Ad budget for Law firms ?

Why not ? Market they will, if that’s what it takes to float their boat.

With the increasing number of M&A transactions, the number of law firms have also grown. It is looking more like any commodity business. Soon you’ll be surprised to find a wal-martish, “hire us for an acquisition, we’ll do your eventual Chapter 11 filing free” or worse, a “balance transfer facility” incentive to switch your existing lawyer and sign up with another. “We are not a Bank, so no processing charges or penal interest” could be thrown in for good measure !

Well, for now it seems the marketing strategies of other businesses are fast catching up with legal profession. Accounting firms have already been doing it for quite some time now in the guise of advertising their transactions and not the firm.

Zusha Elinson of The Recorder quotes John Hodder, CMO at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, "All firms are spending more on marketing. The market is increasingly competitive and there are a lot of firms out there and it's about finding what differentiates your firm from the others." [ Note : The CMO stands for Chief Marketing Officer and we are talking law firms here ! ]

Am Law 100 firms budgeted an average of $9 million -- or 2.2 percent of their gross revenue -- for marketing last year, according to a new survey by Boston-based BTI Consulting Group that polled about 60 percent of Am Law firms.

Read the full report here.

Would we get to see Crawford Bailey & Co or Nishith Desai & Associates hoarding around the world cup 2007 cricket grounds at the Carribean ?

No bets.

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