen overnight. It can take many months and years to demonstrate return on investment from any one of them.

An affordable and executable strategy

There is one strategy that seldom makes the CMBDO’s or Directors’ to-do lists, however, because it frankly has a sex-appeal problem. Strategically overhaul your content and leverage it so it works much, much (much!) harder for you.

Law firms of all sizes are prolific publishers of original content and curators of others’ material – a lot of it is quite relevant and good. Until now, too much of it has been consistently under-performing and under-achieving. Our motto is, “everything you do should drive today’s ‘3-Rs’: Reputation, relationships and revenue.”  Too many law firms neglect to set this as a goal, let alone deliver on it.

Rethink your approach and investment in content

Undiagnosed inertia is an insidious killer of fresh-thinking. Because law firms are publishing weighty volumes of content on a trains-running-on-time-schedule, many marketers don’t want to throw a wrench in the production and delivery process. (“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”) In addition, the “coalition of the willing” is firmly in place – i.e., lawyers with time on their hands are producing content and marketers are displaying it, both without regard for over-arching firm and practice strategy, focus or reach.

But – it IS broken. There is tremendous content-discontent, and not just by you and your lawyers – it’s also felt by your clients, prospects and referral sources. Below are two strategies to help you adjust and better leverage what you are currently doing – remember: the goal is elevated reputation, relationships and revenue.

Restructure your content the “Anatomy 101™” way

The reason that creating today’s law firm practice and industry content is so hard, painful, impossible, exasperating, dreadful, intolerable and paralyzing is that the marketers start with the lawyers as their source. It seems logical – in fact, it is logical, but with rare exceptions, it’s not working. Many lawyers don’t know what to say and how to say it so that a reader will stop in his tracks – they don’t know how to turn heads.  They have no framework to help us create something that is compelling for a website, a proposal or a video.

To illustrate how you can re-frame your content so that it achieves measurable goals, we have created this infographic.

Start here, and work in this order: 

1.  Your ears. Listen to the voice of your clients. For what are they hiring you? What are their pain-points? Opportunities? What does their 18-month horizon look like? These are your topics?
2. Core. What is your firm’s unique strategy and messaging and how does it translate to your practice/industry areas and experience? How does your unique positioning strategy enable you to address what you hear from your clients?
3. Your legs and arms. This is your power; your detailed matters and experience. How does what you’ve done/seen in the past make you the expert? Offer highly specific proof points that only you can provide.
4. Your eyes. You have to see and know the horizon. What regulations, legislation, market upheaval, trends, etc. are affecting and influencing your opinions?
5. Your brain. This is where your relevancy is tested. Are you a part of the latest conversations that cover the topics in which you are interested? Lawyers can take their historical expertise and experience and turn it into relevancy that supports today’s discussions.
6. Your heart. Love your clients and work and don’t be afraid to show it.  Intentionally connect with your readers – not just intellectually, but emotionally. Buyers of legal services make their buying decision on two-levels. When they are making their short-list of lawyers/law firms, they are making an intellectual or technical decision. But when they are choosing the one lawyer or firm over all the others, they are making an emotional decision – “Do I like this person? Do I trust her? Do I feel he has my back?” You have to sell on both levels.

Blow up your practice and industry content, e-blasts, articles and speeches and start over. If you tailor this formula to the medium and follow this Anatomy 101 lesson, you and your lawyers will be more productive, goal-oriented and successful tackling your content challenges.

Create a 360-degree content strategy™

We also recommend that firms embrace a “360-Degree Content Strategy,” where you are pushing and pulling content – in other words, leveraging it and distributing it – to and from all these sources.  Every major practice and industry area should have its own content strategy: who are the buyers of these services?  How fast do these buyers make decisions?  What specifically are they buying from you?  What do those buyers read and where do they spend their time?

Note that you are leveraging and syndicating content from every online and offline source, including one-to-one conversations your lawyers have with each other, referral sources, clients and prospects. (Of course, you aren’t syndicating anything that could be privileged or confidential. But, there are rich water-cooler, Starbucks-run and hallway discussions that could be quickly converted to an e-blast, tweet or blog post.)

Note, too, that “Word of Mouth” is here. A senior partner recently complained to me that his referral sources haven’t been as effective as in years’ past in terms of driving new clients to him. This lawyer had fundamentally shifted his practice from employment counseling to internal investigations but had failed to alert any of his formerly strong referrers of this change. It’s up to your lawyers to coach their referrers by providing a short script of how they guide and assist clients. Ensure that they know what you do today and the kind of work you hope they will refer you.  Remember, they like you and are delighted to help you succeed.  But you have to invest skin in the game for these relationships to be fruitful.

Finally, see the word “Micro-Moments” in the infographic. We all know that it’s difficult and expensive to change perceptions at a macro level, since buyers hang on to and protect broadly-held beliefs. But at the micro level, you and your lawyers have an opportunity to change behaviors and outcomes by designing touchpoints that are distinguishing, relevant and meaningful – touchpoints that turn heads. Google, in a recent study (“Micro-Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile”), calls these “micro-moments” and describes micro-moments as “…the new battleground for brands. Micro-moments are critical touchpoints within today’s customer’s journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine how that journey ends.”

We want your prospect’s journey to be clear, and to conclude with a very happy and well-informed buyer hiring your law firm and your lawyers.  Because that’s how this story should end.

About the Author

Deborah McMurray is the founder, CEO and Strategy Architect of Content Pilot LLC. She is a member of LSSO's Board of Editors.

She may be reached at mcmurray@contentpilot.com or on her cell at 972.897.4921.

Shumaker is hiring a Marketing & Client Development Assistant in Charolotte, NC.

The Marketing & Client Development Assistant will provide marketing and client development assistance and support to the Charlotte, North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina offices.   The ideal candidate will be a self-starter with great judgement and experience in marketing at a professional services firm.

Read more and apply here

What is Design Thinking? Read about the Design Thinking Workshop at this year's RainDance Conference in the National Law Review and register now to attend.

RainDance Conference

June 6 - 7, 2018

Chicago, IL

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