Foreword
by Charles Martin, Senior Partner Macfarlanes LLP 2008-2020

Talent is an internal HR issue and brand is an external marketing issue. Right? So says the frog that we normally think of as ignoring the rise in temperature: the law firm itself.

In this timely reminder of the little recognised, entirely self-evident new paradigm of the legal industry, we find that the two are excitingly, or if you are a frog, hopelessly, intertwined.

Millennials are not self-centred, egotistical, needy layabouts but digital natives who see the future in a very different way. And of course, that is the only way that matters — because even the frog that thinks he is in a Jacuzzi not a kettle would have to admit that they are the future.

Fresh perspectives are needed on the legal industry. The post-Covid world will catalyse thinking on this for sure. But before the world stopped to look at itself, too often the lens that we looked through was a legal or business school one. So, two experts from the marketing world looking at the challenges that we face bring something fresh to the party. And something essentially optimistic. 

For an industry that focusses relentlessly, almost obsessively, and to date very successfully on the issues of technology, client needs, efficiency, profitability and recruitment comes the idea that a crucial component of success in the future will be rather different. It will be about an alignment of internal and external brand. To engage both audiences it needs to be connected, not just with a vision and a strategy, but also a clearly-articulated and authentic, credible and tangibly-evidenced purpose.

No single book can provide the answer, but Butler and O’Malley make an insightful and highly readable contribution to thinking about these issues in a fresh and valuable way.