Marketing Attorney Blog

American Bar Association (ABA) incoming President James R. Silkenat has reappointed attorney Micah Buchdahl to a three year term on the Standing Committee of Continuing Legal Education (SCOCLE). The committee is a driving force behind all aspects of lawyer professional development and continuing legal education programming.

Buchdahl is President of Moorestown, New Jersey-based HTMLawyers, a law marketing consultancy, where he works with law firms around the globe on business development initiatives and strategies. He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania.

The ABA Center for Professional Development (formerly Center for CLE) is guided by the SCOCLE, working closely with experts from ABA Sections and other entities and from the profession at large in developing programs and products. It serves as the central resource for the ABA and the profession for up-to-the-minute, quality CLE distributed through a variety of convenient formats.

Buchdahl served one year on an appointment by ABA President Laurel Bellows before his reappointment by Silkenat. During this time, he served on the SCOCLE's marketing committee. He also developed programming for the ABA Premier Speaker series, where he will lead an ethics CLE program on attorney ratings & rankings in October 2013. In addition, Buchdahl is Editor in Chief of the ABA's Law Practice Today, the most widely disseminated online resource on law practice management in the legal profession.

A past chair of the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA, Buchdahl developed the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference, a standalone business development workshop. He is a longtime faculty member of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, teaching ethics annually for more than a decade.

The SCOCLE is chaired by Vincent Polley. The Director of the ABA Center for Professional Development is Jill Eckert McCall.

For more than a decade, I've provided the Pennsylvania Bar Institute with an annual ethics program on a law marketing or advertising topic. Over the years I've focused on a different theme each year--starting with Internet marketing ethics in the late 90s to years where I've focused on Supreme Court cases, social media, rankings & ratings--whatever was new and "hot." This year, I simply pick 13 current areas that have recently been addressed or still come into play.

This year's program will likely change from the first presentation (April) to the second and third compliance period presentations in August and December. However, there are plenty areas of interest to go around. Included in this year's program is discussion of trade names, websites, blogs, social media, Groupons, specialization, ratings & rankings, direct mail, mobile marketing, video and whatever new ethics opinion comes across my desk this week.

In April, I will present live for PBI in Pittsburgh on April 24 and home in Philadelphia on April 26. Check the PBI website for video replays and additional live dates later in the year.

It is rare that I make a trip to Chicago or Toronto without spending an evening at Second City. There is nothing more entertaining (to me) than great improvisational comedy. Growing up, I was a Second City TV groupie of sorts, now possessing the entire DVD collection of SCTV. I love the creativity, thinking on your feet and ability to laugh at oneself (and others). So it was easy to talk about Drexel University Law School's "Improv for Lawyers" class in an article written this week by Associated Press reporter Kathy Matheson.

Matheson was writing about the uniqueness of such a law school elective, taught by actress/comedian Sharon Geller, who has also provided improv training as a CLE to lawyers in various settings. While this all coincidentally took place in my home base of Philadelphia, it was my role in the American Bar Association--as a past chair of the Law Practice Management Section and a current member of the ABA's Standing Committee on CLE that led her to ask about my experience and views on the subject. I was asked about the uniqueness of the program and the value to a new or seasoned attorney.

In many law firm retreats where I've participated in some manner--either in organization, as a speaker, or in conjunction with a business development project--an improv session taught by one of many skilled troupes in the United States (including Second City traveling casts) is used to develop skills including team building, public speaking, "thinking on your feet" and training for improved client and prospective client interactions. Improv has also been used by a number of law firms I work with for associate and partner professional development training programs in-house. Whether or not they qualify as "substantive legal training" as a CLE is a state-by-state matter--but that is a subject for another post. Whether or not it is CLE accredited, the program provides a useful training ground that incorporates numerous elements of law practice.

The Drexel class is a huge hit. The school has always been known for providing some out-of-the-box "real world" training. In a short time, the law school has done a nice job carving out space and a good reputation in an excellent Philadelphia area law school market (led, of course, by my undergrad and law school alma mater Temple).

In the AP article, Matheson quotes a former course participant and present Ballard Spahr associate about being prepared for responding to difficult things or difficult people. Yes, those are not wasted skills for a new attorney to possess. And at a time where law firms are becoming increasingly more focused on PD and business development, an ability to be creative, think outside the box and challenge conventions is not a bad thing to include in the workplace curriculum. Many law firms should take note of the interest that a course such as this one has generated. It takes some guts and personality to succeed on the improv stage. There is no question that the skill set translates to the practice of law.

Someone woke up yesterday and thought it might be a good idea to provide better professional development training for attorneys. Go figure.

Last week, I had the privilege of spending some time with the leadership of the Professional Development Consortium (PDC) at their annual meeting in Washington, DC. For the record, this organization has been looking to organize and improve PD in (mostly large) law firms since 1990. While the group is growing rapidly, the reality is that for a long time it has been a relatively small gathering of people dedicated to delivering PD for larger law firms. However, the idea that the need for stronger and better investments in PD for partners (and in some firms, gasp, associates too), is not new or news.

With the ABA, I have had the opportunity to further professional development initiatives on multiple fronts. First, as a speaker and planning board member for the first two ABA New Partner Conferences, designed to provide a wide range of training--from business development and ethics to issues of diversity, electronic discovery, and managing legal relationships. Secondly, as the creator and chair of the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference, founded in 2007, focusing on BD, marketing and overall rainmaking skill sets. Third, as a current ABA presidential appointee to the ABA Standing Committee on CLE--now entitled the ABA Center for Professional Development (go figure). Finally, as Editor in Chief of the ABA's Law Practice Today monthly webzine, we have joined forces with the PDC to provide a bi-monthly column (beginning in March 2013) from some of the country's leading PD professionals from the largest law firms, along with an entire themed issue dedicated to PD in May 2013. Thanks to PDC leadership, including Jennifer Bluestein of Greenberg Traurig and Jeanne Picht of Stites & Harbison, for helping to further develop this relationship. In addition, ABA LPM's sister publication, Law Practice, has an issue devoted to the topic as well in the coming months. In other words, the American Bar Association has long recognized the importance of PD and continues to provide numerous resources to lawyers and law firms interested in better training.

Recently, Claire Zillman of The American Lawyer, wrote about her publications' latest survey of new partners. The most significant finding she reported form the survey was that "new partners fear lack of training will hamper ability to win clients." The survey confirmed what many law firms know--that reaching partnership usually means you learned how to practice law pretty well, but nobody is talking to you about the need to develop your own book of business--until now! The survey results highlight the obvious. For decades, the concept of understanding the law biz outside of actually practicing law was considered an afterthought.

The incoming chancellor of my hometown bar, Kathleen Wilkinson of Wilson Elser, is touting the need for expansion of training and educational programs for the Philadelphia Bar Association, as one of her highlighted initiatives, according to Chris Mondics in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The story touts her plan to "institute a new speakers' series next year that will focus on bolstering young lawyers' skills in networking, business development, and other areas on the theory that many are not getting that guidance from their firms." In reality, especially at mid-size and larger law firms, this training needs to be as much a part of the internal curriculum as legal research and billing.

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to do numerous programs in conjunction with a law firms' PD professional or department, including introductory marketing training for summer and first year associates, rainmaking strategies for new partners, use of social media, ethics for everyone, and related areas of "the business of law." But the number of firms that do it seriously and do it right are small. Of course, this could mean I'm not being retained enough as a speaker, or firms are not doing it. Let's just call it a little of both. Either way, the concept and need for effective professional development in law firms is not news--but the changing marketplace, increasing competition and higher business acumen has once again brought the need to the forefront. PD is suddenly hot again, and just in time to grab an increase in the line item for your 2014 budget. Lawyers--young and not really young anymore--recognize that a lack of investment from the firm into an individuals' well-roundness as an owner or potential owner in the practice sends a message too.

What better place to repeat the ever-popular "online marketing ethics" course for lawyers than in my old stomping grounds, before a Sixers game at the Wachovia Center...where I was an in-house attorney back in the day.

This new PBI program includes an hour of ethics CLE and a Sixers game against the San Antonia Spurs. To learn more or to register, visit the PBI Site.

The possible tools are endless - web sites, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, search engine optimization, referral resources, e-mail, etc. - and so are the ethics opinions, rules and interpretations of state bars coast-to-coast. Thinking about the states where you are licensed, where you have offices and where you seek clients...and staying compliant is enough to make your hard drive crash. This one hour program will examine the tools and the rules, so you can go out and use the business development opportunities on the Internet without running astray of the Rules of Professional Responsibility.