Amy Campbell’s Web Log

Clients have been asking a lot recently about what other firms are doing regarding Martindale-Hubbell listings. The cost seems steep to most firms especially when you compare the click-throughs that come from the directory to those coming from other sources around the net. Most firms I’ve talked to are considering or have already cut back on the listings.

Gina Passarella of the Legal Intelligencer has an article that examines this topic in depth, Martindale-Hubbell Faces Challenges, and that cites an informal survey of Philadelphia law firms finding

“more firms than not said they were either eliminating or scaling back their use of Martindale-Hubbell’s listing services… [but that] pulling away from such a time-honored tradition wasn’t always an easy decision.”

At the same time, recently at the LMA New England Annual Conference in Boston, firm representatives chimed out support for Martindale in one session on web sites, saying that they could point to their web server stats showing Martindale as a top referral source. I have not had similar evidence for firm sites that I manage.

Server stats may be a useful bit of data to add to your decision making. I’m interested to hear what your firm’s experience is regarding Martindale referrals, and whether you are considering cutting back.

Please leave a comment.

Oh, and have a Merry Christmas!

One of the most valuable blogs for law firm business development — that I would recommend to attorneys as well as marketers — is InHouse Rants (with the tagline, “The frustrated in-house lawyer blog”) as it provides a glimpse into the mind and business of an in-house counsel, and it often provides advice to those trying to win the company’s business.

The latest post (which I found via Legal Marketing Reader) is titled, How To Get Legal Business - Part 1. It states in explicit detail how law firms can win new business. It has something to do with the phrase, “Know my business,” but this blogger really means it, and he tells you just what you need to do in fairly specific detail. Valuable stuff. Read it here, and then stay tuned for the sequel implied by the “Part 1″ in the headline.

Related posts:

Chief Legal Officers Speak

What Drives Corporate Counsel in their Relationship with Outside Counsel

David Bario, in The American Lawyer, writes more on the legal services market forecast for 2008 in Am Law 200 Managing Partners Issue Fog Advisory for 2008.

“This year… a substantial number of firm leaders admit to being uneasy about the future. More than a quarter reported that they were uncertain about their firm’s prospects next year, and a few said they felt downright pessimistic. What’s going on?”

Click through to the Law.com article to find out…

See also: Legal Services Trends 2007-2008