Get on the Fortune 500 Screen

By Kelly A. Blazek. Ms. Blazek is Director of Client Relations for 90-attorney Hahn Loeser + Parks LLP in Cleveland, OH and her e-mail address is kablazek@hahnlaw.com

With more and more corporate legal departments consolidating the number of outside firms they use, getting a foot in the door of a Fortune 500 corporation seems tougher than ever. Smaller firms often feel that it’s a futile attempt, particularly as they watch megafirms with blue-chip client lists ratchet up their marketing and advertising budgets.

In smaller markets across the country, firms with fewer than 160 lawyers ask themselves, "Do we buy banner ads on Martindale.com? Mail witty stressballs to CEOs? Buy backlit billboards at the airport?" The what’s-it-going-to-take-to-land-a-big-box-client dialogue often sounds tinged with desperation, confusion and sticker shock. Who among the small and midsize could ever compete with the $3.5 million national media buy of a Brobeck?

High-Tech Rain Making Being the largest private landowner in the United States means that International Paper has many real estate matters all over the country. So International Paper’s GC William Lytton uses numerous smaller firms from smaller markets. While he always keeps an eye on consolidating (rather than expanding) his list of outside firms, he does use www.elawforum.com to put out requests for proposals and review bids from firms. "It’s a gateway for firms we may not have done business with in the past," says Lytton, "as well as a chance for firms I’ve worked with to showcase a capability we just didn’t know they had. I would encourage midsize and smaller firms to try the eLawForum portal." Online bidding on the rise eLawForum permits corporations seeking outside counsel to post RFPs free of charge, allowing law firms to bid, also gratis, on the needed legal work. Law firms selected by a prospective client to bid then respond online with their qualifications, availability and pricing. Once work is awarded, eLawForum’s fee is 2 percent of the amount paid by the new client to the winning law firm. The client pays the fee directly to eLawForum at the same time it pays the law firm. And competitive bidding in general is on the rise. The Corporate Legal Times-Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe Annual Report of Corporate Law Departments reported in May 2001 that for legal work costing $100,000 or more, 11.5 percent of participants conducted a competitive bid in 2000. That figure was 6.7 percent in 1999 and 6.3 percent in 1998.

Guess what? You can—and without winning the lottery or standing at the airport with a neon sign.

"Most general counsel appreciate that the smaller and midsize firms often have talents as good or even better than the monster firm," according to Michael Roster. He’s executive vice president and general counsel of Golden West Financial Corporation in Oakland, California, the holding company of World Savings, a savings and lending institution with more than $56 billion in assets. Former managing partner of Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office and past GC of Stanford University and Stanford Medical Center, Roster says the best way to get on the radar screen with him is to deliver great work. But how does a 30-lawyer firm catch the attention of Roster’s law department in the first place?

Seminar Opportunities: Speak! Sit! Stay!

Find a niche and get visibility everywhere you can, offers Roster, past chair of the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA). Panels in particular are a great opportunity to shine. "I was on a lot of panels during my 25 years in private practice," he says, "and while I don’t recall anyone running up and hiring me afterward, it gave me solid visibility. Public speaking moves you farther along on the game board; it’s a piece of the puzzle and an important one.

"I found that GCs would remember a seminar or a panel I did a year before, and it earned me credibility I might not have otherwise had."

William Lytton, senior vice president and general counsel of International Paper in Purchase, New York, is also positive on public speaking. "You’ve got a captive audience in front of you, and an opportunity to wow them with your specific knowledge." Lytton, current chair of ACCA, suggests presentations to your local ACCA chapter or bar association.

Once your presentation is finished, adds Roster, "Don’t run out to the parking lot!" He sees too many presenters make the dash for the elevator and miss the entire reason for being there: networking afterward. "If someone asked a question or is showing interest in what you discussed, ask for their card and offer to follow up or offer to send a great article from your files." In order to be hired, you have to be remembered, and to be remembered, you need to start building a casual, helpful relationship.

Newsletters and Brochures: They’re a Mixed Mailbag

Lytton’s assistant separates all his promotional mail—including newsletters and seminar brochures—into its own folder: "And it’s the one I look at last, after everything else is cleared out of my inbox. I just don’t find firm brochures very useful."

But Linda Madrid, managing director, general counsel and secretary of CarrAmerica Realty Corporation in Washington, D.C., believes that "newsletters and client alerts are still very important. We’re a multibillion-dollar company with a portfolio of 250-plus operating office properties, but have a relatively small legal team. Keeping up with recent events and decisions is critical to us; however, it’s a challenge, too. We often rely on outside counsel to keep us informed on new cases, changes in the law, new standards in the real estate field."

As for print versus PDF content, she says, "I still like the choice I have with print newsletters. I want to be asked first before someone sends me e-mails with electronic newsletters. With print, I can sort through and decide when and how I’m going to digest them."

Roster says that while at Stanford he once sought out a smaller firm "because their newsletter was so on target with labor issues at universities and medical centers. I was just another name on their mailing list, but I called them up and said ‘Who are you?’ and began a relationship with them because their newsletter demonstrated they understood with great precision how general labor law affected my client’s specific business."

"I’m Good Enough, I’m Smart Enough . . ."

Remember Stuart Smalley’s Daily Affirmations from the Saturday Night Live sketches? There is daily good news out there for midsize and smaller firms hoping to crack the Dow Joneses and the NASDAQs. For starters, an ACCA/Altman Weil, Inc. survey of chief legal officers, conducted at the association’s 2000 annual meeting, revealed that 35 percent of respondents plan to increase their use of outside counsel within the next one to two years. (Results of the questionnaire, "Delivering Strategic Solutions," are summarized at www.altmanweil.com /news/acca.cfm.

Robert Denney, a management, marketing and strategic planning consultant to the legal profession, says that many large clients prefer midsize firms, if they have the proper expertise. "These clients feel they will be important to the firm and not be ‘just another cog in the wheel’ as they might be at a megafirm," says Denney. The 2000 ACCA survey mirrors this opinion. When asked "Have you fired or are you considering firing one of your law firms this year, and if so, why?" the leading answer—at 32.5 percent—was "Lack of responsiveness." Plus, clients can benefit from the more efficient and personal delivery of services that midsize firms are able to offer.

In addition, salary structures at midsize firms are appealing to in-house legal budgets. Sun Microsystems made legal headlines in early 2001 when a scorching memo from its chief IP counsel warned outside firms that Sun would no longer work with counsel that instituted sky-high first-year associate salaries.

"I think the cost structure of some big firms has priced them right out of the market," says Roster. "America’s gene pool has not put all the bright, hardworking people only on the Coasts. Many bright people have made a quality-of-life choice, settling down in communities with good schools, cultural activities and a reasonable cost of living. These lawyers have a billable rate several hundred dollars less than an equally bright person in San Francisco or New York. As a contractor for services, I want to engage with firms like those. And I’m finding that more and more GCs are coming to the same conclusion."

Madrid, who uses midsize firms at CarrAmerica, agrees, preferring "to pay a junior partner rate at a medium-size firm than a junior partner rate at a large firm." And International Paper’s Lytton, whose background includes GE’s corporate legal department, still uses some Manhattan law firms, "but not many. We’re using firms in Richmond, Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans … there are high-quality lawyers all over the country. They may make less than a first-year associate on the Coast, but you know what? They also have a life."

The Power of the Personal: Dial the Phone

While technology provides new trails in business development (see the sidebar "High-Tech Rainmaking"), a traditional but successful way to win work from Fortune 500 companies is to ask for it directly. Don’t overlook the most low-cost rainmaking tool: the phone.

Madrid, who worked in-house for Amtrak and Riggs Bank before joining CarrAmerica, once crossed paths with a small firm at a bar association event, where the firm made a simple request: We’re a small firm. Give us a small matter to prove ourselves to you. "I had a small collections matter with not much risk involved. It made a lot of sense for me, and was an opportunity for them. I gave it to them, they did an outstanding and cost-effective job for me, and then they phoned and asked, ‘Do you have two more just like that?"’ While the marketing investment in that particular development effort was zero, the payoff kept growing, based on the service and results that Madrid received.

Lytton reminds midsize firms about the power of a personal reference. "If your firm has done great work for me and I’m happy with you, and you tell me you’re interested in getting work from BigBox Mega Company and I know someone there, if I have a good relationship with the GC I will make that phone call. A personal reference from a satisfied client is a valuable credentialing tool for a midsize firm." And don’t underestimate the alumni network. Roster remembers the time he was on a panel with several Fortune 50 general counsel, and when asked how they selected a law firm, one GC responded, "I look in my law school alumni directory. I know a fellow alumnus, assuming he or she has the needed skills, is going to give high priority to my matters."

Specifics: Develop a Niche Practice

Do you cover every legal need the exterminating industry could ever want? Montgomery, Alabama 20-lawyer Crosslin, Slaten & O’Connor, P.C. capitalized on its specific experience and client roster and is now known nationwide as The Bug Lawyers—complete with snappy direct mail and a http://www.buglaw.com/ Web site. Is golf, not bugs, your bag? The Floyd Law Firm, a three-person Surfside Beach, South Carolina firm found itself with a golf course expertise, was written up in Lawyer’s Weekly and launched a http://www.golflaw.com/ site. Washington, D.C.’s Hazel & Thomas and Philadelphia’s Saul Ewing Remick & Saul L.L.P. have also made headlines for their golf course practice groups.

Tennessee-based 18-lawyer Siskind, Susser, Haas & Devine receives approximately 175,000 hits each week at www.visalaw.com. The site was launched in the prehistoric days of the Internet (1994) to promote the firm’s immigration practice and to "push" bulletins and documents to visitors. My own firm, 90-lawyer Hahn Loeser + Parks LLP, discovered it was representing on some level many of the major players in the telecommunications tower industry, and so created www.telecomlawyers.com to deliver articles, links and lawyers’ bios to tower owners, builders and lessors, all serving the booming cellular and wireless industry.

Michael Roster agrees that an industry focus is a great rainmaking tool for midsize firms. "Instead of spending all your time at bar association meetings, go to trade association meetings within your industry. Track down in-house counsel, or the CEO, and don’t be shy about inquiring if they’re getting good legal work and service from their current firm. The more questions you ask, the more you can tailor some marketing materials or a potential rainmaking trip."

One last piece of tradeshow advice: In-house counsel are sometimes put off when their businesspeople come back from an industry event and announce, "You gotta use this firm, I met them at the convention and they seem great." A gentle inquiry about whether a potential client has a GC, and some demure comments along the lines of "I’ve appreciated learning about your company and we’d enjoy an opportunity to talk with your legal team to see if they need outside assistance," can help avoid ruffled feathers back at the prospect’s corporate headquarters.

Common to all these midsize and small firms is their focus on an industry. Golden West Financial’s Roster says that when corporate law departments start to pare down their use of outside counsel, it’s the firms that "know the industry inside and out that stay on the list. Be the firm for which the entire top management team demands, ‘You can’t possibly lose this firm—they’re the only ones we can count on.’"

And don’t underestimate the interest that GCs have in growing and shaping legal talent at their law firms. "We spend a lot of time educating firms on our policies, our process and our industry. The time you spend with a second- or third-year associate to develop their knowledge about your company really blossoms when he or she is a fifth year who works on your matters full-time," says CarrAmerica’s Madrid. "Without question, this is where medium and small firms can carry the day, because they can leverage longevity into the cost-effective delivery of legal services."

Point of Sale

Finally, being aggressive (and taking an upside risk) in the area of fixed fees can work for many firms. While at Stanford, Roster partnered with three law firms. He gave them office space in-house, and they delivered legal work at a fixed price. He recommends that midsize firms take a chance and ask a potential client if they’d consider outsourcing their patent prosecution work, their corporate securities or their environmental work. "Offer to come to their staff meetings, set up offices in their headquarters, and do this based on a percentage FTE (full-time equivalent)," suggests Roster. "You aren’t trying to replace in-house counsel. Rather, you’re offering to fill in some gaps where you have expertise they need but don’t have on-site."

Reality Check: Know Thyself

The GCs who were interviewed here, while delivering encouraging news for smaller firms, also sounded a reality check. "It’s important to know your limitations," says Madrid. "It’s a hard pill to swallow, but don’t tout that you can run up against the big boys any day." If you’ve only handled two M&A deals in the past year, remember that the big boys crank out a few hundred in the same timeframe.

"Understand where your strengths lie, and distinguish yourself by having a targeted expertise and being able to provide it economically," she cautions. "If a midsize or small firm takes its eye off the basics, they’re definitely not going to get a second chance."

A solid reputation and enthusiastic networking can get you on the radar screen, but it’s your service that will keep you there.

This article was originally published in Law Practice Management, Volume 27, No. 6, September 2001.  Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved.  This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.