My first law firm job 20 years ago was overseeing the alumni relations program at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Back then we had a hard copy alumni contact

Michelle O’Driscoll has been in the legal marketing industry for more than 30 years, which means she’s pretty much seen and done it all.

As the Senior Business Development Manager at Sheppard Mullin LLP in San Francisco, Michelle is responsible for leading strategic practice group and industry team marketing initiatives to help lawyers increase their revenue and expand visibility.

In her bio, she calls herself “results-oriented, a connector and a “doer” and a critical member of any marketing SWAT team” which I think is clever and terrific.

Michelle previously worked in marketing roles for Bingham McCutchen, Sedgwick and Heller Ehrman. She is the mother of identical twin sons and co-authored the popular book “Play Around the Bay: A Guide to Bay Area Outings for Families with Young Children,” first published in 1999.

Learn more about her in this Women Who Wow profile.

This is not the year to take a break from social media during the summer. Instead this is the time to focus on your business development and branding efforts.

I don’t know anyone right now especially (or ever) who would say they have enough clients or work. I think everyone is nervous about the economy, the ability to maintain their current volume of work, bring in future clients and support their people.

That being said, it’s incredibly important to ensure your current clients are happy and that you are consistently generating new sources of leads and referrals.

Here are 25 ideas on how to do that, which now involves shifting your strategy from in-person networking and client entertaining to having a strong online presence and thought leadership platform. If you have never used LinkedIn, written an article or blog post or spoken at a webinar, now is the time to pivot to doing all of these. It is never too early or late to start marketing yourself or your firm.

Please join me for an Expert Webcast tomorrow, March 19, from 1pm to 2pm PDT on “Effective Thought Leadership and Communication Strategies in the Time of a Global Crisis.”

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