More Info
| Consulting services you provide: |
| I provide strategic marketing and business development consulting services. My work typically involves strategic and marketing planning at the firm, practice and individual levels, and working with attorneys to craft and implement business development tactics aimed at aggressively acquiring clients and increasing revenues. I have also developed a specialty in evaluating the structure of marketing, business development and public relations departments to ensure that these efforts are aligned with a firm’s broader client development strategies and initiatives, and business and financial goals. |
| |
| How did you come to hold your present position (specifically, what led you to become a legal recruiter, marketing consultant, etc.)? |
| I have spent my entire career in the legal industry, starting the summer before college, thanks to a family friend who is the Executive Director of a Washington, DC law firm. My first position was a combined legal recruiting and marketing job, and I then moved into marketing exclusively, working for several law firms in marketing director capacities. After finishing my MBA, I was interested in transitioning out of law firms, and became the senior manager of business development and marketing for a software company that developed intellectual asset management systems for law firms and corporate legal departments, working with varied clients including the corporate legal departments of the largest pharmaceutical company in the United States, a “Big 4” consulting firm, a major health care products manufacturer, and the country’s largest automotive company. In 2001, I joined Jaffe Associates, and have been consulting with law firm and legal industry clients ever since. |
| |
| What is the best thing about working with lawyers? |
| For several years, I worked primarily with IP attorneys, who, as scientists, rarely asked, "What is the precedent?" but instead focused upon "what's new?" Working with clients who are willing to try something different remains very appealing to me. |
| |
| What is the worst thing about working with lawyers? |
| Lawyers are trained to "look in the rearview mirror" and determine what's been agreeable or acceptable in the past. The most difficult thing about working with some lawyers is getting them to forget about what's been done previously or what their competitors are doing, and instead, consider their own skills, goals, practice, clients and prospects, and undertake marketing and business development activities that will help achieve their specific objectives. |
| |
| What has been the most satisfying moment of your career thus far? |
| They have been many and varied. Working with attorneys who are skeptical about the value of thinking and acting strategically with respect to marketing, and become converts when they see significant results is certainly rewarding. Providing support to in-house marketing professionals and helping them to shine within their firm is greatly satisfying. And teaming with my Jaffe colleagues to help clients accomplish a variety of business and marketing objectives is rewarding both personally and professionally. |
| |
| What are your favorite activities outside the law? |
| Competitively show jumping horses, traveling to exotic or off beat locales, and cooking for friends and family. |
| |
|
