Charting the Course for Marketing in the Legal Profession: An Interview with Sue Brelus, Chief Development Officer, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.

In recent years, the legal profession—like the consulting industry 15 years ago—has recognized the value of and need for marketing.  Law firms everywhere are rapidly building marketing functions and developing demand-generation capabilities that just five or so years ago were difficult to find at all but the largest firms.

One of those large firms is Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P., a multi-jurisdictional law firm with approximately 800 lawyers practicing in offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.  Founded in Cleveland in 1890, Squire Sanders has become one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing law firms.  It also is on the leading edge of marketing in the profession, and can be seen as a role model for other law firms looking to create a more formal marketing discipline.

The driving force behind Squire Sanders’ marketing initiatives is Sue Brelus, chief development officer.  From the firm’s Cleveland headquarters, Brelus directs a staff of marketing professionals who support Squire Sanders’ 20 practice groups, numerous other areas of specialization, and 29 offices worldwide.

Brelus recently spoke with Bernie Thiel, a founding partner of The Bloom Group, about how marketing has changed in the legal world and in Squire Sanders, as well as the importance of thought leadership in a profession known for intellectual rigor and the art of constructing strong arguments.

Bloom Group: Talk a little about marketing in the legal field in general. What are the driving factors behind law firms’ interest in marketing?

Sue Brelus: Law firms have undertaken some form of marketing or client development efforts for many years, but formal marketing is still a relatively new area for most law firms. In the past 10 to 12 years, firms have launched into hiring marketing professionals, kicking off branding initiatives and organizing client development efforts. Investment in these efforts has grown substantially.

The legal market is competitive and, like any competitive market, increased competition drives a greater need for differentiation and a proactive approach to maintaining and growing the business base. The needs are no different in the legal arena, although the tactics employed are specific to the industry.

BG: Your background is not in the legal field. Tell us how you came to Squire Sanders, and how your lack of a legal background has helped you in leading marketing for one of the world’s largest law firms—and if it has hindered you in any way.

SB: I came out of manufacturing with a background in general management, marketing and sales. I was very surprised to end up in the legal industry because most of my career has been spent in the product world working for manufacturing companies. When Squire Sanders embarked on its search, hiring someone from outside of the legal industry or professional services was highly unusual. The firm made a conscious decision to look for someone outside the industry, to bring experience and best practices from organizations with a longer track record in formalized strategy, sales and marketing. It was a very forward-looking approach. The firm retained a talented recruiter who also happened to be one of my first bosses at GE. One thing led to another and I was thrilled at the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of developing a truly sophisticated client development and marketing function for the firm. The attorneys are incredibly talented and wonderful people. That had a lot to do with my decision to join the firm.

I’m a big believer in hiring “athletes.” Industry knowledge is helpful, but most important is hiring someone with the right vision, capabilities, energy and personality fit with the organization. I believe my industry experience was a great asset coming into the position, because I wasn’t stuck with a mindset of how things have historically been done. It enabled me to ask questions and push back on those areas where there wasn’t a good answer. Interestingly, I found my industry experience conveyed credibility with some partners and was viewed with skepticism by others. Some thought hiring a product person was an odd choice, so I had to figure out how to overcome that bias. I tried to help those people understand that basic marketing and business development principles are the same across industries and that it’s just the mix of tactics and approach that changes. Ultimately, credibility comes down to executing and making an impact.

BG: How has the marketing function evolved at Squire Sanders? In building the function, did you see any similarities between what you were doing and what the consulting industry went through in the early 1990s?

SB: In my six years with the firm, the function has gone through radical change. When I came on board, the firm was at a point where they wanted to invest in a function that could support a formalized business planning effort with a well coordinated go-to-market strategy across markets and practices. Squire Sanders has 29 offices worldwide and is located in more countries than almost any other law firm, so the need for solid plans and sound execution is imperative.

The function is organized to mirror, and support, how we go to market. We have a team in Cleveland that drives the worldwide marketing strategy, branding, and firmwide initiatives, and provides client development support throughout the organization. That is combined with resources that focus on marketing efforts in specific regional areas where we have offices and practice resources who focus exclusively on our practices, or “product lines.” We were one of the first firms to establish practice-centric resources and that has been a winning model that more firms are embracing. The practices are our thought leadership nerve center and embody the expertise we sell, so it makes sense to align strong resources to support those groups.

The consulting industry jumped feet-first into formalized marketing a number of years before law firms started to dabble. As a result, they are more advanced in brand building and they have developed more of a cultural openness to selling services. The legal industry is on a similar path, but it’s an evolution rather than a revolution. The cultural shift to developing skilled business developers and cross-practice teaming is where the legal industry can learn the most from consulting firms.

BG: It seems that only the largest law firms have what we would consider to be a formal marketing function; the midsize and smaller firms seem to be struggling with the issue. Do you find that’s true as well? If so, what do you see as the biggest challenges in building a marketing function in law firm, and what are the marketing skills that law firms are in most need of?

SB: I have seen an explosion in law firms hiring marketing talent. It’s really been stunning to watch over the last few years. The average tenure for a law firm marketing leader is two to two-and-a-half years. That is largely because of the enormous opportunities in the field with firms establishing and growing their marketing functions. Mid-sized firms now have marketing departments, though much smaller in size. This is a huge challenge for those marketers as they try to offer full service with fewer resources. Many smaller firms have part-time resources or use consultants and agencies to help support their marketing efforts, but they also require more attorney involvement in the process and that takes away from their client time. It’s a challenge.

As firms put more focus on marketing and invest more in building functions, the ever-persistent question of ROI becomes more and more prevalent. This will continue to be an issue legal marketers grapple with since marketing functions in law firms don’t ultimately sell services. The function can support and strengthen the selling climate, but it doesn’t generally bring in new business. There are exceptions to that, and our function has independently brought in new business periodically, but at the end of the day, we are really not structured to act as a sales force. Nevertheless, it is critical to measure what ROI is generated by the function. Measurement is important not only because it helps justify the investment, but also because it tells you where you’re succeeding and how you should allocate resources.

BG: We’ve found the issue of marketing ROI to be a major one for other marketing professionals we speak with as well. How have you been able to quantify the impact of your marketing efforts on your firm’s revenues? Do you find that one of the intangible, but strategically important, benefits of marketing is an edge over your competition?

SB: ROI is a challenging thing to quantify for any marketing organization that does not do the actual selling. That doesn’t mean I don’t try. We have one report that tracks new business brought in based in large part on the function. My rule is the responsible partner needs to agree that the function was key to the acquisition of that new business. If he or she doesn’t agree, it doesn’t go on the report. When I established this report, I set the goal of being able to quantify at least enough revenue to offset our functional headcount expense. We are achieving multiples of that goal, so that provides one benchmark to support the cost/benefit analysis.

We measure our media relations placements and ad equivalency so we can convert those placements to a real dollar value in brand building for the firm. We track a variety of activities including proposals, presentations, collateral, articles, mailings and readership, and events to quantify the efforts and understand trends.

I know our marketing capabilities give us a leg up on competition, because I regularly hear from partners whose efforts are assisted by the function. I also hear from lawyers who join the firm from other firms. I’m very proud of the talent in the group. That said, our industry is still in the formative years of marketing and we have a lot to look forward to in advancing the sophistication of our efforts.

BG: In other types of professional services firms, achieving “thought leadership” via strong intellectual capital is one of the keys to growth. Do you find that’s true in the legal sector in general and at Squire Sanders in particular?

SB: Demonstrating thought leadership is quite important in any professional services organization, and is certainly important at Squire Sanders. It is a core component of what our practices do. After all, intellectual capital is what we provide to clients.

Thought leadership goes beyond regurgitation of a new law or ruling. It begins with analysis and thorough understanding, and then takes a step further to identify issues and opportunities in order to provide unique insights toward solutions. Thought leadership is innovative thinking. In our world, it is not only understanding the law, but proactively thinking through its application and impact on clients and having the confidence and foresight to use that to the client’s advantage.

BG: Can you tell us how intellectual capital development typically happens at your firm—who’s involved, what process you follow, who’s responsible for it?

SB: Intellectual capital development takes many forms at the firm. Each of our practices focus considerable time on educating, training and having dialog on topical issues that are either impacting or likely to impact our clients. In fact, one of our areas of differentiation is our ability to understand legal implications across political and cultural boundaries. This ability to harness intellectual capital across the firm is significant. One contributing factor is the firm’s commitment to operating as a single firm. For example, we don’t drive performance based on office P&Ls, like some organizations. We’re structured in a manner that encourages teamwork across offices and practices and that is a huge benefit to our clients. I’ve worked with service providers that reward based on office P&Ls, for example, and have found it extraordinarily difficult to cultivate a true team that puts the client at the top of the pyramid and channels intellectual capital and support based on the client’s needs.

Technology is an area we heavily rely on to make the most of our thought leadership. Tools including a sophisticated firmwide document management system and work product libraries, as well as access to some of the best third-party research resources, enable us to seamlessly share information and work at a much more efficient pace that ultimately benefits our clients.

Our practices focus substantial time and energy producing formal thought leadership pieces to help clients anticipate issues and opportunities. This is done in the form of formal monthly publications, time-sensitive client alerts, seminars and in-house client training sessions. We also look for opportunities to package our services when new opportunities or issues come to light that are consistent across a broad group of clients who can benefit from structured guidelines. This enables us to counsel clients through a comprehensive list of considerations while benefiting from an economical solution that need not be custom drafted over and over again.

BG: What do you find are the most effective vehicles for marketing your intellectual capital to your target buyers? Is it true that law firms are beginning to sell as much to non-legal executives as to in-house counsel and, if so, how does that affect your marketing activities?

SB: The activities mentioned including publications, seminars and packaged services are all successful ways to help our clients and differentiate ourselves. We also publish articles regularly and work with the media providing commentary on legal issues and trends of importance.

In much of our client base, in-house counsel drives the decision of which outside counsel to use, but that can vary based on the size of the organization—smaller organizations may not have any in-house counsel; the area of interest, such as intellectual property versus tax versus M&A; and the strategic implications for which counsel is sought—contract review versus bet-the-company litigation.

Irrespective of who is making the decision at the client, lawyers need to have a solid understanding of the business, the business implications and the motivating factors for decision making. We work to build relationships with the legal and business leadership to better align with their overall goals. The way in which a law firm is selected varies based on the situation, but ultimately, the hiring decision boils down to credibility and trust—whether lawyers or business people are making the decision.

One interesting and noteworthy trend is the shift to formal RFPs with the process being managed by the purchasing organization in some larger companies. The challenge is the potential to commoditize the selection process by hiring based on hourly rates and documented criteria that don’t give a full picture of capabilities and client service. This risks overlooking the substantial added value great firms provide in ways that aren’t reflected on a monthly bill. It remains to be seen whether this trend will grow.

BG: Given your experience at Squire Sanders, do you have any advice for other law firms that are trying to build a marketing capability? What pitfalls should they look out for and what things should they absolutely do?

SB: Tie yourself to the business. Marketing is not a standalone functional effort. It is more than just promotion, collateral and having a nice website. It is an integral part of helping to shape the firm’s market strategy and position. True success requires you be fully integrated with the lawyers, the firm’s service delivery structure and the firm strategy.

While you’re at it, have some fun. There is a wide open canvas to paint on, so think creatively and enjoy yourself in the process. You’ll be amazed at the results!