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The Legal Marketing Association‘s Vancouver Chapter held their 2008 HELM Awards (Honouring Excellence in Legal Marketing) earlier today at a sold out event at the Four Seasons’ Hotel in Vancouver.
The awards recognize achievement of British Columbia lawyers and law firms in five categories: corporate social responsibility, young lawyer, managing partner, firm/marketer of the year and lifetime achievement, and are judged by an independent panel of judges drawn from the legal, corporate and marketing sectors. This is the second year for HELM, and in that time it really has done a terrific job of showcasing some of the great work being done in the BC legal market. Without further ado, this year’s winners are:
Corporate Social Responsibility: Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP
Young Lawyer Award: Norm Streu, Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP
Managing Partner Award: Tim Sehmer, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Firm/Marketer of the Year Award: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin D. Donner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Congratulations to all.

Kudos to the folks at Vancouver law firm Farris, Vaughn, Wills & Murphy LLP for entering the Kelowna market by joining forces with Kelowna law firm Petratoia Langford.
I really like this move from a strategic perspective. Farris is nationally recognized as one of Vancouver’s powerhouses. Expanding regionally instead of nationally distinguishes them from their primary competitors and Kelowna’s explosive growth makes it an important emerging market. Tying in with an existing firm is also a much faster route to local credibility than building an outpost from scratch. No matter how you slice it, this move looks good to me.

butler

Originally uploaded by skunkworks creative group.

I came across an interesting law firm retention strategies article in the New York Times this morning about the general ramp-up in perks, benefits, bonuses, and what-have-you that law firms in the U.S. market are resorting to in order to attract and retain top legal talent. The list of incentives in play is an interesting one – random acts of kindness from the happiness committee at Perkins Coie, cash bonuses on top of year-end bonuses at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, a $2000 bonus for employees who buy a hybrid car at DLA Piper, to in-house meals, on-site daycare, concierge and personal valet services elsewhere.

While one lawyer quoted in the article expressed disdain at some of the more exotic perks (pet insurance, concierge services) as an “appalling” attempt to “set up people’s lives”, my view is that Marina Sirras, who runs a legal recruitment firm in New York, is bang on with her assessment that “money is not the only thing that drives these lawyers right now – they want to be able to have a family and enjoy their family. This has never been as hot an issue”. The article touches upon the fact that child-care is often a critical issue in this context, and cites a handful of firms that have experimented with on-site daycare and emergency nanny services. My money says the first big Canadian firm that gets behind child care in a serious way is going to have a significant competitive advantage in the market when it comes to attracting and retaining the associate generation.

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