IV
ABSTRACT
The aim of my degree thesis was to find out what are, nowadays, the opportunities as well as the limitations for the use of marketing within the confines of a legal firm. In particular, this study was aimed at lawyers working in a medium-sized practice. In fact, for the purpose of this study, I was given direct access to the workings of the Paoletti, Baroni & Baldi law firm in Pisa.
My thesis is divided into three parts. The first section concerns the analysis of the current legislative climate and the presentation of the concept of marketing (highlighting the differences between marketing and the phenomenon of advertising). Furthermore, an attempt has been made to understand what the obstacles are (both existing and perceived) which hinder lawyers from using marketing techniques. Having achieved this aim, I have then tried to overcome their reluctance to this important modern means of communication. At the end of this section, I have included an interview which I carried out with Mrs. Picchi, Mrs Sambrotta and Mrs. Dicheva of Markude – a marketing and communications consultancy firm for lawyers and qualified accountants.
The second section of my paper opens with a description of the Paoletti, Baroni
& Baldi legal firm. In light of this, I began to set up a marketing plan based on the analysis of both the macro- and micro environment. With this objective in mind, I created a series of matrix to analyse the external environment, set up guidelines and suggestions for the analysis of other firms which are in direct competition with that being examined, and concentrated on the relevant information which would be necessary to carry out a client survey. It will be
V shown that, above all, in this initial phase, a large outlay of expenditure is not necessary in order to set up a marketing system.
In the third part of my paper, I have addressed the question of effective marketing. After the first chapter, dedicated to CRM (Customer Relationship Management), I then analysed each individual facet of the marketing process.
Given that the firm is still in the process of changing its premises, I decided to examine in depth the concept of “place”- or rather the ways in which services provided by the firm are distributed. Then, I analysed the brochures, presentation files, newsletters, and the blog, social network and internet sites:
that is, the areas which the Paoletti, Baroni & Baldi law firm considered to be the most urgent in need of attention. As a result, I arranged these chapters as a kind of “HOW TO” guide for lawyers. During this phase, I also compiled and compared a list of the internet sites of leading Italian law firms. From my research, it turns out that it is evident that good marketing does not have to rely on the size of the firm in question.
To conclude, it will be shown that employing marketing strategies, above all, means changing prospectives and points of view, in order to understand each client’s particular needs in a better way. It seems obvious that there are numerous opportunities for those working within the law profession to use marketing as a tool, whilst the only real setback remains the fact that some lawyers are extremely loathe to accept marketing as a valid technique as a means to facilitate their work.
