I started an in-house marketing role at Kimura London & White LLP (“KLW”), an Irvine-based law firm on January 3, 2023.
Their core legal services include:
Did I know how to market the personal injury and estate planning practice? Absolutely.
But, business litigation? A mystery to me!
My imposter syndrome quickly accompanied my enthusiasm for starting my new job.
KLW Managing Partner, Darrell White, knew I was determined and wanted to learn business litigation.
After a case against Quinn Emanuel, Darrell asked me to order a book titled Business Litigation Demystified by Diane Cafferata and tell him about it.
The book arrived shortly after at our office. I checked in with business litigation attorney Maxx E. Sharp to ask his thoughts on the book.
Maxx kept it for a week.
He returned it with two thumbs up, indicating that the book would be helpful to me as a marketing professional.
That’s all I needed to dive deeply into the world of business litigation.
There were days when I experienced a great deal of self-doubt because I didn't know the language of litigation.
On those days, in particular, I kept Business Litigation Demystified close to me.
It enabled me to approach business litigation with a curious and open mind.
And eventually, the book came to work with me every day.
After completing my morning ritual of greeting each person, it wasn’t uncommon for me to pepper the nearest attorneys with questions about the book from reading it the night before.
“Maxx, is discovery the most expensive line item in a litigation budget?”
“Hi, Darrell. Where do attorneys typically find expert witnesses?”
“Morning Michelle. The motion for summary judgment you’re working on is considered motion practice, right?”
“Hi Josh, can I demand a jury trial to contest my speeding ticket?”
Diane Cafferata's book Business Litigation Demystified helped me begin to understand the nuances of business litigation.
It helped me precisely frame client victories in our monthly firm newsletter, read by local judges, attorneys, clients, and business partners.
It helped me appreciate the marketing materials mailed to our office by other business litigation law firms.
Specifically, the annual Klein & Wilson's mailers.
It also helped me appreciate the creativity dedicated to Dovel & Luner's book illustrating the firm's business trial capabilities.
View Dovel & Luner's marketing ebook on their website.
And it helped me better communicate with potential new clients ("PNC") and relay accurate details to the litigation teams.
Business Litigation Demystified also encouraged me to start asking PNC's,
"Do you remember what you Googled to find our office?"
It's here I learned the firm could rank on Google Maps for the keywords "business litigation attorney" in an area surrounded by many corporate businesses.
I continued collecting responses from PNC's to understand the intent behind search terms they entered to find the firm.
Afterward, I spoke to satisfied clients. I asked if they'd be willing to leave a review on our Google My Business profile.
Oftentimes, I was asked for my opinion about what to write.
Instead, I helped clients remember highlights of the legal services they received by asking questions about their individual experiences.
Over time, the client reviews we received more closely resembled the keywords collected from the responses of PNC's calling in.
Business Litigation Demystified is a practical and useful book. I highly recommend it to any student, corporate professional, or business owner.
We had a new attorney, Nick, who made a lateral jump from immigration to business litigation. Nick is sharp, talented, and always has an easygoing attitude.
He previously worked at Fragomen, an AM 200-ranked immigration law firm.
KLW serves a similar client base but provides legal services to support the litigation or transactional needs of a business.
Wanting to help with the transition, I asked Nick if he wanted to borrow my copy of Business Litigation Demystified, and sure enough, he did and it helped.
Business Litigation Demystified began as a faithful guide for one lost legal marketer like me doing his best to keep up with an ever-changing legal industry.
I used the book to connect with the partners and make known my eagerness to continue learning. In this instance, it helped me with "getting attention."
As time passed, I realized the book opened my eyes to a world of new possibilities.
This is where a subtle shift in my perspective happened.
I no longer used the book for "getting attention", but as a tool to show me how well I was "paying attention."
This small, nuanced shift opened my outlook to the great opportunities that exist with the advent of artificial intelligence.
If Business Litigation Demystified provides as much value to a legal marketing professional like myself, it would undeniably prove more useful to current and future litigators, like those that you may know.
For that reason, I highly recommend the book Business Litigation Demystified to any individual wanting to understand the U.S. legal system well enough to speak intelligently about:
Thank you for reading.
Kind Regards,
Brian H. Keleman, Legal Marketing Professional
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