What’s Behind the Growing Midsize Talent Pipeline
Senior marketing and business development leaders are leaving Big Law for midsize law firms in growing numbers, while firms are paying closer attention to how they build up their next generation of talent. Erika Steinberg, founder of fractional law firm marketing agency CMO2go, was recently quoted in two Law.com articles covering both trends.
CMO2go believes that neither trend is happening by accident. Both are the direct result of law firms that are intentionally prioritizing culture, talent, and visibility as recruitment and retention strategies.
The Marketing Talent Pipeline Is Flowing Toward Midsize
Abigail Adcox of Law.com has been tracking the growing shift in where senior legal marketers want to work. Because the path to CMO is so narrow in the AmLaw 100, many find less resistance in their path to the C-suite at a midsize law firm.
Here’s Erika’s take about why Biglaw marketing talent is moving to midsize firms:
“What I hear more than anything is the relationships that they can form…and [they] actually have good relationships with every single partner…they really get to know their lawyers…they feel very connected to firm leadership.”
As CMO at Skarzynski Marick & Black, Amy Nielson made that move herself, and got to build a marketing function from the ground up. At her new firm, she had direct access to firm leadership, and none of the layers that slow that kind of work down at a larger firm.
Firms earn that kind of access and autonomy by building a culture worth moving to.
The Case for Investing in Young Lawyers Early
Tom Spigolon of Law.com raised a familiar question: should firms prioritize raising a young lawyer’s visibility, knowing that they might eventually leave?
Erika’s answer was a resounding yes. The market expects expertise from the whole firm, not just its most senior lawyers. When a junior lawyer shows up polished at a networking event or publishes something smart, that reflects well on everyone around them.
As Elizabeth Kennedy of NewEdge BD said, firms that invest in young lawyers’ visibility build a stronger succession pipeline, and give talented people another reason to stay. It’s a retention strategy that works because it’s also a business development strategy.
That kind of visibility takes planning. Firms have to actively choose which young lawyers get those opportunities: whether that’s a byline, a speaking slot, or an introduction to a client. Without that effort, it usually doesn’t happen.
Investing in Culture Is a Deliberate Choice
Both stories point to the same conclusion: the midsize law firms getting ahead right now have chosen to build culture, talent, and visibility on purpose, rather than treating them as things that just happen on their own.
That’s the work CMO2go does with midsize firms every day: veteran AmLaw 100 marketing expertise that covers both strategic planning and execution, for firms ready to compete like the big shops without the cost of a full-time hire.
If your firm is thinking about what it would take to build a culture that attracts senior talent, or a real program for developing your associates’ visibility, that’s exactly the kind of planning conversation we built our Blueprint plan to accomplish.
Read the full articles here:
The Pipeline of Big Law Marketing Officers Making the Move to Midsize Firms, Law.com Pro Mid-Market
Schedule a discovery call to talk through what that could look like at your firm here.