Corporate clients increasingly are demanding diverse attorney teams and legal advice on their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts.  Mary K. Young observes that chief marketers are increasingly tasked with ensuring companies get a diverse team of attorneys, that their diverse lawyers are being promoted in the media and retained in-house, that law firms’ internal DE&I efforts are being promoted to attract new clients, and that companies are getting the proper legal advice surrounding their own DE&I efforts.

Several U.S. law firms have rebranded to abbreviated names this year, with Quarles & Brady becoming one of the latest to debut a shortened name and updated logo.  Mary K Young observes that the shift to shorter law firm names is far from new and has been happening for about three decades.  The shift towards shortening firm names probably started with the trend towards law firms getting bigger and following more traditional marketing principles.

Mary K Young writes about the process of law firm mergers, the growing urge for firms to combine, the sensitivity around post-merger firm names, and retaining brand equity.

Zeughauser Group's 2021 Pocket Guide to the American Lawyer Rankings of the Am Law 200 by Profits Per Equity Partner and by Value Per Lawyer; The A-List; The Global 100; The Global 200; The China 50; The Asia 50; and The Corporate Scorecard.

If you would like a hard copy of the 2021 ZGuide, please send an email to zgadmin@consultzg.com with "2021 ZGuide Request" in the subject line and provide your mailing address.

Marketing a law firm has been a challenging proposition during the pandemic, with offices closed and clients working in their homes. Some law firms have added entertaining relationship events to their marketing strategies, like wine tastings or book clubs over Zoom.  Arent Fox enlisted the help of two popular celebrities for interviews before a Zoom audience that included clients and potential clients.  Mary K Young observes that  many of these efforts were very successful. She notes that “if you’re going to do something that’s outside the practice of law, it’s best to totally focus on that and do it right, without trying to insert any legal substantive or marketing component.  Some people might object that it doesn’t have anything to do with the business of law, but that’s the point of events like this - law is a relationship business. These events bring people together.”