The BigLaw Firm, Branding, and Television

Jordan Furlong, Edge International, muses on the links between Law & Order (as delivered by Big TV) and, well, law and order (as delivered by Big Law). More here from his post at Bloomberg Law's Legal Communities BigLaw Business Blog.

Mr. Furlong begins:

“In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups….” Recognize that line? Of course you do. Law & Order was appointment viewing for an entire generation of lawyers and law students in the 1990s...Unlike other shows, which suffered when popular leads departed, L&O thrived throughout its personnel turnovers, mostly because the show adhered rigorously to its formula, structure, sound (“Dun-Dun!”) and style...The attraction of a machine that operates effectively regardless of who’s pushing the buttons is obvious, especially in industries with tight margins and expensive talent. You can even find examples of this approach in professional services....Think about it: When was the last time you heard a CEO say, “I hire the accountant, not the firm”? The major accounting firms firms sell their brand, their operations, their systems — their machinery....That’s not the case, obviously, for law firms, where the brand of the individual lawyer traditionally has trumped the shingle of the firm under which he or she happens to practice at the moment. Consider, then, how attractive law firm leaders would find a firm whose brand, operations, systems — whose machinery — trumps that of its individual lawyers. Consider a “lawyer-proof” law firm....