It's Never Too Soon to Consider Your Public Reputation
By Michelle Samuels
If you have a position as a junior associate, you are undoubtedly learning that it brings daily challenges, new learning opportunities, and occasional frustration as you journey along the learning curve. As a first, second or third-year associate at a New York firm, you are being challenged to learn the law in a practical way, bill a set number of hours, and impress the junior partners and senior associates who determine your workload.
Equally important to those lawyering skills is creating, and maintaining, a solid public reputation. A what? Yes, even as a junior associate, you are still wholly responsible for marketing and building up the credentials of you, the trusted and skilled attorney. In today's tenuous economic times and competitive climate, attorneys need to have more than just client relationships and legal skills; they must have good reputations amongst their audiences to succeed.
A public reputation can't be built in a day. Stellar attorney reputations are built step-by-step, a little at a time, through a collaborative effort by peers, clients, reporters and you. If built correctly, your public reputation will expand your client and referral network, increase your visibility and stature among colleagues, and even cause reporters to stop and say, "This is an attorney to keep our eyes on."
So what exactly goes into developing your public reputation? As we've mentioned, it is no longer framed by one single method of communication. There are a number of ways you can get started on your path to reputation management:
Get Firm Approval. Before you try to call The Wall Street Journal to introduce yourself, you will need to check with your group head and marketing director for your firm's policy for associate media relations and marketing activity. Some law firms encourage public relations activity for associates. Others don't (although they should).
And while some firms will introduce you to a marketing staff member who will help you craft a detailed, action-oriented plan to work from, others may just recommend that you work with a partner or mentor to come up with a plan.
Either method is fine. The key point to remember is that your public reputation is yours for the taking, no matter your firm or its policy. Tailor your personal public reputation plan to your firm's policy, but by all means, don't abandon the plan.
Seek Out Role Models and Ask if You Can Help. As you work with partners, watch how they do marketing, not just lawyering. If you look closely, you'll learn a lot about different attorney marketing styles and approaches to media outreach. Observe how articles are written, interviews take place and speaking engagements come to fruition. Take cues from how attorneys work with the firm's internal and external marketing folks.
Sometimes assisting a partner with his or her marketing efforts is the easiest way to get started. Partners frequently need help writing articles and it is always impressive to share a byline with a prominent partner.
In some firms, researching and co-authoring a bylined article for a trade publication may be the only marketing tactic allowed for associates. If so, ask if a partner you work with is interested in writing an article, and offer to help with the research and writing. And if you have an idea for an article, don't keep it to yourself. Run it by your group head and check online to find out which publication may be a good fit for the topic. Many legal and trade publications welcome associate-written articles, while others require a partner on the byline. If the latter, ask a partner if she'd like to share a byline for the article. And remember to always run the final article by your group head before submitting it for publication.
What is true for writing articles is also true for speaking engagements. Attorneys are often pressed for time and welcome the offer of help to prepare for a presentation by doing research or creating PowerPoint slides. While this may not result in getting your name in print, it will give you an opportunity to show your skills to the partner, and provide you with insight into how such presentations come to fruition, whether they play a key role in the partner's rainmaking efforts, and their direct impact on the group's client work.
Market Yourself Internally. Your public reputation as an associate is most critically shaped by how you are perceived by colleagues. If you are the attorney who always eats lunch at his desk, only attends mandatory group or firm functions, and shuns all marketing efforts, then your public reputation will reflect that.
Instead, make it a point to attend practice group luncheons or meetings, and even offer to prepare a brief presentation on something you've been working on that would be relevant and of interest to your colleagues. This often leads to colleagues viewing you as an expert on a particular topic and may result in more work with other practice areas and greater exposure within the firm.
Also volunteer for work assignments in and out of your practice area. View them as a way to enhance your public reputation in addition to your legal skills. Further, ask if you may sit in on marketing and business development meetings. Offer to be the group "secretary" and scribe notes to add value and get invited back. This shows your interest right from the start and gives you a first-hand look at how marketing works on a group-wide or firm-wide level.
Flaunt Your Youth. While most lists and rankings tend to showcase the partners and senior members of your firm, your age can actually serve you well with particular rankings. With "Forty Under 40" and "Rising Stars" lists, you can demonstrate your casework and expertise in a specific area. Aside from rankings, stay active in your undergraduate and law school alumni associations. Inquire about writing articles for your alumni publications, as that exposure gives both you and your firm more recognition.
Join Associations. Your local bar association and Chamber of Commerce, the American Bar Association (which has a Young Lawyers Division), and trade groups can provide exceptional networking opportunities. Looking ahead just a few years, you will be expected to bring in business as a senior associate, so it makes sense to start by building your network now.
Consider leadership roles or volunteer for a committee in the organizations you deem effective for professional growth and networking. As important as online networking may be (and you'll see just how crucial it is below), it is no substitute for face-to-face time.
Network Online. Web 2.0 and social networking are probably already part of your everyday lives. Your expertise in social media and networking online gives you a leg up that you can use to your advantage, and may even allow you to assist partners in better understanding the ever-evolving social media landscape.
Offer yourself as a champion of the Web 2.0 world, but be sure to first check with your firm's marketing department, as most law firms now have a social media policy that you'll need to abide by. If allowed, use sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter to cultivate and create new relationships. Establish your own voice by starting discussions, asking questions, and responding to inquiries, so that when the time comes for business development initiatives, you'll be ahead of the curve.
Join the Online Dialogue. If your firm has its own Web site and/or specialized blogs, find out from the marketing department if any policies exist in relation to blogging. Blogs require constant content and many partners simply do not have the time to contribute on a regular basis. If you can work with the marketing department or marketing partner, you can develop a method for blogging that enables you to represent the firm, establish yourself as a knowledgeable source and, of course, better position the firm as it moves further into the Web 2.0 world.
Make Your Voice Heard. A host of new opportunities in the speaking arena exists for associates. Aside from offering to help a partner with a presentation for an upcoming event, there are now webinars, audio conferences, virtual panels and smaller in-person conferences to consider. These days, you can reach an audience of influencers and potential decision makers without even having to leave your office. Opportunities like these are the perfect way to practice and better hone your speaking skills. Additionally, it helps to attend industry conferences and, as the saying goes, watch and learn.
The sooner you begin thinking about your career in terms of "reputation management," the more poised you will be for success as a partner. It may seem a bit daunting at first, but if associate marketing is permitted at your firm, try implementing some of the above suggestions one step at a time.
Each action, if done effectively, will strengthen the position of the law firm and position you, the associate, as a contributor to the firm's future growth and overall positioning by promoting and showcasing its diversity and depth, its practice areas and its attorneys.
Michelle Samuels is a senior account supervisor at Jaffe PR and is based in New York.