Should You Re-Brand Your Law Firm?

Seems like every law firm is getting a facelift.

It's hard to believe, but it's a statistical reality. About 93 percent of America's law firms are changing the way they look.

Marketing people call it re-branding, but does your firm need it? When you look in the mirror, does it really look that bad?

Firm Facelift

BigLaw is leading the fashionable way by re-branding firm names. Multiple-name firms are so yesterday; today's firm is slimmed down to one.

Take "Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsk and Popeo," for example. A receptionist could barely pronounce the name before callers lost interest.

"Mintz" works better, egos aside and logos front-and-center. Cooley Godward Kronish and countless more have done the same.

Most attorneys think branding stops at the design stage, but it is more than skin deep. It's about vision for the firm.

Firm Vision

Strategists say re-branding should reflect natural changes in a law firm or the profession. Factors may include:

• Shift in firm structure
• Change in practice area
• New client demographics

Tea Hoffman, a veteran of BigLaw management, says it's about timing. Not everybody needs a facelift.

"Re-branding is not simply changing the font on your business cards or the color of your website," she says. "It is a top to bottom experience."

Want information on effective marketing? Let the experts at FindLaw's Lawyer Marketing give you a hand with FindLaw Integrated Legal Marketing Solutions.

Related Resources:

• Branding (FindLaw's Practice Management)
• Pitfalls to Avoid Misbranding Your Law Firm (FindLaw's Strategist)
• 5 Dreadful Mistakes Lawyers Should Never Make in Firm Logos (FindLaw's Strategist)