Families, groups, circles, tribes, peeps. Human nature pushes us to connect with one another, and we feel better when we feel connected. In the law firm environment, our workplaces are ever-changing. Yet, strong professional connections remain critical to a firm’s survival and growth – even when colleagues leave the organization and go elsewhere. Hence, the importance of maintaining a healthy alumni network.
Law firms talk a lot about their cultures, and creating and sustaining an alumni network is an excellent way to enhance and reinforce it in a meaningful way. After all, as any good business developer knows, relationships are the foundation of success.
Your Very Own Office of Alumni Relations
Current and former attorneys and staff are woven into the fabric of all successful firms. Everyone who passes through the doors contributes to the culture. Having a formal way of keeping in touch with those people and viewing them as the building blocks of firm culture will not only set your law firm apart from others but also cast a wide net for new business, recruiting, and merger opportunities.
Need proof of an alumni network’s advantages? Think about the value you’ve enjoyed from membership in your law school, college, or even high school alumni association. Keeping in touch with those friends and classmates on a routine, meaningful basis may have led to referrals (incoming and outgoing), new clients, professional development, or even new hobbies.
A law firm alumni network offers similar benefits. They foster longstanding relationships between colleagues, regardless of generational or geographic differences.
We Can Still Be Friends
Employee turnover is inevitable. People seek new roles for various reasons and offering ongoing friendship, support, and learning resources is just good business for all involved. People like to do business with people they like, and alumni networks generate goodwill between those who fly the coop and those who remain in the nest.
Suppose a former associate moves in-house with a company your firm doesn’t represent. She may lean on you for guidance and appreciate staying in touch. Maybe she sends a matter or two your way if she gets the chance. As she rises in the legal department or becomes general counsel, she will likely have the ability to select outside firms and chooses to give you an even larger piece of her company’s legal spend. Perhaps she is then named GC at another company and the process repeats.
The best business development ambassadors are those who speak from personal experience. If the firm has continuously shown that associate-turned-GC some love, that investment can pay off exponentially.
And for Pete’s sake, don’t limit your alumni outreach activities to lawyers! Maintain ties with former legal assistants, paralegals, law clerks, firm administrators, etc.
Old BFFs Help You Make New BFFs
When recruiting talent to join the firm, touting your firm’s alumni network is a powerful selling point. Interviewing is a two-way street, and firms are now evaluated pretty rigorously for their culture and how employees are treated, especially when they exit. Knowing that your firm values attorneys as people will help not only attract but retain talent.
And for Pete’s sake, don’t limit your alumni outreach activities to lawyers! Maintaining ties with former legal assistants, paralegals, law clerks, firm administrators, etc., can often yield the same results.
Alumni Association Planning and Activities
To implement an alumni network at your firm, you need a plan that can be efficiently executed and sustained. For example, your plan should:
Establish clear goals and benchmarks that make sense for your firm.
Choose a dynamic leader to provide dedicated oversight.
Engage HR to identify what contact information is on file for former employees and how best to communicate with them.
Assess what tools you have at your disposal to create efficient communications such as CRM and communications software.
Ask your marketing department to assist in establishing an annual budget for events.
Last but not least, ensure there is buy-in from key decision-makers and firm leadership. If those folks don’t understand the value of creating an alumni network, all efforts will yield little to no results.
Now comes the fun part – getting your graduates back on campus, either in real life or virtually! A successful law firm alumni initiative comprises different experiences such as networking events, CLE programs, community volunteering opportunities, and even ad hoc gatherings. If you build platforms for professional development and personal growth, they will come!
This is where your firm’s culture re-enters the picture. Understanding your unique brand and environment will drive your alumni activities.
For example, let’s say your firm is known for its community involvement. Instead of a lavish cocktail party at a swanky venue, invite alums to a local food bank for a day of volunteering. Depending on your culture, a trivia game night, a museum tour, or an educational workshop may be more authentic – and can be done in person or over the web.
Need Help Connecting With Your Firm’s Alums?
By now, the value in launching and maintaining a law firm alumni network should be evident. Although determining where and how to start may seem like a Herculean task, it doesn’t have to be. If you need assistance putting your alumni relations program in place, we can help you identify and align the right processes, practices, and people for your firm and its culture.
Your Very Own Office of Alumni Relations
Your Very Own Office of Alumni Relations
