This week Legal Marketing Professionals will converge on Southern California for the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute 22nd Annual Marketing Partner Forum: Building Collaborative Strategies Across the Firm.  This event promises to be an exciting, invigorating and energizing look at best practices in Legal Marketing, as well as an opportunity to engage with leaders in the industry.

The event will take place on January 21 until January 23 in beautiful Rancho Palos Verdes, California.  Each day will be packed with thought-provoking presentations featuring innovative panels, staffed by industry leaders.  The program will provide dynamic opportunities to learn more about the unique challenges facing the industry as well as creative solutions for those problems, and the chance to meet and brainstorm with legal professionals from across the country.

Matthew Peters, National Leader, Markets, and Technology Group Partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, is one of the event co-chairs.  In his work at McCarthy Tetrault, Mr. Peters oversees the firm’s client service plans as well as implements the client satisfaction measurement system.  Mr. Peters has been recognized by numerous publications for his excellence in the field, especially in regards to his work with Technology Law.  He was named the Best Lawyers’ Vancouver Technology Law Lawyer of the Year in 2012 and 2015.  He was also named as one of the Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of technology law and information technology law.   In 2010 Mr. Peters was awarded a Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40 award for his exceptional leadership and the high level of service he provides to his clients.

Peters took on a national marketing role at his firm three years ago, and being new to the role, he asked around to see where the best place was to get information and ideas on his new role.  The word of mouth led him to the Law Firm Marketing Forum, and he served as a facilitator on a Managing Partner Roundtable last year. 

For the upcoming year, Peters is very excited about the line-up.  He says, “the content is fantastic, there is a great line-up of speakers and panels that are tailored to where the market is, and where it is going.”  That said, he would also advise attendees to take full advantage of the cocktail hours and the mingling, commenting, “most people get as much from all the discussions outside the events, because it gives attendees to hear the way others hear the information—and it allows them to hear what they aren’t hearing.”  And of course, the chances to meet new people and make connections can be invaluable.  Finally, a prospect that is more subtle than those previously mentioned, is the chance to view the conference as a forum, an opportunity to discuss among peers, “where the market is, and where we think it should go.”

He says, “The Legal Industry is effectively going through the industrial revolution right now.  People in the industry know it is changing, they’ve heard that it’s changing, but not many have internalized the idea.”  In his view, the Legal Marketers, the marketing partners are at the forefront of that change, and they are in the unique position to bring the needed changes back to their firms.  The Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute 22nd Annual Marketing Partner Forum is an excellent chance to do just that.