Jennifer King embraces the unknown. Perhaps it stems from her childhood living all around the world, from the U.S. to London to Saudi Arabia. Perhaps she picked it up in the first days of her career, diving headfirst into legal journalism with a publishing company launching a new magazine.
No matter where it originated, that penchant for daring has defined King’s career. “I've been fortunate that one theme that has emerged in my career is people I've worked with have confidence in me to stretch my wings, take thoughtful risks and learn new things,” she says.
With that confidence, King has told innovative stories for lawyers and law firms in the press and beyond.
King is a Vice President in the Chicago office of international communications firm Infinite. As head of the firm’s U.S. Content Center, she collaborates with legal industry clients to provide bespoke content including thought leadership, podcasts, white papers, research reports and award nominations – content which can move the needle on defining and amplifying a law firm’s voice in the industry.
King works with an eye for storytelling, born out of her extensive background in legal journalism. A graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, she spent the summer before her senior year interning for the Corporate Legal Times, which had not yet published its first issue. Right off the bat, she jumped into the worlds of the legal industry and magazine publishing, forming foundational, trusting relationships with some of Chicago’s top law firms. In the next 15 years, King rose to Vice President of Editorial at the organization, spearheading its in-house counsel and business publications as well as starting a series of popular conferences, including the general counsel SuperConference of more than 700 attendees.
Those relationships continued after she left the world of journalism. By popular demand, King started a freelance legal marketing practice in 2005, working with law firm clients to create cutting-edge solutions in digital communications – from SEO optimization to the early days of social media strategy. “Social media was in its infancy,” she remembers. “I had clients who would reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, we don't know anything about this. Can you help us figure out a roadmap for creating a social media plan?’ And I was in the background learning everything I could and signing up for Twitter and for Facebook and what have you, because I was learning it just as they were.”
King made the move to Infinite in 2015, where she continues to help her clients stay at the forefront of the conversation with personalized communications solutions in times of development, change and crisis. Always innovating, she has spent the last several years developing a new tech product to help law firms manage their awards and recognition programs.
Outside the office, King has volunteered with the Junior League of Chicago for nearly 25 years, providing leadership skills to volunteers who work with at-risk women and children. She served as the organization’s executive vice president from 2012-2013, among other leadership roles. She is also a trustee for Infinite’s soon-to-launch charitable arm, which supports employees’ interests in volunteerism while engaging in pro bono work. The firm has previously supported organizations including Upwardly Global, which supports immigrants and refugees who can legally work in the U.S. restart their careers here, and Her Justice, an organization providing free legal aid to women living in poverty in New York City.
King spoke with Lawdragon about recent changes in legal communications and PR, critical moves firms may be missing, and the most important avenues for law firms to share their message.
I appreciate that lawyers are some of the smartest and most well-educated people out there. I continually learn new things from them.
Lawdragon: What first brought you to journalism and communications?
Jennifer King: I had the opportunity to live overseas as a kid. I have always been a voracious reader, and even as a kid I wrote fiction. So, when I was thinking about colleges, the two things I was thinking about was becoming a journalist and working overseas as a correspondent, or being in hotel management, which is also a good way to travel. Luck of the draw, I came up with Northwestern when I was applying to colleges, thinking I could do journalism to support myself while writing books. The book part has never happened, but journalism has been a really, really rewarding career.
LD: Tell me about your early days working at Corporate Legal Times.
JK: That was the early nineties. It was an interesting time in the industry. There were some legal publications, but there were not as many as we see now. Other than the ACC Docket, in-house counsel had largely been ignored by legal publications, and Corporate Legal Times was created to fill that void. We also had a business publication for Illinois lawyers called Illinois Legal Times, and I worked on both of those. I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of Chicago law firms really well, while also working with in-house counsel who were hungry for knowledge and to hear what their peers in other legal departments were doing.
In some ways we were journalists as much as we were consultants. In addition to interviewing GCs for articles, we would host round tables where we might bring six or eight general counsel together in a room. It was really invigorating to see what they got out of that and how much they appreciated it.
LD: What do you enjoy about working with lawyers specifically?
JK: I appreciate that lawyers are some of the smartest and most well-educated people out there. I’ve had the opportunity to know and work with luminaries in the profession, including firm founders, top trial lawyers, former attorneys general and solicitors general, and I continually learn new things from them.
As a former journalist and a lifelong news junkie, I get a thrill each time I see a headline that involves my clients’ work. I love working in a sector that’s so tightly embedded in business and government. And in our current political climate, it comforts me that lawyers – including many of my clients – are actively defending the rule of law.
LD: Since you moved to Infinite, what have you enjoyed most about working with the team there?
JL: My colleagues are a group of very thoughtful, smart, curious people, but they're also genuinely fun, nice people to work with. We work with a great group of law firms – organizations of all sizes doing fantastic work.
It is invigorating to work with our clients, whether we are telling positive stories about their accomplishments or positioning them to take ownership of an issue in the media, or even helping them address challenges. They are deeply appreciative. If something has happened that could shake the firm to its core, we get called in to help, hold their hand and guide them through the communications process.
At some level, we are informal therapists to our clients. It happens quite regularly that I have a client who is just having a really bad day. They call me up and we talk through the issues. Usually at the heart of it, it's that there is some kind of crisis brewing, and the client just needs to be reminded that we are here for them. On a day-to-day basis we may be supporting their business development efforts and strategic priorities, but we're also here for them when the going gets tough. We won’t abandon them.
LD: To that end, looking at your role as head of the Content Center, what sets the center apart?
JK: All of our writers are professionals who each have decades of experience in the legal profession. We have been legal reporters and editors. We have worked for some of the top legal publishers in the country. Many of us have worked in law firm marketing roles.
Our writers work directly with partners to translate their thoughts and ideas into compelling, persuasive words. To do that, the writer has to earn the subject’s trust. And our clients tell us that they have tremendous confidence in our writers because they know we each have decades of experience and knowledge of the legal profession. That enables our writers to forge personal connections with our legal clients, earn their trust and create strong content.
On a day-to-day basis we may be supporting their business development efforts and strategic priorities, but we're also here for them when the going gets tough. We won’t abandon them.
LD: You mentioned thoughtful risk earlier. What are some other new or potentially risky ideas that have paid off?
JK: For the last couple years, I’ve been building out a new product for Infinite, which has been exciting. It’s a web app called Infinite Accolades.
One big component of the bespoke content our writing team does for our clients is award nominations, which can be such a great way for lawyers and firms to credential themselves. Over the years we have built a database of about 1,500 awards that are of interest to lawyers. This product allows our law firm subscribers to view their award calendars in real time, pulling from a database that we maintain for them. It can be a tremendously time-consuming process for law firms to maintain an award calendar. Deadlines change, awards get added, awards disappear, and this gives our clients the confidence to know that their calendar is being managed. They're not going to run the risk of a lawyer coming to them in six months saying, “Why are all of my competitors featured in this award and I didn't even know about it?”
LD: Why is it important for law firms to receive those awards and those recognitions?
JK: When a prospective client is making a decision to retain a lawyer, they will almost always review the lawyer's bio. Awards and recognitions are data points that can help elevate a lawyer in the eyes of potential clients. Particularly in bet-the-company cases, a chief legal officer wants to do everything they can to persuade their CEO, board and other stakeholders that a particular lawyer is the safe choice. While no one is getting hired based on awards alone, well-known honors may help move the needle.
LD: What are some of the other most important data points?
JK: Law firm marketers are increasingly recognizing the importance of multi-channel communications to reach prospective clients. So, it's not just putting out press releases. It's not just doing third-party commentary. It's not just writing articles and blog posts or posting to social media. Those are all critical tools, but law firms need to think about them holistically if they want to stay on the radar of current clients and ensure they’re in the running when prospective clients are hiring outside counsel.
The process of hiring outside counsel is continually evolving, particularly with the rise of organizations like the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC), which has brought more of a systematic, more procurement-type approach to hiring outside counsel. That makes our job as communications advisors more important because we know that hiring a lawyer is a nuanced buying decision. Businesses entrust your outside counsel with mission-critical work. When we use tools like public relations and awards to credential lawyers and firms, it reinforces to a prospective client that a lawyer is a “safe” hire and has the necessary skills and expertise to handle a particular matter.
On the content side, law firms are increasingly interested in creating original research, which can be a powerful content marketing tool. Original research fills information gaps, can garner media coverage and create valuable opportunities to engage with clients and prospects. When regularly updated, this kind of research can become so closely associated with a firm that it’s cited as a go-to source in ongoing industry conversations.
A fantastic example of this is Haynes Boone’s Fund Finance Annual Report, which surveys representatives from the world’s largest financial institutions to compile trends and data on pricing, structures and facilities, as well as predictions for the fund finance industry. Their research consolidates this wealth of data into a comprehensive but easily digestible report, which is regularly referenced in the press. It’s a brilliant way to ensure the Haynes Boone fund finance practice is top of mind for U.S. and foreign commercial and investment banks and funds.
Law firm marketers are increasingly recognizing the importance of multi-channel communications to reach prospective clients.
LD: On the opposite end, what missteps do you find law firms most often make in communications?
JK: When a law firm is facing a big change in its organization or an existential threat, one of the biggest mistakes they can make is failing to think through how they will communicate it to all of their stakeholders. Your audiences may include internal stakeholders, existing clients, prospective clients, law firm students and lateral recruits. Each of those groups wants to know, “What does this news mean for me?” And the answer may be different from group to group, but firms often fail to adequately think through the messages they want to deliver.
However, many firms do a fantastic job of this. One example would be looking at the firms that have been the subject of presidential executive orders. Some of them were able to launch – on the day of the executive order – bespoke websites that provided a rebuttal to that executive order. To me, that's a sign of a firm that really has a great comms team thinking through all of these issues. They had the foresight to plan and spend a lot of time on the messaging.
LD: Finally, what do you do for fun outside of work? I know you like to travel – have you been to your dream destination of Antarctica yet?
JK: No, and I feel like it is really important to do it soon because I suspect that the number of boats allowed to go to Antarctica will be restricted in coming years for environmental reasons. So, I hope that I am able to do it in the next few years, but it really requires carving out three or four weeks when you can be away from home.
LD: Do you have a few favorite destinations or places you’ve lived?
JK: Montreal, where my husband is from, and London feel like second homes to me. I never grow tired of spending time in either city.
