The partners of the Georgia firm Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers had a dilemma. Their firm was the largest litigation only firm in Georgia and one of the biggest in the south. But over the past several years, the firm had grown topsy-turvy: it added 60 lawyers since 2017, had added practice areas, and brought in lots of laterals. But its website, marketing materials, and even logo hadn’t changed in years. For its marketing to be effective, a new approach was needed to define better who and what the firm is now versus several years ago. But how to get there?
Rather than looking inward and dumping the job on either lawyers (who had neither the know-how or interest in doing it) or its internal marketing department, Swift Currie decided on an innovative and collaborative approach between its lawyers, its PR firm, Poston Communications, and a well-known website developer, Firmseek.
The goal was to come up with a plan that didn’t just recite dry marketing facts to clients but instead told the clients, potential clients, and prospective talent the firm was trying to attract, precisely who and what Swift Currie was. Its personality, beliefs, and philosophy. It’s culture.
To do this, Swift Currie set about identifying its present culture. It conducted several internal focus groups with its partners and associates. These groups, composed of some 20-25 people each, met and talked about the firm’s strengths, culture, and how best Swift Currie could attract clients and talent. Fair enough.
But once this task was done, Swift Currie decided to convey this culture outwardly. It asked Poston to interview every single lawyer and then prepare the lawyers’ bios that would be used in Swift Currie’s marketing materials and website.
Why? Chad Harris, the Swift Currie partner that headed up the