4 June 2007
LMA through international eyes - LMA Conference Report
On March 19, I left Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, to attend my second LMA Annual Conference, once again as the sole representative of my country.
Although countries like the United States are years ahead in terms of legal marketing, the main challenge of dealing with lawyers remains the same everywhere. It is truly a global challenge and a very good reason for legal marketers around the world to interact and learn from each other. With many interesting sessions to attend, the one I enjoyed most was the session led by Mark Greene, chair of the LMA Strategic Alliances Committee, a roundtable on legal marketing best practices in continental European countries. Caura Barszcz (France), Claudia Schieblon (Germany), Silvia Hodges (representing Italy) and Eric Gardner de Béville (Spain) talked to a packed room about the current state of legal marketing in their respective countries. This session was the first of its kind and I considered it to be a success. I do hope that future LMA conferences continue to have such an international flavor.
Besides the keynotes, the educational sessions and the gala at the Georgia Aquarium, the main benefit of the event, at least for me, was its networking opportunities presented. This is by far the best reason to consider when thinking about attending an event like the LMA conference. Once again I had the chance to interact with many different legal marketers, not only from the U.S. but from many different countries.
Interestingly, although the number of non-U.S. attendees is quite small, those attendees represent many of the movers and shakers of legal marketing in their countries. They represent many other professionals from their countries’ legal marketing networks. The relationships and opportunities that come out of such interactions are tremendous.
Marco Antonio P. Gonçalves is a legal marketing consultant at Brazilian firm Gonçalves & Vitorino Marketing Jurídico and can be reached at: goncalves@marketingjuridico.com.br
