The lawyers doing something interesting this month weren't chasing the next marketing trend. They were doing the less flashy thing that actually works.
This past month, our writer Emily Kelchen spoke with Betty Burns, fractional CMO at LegalFenix, about why consistent community involvement beats reactive marketing spend. She also spoke with David Vicknair, partner at Scott Vicknair Injury Lawyers, about his employee-driven client gifting program that's quietly fueling his firm's referrals.
Both are worth the read.
- Bianca Prieto, editor
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Community trust beats chasing the next marketing trend
Expert: Betty Burns, fractional CMO, LegalFenix
Too many firms react to whatever worked for a competitor last month, chasing TV, AI chatbots or a rebrand with no strategy behind it. Betty Burns says the alternative is less flashy but harder to fake: consistent, authentic involvement in your own community. The mechanism isn't mysterious. Trust compounds slowly through volunteering, sponsorships and simply showing up; then it converts into referrals and reputation over years, not a 30-day cost-per-lead cycle. For firms tired of competing with billboard budgets, this is the play that doesn't require one.
The $600 client gift allowance built without a single approval process
Expert: David Vicknair, partner, Scott Vicknair Injury Lawyers
Every employee at Scott Vicknair Injury Lawyers gets a $600 annual budget to buy gifts for clients, no approval process required and no consequence for borrowing from someone else's allowance. David Vicknair built the program around a simple idea from the book "The Power of Moments": clients may forget what you did for them, but not how you made them feel. The only real rule is no firm-branded merchandise, so the gift stays about the client instead of the firm. A year in, referrals and reviews are already showing the return.
Don’t miss this:
Chavioleyette "Chay" Fenelus says any time a client says they're "just" transferring property, money or a business, or that their accountant already signed off, that's the moment to call a tax attorney. → The phrase that should worry every non-tax lawyer
Emily Kelchen, Raise the Bar's own writer, sat down for a Q&A about writing like a human instead of a legal brief, and why that's turning into a search strategy too. → Legal writing trained you for briefs, not business
You’re all caught up!
That's what we covered this month. If you know a lawyer who should be featured in a Raise the Bar Q&A with Emily, we want to hear about it. We're especially interested in fee structures and pricing models, referral and reputation building, hiring for small firms and the tax and compliance blind spots that show up in general practice.
Hit reply and introduce yourself.
