TLOMA Today

TLOMA would like to Thank the 2018 Conference PARTICIPANTS

Happy October everyone! Can you believe we are already in October? I always seem to be writing you from somewhere outside the GTA and this month is no different.  I’m back in my old haunt of N’awlins. I just keep coming back here and frankly there is nowhere else like it. It has magic, mystery, vampires, voodoo and it’s a blaze of colour in every way possible. I think I mentioned after my first visit, I was immediately spellbound. It’s a place that takes control of your senses. An experience, rather than somewhere to look around, it overwhelms you and I love that – the street performers, hustlers, architecture, ghosts, the smell of the food and the COFFEE. As I am writing this, I have another chicory infused cup of deliciousness en route. Anyway, back to business….

September was spectacular spending three days with 115 TLOMA members at our annual TLOMA 2018 Conference &Trade Show in Niagara-on-the-Lake. For those of you who were in attendance, I’m sure you will agree when I say, "Wow! What an amazing three days!" The education sessions presented throughout were excellent. No doubt, we all went home with a takeaway or two. The educational content and networking events would not be possible without the financial support of our Business Partners and the dedication and hard work of our Conference Committee. A big thank you goes out to our TLOMA 2018 Conference Committee, consisting of Debbie Tibbo  – Conference Chair, Jenny Telesford – Vice Chair, Bernard Quilty – Past Chair.  And our awesome administration team, the TLOMA dynamic duo, Liz Barrington – Director of Administration and Karen Gerhardt – Administrative Assistant. Thank you all! The Conference was outstanding!  Can’t wait to see the agenda for 2019.

Sandra Hatcher-Maher, Chair of the Nominating Committee, is in the process of preparing the slate of names of the approved 2019 Board of Directors and SIG Leaders and this will be sent to the membership in the coming weeks. 

Upcoming events

Please save the dates for:

• October 11, 2018  - Update to PIPEDA
• October 17, 2018 - New Members' Breakfast
• October 18, 2018 - Transforming your Workplace Harnessing People, Spaces and Technology
• October 22, 2018 - Your Brian has No Time to Think (Previously entitled "Unconscious Bias")
• October 26, 2018 - Marketing SIG Event - Roundtable Discussion
• November 8, 2018 - The Future of our Workforce 
• November 13, 2018 - Marketing SIG Event
• November 20, 2018 - Bill 148 and ESA Updates
• November 27, 2018 - VoIP, Cloud, Hosted, Premise
• December 4, 2018 - Finance SIG Event
• December 7, 2018  - December Member Networking Event

Please remember to direct any comments, questions or concerns to Liz Barrington, Karen Gerhardt or myself.  

Ahhh, my coffee has just arrived and the next ghost tour starts in about an hour. Can’t wait! 

Au revoir, from the heart of the quarter,
Michelle

Partners and GCs are not only lawyers. They also coach in many situations.

There are partners growing associates, GCs nurturing staff lawyers, lawyers as managers coaching assistants, lawyers as parents helping their children survive and thrive. Coaching can be easy or hard depending on how much rapport you have with your coachee. But when it works, coaching is a tonic that helps the coachee and the coach.

I think you can be a pretty good coach by using the three and a half steps I suggest below. They will help you set the stage, build rapport and maybe, even, make a friend.

Coaching has many dimensions. A thorough coach training program can take weeks to complete. None of the tips I suggest below are the actual skill building coaches do. They are not the ‘how to’s’ of offering ideas to polish existing skills or generate perseverance to gain experience. Providing all that is a basic instinct in a coaching relationship. These 3.5 ideas complement the skill building part of coaching.

Steps one and one and a half are setting goals. Firstly outcome goals; what’s desired for the long term, and secondly progress goals; things that need to be done along the way. So, for example, if I have a lawyer client who is an associate at a law firm, the long term goal might be partnership and the progress goals may be two relationship building lunches every week. Essentially, the long term goal is mostly ignored except as a reminder to build motivation. My coaching will be all about helping my client figure out how to get into two relationship building lunches every week. Lots of suggesting, giving ideas and generating perseverance are needed to do that.

Step  two is being continuously optimistic. That is, believing that success will come; it’s just a matter of finding the right way. By continuously focusing on it, the optimistic coach conveys that “success is inevitable if you persevere.” Coaches must constantly and repeatedly focus on the solution and positively present the steps to get there. Never dwell on what’s wrong or isn’t working. Dwell only on what the next forward steps should be. Remember, success does not have to involve undue struggle -- just a succession of steps roughly in the right direction.

As Henry David Thoreau put it: “If one advances confidently in the direction of their dreams, and endeavors to live the life which they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Step three is operating with a belief that your coachee is a work in progress. As such, they will  benefit from encouragement.  This is cheerleading and focuses on feeding the coachee’s sense of self and champion his or her accomplishments. This gives the coachee the motivation to continue to grow. This takes empathy.  The coach must think about the coachee’s thoughts, needs and feelings as they are occurring and make an effort to say something to energize the coachee to move forward and be heartened by their progress. 

“I think the search engines are the new equivalent of publishing: an enabler of information”
- Sir James Dyson, British Inventor, Industrial Design Engineer and founder of the Dyson Company. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been a never-ending system that started off using select “keywords,” and now it has turned into an elaborate necessity within every marketing strategy. SEO and organic page ranking is an ever-changing field within the Google ecosystem. Google relies on many individual ranking signals and these signals change at various times. These signals are otherwise known as algorithms.  Be prepared for these exciting and much needed changes to optimize searches faster and better. 

What's Changed and Why Is It Important Now for Professional Services? 

Google's methodology is understanding the search's intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the datasphere. Google's semantic search (or a string of words/contextual) has replaced key words. Google has been much better and sophisticated in understanding the meaning behind search queries. How? They return content that matches the actual meaning and intent behind the request. Mobile versions are tried and true and continue to trend upwards.  

SEO Trends Strengthening in 2018:

1. Page Rank Based on Your Mobile Website: 

Your website must be responsive to mobile devices. Ranking signal alerts lead to mobile indexing.  

Go-To Tip: Focus on a load time of less than 3 seconds. User navigation, the design and information on your page ranking could drop.  

2. SEO Strategies for Voice Searches

Forget typing, rising popularity is abound of voice-activated smart devices (37% use Google’s Siri and 19% use Amazon's Alexa).  

Activate Long-tail (your conversational string) within a wide spectrum of searches, i.e. "What is the best firm that specializes in _____ and could help me with _____." 

Go-To Tip: Evaluate current keywords, start writing conversational words and put a call to your SEO specialist to update. 

3. Providing Instant Answers in Featured Content

Up to today, we've provided a brief overview of content. With the rise of voice searches, it has become a requirement for featured content that provides instant answers. 

Siri and Alexa can provide instant results to questions but they need to be able to quickly scan your content for the answers they are looking for: FAQ and Q&A pages.

4. User Experience Remains Top Dog 

Watch those analytics reports – if your visitors abandon your site after 30 seconds or you have a high bounce rate, this will disaffect your SEO ranking.

Go-To Tip:  Review and adjust your web pages or create new webpages. 

Improve Your SEO Title

Not only will it have an engaging look, feel and sound, it will also aid in the long-tail effect. 

Content is Still King

Google identifies and disqualifies lower-quality content.  

Search engines today have a good idea, and statistically speaking, of what words occur together and make semantic correlations. 

Its activities include people, places, things, concepts, or ideas which are represented as nodes and connected by their inter-relationships. Make sure these are on your website: News, photos, facts, articles, press releases, and white papers. Your content will have more viewing/reading when it contains original research insights, especially your opinion, and what is called thought leadership. 

Leveraging a trending topic also provides practical insights or authoritative news content on new products or developments. Google formulates answers to the users' questions through thought leadership content. 

Go-To Tip: Check content for titles that are engaging, have an opening paragraph using content that contains long-tail wording and add captions to images. 

Backlinks:  A Powerful Form of Application for Getting Better Search Engine Rankings

When a webpage links to any other page, it’s called a backlink. In the past, backlinks were the major metric for the ranking of a webpage.  Now, a page with a lot of backlinks tends to rank higher on all major search engines, including Google. It is important to have backlinks from quality sites, and those backlinks should be contextual in nature. Your goal should be to get links from authoritative and relevant sites.

Engage in influencer marketing to acquire links, as you will have a degree of control. This carries more weight and a contextual link which helps your site rank more highly in search engines.  It’s one of the best ways to acquire links.     

Go-To Tip: Create links to individual posts/pages of content, articles, whitepapers that lead back to your homepage.

More of What You Can Do:

Add AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) To Your Site’s Content Pages

If your website hosts informative articles, blog posts, press releases or news articles, incorporate accelerated mobile pages (AMP) to your site – it allows you to serve content more quickly on mobile devices, and Google looks more favourably on sites that incorporate AMP.

Shares are important but so are links from many other domains. Attract new links and drive traffic to your site.  Social sharing is an essential component of your strategy. You need both shares and links. Remember, social sharing is not enough and is not an amplification strategy.  

Influencer strategies continue to be successful - Your CEO, Your Managing Partner, Your Leader. Your influencer should have multi-twitter followers but a much better strategy is in a niche with an influencer who has a highly engaged, but smaller (or niche) audience. 

Go-To Tip:  Syndicate your content on popular sites specific to your niche or specialty area.

Take an Integrated Approach

Content marketing, SEO and social media work together to drive traffic, build relationships and trust, and progressively grow your audience. 

You will want to attract large volumes of traffic via search and social media and then, filter this traffic through directing viewers to various types of targeted content in your website and email content.  

Quick Facts:

• CEO’s on LinkedIn have an average of 930 connections.
• LinkedIn is the most effective social media platform.
• 39% of the 562 LinkedIn users are paying for a premium account. 
• 40% of members visit their professional social network each day.
• 80% of users prefer an authentic and honest personality on social networks.
• Video can increase purchase/buy interest by 144%. 

"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” 
- Stephen Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 

Sources:

• Rank Brain
• Content Marketing Institute
• Curata

In December 2006, the Liberal government abolished Ontario’s mandatory retirement age of 65. By doing so, the Ontario Government empowered individuals aged 65 and older by allowing them to choose when they are ready to exit the workforce. However, the Government simultaneously provided employers with the freedom to decide how to treat these older workers, particularly in regards to whether or not to continue providing group benefits past a certain age.

From a legal perspective, the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “Code”) permits employers to exclude or make distinctions in employee benefits pertaining to employees older than 65 and younger than 18. Section 25 (2.1) of the Code states that, “the right to equal treatment without discrimination because of age is not infringed upon by an employment benefit [plan] [Emphasis added]. In practice, this clause essentially gives employers the unfettered right to remove or cut the benefit plans of employees who choose to continue working beyond the age of 65.

However, in May 2018, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) released an interim decision in Talos v Grand Erie District School Board, declaring the aforementioned section 25 (2.1) to be unconstitutional. In this case, the applicant, Mr. Wayne Talos (“Mr. Talos”), a high school teacher, was greeted with an unwelcome surprise on his 65th birthday when his employer, the Grand Erie District School, denied him continued access to the School’s health and dental benefits. In their decision, the Tribunal concluded that this section constitutes "age discrimination" and accordingly, violates the universal equality guarantee set out in Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ultimately, in siding with Mr. Talos, the Tribunal laid the foundation for a drastic shift in this segment of Ontario’s workforce.

Canada, like many First World countries, has an aging population. For the first time ever, there are more seniors in our country than children aged 14 and under.^[1] This disparity is projected to grow as life expectancies continue to rise and fertility rates steadily fall. Furthermore, it is projected that by the year 2031, one in four Canadians will be over the age of 65. What this means is that Canada’s workforce is old – and only getting older. People are staying in the workforce longer than ever before. In a country and province where the tax-base is pivotal to continue providing support for vital social programs – this aging workforce will be tasked with keeping the economy afloat.

These statistics will undoubtedly have a significant impact, both financial and non-financial on employers. As individuals work later into their lives, they will also remain a member of their company’s group benefits plans for a longer period and at a stage in their lives when their health is rapidly deteriorating and thus require these benefits the most. The 2016 ”Working Seniors in Canada” Census Report, indicates that in 2015, roughly 30% of the seniors in the workforce were employed in full-time roles. Furthermore, the Report indicates that 43.8% of working seniors are dependent on their employment income to support them – a figure that has continued to rise in each census. Additionally, up to 20% of senior men and 30% of senior women qualify as 'low-wage employees.'^[2] What these statistics illustrate is that a significant number of working seniors are not only dependent on their income to support them but, more importantly, are clearly dependent on the group benefit plans they are currently receiving from their employers.

Properly handling older employees remains a pressing and very delicate challenge for employers. Historically, it was common practice for individuals to proudly retire at age 65. However, now many seniors continue to work and extend their employment well beyond their 65th birthday. As employers, terminating or attempting to 'performance manage' these employees can be costly and expose them to potential discrimination claims. Many employers are understandably afraid to walk this fine line. Instead, these employers and employees have adopted a practice of doing nothing in an attempt to pressure the other party to take action. In many situations, employees wait to be packaged out by their employers, while the employer simply hopes the employee will eventually choose to retire and forego their entitlements. These situations are precarious for both parties and seldom results in a ‘win-win’ resolution.

At this juncture, the full impact of the Tribunals decision in Talos has yet to come to fruition. With that said, the Tribunal has clearly reiterated that discrimination of any kind in the workplace will not be tolerated. Empowering employees in this manner protects vulnerable sectors of society from exploitation by their employers. Consequently, employers must remain educated and take progressive steps when addressing their aging workforce.

Ultimately, the best way for employees and employers to protect themselves from potentially unfortunate circumstances is to seek out professional legal advice.

This article provides general information and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion.

Special thanks to Summer Law Student William Quaglietta for assistance with the research and writing of this article.

For many law firms, the days of being everything to everyone have been gone for some time. Global legal practices are coming to grips with aligning services by industry, while Canadian law firms have yet to definitively stake their claim on sectors where they have proven strength.

Service structure is not a new idea. There was a time when major Canadian corporate and commercial firms were known for certain areas of practice — banking, finance, M&A, etc. — and laid claim to their strengths and marketed themselves accordingly. These firms then acted as beacons for particular types of legal work. But organizing by practice is an internal structure that is firm-centric, while organizing by industry is client-centric. Some firms are just starting to twig to this, while others are well advanced in moving to industry alignment.

Vive La Difference

In 2003, Norton Rose Fulbright differentiated itself by becoming the first global law firm to be organized by industry. In that year it moved toward industry alignment by developing a couple of sector-focused groups: Energy, and Transportation. Now, it aligns its services to six distinct industry groupings: Financial Institutions; Energy; Infrastructure, Mining and Commodities; Transportation; Technology and Innovation; and, Life Sciences and Healthcare.

Norton Rose Fulbright is correct — and not alone — in taking an industry tack. In the U.S., firms such as Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP are focusing on technology, energy/infrastructure and financial sectors, along with Dechert LLP for financial services, and Baker Botts LLP, recognized for its expertise in the energy sector.

Numbers tell the Story

A trio of brand measurement surveys indicate firms are recognizing that clients align by sector and are therefore inching their way toward industry alignment.

On the websites of the top 10 firms on the Acritas 2018 U.S. Law Firm Brand Index, half list industry before practice, two list practice first, and three list by practice only. Globally there is a slightly better showing: 11 of the 21 firms on the 2017 Acritas Global Elite Law Firm Brand Index list industry before practice, six list practice first, three list by practice only, and one lists a mix of industries and practices. Canada follows suit with six of the top 10 firms on Acritas’s 2018 Canadian Law Firm Brand Index listing industries before practices.

However, whether or not they appear on the Acritas indexes, every full-service global law firm that operates in Canada lists industries first.

One of those firms, DLA Piper, partnered with Axiom Consulting last year to develop a client retention model to predict clients at risk. They found that the four key variables directly affecting client retention boiled down to adding an industry expert to a matter team of five or less while increasing time per team member proportionally where possible and running a focused, relevant marketing initiative for each client.

Within six months, adoption of the plan started to kick in, and DLA was able to prevent 85 per cent of fee loss on a year-over-year basis along with an estimated revenue increase of $37.6 million.

Making the Shift 

Moving toward industry alignment need not be an all-or-nothing proposition, and any firm can do it because it’s scalable. It’s best to start with a small selection of industries and transition from there.

Understanding your firm’s industry strengths is step one. It’s an easy step to take since every client has a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) or International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) code that is determined by a company’s primary line of business.

Step two is deciding which sectors to focus on. This requires examination of industries served and revenues, along with your firm’s ability to deliver qualified service expertise. Expertise is the biggest challenge of creating an industry team because its members must have hands-on experience working within a sector.

For example, in 2004 I helped a boutique firm with a deep automotive client roster build an industry team. A key criterion for selection to the team was direct experience working for a vehicle maker or automotive parts manufacturer. This ensured that each team member understood and spoke the language of the sector. From there, the process involved mechanics and patience. Mechanics included marketing to the automotive sector and shortly thereafter, business development began.

Patience is the key to ensuring that a firm’s industry alignment comes to fruition and profitability. But for sector-specific practice groups such as that automotive team — which flourishes to this day — it’s worth taking a far-sighted and seeing the process through.

Ask any successful Partner, Managing Partner, or Business Development executive at a professional services firm, and they will tell you that leveraging referrals is a critical component of their client acquisition strategy.

That makes sense given the results from a study that quantified referral program adoption rates and outcomes. The study of 600 organizations across North America found the following ‘upsides’ for those with formalized referral programs, when compared with organizations without structured referral programs:

• 69% close deals with clients faster;
• 71% have higher rates of converting prospects into clients; and
• 59% of clients coming via referrals have higher lifetime value*.

So, kudos to those of you who recognize the tangible business benefits of referral programs – your efforts to leverage these special relationships have an enviable return on investment.

But, the study found something that raises eyebrows: only 30% of organizations have formalized referral programs. That begs the question, why do most organizations miss out on embracing a method that consistently produces positive top (and bottom) line results?

In this series, Harnessing the Power of Referrals for Legal Professionals, we tackle this question while providing insights you can apply to make a case for implementing a referral program and get better results from your existing program. We’ll see how forward-looking organizations, that do much more than just talk about having a robust referral strategy, tap into what is arguably the most cost-efficient method of converting prospects into clients.

Specifically, we turn to two law firms. The first is Lerners, LLP – a provincial law firm that has been serving clients for over 85 years and has offices in Toronto, London, and Owen Sound. The second is Caravel Law LLP, which is a non-traditional law firm that has adopted profession-stretching practices such as operating without interns or paralegals and eliminating the high-overhead costs associated with larger firms to pass along savings to clients. We also highlight best practices from other leaders in their fields such as Sandler Training (Business Development) and Ceridian (HR Solutions). We gather their insights on three questions that are on the minds of everyone who considers when, or how, to build a successful referral program:

• What are the most tangible business benefits of managing referral activities?
• How much revenue growth can you expect by managing referral activities?
• What are some of the tactics used to create revenue from referral activities?

Tangible Benefits of Managing Referral Activities

According to Caravel Law’s Director of Business Development, Michael Budworth, the most impressive and measurable benefits of adopting leveraging referrals include "lowered client acquisition costs," "increased likelihood that a prospective client will engage with you" and "increased future referrals." Furthermore, "Leveraging referrals can have a dramatic and positive impact on the referred client’s perspective. Tapping into referral sources has reduced the anxiety of prospective clients."

For Ceridian, a global HR capital management company, VP, Corporate Marketing, Sarah Terrelonge emphasizes other concrete benefits: "Leveraging referrals increases the speed with which business deals are closed, creates higher ‘win rates’ and, when used in the context of proposals, helps to shape the competitive context."

The benefits of managing referrals is also critical for Sandler Training which is one of the premiere sales methodologies and boasts blue chip clients. Chris Kelly, owner of a Sandler Training office in Toronto adds to the list of business benefits resulting from leveraging referrals by highlighting that "managing referral activities strengthens relationships with referral sources and with members of the organizations you are targeting."

Reflecting on the tangible benefits of harnessing referrals, Lerners’ Partner Cynthia Kuehl highlights an often-omitted benefit: "By focusing on referrals, you emphasize the importance of taking specific actions to establish, maintain, and optimize positive business relationships. That mentality must be held throughout a firm by existing Partners as well as by the next generation of legal professionals."

Revenue Growth by Managing Referral Activities

Every organization sets revenue targets in ways that make sense given the ease with which they take services to market, the actions of key competitors, and their financial obligations to various stakeholders. Having said that, organizations that truly value managing referral activities set specific referral targets.

For example, Sandler Training’s Kelly aims to achieve 50% of net new revenues from referrals each year. That’s not out-of-line when structured referral programs are managed well. In fact, Caravel Law sets a target of between 90% and 100% for the number of referrals received year-over-year which they see as "ambitious but achievable."

Tactics to Achieve Revenue Targets via Referral Activities

To plan and implement a successful referral program means you must systematically manage the varied dynamics that enable referral sources to behave in ways that produce positive business results. As a result, organizations use a wide variety of tactics throughout the course of a referral program.

At Caravel Law, they recognize that referrals aren’t limited to clients. Rather, they actively build partnerships with a wide range of businesses including: accounting firms, HR and payroll providers, banks, private equity firms, insurance companies, and smaller boutique law firms.

Sandler Training’s Kelly instructs his clients to structure their ‘asks’ for referrals at very specific times of their relationship – for example, when they are on-boarding a new client. He also recommends reaching out and asking existing clients (and previous clients) for referrals on a regular basis. But, he emphasizes: 1) "Don’t ask for referrals when your sales funnel is empty"; and 2) "Manage expectations so that your referral sources know in advance that you’re expecting them to refer business to them."

Lerners’ Kuehl states that the "focus on referrals are emphasized from day one with all law legal professionals in the firm’ and ‘attention is devoted to understanding the short- and long-term nature of referrals."

In the next article in this series, we dispel the most commonly-held myths surrounding referrals and referral activities. We also provide actions that you can take to overcome these myths that prevent you from getting the most from your referral programs.

*Study: What You Should Know About B2B Referrals. Benchmarking B2B Referral Program Adoption and Results. (Heinz Marketing and Influitive).

At TLOMA, we provide education, professional development, mentorship, and support to our Membership. Through these initiatives, TLOMA members are offered both a professional and social network of professionals working in law firms of all sizes. To encourage members to grow their network at TLOMA, we would like to profile TLOMA members in each issue of TLOMA Today to give readers a snapshot of who we are within the legal industry.

Name: Kristen Petersen

How long have you been a member of TLOMA? I joined TLOMA shortly after I arrived at Torkin Manes, so for about a year and a half.

Where do you work? I'm the Marketing & Communications Manager at Torkin Manes.

What do you enjoy most about working in the legal industry? I love that every day is completely different. Marketing, communications and business development are still relatively new concepts in the legal industry, and I love that I have the opportunity to bring my skills to the table to demonstrate to the lawyers how they can benefit from having a marketing professional on board. While working with lawyers definitely has its challenges, I love working with smart, hard working people who keep me on my toes.

Where was the last place you vacationed? My husband and I love to travel but I just had a baby not that long ago so my recent vacations have been pretty low key. The last place was the cottage and before I had my son it was Croatia and Montenegro. I'm currently in the process of planning a trip with my husband and son - I'm sure travelling with a 2 year old will be a completely new experience!

What is your favourite lunch spot during the workweek? Freshii - I love the Metaboost salad!

What is your favourite book? The History of Love (also The Great Gatsby, The Glass Castle, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, The Life of Pi). Sorry, I know that's more than one, but I LOVE reading, so this is a tough one!

What is your favourite artist/band you got to see live in concert? I love music so there are a lot to list here, but i'll say U2 was a favourite.

Where is your go-to coffee shop? I'm a tea drinker, but my favourite spot is Ideal Coffee on Sorauren Ave.

What are your favourite hobbies? Music, books, cooking and travel.

Name one thing you can't live without? Wine - followed by dark chocolate :) 

If you are interested in participating in the Member Spotlight feature of TLOMA Today to share some of your experiences at TLOMA, please email editor@tloma.com for more information.