Two studies published either side of the Easter break have caught my attention. 

One from the Legal Marketing Association in the USA reports increased spend on marketing and BD. The other from NexisNexis and the Judge Business School at Cambridge University suggests an ever greater disconnect between law firms and their clients. 

It would appear that law firm marketing is not working well, broken even, and the answer is to throw more money at it. 

I'm delighted, obviously, that law firms are spending more on their marketing.  I also happen to think it is, largely, working well. 

But there is a weak spot - there always has been. Professional services marketing is more enabling front line staff - partners - to do marketing.

Some are excellent, most embrace it, yet it is rarely top of their list.

Top of the list is the work in hand and their client/s. And here is the second weak spot - a considerable amount of legal work can be done without really knowing and understanding your client's business.

That is of course a broad generalisation - there are some lawyers that live and breath their clients - but there are many more that don't and don't need to to keep billing.  That needs to change.