Before You Open the Doors: A Communications Playbook for Launching a New Office

By Maria Aronson and Kimberly Miller

American Lawyer recently reported an increase in Am Law 200 office openings in the US over the past year, driven by client and industry connections. Office launches are more than just real estate stories. They create opportunities to tell a range of strategic stories that reinforce a law firm’s brand, highlight client impact, demonstrate growth, and showcase its talent and culture. It can reinforce the firm’s market position, create momentum around a new practice or industry focus, trumpet the arrival of new laterals and give management an opportunity to echo its strategy to clients and other stakeholders.

The Timeline

The CMO and communications director should be involved before the lease is signed and before the lateral team is announced. This helps create a sequence of information that stakeholders will be interested in, so that the lease, the lawyers, the laterals, the client rationale and the firm’s long-term ambitions reinforce the same strategy and the same storyline. Every deliverable should be included in the timeline so that an orderly cascade can take place both before and after the office launch.

Here and Now

Being able to articulate how and why a firm is entering a market and opening an office has everything to do with the business case. Marketing, recruitment and leadership should work together to identify current clients and priority prospects in the region, the industries driving growth, the competitors that have recently entered or withdrawn from the market, the practices that have the most opportunity to thrive and how the talent in the market will support the firm’s expansion over time. With this information, a communications director and CMO will be able to brand the office and clarify what it will be known for, helping clients and potential clients understand what to expect.

Onboarding Laterals at Launch

When a new office opens with a lateral group, the market-entry and lateral strategies are often the same. While lawyers can give the office immediate credibility, it can also be risky, as integrating laterals into the firm’s operations and culture must occur simultaneously. Existing lawyers need to understand what the new team offers the firm and how their services can benefit their clients. Communications, marketing, recruiting, HR, IT and firm leadership should coordinate well before the lawyers’ first day. The calendar must account for conflicts checks, notice periods, client outreach, biographies, photography, LinkedIn profiles, media preparation, business development plans, technology access and internal introductions. Firm leadership needs to collaborate with communications to:

• decide if the lawyers and office staff should be announced together or if announcing the office first and then a series of hires will produce the strongest momentum in the market,
• create the messaging that will demonstrate the firm’s growth, client value and long-term commitment and connection to the industry and location,
• map every potential way a disclosure to the media may be made such as through social media posts, job postings or routine announcements by landlord, tenant broker, landlord broker, developer, architect, or the contractor to commercial real estate publications,
• create internal communications, client communications and an office pamphlet for the new employees of the firm,
• and prepare for a leak and create holding statements along with internal communications and press releases to announce a new office.

Once the office is publicly announced, market visibility needs to be repeatedly defined by a series of announcements, thought leadership, marketing and recruiting campaigns.

Treat the Opening as a Campaign

The following year has to prove the firm’s stated rationale. Along with a client reception to introduce prospects and referral sources to the brand and firm lawyers, the lawyers should be able to comment on local and national news developments for existing and potential clients within the local market. The communications team will build a campaign that includes targeted introductions to local legal, business and industry reporters; business development should help facilitate client visits; small executive roundtables; useful thought leadership; selective sponsorships; bar and industry participation; and help management develop relationships with civic and business leaders. All of these efforts should reinforce the reason the office was opened.

What Defines Success?

The next twelve months to three years will be crucial in determining whether the market perceives the new office as a valuable strategic investment. Successful office openings are not measured by the number of articles generated in the first week or by the number of attendees at a launch reception. While publicity can help introduce the firm to a new market, office openings are business investments and should ultimately be measured by business outcomes. Before announcing the office, marketing and firm leadership should identify and clearly communicate internally the metrics that will define success over the next 1, 3 and 5 years. These may include revenue growth, new client acquisition, cross-selling opportunities, recruiting activity, referral relationships, event attendance, market visibility and thought leadership engagement. If three years later, clients, recruits and the market understand exactly why the firm entered that market and understand the brand, that is a success story. For communications professionals, this is the ultimate objective.