Gardner Leader Solicitors

"LCM work very, very hard for us and give us a much bigger communication infrastructure," says Chris Felton, marketing partner at Berkshire-based solicitors Gardner Leader, which began working with LCM five years ago. 

"They almost act like project managers. Whether it is making the Website evolve constantly for us, or organising public relations or a seminar and ensuring it integrates with our overall strategy, they make sure it is done well. And, on the pubic relations side, they give us a bit of vital energy when it would be very easy not to take or make the call." 

"We do lot of work with the local press, such as photo opportunities with charities. LCM has a really good relationship with them," Chris says. “This includes securing a monthly column in Gardner Leader’s key local paper. But they have also helped us with gaining national media coverage. If we have a story or article, we call Colin Bridgman at LCM, who also encourages us to think of PR regularly." 

"It all tends to be fairly fast moving. We have done radio on BBC Radio Berkshire and Kick FM. We have provided them with comment on Heather Mills McCartney and a Ladbroke Grove rail disaster and the Berkshire rail crash. The last TV we did was at the Magistrates’ Court about a helicopter crash." 

"In terms of marketing, our broad aim is to make more of what we have already. We want, for example, to increase the work we do on the corporate side of the business," says Chris. “The firm also wants to expand its practices covering family, litigation, property and inheritance protection law.” 

"All areas of are work are running in sixth gear. But recently we took the strategic decision to take on a heavyweight commercial lawyer." Consequently, Chris says, "We are doing more institutional work and tendering for bigger contracts, such as work with housing authorities and property investment companies." 

In part this decision came down to the impact of the Clementi Review, which aims to make the profession more consumer-centric. 

"It is quite a crunch time for the legal profession. We took the decision to move away from the areas where there will be increasing competition," he says. 

"We came to the decision that direct marketing is expensive for the results it produces. So from August 2006 we started to look at individual fee earners as the ones who deal with client relationship management. Clients are often interested in our handling their legal portfolio."  LCM has found other routes, including sponsorship of the Southern Symphonia Orchestra and Newbury Festival.

LCM's help in gaining positive coverage in publications including the Lawyer, the Law Gazette and the Institute of Director's Director magazine is a great help in following this strategy through.