#060: Jay Harrington - Legal Business Development, Marketing, and PR Expert

How I Lawyer Podcast with Jonah Perlin

In this episode I speak with Jay Harrington who is one of the country’s leading consultants and strategists in the areas of legal marketing, PR, and business development. His consulting work includes helping clients define strong market positioning, develop effective thought-leadership strategies, gain visibility through public relations, and generate new business through the execution of marketing tactics. In addition to running his own agency, he is the author of three books (The Productivity Pivot, the Essential Associate, and One of a Kind) that teach lawyers how to develop their business, manage their time, and stand out both in their firm and in the legal world more broadly. I first learned about Jay through his wonderful LinkedIn profile where he posts thought provoking (but not cookie cutter) ideas about how to succeed in the practice of law daily to more than 13,000 followers.

Jay started his legal career at the law firms of Skadden Arps and Foley & Lardner and also opened his own boutique law firm in Detroit focused on bankruptcy and restructuring before moving to legal marketing work and coaching full-time.

In our conversation we covered a lot including: his path from Big Firm lawyer thrust into bankruptcy work in the wake of 9/11, to boutique bankruptcy lawyer in Detroit during the automative bankruptcy crises, to leading an agency that teaches and supports lawyers in building brands and marketing themselves better; the importance of finding and serving a niche instead of being all things to all clients; how to build a personal brand as a junior lawyer without coming of as sleazy or disingenuous; how to gain expertise and then position yourself as an expert that clients want to work with; the power of investing in yourself as a lawyer while also doing good work and being an integral part of your team; and more.

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This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.