Telling a good story pays dividends
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Drama loves law. Law loves drama. Great, tricky characters. People with (and without) principles. Great plots. Law makes great television. But in reality, the stories law firms tell about themselves can be less compelling.
There’s a scene in the US drama Damages, where Erin is asked to undertake a straightforward manslaughter case and she’s annoyed and affronted. She joined Hewes & Associates (the fictional law firm headed up by Glenn Close) for big class action cases, bringing down corrupt corporates. Manslaughter! It’s not what she joined this firm for. She knows why she joined the firm; the firm’s got a story.
Here’s where fact and fiction don’t agree. Most law firms don’t. Or rather, they’re all telling the same story.
Look at the way many significant law firms present themselves and you’ll find they all talk the same talk. Everyone advises the world’s leading companies. Provides an outstanding service. Is committed to helping clients succeed. Believes in open partnerships. And is often enjoying being ‘law firm of the year.’ You have an absolute guarantee that threaded through the text will be the words; trust, partnership, tailored and solutions.
With everyone saying the same thing in the same way, there’s every chance that no one really gets heard. There’s little reason to choose one firm over another. Imagine the impact a distinctive and recognisable brand would have in delivering key messages and providing a platform from which to share a point of view. This would pay dividends in attracting and retaining not just clients, but also in recruiting the best talent to work with the firm.
With successful companies, there’s always enough character within it to be recognisable for something. Look at Apple. Or Bentley. Or The Economist. Or McKinsey. They communicate in a way that is seen to come from one personality. This doesn’t happen by accident. A company’s image first requires definition and then careful management.
Why can’t law firms do this? A negative assumption that partnerships don’t agree on much? Or that making decisions is too hard, too many opinions, too many egos?
Maybe - so what’s to be done? There are five things that could transform any law firm and enable its partnership to mean more to more.
Firstly, work with a senior team in an open session. Explore what the real vision for the firm is. Secondly, attach some beliefs - what’s important to the firm, what you care about. Thirdly, be consistent; establish a style to guide and direct the way you express yourselves. Fourthly, find a story, a unifying sense of what you’re all about that defines you, a platform to explain the firm. And finally, keep it straightforward, make it different to others, relevant to the audience, projecting a point of view and create esteem in people's minds internally and externally.
Simple really. There’s no need for anything really overly dramatic.
