Law Rocks

A few weeks ago (sorry – it’s been busy) at the invitation of one of my former barrister clients I took myself along to the second “Law Rocks” event at the 100 Club in London – dragging one of my legal chums with me. I had even put on the white tee shirt covered in logos of the participating firms and sponsors provided as part of my charity donation ticket.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – with memories of the Olswang Partners’ Rock Band playing at Covent Garden’s Rock Garden at a Christmas party several decades ago still burned indelibly into my memory. But what a pleasant surprise – and a great evening!

Introduced by our MC for the evening (High Court Judge Mr Justice Coulson), first up was a band called Eclectic Zoo (Blake Lapthorn) with two energetic female vocalists belting out their five numbers which included a Blondie number (to which everyone sang along) and an interesting Led Zeppelin/Mamma Mia arrangement. The three judges (one of whom was The Lawyer’s editor Cat Griffiths and the other two were real music industry peeps) gave their views after each performance.

Then Music Matters (not a terribly inspirational name) from Nabarro were on with a female vocalist with a voice similar to Alison Moyet in an amazing sparkly dress and a mellow male lead singer who looked vaguely like a young Jon Bon Jovi. In their set we were treated to some Red Hot Chilli Pepper numbers, a heart felt version of Queen’s “Don’t stop me now”, another Blondie number and a brave Muse cover. Being an ex-Nabarro person I felt I owed my allegiance to this band and sang along where I could.

At this point I was encouraged to buy some tickets for the charity raffle which were being sold rather effectively by one of the Keating Chambers clerks. The prize was an impressive looking Fender white Stratocaster guitar – perfect for any lawyer who still holds dreams of a rock rather than a legal career…

Then Run-DAC fielded three front women – one of whom played sax. “Nutbush” got the crowd moving and “Proud Mary” kept them going. “Another piece of my heart” allowed the vocals to shine.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (Real State) – fielding its head of real estate in the band – did a rousing “Let me entertain you”. Awesome sparkly shoes here – on one of the guys. Keyboard AND sax. We sang along to the cover of Scissor Sister’s “Take your mama out all night” and to the Doobie Brother’s “Long train running” (“Without love, where would we be now…”). Bit surprised at the “Beat it” number at the end of the set, but the judges were impressed – noting the incredible similarity of the lead singer to Rob Lowe.

Rebels without a clause (Pinsent Masons) got my vote for the stripy suit straight from the set of Beetlejuice on the drum player. Not too sure about the attempt to simulate real punk “Echo Beach” (one of my favourites) but “Go your own way” by Fleetwood Mac and King’s of Leon’s “Use somebody” were good.

Last to play were the New Teen Titans from Hogan Lovells. Bravely, this was the only all male band. These, I have to say, were my favourites, especially as they opened with “My Sharona”. The Neil Young number (“Keep on rocking in the free world”) was pretty good too. Bob Kidby – ex head of global real estate – was an astonishing player. These guys were real pros.

The judges deliberated for a short while and announced the runners up to be Pinsent Masons and the winners BLP. Congratulations to all the participants and to Nick Child and Keating Chambers for organising such a fabulous event which everyone enjoyed so much – and which raised a considerable amount for various charities.

The second round for 2010 will be held on 24th June and the firms competing are: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna, DLA Piper, Reed Smith, Bird & Bird and – of course – Keating Chambers. Can’t wait. Tickets have sold out – lucky I have mine already.

Further information at http://www.lawrocks.com/

Ladies Day Networking football event with Kelly Simmons MBE and Karren Brady

Way back in 1998 I conducted a small research study in the legal profession about attitudes towards female only networking events. The results were interesting – 50% were for and 50% were against them, although there was a clear preference for them in the regions.

So it was with great interest that I received an invitation recently from law firm Crowell & Moring to attend an inaugural (in the UK) women’s networking event with a football theme. Yes, football! Especially as I am a rugby fan. (Although, when pressed, I admit that as a youngster I used to play for Fulham Ladies).

So along I went to the Mayfair Hotel to spend the morning with a delightful group of senior business women from the financial, insurance, not for profit, legal, media, accountancy and manufacturing sectors. After a short and informal introduction from a Crowell & Moring litigation partner – Nilam Sharma - we had our first talk from Kelly Simmons MBA who is the Football Association’s Head of National Game. Despite the fact that the FA was again in the headlines with the departure of yet another Chief Executive (she mentioned there had been five recently) and the extra curriculum activities of the Chairman she was calm and relaxed. It was fascinating to hear her descriptions of the Respect initiative to improve behaviour, her work promoting women’s football, the FA’s programme to invest over £200m over five years into grassroots football and the challenges of recruiting referees.

We then embarked on the surprise team challenge. We had to create a World Cup Fantasy Football team for the imminent world cup. I thought the hosts were brilliant at explaining the somewhat complex rules (£60m budget, only two players from each country, how strikers and midfielders earned points – “What’s a midfielder?”) and guiding the use of the computer system to the assembled group of 100 or so women who were largely football novices.

To keep us sustained through our labours we were plied with chocolate coated strawberries, glasses of champagne, aromatic coffee, an assortment of pastries and fresh fruit skewers (for the health conscious). I bonded with my fellow team mates who included a legal insurance risk specialist, the MD of a Midlands catering company and the company secretary from a substantial office products group.

Then Karren Brady – the woman who filled the headlines when she became Managing Director of Birmingham City Football Club at the tender age of 23 and who is now Vice Chairman of West Ham United Football Club – gave an inspirational talk. She provided all manner of insights into the keys to success (leadership, ambition, determination, attitude, direction and being positive) and shared some favourite quotes (e.g. “The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going”, “Make change happen, watch change happen or wonder what’s happening” and FIFO (you’ll have to ask me about that one!)) as she described some of the things she had done to turn things around. Her focus was on involving all levels of employee – whether they were professional footballers earning £15,000 a week or ground staff on the same amount in a year.

So, a big success for the ladies who were networking and an even bigger success for Crowell & Moring (and it’s lone token male who attended) for devising and hosting such a bold and unusual event. The group I worked with will be enthusiastically watching the World Cup in June now to see how our team fares and to see if we win the prize (which is cash for our nominated charity – and I suggested the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation).

16 ways to remember names when networking

Whenever I lead or deliver a training session on networking, the issue of how to remember names always comes up (particularly amongst the legal profession). As it did at the webinar earlier this week. So I have blogged this older FAQ:

I have long suspected that one of the reasons so many people dislike networking situations is that they are afraid that they will not remember people who remember them – and fear the obvious embarrassment that follows.

All the books on business and networking effectiveness and many books considering general success mention that people like to hear their own names – we are hard-wired to pay attention when our name is used. Dale Carnegie who wrote one of my best loved books “How to win friends and influence people” said that "a person's name is to that person, the sweetest most important sound in any language."

When you use someone’s name you are saying “You are important to me”. So when we forget a name, we may leave the opposite impression. So your effective recall and use of names (and other facts about a person’s work, business or personal life) is immensely impressive and shows that you were sufficiently interested to notice these things in the first place.

Over the years, I have researched different methods to help people remember names more easily. In essence you need to use as many senses as possible – visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (movement – like actually or pretending to write the name) but I don’t recommend smelling or tasting people at networking events!

Remember also that one of the founding fathers of psychology George Miller discovered that people on average can keep in their short term memory seven plus or minus two chunks of information – so don’t try to remember too many names at once without a short break to allow the information to transfer to long term memory. Here are some of the main findings – I do hope that they are useful!

1. Pay attention when introduced. Too often we are so busy with what is going on around us and thinking about ourselves that we don’t pay enough attention when people introduce themselves. Listen carefully – you need 3 to 15 seconds of close attention to move a name from short to long term memory. Expert networkers will always use some personal comment after an introduction to allow them a few seconds to commit the name to memory.

2. Some suggest that you verify the name (for example if you see it typed on a badge first) – something like “Are you comfortable with me calling you Dave?” or “Do you normally use Dave?”

3. Use the name immediately and frequently: Repetition is popular with Americans. Use the name three or four times during your conversation – “So, Jane, what brings you here this evening” and “Jane, it was a pleasure meeting you”. If you feel uncomfortable repeating the name out loud, it is almost as effective to repeat the name to yourself in your head. Of course, another way to repeat the name out loud without sounding artificial is to introduce the person to one of your colleagues or to help the conversation flow within the group “As Caroline just mentioned…” .

4. Ask about their name. This is a subtle way to enable you to repeat the name, say something like “Tasso is an unusual name – what is it’s origin?” or even “How do you spell that?” or “Did I pronounce Tasso correctly?”

5. Visualise their name on their forehead. Look carefully at the person and imagine that their name is written on their forehead – pick a bright colour – or your favourite. And use an interesting font – preferably with a link to the person (serif font for an older, traditional person or a modern, angular font for someone who comes across that way)

6. Imagine you are writing their name. NLP programming experts suggest getting a feel for what it would be like to write the name by moving your finger in micro-muscle movements as you are seeing the name and saying it to yourself.

7. Actually write the name down. Find an excuse to note down the name on a piece of paper (assuming that they haven’t give you a business card – in which case you can still do so on the reverse with a note of the key points discussed). Many people excuse themselves periodically to make a note of those they have met and the key topics discussed and any actions agreed.

8. Request a business card and look at their name. This is easier these days if you need to obtain an email address or mobile phone number. Sometimes seeing a name written down helps you remember it more easily (this is especially true for those people who use visual memory rather than auditory memory predominantly).

9. Use word association. Try connecting a name with a familiar image or famous person. For example, if their name is Bough imagine a tree branch, if their name is Wells imagine a picture of a wishing well. If their name is Felicity think of Felicity Kendall. If it is David imagine David Beckham.

10. Break it down. It may help you build a mental picture if you break the name into syllables and create a collection of interesting images. For example, Matthew – Math (arithmatic) and Hugh (Hugh Grant), Henderson (Hen – chicken, der – Simpson’s character, son – small boy), Robbins (Rob – burglar Bins – trash cans).

11. Use face association. Look discretely at their face and notice any unusual features. Create an association (an image, a rhyme, a song, someone else with that feature) between that feature and the name in your mind. For example, John Depp with a dented head, Joan Smith with a small nose, Ron Jenkins with a round chin.

12. Think about similar sounds. If you are predominantly an auditory person, when you hear a name think of a word that you use a lot or that is striking to associate with it. For example, Tasso sounds like “Lasso” so I am imaging “Tasso” as a cowboy with a rope, Matthew sounds like “Achew” so I see this person sneezing and Chevasse sounds like “crevasse” so I see this person falling down a hole in the snow. Some people find it helps to associate the name with a rhyme – like Slim Kim (I wish!), Harry Carry (not to be confused with Hari Kari!) or Liz Whiz etc.

13. Use the link method. If you need to remember a number of names, and the order doesn’t matter, think about a list that you are familiar with – for example, the colours of the rainbow or the months of the year and then associate names with the items on that list. For example:
Caroline Gaten liked the snow in January Stanley Parek won my heart in February Roger Smith went on a March William Jones saw showers in April Deborah Simmons flowered in May…

14. Remember names along a familiar route. Similar to the link method is to recall a journey with which you are familiar and where there are obvious landmarks – place each person at a landmark. This is a good method if you need to remember the right sequence. Then you can recall the journey and the names should come back to you. For example, Janice sat on the green island in the middle of the road. At the junction with Nelson Road Neil was working in the music shop. At the Nelson Pub I found Natalie so I continued along Nelson Road where Bill was waiting outside Twickenham Stadium Looking at cars in Curry Motors was Mark Buying a ticket at the train station was James

15. Use the Roman Room (Method of Loci) method. An old method – similar to the route method above - using mnemonics to remember groups of names that don’t have any order. Imagine a room that you know and think about all the objects that are in there – a bureau, a TV, a music system, a coffee table and so on. Associate each name with an object in the room – then to recall things just visualise the room objects again and the name should come back into mind. Remember to use different rooms for different groups of people to avoid confusion.

16. Think of a lemur! This is an acronym that will make you smile and remind you to try some of these common techniques: Look and listen. Exaggerate a feature and visualise it or the way that their name sounds. Mentally draw some sort of image using the name. Use associations with journeys, lists or room contents. Repeat the name as much as you can (subtly)

Of course, you know that I am a great advocate of positive thinking. And if you keep telling yourself “I am rubbish at remembering names” then it is likely to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. So tell yourself “I can remember names as well as anyone else – and can be better if I use a range of learned strategies” and see how your game improves!

And if all these techniques fail, put on a big smile and say something with real warmth like “I remember you well, but your name has slipped my mind." Or “You’ll have to forgive me, as I get older my memory for names fails me more and more often”.

The 12 essentials of law firm web sites

One of my favourite lawyer clients is chairing a discussion for an international group of small-medium law firms soon debating “the essentials for a law firm web site?”. Whilst most firms will have a web site, often they were hastily put in place without due consideration as to aims and strategy and possibly haven’t been looked at since they were launched. So here’s some thoughts for you John…

1. The bare essentials

The most basic web site is little more than an online brochure. It has your firm’s name in the domain name. It is static. It sets out – like a menu – what the firm does – a list of services and the relevant contacts and, if the firm has thought about its markets – a list of sectors that it serves (as often the only way to differentiate a law firm is by its track record and experience within a particular market sector such as retail, music, aviation or biotechnology).

If you are pressed for time and lack the skills or appetite for creating great content that makes your site “sticky” and encourages people to return for more on a regular basis then this is possibly the limit to your web site. But you are missing out a lot.

2. The aims

Before deciding to invest time and effort in improving your web site, it would be a good idea to have a think about what you hope to achieve and what results you expect. You need to check that your web site dreams will provide a sensible return on investment and integrate with (underpin) your other marketing and business development activities. Easier said than done.

3. The client perspective

Most clients – when interviewed – indicate that the area they use the most is the contact details (telephone numbers, emails, location maps etc) and the lawyer profiles. Yes, the clients want to see photos. Yes, the clients will take notice of whether you look relaxed, approachable and the sort of person that they will want to speak to. Yes, the clients will want to read an interesting profile (please note the use of the word “interesting”) and they would really like to know about recent transactions and experiences rather than those from a couple of decades ago. And whilst you may be concerned about those naughty recruitment folk who might steal away your best assistants, you really need to have their profiles on the site as well.

Some clients like to see other clients mentioned (with the appropriate permissions of course) on a site – and will find case studies and testimonies/references helpful.

4. The tool box

If you want to avoid your web site being an out of date, a static snapshot of your firm a few years back, then you will need to make changes on a regular basis. I could write a book on the challenges and solutions on encouraging your lawyers to contribute material so let’s assume that they will do this. Unless you have a content management system (CMS), every time you want to make a change you will have to pay money to your external web designer/developer.

The other key tool you will need is a method to measure and monitor your web traffic. Google Analytics is free and good enough for most firm’s purposes. More sophisticated users will employ tools for manipulating images and managing email campaigns.

5. The impression and images

Branding and lawyers. Mmmmn. Your site needs to convey your branding – and at least have the same “look and feel” as the visual identity used on your other marketing materials and in your building. Hopefully, it will also communicate some of the personality of your firm – and a good way to do this is through images. Most likely these will be photographs of your lawyers and possibly attractive images (in the appropriate style to match your visual identify) depicting key clients, markets or issues. And don’t forget that the tone of the words will also have a powerful impact on the impression you create (and I’m sure I don’t need to say that jargon should be avoided for any non technical audiences).

You might also spare a thought to how your web site looks through different versions of the various browsers (we don’t all use Internet Explorer – and some people will filter out all graphics and images) and also how it looks when viewed on a mobile device such as an iPhone.

6. The navigation

If you tackled your web site in a structured way – with some help from professional web developers – you will have thought about your navigation system and the way in which people move around your site. Along with a site map your navigation is pretty important for search engine optimisation (SEO) or how people find your site (you might like to read an earlier blog post where I reviewed a book called “Inbound marketing” which tackles this subject in detail).

Having internal links (cross references) to other parts of your site will assist navigation and also help with SEO. There used to be a rule of thumb that users shouldn’t need more than three clicks to get to anything you might be searching for. And don’t forget when designing your navigation to consider things from the users’ point of view – private clients might appreciate a different journey through your site to commercial clients and prospective employees.

7. The content

It used to be the case that “less is more” and web sites were succinct to the point of terse. But “content is king” and a serious web site will offer lots of good quality content offering useful information, reliable advice and pragmatic solutions that add value. Ideally, the content will change frequently too – perhaps through a news page, a publications area where you post up all your bulletins, frequently asked questions, topical white papers or even through a blog (see below). Serious users might have an RSS facility that automatically alerts users when there are changes or additions to the site.

If you have a really content rich site then you may want to consider having a search facility to help with navigation. Where the user can pose specific questions in different areas of your site then you are providing dynamic pages – and this will be typically be powered by some form of application process – such as a database.

8. The search engine optimisation

With the majority of people relying on the first page of organic search engine results pages (SERPs), it is important that your web site comes top of the list in your chosen areas. SEO is a bit of a black art – and the rules keep changing. Google provides an excellent explanation and beginners guide and the book I mentioned earlier – Inbound marketing - has some good basic material although not tailored to the professions. I mentioned the importance of links earlier but keywords and page tiles are also critical here.

A blog and the use of social media (e.g. Twitter – see my earlier blog post for more information) will also help with SEO and you can also send out links to specific sections of your site. You might also give some thought to what appears on your home page and the extent that you want to have tailored landing pages and/or micro-sites dedicated to particular specialists, topics or markets.

Encouraging other, authoritative, web sites to link to yours will substantially help your SEO. But in order to get them to do this you really need some great content (see above).

9. The interaction

Ideally, you want your web site to be a place where you can initiate dialogue with potential and existing clients and referrers so you may want to consider how you promote interaction and discussion on your site. Simple options might be the ability to join mailing lists or to post questions and comments. If you have a blog then you should encourage and monitor the comments and questions that it generates.

More sophisticated firms use their web site to promote the creation and growth of an on-line community – not necessarily with a legal focus - where users with a common interest make connections, “talk” to each other, share and develop a mutually beneficial source of information.

10. The added value

Increasingly, law firms are getting smarter and using their web site to provide all manner of services – from simple fee calculators, to diagnostic tools on common legal issues and on to secure document vaults and transaction deal rooms to subscription based knowledge services. The book “The end of lawyers?” By Richard Susskind explores this topic in detail and provides much food for thought.

Remember that your clients want to feel that they are getting special service and value from you so you may want to consider whether you create a private or secure area where they can access – perhaps through an account name and password – additional information and applications on your site which are denied to the general public (You may want to limit how much of your precious information you give away free to your competitors too!). This could be as simple as access to materials from your seminars and conference programme or perhaps even limited exposure to your own internal precedent and knowledge systems.

11. The differentiation

One of the biggest challenges will be how you differentiate your firm – and its web site – from comparable and competing firms. The design, content, facilities and other aspects mentioned above could all be used to achieve this.

12. The people

Of course, all these things will take time (and therefore money) and it would be sensible to ensure that you have the relevant resources to maintain the momentum. If you encourage all your lawyers to participate then you will probably need some policies and procedures to guide their use and a rota to encourage them to take turns in contributing.

If you have the relevant support resources, then you could consider training someone up (in the absence of a marketing/business development team and professional web master) in design and/or content management.

So. There is much to consider: aims, appearance, content, visibility, use and value.

Of course, you are busy running a law practice and serving clients and earning fees. Better to attempt a modest amount of web development and do it well than to plan to do ‘the world’s best ever law web site’ and actually achieve nothing!

I hope this swift run through is helpful. There are lots of excellent sources around for more information. In particular I would like to suggest www.conscious.co.uk for some legal oriented free white papers on topics ranging from web sites to social media. Also www.venables.co.uk showcases the web sites of many law firms in the UK as well as providing links to a number of web site designers and developers.

PS Yes I know my web site is horribly out of date. And uses frames! Cobbler’s children and all that. Been waiting for a quote for a site overhaul from my developers for a couple of months now – it’s a WIP!