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Branding Lawyers

Written by: Steve Cranford

Article Overview: Lawyers are practicing branding negligence, as demonstrated by some of the best firms.

Branding Lawyers

Lawyers are practicing branding negligence, as demonstrated by some of the best firms.
Lawyers often have difficulty in seeing past surnames fighting for exposure on a letterhead. One example is the firm name resulting from a recent merger of two respected U.S. law firms, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
But now some firms are taking a stab at developing brand strategy. Which leads to a name such as WilmerHale. As the Boston Globe describes it:
Note the edgy single-word name, the hip double capitalization, the three manageable syllables, the obvious pronunciation, the way it rolls off the tongue. It is everything law firm names historically have not been: innovative, savvy, bold. And short.
Wilmer = bold? Read on:
Beginning Oct. 1, WilmerHale will become the so-called market name of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, the law firm formed by last year’s merger of Hale and Dorr, one of Boston’s most venerable firms, and Wilmer Cutler Pickering, a Washington firm of similar stature…
A growing number of law firms nationwide are shrinking their…names…[to] establish an identity… It can mean eliminating commas and, as with WilmerHale, spaces. Above all, it means reducing the partner names on a shingle to a select few, and sometimes only one…
For example, Pittsburgh-based Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham…now goes by the shorthand K&L, adopted after the firm went through a ‘’branding and positioning exercise” several years ago… Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, based in San Francisco, uses simply Orrick and launched a marketing campaign that centers on the letter O.
Oh.
To be successful, law firm branding, as is true for any professional services firm, must evolve beyond a mindset that thinks short and snappy by itself is branding.
Decreasing the number of partners identified on a letterhead is not branding. And, a brand name such as WilmerHale fails to overcome a built-in deficiency. Other Wilmers practice law, and their names are included in letterhead.
A lack of differentiation may mean nothing to the partners of a WilmerHale, but for a General Counsel seeking a particular expertise it means everything. An authentic and powerful brand promise effectively demonstrated by a great name, tagline and other key messaging can help ensure a firm is on the short list when it comes time to retain outside counsel.
One law firm, a high-powered group in Canada, positions itself as approachable and human rather than self-important stuffed shirts. Calgary’s Burnet Duckworth & Palmer demonstrate on their website WHY they are, rather than focusing entirely on explaining WHO they are. They do it without the look-down-their-nose seriousness [we are MORE SERIOUS than those other firms] that devolves into nothingness. For example, rather than using stock photography the firm displays shots of their lawyers holding iconic objects expressing their individual personalities. In addition, the site demonstrates rather than explains their commitment to bettering the markets they serve, whether by excellent lawyering or community involvement. The result is a site offering a connection into the soul of the firm, to which clients can relate, while retaining a key message of professional excellence. The Burnet site represents a stark improvement over most law firm attempts at brand strategy.
Projecting a point of difference with emotional immediacy — as demonstrated by the Burnet website — may seem counterintuitive to the legal profession. In today’s competitive market, however, it is Oh so necessary.
We rest our case.

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