Rankings Watchers:

Are you ready for Chambers USA 2009?  The Research Schedule for the 2009 Guide is available at: http://www.chambersandpartners.co.uk/usa/results-schedule.aspx

Here’s how to get ahead on this lengthy and complex submission process:

Reach out to the practice heads now and pull together work/case highlights and references.

Craft short descriptions (3-5 sentences will do) on the significance of the work.

Be prepared for Chambers’ need for client references, and collect contacts that know the firm’s work and can provide useful insight.

Chin up!  Everything you use in the Chambers submission can be retooled and repurposed for other ranking opportunities!

If you have questions regarding the Chambers submission process or want some help organizing and drafting submissions for Chambers or any other ranking, please contact Kathy O’Brien at obrienk@jaffeassociates.com.

WIIFY - What’s In It For You?

What does Web 2.0 mean for the PR and marketing functions for lawyers and law firms and those who work in the legal environment? PR and marketing continue to focus on the use of content to build reputation and the use of networks to find new business—but the opportunities for distributing that content and building those networks are now vastly expanded.

To promote good news, there are many more ways to get your message before the public. A lawyer or law firm should incorporate Web 2.0 tools into its own PR 2.0 and marketing strategies and online materials.

In addition, lawyers and law firms can contribute informative content to the user-generated content and social networking sites of others. As part of this process, the content will be RSS coded and syndicated across the Web. Just as you need to target which print, radio or TV audiences to target, you need to target the Web 2.0 sites that will best meet your needs. A consultant can often help with this process.

The control of negative news is a two-step process. First, you need to know what is being said about you. Lawyers and law firms can use Web 2.0 tools to monitor the Web for any hints of negative publicity—sort of like the traditional news clipping service—but supercharged. There are many free products that will do this—like Google Alerts. There are also more comprehensive subscription products like Andiamo.

Web 2.0 – This Is The Stuff You May Not Know Yet

Web 2.0 evolved from the widespread use and acceptance of Web 1.0. While still in its infancy, this next Web generation is growing with hyper speed leaps and bounds. Web 2.0 is interactive, open to user-generated content and very inexpensive when compared with traditional media. Its tools and technologies are often referred to under the heading of “social media.” Simply put, a Web 2.0 site is launched and users are asked to contribute to (and often to rank) the site’s content.

Web 2.0 is all about sharing content—and lawyers and law firms generate a lot of useful content in the course of doing business. It is an ideal medium.

Some popular examples:

• The founders of Wikipedia built a site on wiki software, primed it with information that was already in the public domain, and then opened it up to the entire world.
• The founders of LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace put up social networking sites, and then opened them up to anyone who wants to post a profile and create a network.
• YouTube did this for audio and video podcasts, and Flickr and Photobucket did it for photographs.

Jaffe Associates knows just how hard it is for marketing staff and lawyers to manage the hundreds of lists, surveys and rankings in the legal industry now. We launched RankingsForLawyers™ in November 2007 to answer the need for knowledge, research and ongoing information about these publications and their ever-changing dates and requirements. Your firms probably know of a dozen lists but you may be surprised to know that in fact there are more than 900 lists across the country. We’ve created this blog as a venue for you to share opinions about rankings, and we look forward to a robust dialogue about this important aspect of every firm’s marketing plans.

Contact us at obrienk@jaffeassociates.com and we can provide you with a free 2008 Rankings Report.