Collaboration is becoming more and more necessary and important for law firm growth, but why? What exactly is smart collaboration, how can your firm implement it and what role do legal marketing professionals play to support it? In the latest episode of the LMA Podcast, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn’s Cynthia Voth, 2019 LMA President, speaks with Dr. Heidi Gardner. Dr. Gardner is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and Faculty Chair of Harvard Law School’s Accelerated Leadership Program and other executive courses. Dr. Gardner dives deep into answering these questions with relevant examples, background and insight. Her perspective provides context on how smart collaboration can generate value and establish trust inside and outside your organization. 

By Erin Corbin Meszaros, chief business development and client service officer, Eversheds Sutherland

When senior management assessed the potential global combination between Eversheds and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan at the start of 2017, the business development (BD) team (at then Sutherland Asbill & Brennan) didn’t stand on the sidelines. Senior management, beginning with managing partner Mark Wasserman, understood there were many ways we could positively make a strong contribution and drive the combination forward.

By Ethel Crosby, director of technology operations and offerings, One North

Cyber-attacks and data breaches unfortunately aren’t new to the business world. Worse, clean up from these attacks can be extremely costly — both from a monetary and reputational perspective. Take Equifax as an example. On July 22, 2019, the company agreed to pay the largest settlement on record for a data breach, up to $700 million, to investigate claims stemming from its 2017 breach. If you tack on damage to the Equifax brand, it’s easy to see the high price organizations pay when they fail to proactively protect themselves from security incidents.