MARKETING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
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Are You Experienced? One Firm's Experience Management Journey
by Cindy Thurston Bare of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP
Are You Experienced?
One Firm's Experience
Management Journey
Like every large global firm, it is essential for Orrick,
Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP (Orrick) to collect and disseminate
information about our lawyers' expertise. We have long realized
the value of capturing maer details for knowledge management,
marketing and pricing purposes. In an increasingly competitive
industry, and with client RFPs at an all-time high, our ability to
find the right experience quickly can be a strong differentiator.
Setting Out
Our experience management journey started aer a fruitful
corporate business unit retreat in 2013, when I was approached
with two requests. The business unit leader and the marketing
team wanted a database to replace the spreadsheets they were
using to capture experience, and they also wanted a beer way
to involve associates in the process. We all understood that,
while only lawyers can contribute the substantive details we
need, reactively chasing them for updates was proving to be
neither productive nor effective for marketing.
At Orrick, you'll oen hear the phrase, "Don't let the
perfect be the enemy of the good," and I considered this as we
sought improvement. We first reviewed our current experience
capture systems and candidly explored what was working and
not working. Ultimately, I suggested a solution that extracted
existing data from new business intake and financial systems,
collecting as much maer information as possible with lile
effort. Then, 90 days aer opening, we routed each maer to
the top billing associate to provide an update, including a brief
description, deal value, close date and other important details.
