Situation/Objective:

When a new law firm opens for business, the press doesn’t come running. The press yawns, deletes the email announcement, and gets back to more pressing stories.

That was the challenge facing HC in publicizing the launch of a new, four-partner law firm in New York City. Law firms take years, if not decades, to build their reputations. Few make any splash right out of the gate, a fact never more true than it is today. Given the recent economic tumult in the legal industry, small groups of rainmaking partners have increasingly left large firms to hang their own shingles, making the creation of new firms with big names almost literally an everyday occurrence.

In a field of 7,000, HBC made one firm stand out.

Thus, spreading word of the launch through the national financial press (read by potential clients) and legal industry press (read by mega-firm attorneys who might refer business) was an imperative for Holwell Shuster & Goldberg. That was HC’s objective, however unlikely achieving it appeared.

Analysis/Strategy:

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg had a specific vision for the types of cases that it would handle: litigation and arbitrations touching on the financial markets. While this focus was well-defined, HC recognized that it was neither narrow nor unique enough to capture the interest of the press.

Instead, HC decided to build its campaign around two qualities that separated Holwell Shuster & Goldberg from its thousands of peers in the legal industry. First was the experience of Judge Holwell, who had not only served as a federal judge for 10 years, but had recently presided over a high-profile trial: the insider trading case against Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam. While the Judge is bound by ethical restrictions that prevent him from talking in depth about the case, his connection to it would provide an attractive hook for the media. Furthermore, any stories focused on that experience would benefit the new firm, as it would allow the Judge to speak about two issue areas—insider trading and securities fraud—in which the firm would be seeking new business.

Second, HC’s outreach would focus on the personal connection between the founding partners. Judge Holwell, Mike Shuster, and Dan Goldberg had all worked together decades ago at a large global law firm, and their sustained friendships across the years provided a unique way to humanize the new firm.

While all of the partners were excited to get started on their new venture, the timing of the new firm’s launch was unsettled, and would not be known until the last minute. HC prepared by producing significant materials well ahead of the launch: a press release, an “About Us” page for use on the firm’s website and in other collateral, and biographical materials. All of it placed a spotlight on the Judge’s experience in the Galleon case, the high-profile matters the three principals had handled together, and the personal connection among them. HC also organized a photo shoot of the firm’s partners that captured both the serious nature of the firm’s work and the easy inter-personal relations between the firm’s attorneys. These photos were used to create a brochure focusing on the firm’s origins.

Meanwhile, HC exhaustively tracked developing stories relating to insider trading and financial fraud, in order to provide a topical connection to the new firm when the launch day arrived.

Results/Execution:

On the morning of the launch, HC put the release out over the wire and followed up with individual reporter targets. HC’s individualized pitches, drawing on its extensive knowledge of current stories in the financial and legal press, met with success beyond any reasonable expectations. HC secured:

• Two New York Times articles on the launch of the firm.
• Other articles on the launch in The Wall Street Journal; Reuters; American Lawyer, the legal industry publication of record; Above the Law, the legal profession’s most popular blog; Crain’s New York Business; New York Law Journal; Law360; FINAlternatives; and numerous other outlets.
• An appearance for Judge Holwell on the Wall Street Journal’s “Mean Street” video series, focusing on the launch of the new firm and his transition to private practice;
• A Wall Street Journal article, quoting Judge Holwell, on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower protections;
• A video and podcast feature with Judge Holwell on Bloomberg Law, released over multiple Bloomberg platforms, on the use of wiretaps in insider trading cases;
• A Q&A feature with Judge Holwell in Corporate Counsel magazine, with a readership full of potential clients, on a breaking FBI announcement relating to insider trading; and
• A follow-up meeting for Judge Holwell with multiple reporters and editors from the Wall Street Journal.

The relationships that Holwell Shuster & Goldberg established with the press at its launch continue to pay dividends today.