Law Firm Marketing Summit — London, 14 October 2025
Wendy Bernero, Founder & Strategic Advisor, Yate Collaborative
9:15 am - 9:45 am (Europe/London)
Opening & Introduction (3 minutes)
Ale, thank you for your kind introduction! I'm thrilled to connect with all of you and engage with so many long-time friends and colleagues in one of my favorite cities in the world.
Let me begin with this thought from Dr. Peter Drucker, a Vienna-born and German-educated lawyer and world-renowned management thinker and author. He wrote this in 1974:
"In turbulent times, the greatest danger is NOT the turbulence – it's acting with yesterday's logic."
Today's turbulence is tomorrow's competitive advantage for those willing to adapt.
In preparing for this presentation—since I generally try to take my own advice—I reached out to a dozen of you across types of firms (local, national, regional and global) and across levels of seniority to get your input and expectations. What do you want to learn from this presentation? What do you want to take away with you?
You were generous with your time and not at all shy about your asks. Ideally, today I will provide:
A construct for creating a shared understanding of the turbulent forces impacting your clients
How to address these forces and get partner and firm buy-in to deliver client solutions
Tips on how to leverage this period to deliver more value and earn a seat at the table
Q&A and discussion
Discussion time may be a reach given the 30-minute time constraint, but we'll make a go of it!
The Real Landscape: Turbulence is the New Normal
Turbulence Timeline
Over my more than 30 years as the CMO of law firms ranging from boutiques to global behemoths, I've been challenged by more than my share of geopolitical and economic crises. I'm sure you have too.
This is my list:
2020s: COVID-19 Pandemic, Russia Invasion of Ukraine, Commercial emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
2010s: Arab Spring, Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis
2000s: 9/11 and aftermath, Dot-com Bubble, Global Financial Crisis
How many of you have helped organizations prosper through some or all of these crises?
Can anyone guess what else this list is? Shout it out…
It's also a list of some of the proudest moments in my career.
Let me say that again: upon being asked when in my career did my team and I perform at the highest level and deliver the greatest value to our firm, these are the moments I'm most proud of. Not the awards we procured, not the news headlines, not even the clients and mandates we helped the firm win. It was the moments when the firm and its lawyers were most anxious about the future that our BDMC team shone most brightly, felt the most pride, and received the greatest accolades.
Headlines of Disruption
We've all seen the headlines... How do we address them?
The first step is to frame the current turbulence in terms of its impacts on clients. Looking at the individual issues, which are coming from all directions right now, is unhelpful and leads to paralysis. You need to think about your clients, their sectors, their business models. Think about the impacts they are experiencing from these issues. Determine the most critical disruptions they are experiencing now and into the future.
Disruption touches every client (and every firm), falling across multiple dimensions. Three primary areas of today's disruption are:
People & Culture:
Acute talent shortages
Over 40% of job seekers demand flexibility
Global debates over DEI
Immigration challenges
Digital Transformation:
Digital-first markets
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation
Blockchain adoption
Economic Systems:
Inflation
Supply chain turmoil
Regulatory shifts
Governmental support & adoption of cryptocurrency
Here's an example: If you have strong talent and people capabilities, you want to look at the People and Culture issues. Deeply research the issues clients are facing. Use a sophisticated AI research tool to help you.
Pull out a whiteboard, engage with your sector and practice teams in a brainstorming session. Find the intersection of your clients' most critical needs and your firm's strongest capabilities/brand reputation. Develop a value proposition focused on how your firm can help clients build or protect their competitive advantage.
New Differentiators: Preparation & Market Insight
Growth Engine
Preparation and market insight are the new differentiators—what set leading law firms and BDMC teams apart. As you consider your own firms, I want you to visualize your BDMC function not just as a support team, but as a growth engine for your business.
On this slide, you'll see three gears—insight, strategy, and execution. These must turn in alignment for a firm to unlock transformation and growth. Too often, firms spin one gear in isolation: strategy without market insight, execution without the right strategy. High-growth firms—particularly in turbulent times—unify and align them.
Infinity Loop - Continuous Client Engagement
Here's a map for continuous growth: Strategy development and market insight anchor one side, execution powers the other. At the intersection is your go/no-go assessment—a checkpoint to pause, obtain client feedback, and assess whether your campaigns and strategies are resonating and delivering ROI.
Strategic clarity and client-centric thinking drive profitable revenue growth through this BDMC loop:
Insight: Scan market for macro trends, refine target market and ideal client profiles, create business model canvas for target clients, conduct competitor analysis
Strategy: Develop and refine framing for high-value offerings, gather partner inputs, develop prototypes for service offerings and key messages to test
Execution: Launch growth strategy and implement sales enablement plan, including visibility and credibility building focused on target clients/markets
Feedback: Test the market via deeper desk research and Voice of the Client (VOC) interviews
Go-To-Market Sales Enablement Methodology
This is where preparation and market insight truly differentiate firms; it's not a one-time event, but an evolving, repeatable cycle with decision discipline at go/no-go checkpoints. Market testing improves success rate and boosts ROI.
The full methodology includes:
Insight Phase: Market scanning and client profiling
Strategy Phase: Developing prototypes and gathering inputs
Strategy Refinement: Finalizing growth strategy with objectives and success measures
Internal Execution: Cross-sell enablement launch
External Execution: External launch with qualified lead identification and performance tracking
Embrace and Lead Change: Turning Turbulence into Opportunity
Let me give you an example. One that may put smiles on the faces of the Baker alums and current marketing leaders here today, as well as our collaborators at the amazing team at Stack.
As you know, the pandemic began in China and then spread through Asia, Europe, the US and then Latin America. The second wave followed a similar pattern. From the start of this crisis, our BDMC team met regularly (and remotely) to brainstorm about how we could add value to the firm's clients around the world.
We quickly settled on designing a crisis management framework that mirrored the impact being experienced by clients around the world. The resulting initiative became known as the 3R framework – Resilience, Recovery, and Renewal.
The framework mapped our service offerings to each stage of the pandemic experience as well as by industry sector. We mapped our supply chain transformation offering to client needs:
Resilience: Manage the immediate crisis - "keeping the wheels moving" through supply chain disruptions
Recovery: Stabilize operations - "increased focus on risk mitigation for the future" by rebuilding supply chains
Renewal: Evolve your business model - "investing in a new supply chain model" to transform and strengthen supply chains
As the pandemic moved across regions, clients found themselves moving through these stages multiple times. This framework enabled them to create and evolve their plans to continue serving their customers.
3R Resource Hub - Sales Enablement
The framework included sales enablement materials for Baker lawyers that set out the questions they should ask clients, and the ways the firm could help (solutions to real problems: access to capital, implementing remote work, etc.). And names of the partners around the world (by country, region and industry) who could deliver the necessary solutions.
We launched the 3R framework and initiative in 90 days—and continued to build and enhance it over the course of the crisis. We shared the framework with clients and many adopted it to help their own internal and customer crisis responses. The framework was recognized by The Financial Times as one of the year's best practice innovations. Most importantly, it energized our partners to engage with clients and contacts, enabling them to be solution providers in a period of extreme uncertainty.
Final Thoughts
Culture matters. Mindset drives performance. The contrast is clear:
Abundance Mindset:
"I Win / You Win"
Trust = Relationships
Together, we find the answers
Focus on Return on Investment
Expect High Performance
Confidence & Success
Prioritize Better
Scarcity Mindset:
"I Win / You Lose"
I have all the answers
Focus on Cost Control
Expect Bad News
Stress & Frustration
Resource-Constrained
Approach your role with an abundance mindset. Whatever your firm's reach or structure, clients are pushing for innovation, business solutions, and partnership. Abundance, curiosity, and collaborative partnership for the core of your competitive advantage.
The BDMC professionals who thrive are futurists, client insight gatherers, solution designers, and value deliverers. Use today's Summit to uncover actionable insights—find transformative ideas you can take back, areas where you can challenge "business as usual," and ways to turn back the relentless tide of marketing tasks that limit the value delivery of our talented teams.
You can choose to react—or you can command the agenda.