The Legal Intelligencer Blog

Is Your Headshot Telling the Real Story?

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” We have all heard this over and again. The question I would ask is whether your headshot tells the story you want to tell.

As we work with our law firm clients on web development, social media, public relations and other business development initiatives, inevitably, the need arises for a current headshot. The pushback clients have for not updating their 10-year-old headshots (before color prints became the standard) usually goes something like this: “I was so much thinner/younger/taller/had more hair back then.”

Ultimately, it does not matter what you look like as long as it reflects what you look like today. To use and/or post a headshot that does not reflect your “current look” is to appear disingenuous or vain; neither a positive takeaway.

You may ask, what difference does it make whether you have a current headshot (taken in the last two or three years) or one taken a decade ago? Read on …

We are all visual creatures. Most people think and remember primarily through visual cues. And most people have very short attention spans. Giving people the right visual cues immediately is critical to getting their attention and gaining their trust.

People will likely notice your picture before they actively pay attention to what you have to say. First impressions matter (this is a one-shot deal) and they are almost always visual.

As our world (business world included) has evolved online and social media has mainstreamed into a powerful business development tool, it is no longer enough or productive to display an outdated headshot. You may be missing out on connections because of an inappropriate photo.

I’ll explain.

If you are engaged in active targeted networking and getting in front of qualified prospects, people you have met at these events may be looking for you on social media channels such as LinkedIn (Facebook has quickly become another social media channel source through which professional connections are made).

While it is less common on professional networks, some people still use pictures of things or animals instead of themselves on their profiles. If someone does a search for Susan Smith that produces multiple results, some of which are pictures of some random cat or outdoor shot, they will have to guess which profile belongs to you. Do not miss out on connections because of fear or insecurity of your current headshot or just complacency.

To alleviate your anxiety and support your desire to portray an accurate professional image, you may want to retain the services of a professional photographer. In our experience, investing in a professional headshot is well worth the cost. Moreover, with all the technological strides that have been made via digital photography, the actual cost is miniscule when weighed against the benefit of portraying your true image.

An appropriate profile photo should achieve a balance between being eye-catching and appropriate for your professional position. In the world of first impressions, there is such a thing as negative attention. Pictures that are poor quality or too casual can cast you in a negative light, which results in counterproductive marketing efforts. Avoid running this risk.

Ultimately, displaying and uploading a current, appropriate headshot accomplishes the following:

• Provides a visual of who you are physically – placing a face with a name and giving the viewer a sense of reference, which is so essential in today’s visual world.

• Provides the viewer with a personalized feel for you. Regardless of whether you have graying hair (which can tell the story of hard- and long-fought experience) or a scar down your neck (as a result of a childhood accident), everything about your physical features tells a unique story of you that becomes more alive when viewed.

A current professional headshot immediately communicates that you are a serious professional focused on building and growing your practice. A fresh and updated image gives you an advantage over the person who isn’t ready to hit the ground running. Do not to allow your personal discomfort to stand in the way of making that happen. Your marketing efforts will pick up steam and you will be glad you did.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via email at [email protected].

The Fourth-Quarter Push: End 2012 With An Uptick

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

It’s hard to believe that we are in the last quarter of 2012 with the holidays right around the corner. What you do in the next several months could very well determine how successful your practice will be in 2013 and beyond.

I’ve outlined a few tips below that top rainmakers have shared on how they leverage the end of the year to grow their practice.

Maximize Opportunities to Connect

The fourth quarter is filled with holiday gatherings that create an inherent reason to reach out and connect with your clients, referral sources and highly valued prospects. Call existing clients and wish them a happy holiday season ahead. Invite referral sources to holiday events. Send out holiday greetings and/or holiday e-blasts. Reaffirm your appreciation for the opportunity to work with them in 2012. Reassure them that despite recent economic turbulence, you are looking out for their interests and are always available to answer any questions they may have.

Ask for Referrals

Though some lawyers find it difficult to do, remind clients that you gladly accept referrals and appreciate the opportunity to lend your help. There are plenty of people struggling, unsure of what their options are in today’s economic climate, so let them know you are a resource they can turn to – whatever their situation. If you do not have the immediate answer, your clients know that you’ll get them.

Double Down on Your Marketing Efforts

There’s no better time than the fourth quarter to automate the processes for your marketing initiatives as you head into 2013. We all experience how life gets in the way sometimes, and, without fail, we get really busy, over-scheduled and over-committed, especially as we head into the fall and winter holidays. That is when it is too easy to overlook or allow high-impact marketing initiatives to fall between the cracks. Don’t let it happen again this year.

Put a plan in place to ensure that you have all systems “go” for your firm to remain visible and stay top of mind. Look ahead now at the targeted networking opportunities (those that put you in front of qualified prospects and high-impact referral sources) coming up in the next few months and pencil the dates on your calendar. Then keep the commitment and attend with a professional networker’s mindset.

Circulate website content assignments among your attorneys so everyone is contributing and no one attorney bears all the responsibility of generating fresh content that is super-important to a high-performing Web presence.

Along those same lines, draft a few blog posts to drip out between now and early January. Blog posts need not be more than 300 words and can be as simple as commenting on a development in your area of practice.

Arrange to make client visits in the next few months. Though it may seem like a trivial exercise, research studies show us that clients absolutely love and appreciate a personal visit. And it is a direct indicator of future work. If your top clients are not local, schedule one trip a month to stop in and personally demonstrate how much you appreciate your client and the opportunity to work with him or her. The goodwill you garner will make it more than worth the disruption to your schedule.

If your clients are mostly local, then contact them this week to schedule a holiday meeting for the same purpose. Get on their calendars before they are booked up.

Take the Road Less Traveled

Author M. Scott Peck did not promise us that the road would be easy, but rather worth the effort if we dare to stand out and have a deeper journey. Applied professionally, it is not always easy to be memorable and develop top-of-mind awareness among your targeted audiences – clients, referral sources and highly valued prospects. Not easy, but possible.

The truth is that 80 percent of most lawyers do not take the extra steps to build a successful practice. Many will focus on looking backward and lament all the things they have not done in 2012 and how far behind they feel, or how defeated they are. Many lawyers will simply do just enough to get by – no more, no less – and move forward with their practices stuck in status quo mode, indefinitely. They wonder why their client lists do not grow, why they are not earning more year after year, and how they feel burned out in the practice of law.

Then, there are the other 20 percent of lawyers who will step up, stand out and stay laser-focused. They will end this year on top, crushing their goals and kick-starting 2013 with vigor and renewed sense of purpose.

To which group will you belong? The top 20 or the bottom 80? What you do in these next few weeks may make all the difference.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via email at [email protected].

Blog Your Way to Business Success

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

Reality check: According to the WordPress website, there are more than 327 million people who view more than 2.5 billion blog pages each month. WordPress.com users produce about 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments on an average day. There are 54,523,503 WordPress sites worldwide.

How can lawyers leverage the blogosphere to build a prosperous practice? Glad you asked.

1. Blogging is one of the most powerful and least expensive marketing tools available – ever! A self-hosted WordPress blog site costs less per week than a Starbucks chai latte.

2. Blogging on a consistent and persistent basis will position you as an expert in your chosen areas of practice. The possibilities are absolutely endless for the connections you can make. Hosting a blog places you on the world stage and right in front of your targeted audiences, all at the same time.

3. With thousands of people sharing content for every one person creating content, useful blog posts can spread like wildfire via social networks. There are hundreds of millions of people on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn eagerly seeking useful, interesting content to share.

4. To blog regularly and in an impactful way, you need to stay alert for rich content. Blogging can make you smarter, or at least better read.

5. Blogging gives you a platform to shine, to become an influential voice in your profession and beyond.

6. As a professional (legal) writer, blogging provides a creative outlet for you to share views and perspectives that you may not otherwise have.

7. Blogs are super juice for website SEO (search engine optimization). Studies show us that blogs drive three to five times more website traffic than adding fresh content alone.

8. Blogs are designed to be short. Depending upon your chosen topic, a typical blog post can be 300 words or less. Unlike a well-composed brief, drafting a blog need not take a lot of your valuable billable time.

9. If you commit to blogging over the long term, this commitment will be widely noticed by prospective clients who are following you and will come to regard you as reliable and solid.

10. Blogging can be a tremendous public service. In addition to posting blogs on timely and interesting legal topics, you can carve a special niche of being helpful to others. And isn’t that why you pursued law in the first place – to help others?

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via email at [email protected].

 

Are You Investing in Your Clients?

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

You may offer extraordinary service to your clients if you provide them timely, spot-on legal counsel to either solve their problems or help them prevent problems in a proactive way. But I challenge you to take it up a notch.

Consider taking some of the steps below to demonstrate your understanding of your clients' business and that you care about its success:

• Read what your clients are reading. If you do not subscribe to at least one industry publication in which your client does business, find out what your client is reading and subscribe today.

• Accompany a client to his or her trade conference and offer to pick up part of the tab. How better to get to know your clients' competitors and related suppliers than to be in the middle of them. Not only would this be a tremendous learning experience for you, but it would also send a strong positive message to your client that you are very interested in deepening your relationship.

• Scan through a client's 10-K statement. These documents are usually on the website of a publicly traded company and can typically be found in the investor relations section. Pay particular attention to the "risks" listed in the 10-K then spend some time thinking about how your client is affected by these risks – and how you can help him or her better manage them. If your client is not publicly traded, look up the 10-K of a competitor company as the risks will be similar.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via email at [email protected].

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Thursday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is an ex-client filing a $192 million lawsuit against Duane Morris. As reporter Zack Needles writes, the former head of a Maryland-based credit card processing company alleges that the attorney he hired to assist him in selling a controlling interest in the company failed to disclose his relationship with the buyer.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that a federal judge awarded fees in a dispute over attorney fees that lasted eight years.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Ben Present writes that the state Superior Court has ruled mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional as a violation of Eighth Amendment rights.

In more Regional News on Page 3, Zack Needles writes that the state Supreme Court has disbarred Bucks County’s former chief deputy district attorney, who is currently on probation after pleading guilty to charges including endangering the welfare of children.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Legal Marketing column on Page 5, Kimberly Alford Rice writes about overcoming your fear of asking for business.

This week’s Young Lawyer column is on Page 7, as Sam Hornak writes about six lessons he has learned from six months as an associate.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

 

Position Yourself for Marketing Greatness

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

Were you born to be a marketing rock star? When you were in law school, were you thinking, “I can’t wait to market myself as a lawyer?”

Chances are you answered no to both of those questions. Guess we could say that marketing is still one of the dirty little secrets for some lawyers when they realize that the best passage to career fulfillment, independence and financial security is to develop their own clients.

Whether or not someone requires a certain number of “marketing” hours from you a month or if you are expressly advised not to worry about getting your own clients, remember you read it here first: If you are in private practice, you are in business for yourself. You are your business, simply speaking.

Remember, rainmakers are not born, but rather trained. Not everyone has the charisma nor is as comfortable as Ed Rendell to work a room, but devoting necessary time and energy to determining what activities will be effective for you is an important part of investing in your career.

Learning to promote your practice early on will help you make a lasting impression, develop long-lasting relationships and build a solid book of business. Craft your marketing style to ensure you get noticed and stay top of mind for clients, prospects and fellow attorneys.

Begin with a solid strategic marketing plan, take massive amounts of action over a prolonged period of time and always remember:

• To be successful, consistently provide high-quality legal work and superior service to clients and partners of the firm. Ask your clients and colleagues how you’re doing from time to time.
• Clients always come first. Develop a helpful spirit towards them and remember: It’s not about you.
• Take concrete steps to build long-lasting relationships. Give careful thought to how you can do that.

Develop a plan and follow through. The first step to promoting your practice is to write down your goals and objectives on paper. Create a business development plan that is tailored to fit your individual style – not your neighbor’s. Write down realistic steps you can take to support your overall goals.

For example, if your goal is to build a reputation as a maritime lawyer, you need to find ways to get in front of those individuals who are in a position to retain you for those services. Several useful marketing tactics may be: (1) Research local maritime professional associations and attend a meeting (before you join) to gain a sense of who attends and the substance of their programming; (2) research media vehicles in which to author articles/blog posts, etc., to demonstrate your expertise in this special niche practice; (3) get connected via social media with others associated with everything marine. See how this works?

• Identify a goal.
• Develop specific action steps to support your achieving the goals.

In case no one has tipped you off, there is NO magic bullet for building a prosperous practice. Here’s the simple secret: Once you have identified your overall goal(s), developed specific action steps to support achieving your goals then you must (here it comes) devote consistent, persistent, massive amounts of action over a prolonged period of time to realize marketing success (i.e., clients). THAT’S the SECRET!

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Think Like a Client to Grow a Healthy Practice

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

You won’t always be the low man on the totem pole. One day, you will have clients of your own, IF you really want to.

With so much emphasis placed on research, document review and shadowing occurring in the first years of a lawyer’s career, it is imperative for the lawyer to take the initiative to increase her exposure and interaction with clients. Often, young lawyers hear their supervisors say they should focus primarily on doing “good work.” In other words, the last thing they would want you to do is to spend time building relationships with clients and potential clients. That thinking works until the economy tanks and those firms lay off associates and income partners who "just do good work."

Clearly, there is a disconnect between what is taught in law school and what is expected in law practice. With little or no emphasis on building relationships with clients (new and prospective), it is no wonder that lawyers are unsure how to actually attract new clients. The “best” way is to begin to think like a client. Here are a few tips:

•  Put yourself in clients’ shoes. They have budgets to meet and business problems to solve, so create a plan of how you can make their lives easier in your current situation. Take the initiative and propose to a responsible partner an “off-the-clock” meeting with a client to better understand their struggles.
• Bone up on your interpersonal and relationship building skills. Survey top partners in your firm to learn how clients select their lawyers and what is most important to them.
• Observe and learn how more senior attorneys in your firm interact with clients. Take note of the thought-provoking, open-ended questions they ask to signal to clients that they are genuinely interested in the client’s issues and business.
• Take special care to learn to actively listen to others. This skill is so key to fostering solid relationships and developing better relationship-building skills. It is essential in developing trust and rapport.

Lobby for your firm to train associates in client development skills to kickstart an institutional approach to building a book of business. Studies show that when associates have the opportunity to learn client development skills, they are more energized about their billable work. They also appreciate that their firm has invested in them. Many associates I have coached have become partners in their firms and they are passing down what they have learned to the young associates in their offices.

The worst action you can take is no action. Get out from behind your desk, get out among business professionals and take charge of your career.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Position Yourself for Marketing Greatness

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

Were you born to be a marketing rock star? When you were in law school, were you thinking, “I can’t wait to market myself as a lawyer?”

Chances are you answered no to both of those questions. I guess we could say that marketing is still one of the dirty little secrets to some lawyers when they realize that the best passage to career fulfillment, independence and financial security is to develop their own clients.

Whether or not someone requires a certain number of “marketing” hours from you a month or if you are expressly advised not to worry about getting your own clients, remember you read it here first: if you are in private practice, you are in business for yourself. You are your business, simply speaking.

Remember, rainmakers are not born, but rather trained. Not everyone has the charisma - nor is as comfortable as Ed Rendell - to work a room, but devoting necessary time and energy to determining what activities will be effective for you is an important part of investing in your career.

Learning to promote your practice early on will help you make a lasting impression, develop long-lasting relationships and build a solid book of business. Craft your marketing style to ensure you get noticed and stay top of mind for clients, prospects and fellow attorneys.

Begin with a solid strategic marketing plan, take massive amounts of action over a prolonged period of time and always remember:

• To be successful, consistently provide high-quality legal work and superior service to clients and partners of the firm. Ask your clients and colleagues how you’re doing from time to time.
• Clients always come first. Develop a helpful spirit toward them and remember it’s not about you.
• Take concrete steps to build long-lasting relationships. Give careful thought to how you can do that.

Develop a plan and follow through. The first step to promoting your practice is to write down your goals and objectives on paper. Create a business development plan that is tailored to fit your individual style – not your neighbor’s. Write down realistic steps you can take to support your overall goals.

For example, if your goal is to build a reputation as a maritime lawyer, you need to find ways to get in front of those individuals who are in a position to retain you for those services. Several useful marketing tactics may be: (1) Research local maritime professional associations and attend a meeting (before you join) to gain a sense of who attends and the substance of their programming; (2) research media vehicles in which to author articles, blog posts, etc., to demonstrate your expertise in this special niche practice; and (3) get connected via social media with others associated with everything marine. See how this works?

• Identify a goal.
• Develop specific action steps to support your achieving the goals.

In case no one has tipped you off, there is NO magic bullet for building a prosperous practice. Here’s the simple secret: Once you have identified your overall goal(s) and developed specific action steps to support achieving your goals, then you must (here it comes) devote consistent, persistent massive amount of action over a prolonged period of time to realize marketing success (i.e., clients). That's the secret!

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Tuesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, which also includes this week’s edition of Pennsylvania Law Weekly. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Also inside today’s paper is the Pro Bono supplement, so be sure to give that a read.

The top story in today’s Legal is the opening of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex-abuse trial. As reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes, prosecutors Monday said that one of the two remaining defendants, Monsignor William J. Lynn, had three responsibilities: protecting the church, children and privacy of priests, but chose to protect the church. “Unfortunately, all three of those roles are mutually exclusive,” said prosecutor Jacqueline Coelho in her opening argument.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that a lawsuit against LexisNexis over background checks has been allowed to proceed by a federal judge. The suit is a class action stemming from claims that LexisNexis deemed the plaintiffs “noncompetitive” during background checks and the prospective workers didn’t have a chance to respond.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporters Zack Needles and Ben Present write that Lackawanna County Common Pleas Court Judge Trish Corbett explained that she refused to remove Lackawanna County guardian ad litem Danielle M. Ross from a custody case after an attorney raised concerns about media reports of a federal investigation into the county’s guardian ad litem program because she felt to do so would have been “premature.”

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Gina Passarella writes that pharmacy records are governed by the Medical Records Act and pharmacists are considered health care providers for purposes of the act, according to a Superior Court ruling that overturned and Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge who compared pharmacists to yoga instructors rather than medical providers.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sibling publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Commentary on Page 5, Walter M. Phillips Jr. and Doug Moak write that one way to deal with Philadelphia’s high fugitive rate (more than 30 percent of criminal defendants fail to appear in court) is to use trial in absentia.

In a Legal Marketing column on Page 7, Kimberly Alford Rice writes about the importance of following up when networking and trying to build business.

Today’s lead story in PLW is a look at the Marcellus Shale play, where small firms say that expertise is more important than size. As Zack Needles writes, some believe that the only way to handle the amount of work coming from major drillers is to have a huge staff, but the depth of knowledge of the area that some smaller firms offer can give them the advantage.

Below the fold on Page 1, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that prosecutors are opposing a bill to expand innocence claims. The state Senate bill would expand chance for people who say they have been wrongfully convicted of crimes to raise their innocence claims, and backers say current law doesn’t always provide adequate means to do so. But the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and Gov. Tom Corbett oppose it.

On Page 3, Ben Present writes that financial discovery was denied in the case of a collapsing sidewalk, but the judge left open the possibility of punitive damages if the injured man amends his complaint.

There’s much more inside this week’s PLW, including Samuel C. Stretton’s Ethics Forum, in which he discusses asking a witness if another witness is lying; Jeff Jubelirer’s column on Public Relations, in which he discusses how to utilize social media; a panel deciding that a builder’s deceptive statement makes him personally liable; Sean Connolly’s column on State Government and the double standard existing against conservatives; and Daniel E. Cummins’ Civil Practice column on UM/UIM rejection form language.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Rocking Reputation-Building Techniques for 2012

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

As a practicing lawyer, there is nothing more important than building and sustaining a stellar reputation.

Below are a few proactive steps you can take that are as important as building a solid reputation among your various constituents (clients, professional contacts, key influencers, prospects, etc.).

Focus on beginning 2012 with a few simple steps you can integrate into your daily practice which will yield long-term benefits of developing a solid reputation as a formidable expert in your chosen area of practice:

• Keep your bio (print and online) up to date and include recent achievements. Presumably, you are an overachiever, so the professional accolades are not far behind. Join a professional group, navigate into a leadership position within a trade or other business-related organization or take a high-profile role on your firm’s charitable planning committee. Document these activities on your bio.

• Jump into social network marketing by becoming actively involved in LinkedIn groups which align with your practice focus. Browse through the group listings to discern which business and legal-oriented groups would position you well in front of key targeted audiences. The key here is to become active in these groups to demonstrate your leadership skills and areas of expertise. Actively seek connections within the groups to grow your network and reputation.

• Become a go-to person known for something specific … whether it’s an area of law, a chosen cause, or business topic … this is all part of creating and building upon your unique personal brand.

• Author articles and blog posts around a topic of particular interest and find a publication (print or online) to publish it. This lends third-party credibility to your writing and may be re-purposed many times over. It only takes scant online research to find a home for your writing and it’s well worth the effort to reputation-building efforts.

• Reach out to appropriate media to cultivate relationships and provide expert commentary. Building a strong reputation in the press can be a highly valuable exercise for business development purposes. Research who covers topics in your area of legal practice (sometimes it’s the reporter who covers “legal” at a business publication) and offer relevant insights which may be helpful in future articles. Reporters are always scrambling to find reliable sources and often give preferential consideration to those who help them out.

Make 2012 a successful year in advancing your personal brand and professional reputation by taking thoughtful steps to enhancing your credibility in ways which reflect positively on you. You’ll find that this is a cornerstone for professional development for the years ahead.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at [email protected].