I’m delighted to announce that our ever-popular legal directories webinar, Preparing for Legal Directories, will return in October! We have been hosting and running legal directories webinars for almost a decade, meaning we’ve shared our insights, top tips and more with hundreds of lawyers and legal marketers during this period. We are here to share your pain, and we love to mark your wins! We’re lucky that many of you have been generous enough to provide feedback over the years, and I’m very proud of our 100% response rate to the question “Is LexRex a trusted source of information and advice on the directories process?” This year though I decided it was time to give the format a bit of a zhuzh, and I’m delighted to announce a guest speaker, legal directories manager at Shoosmiths, Sarah Bidgman. During her seven-year tenure in post, Sarah has led the firm’s strategically aligned directories programme. In that time, Shoosmiths has become one of the UK’s top six firms by Chambers rankings, with 16 Band 1 rankings and a place in Chambers’ “Most Elite Law Firms in Britain” table. I have no doubt that Sarah is going to bring huge value to the webinar, as she can comment upon aspects of the in-house process that I simply have no access to. In particular, I’ve asked Sarah to be ready to discuss the following: Stakeholder engagement and managing tricky players (no comment) Using your time efficiently Ensuring legal directories strategy supports the firm’s strategy Because we always have a lot of first-time viewers, I will again cover the following, which I know are perennially popular subjects: How to create the most effective legal directories submissions Being strategic in your approach Referees 2025 / 2026 update As an aside, please note that these webinars attract a wide audience, including people who are not particularly (or at all) experienced in the legal directories process. I’m going to respectfully suggest that if you are super-experienced or if you’re going to leave snarky feedback that the session is too ‘basic’* that the webinar perhaps isn’t for you. *Or comments to this effect. I know some of you are very experienced, but there are only so many ways I can explain the process. If you know how to do directories, you don’t need to come! If there are any aspects of the legal directories process that you’d particularly like to find out more about during the webinar, do email me and I’ll do my best to build it into the agenda. I do hope you’ll join Sarah and I for this year’s Preparing for Legal Directories webinar. Tickets are going fast, so do book your place now. BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW Do you want to receive specialist legal directories advice, top tips and more direct to your inbox? Sign up to the LexRex Directories Bulletin newsletter for exclusive support, insights, early access to events and more. Sign up now to the Directories Bulletin. Victoria Moffatt is the founder and managing director of LexRex. A non-practising solicitor she has been supporting law firms with their PR for over a decade. Get in touch with Victoria to discuss your law firm’s PR needs.
Some of you may have read about NetworkingAF on the LexRex blog or seen social media activity talking about this event series. I hope that some of you even attended! But what is NetworkingAF? NetworkingAF is networking for lawyers and senior employees of law firms and legal businesses. I’ve written recently about why I decided to set up a networking group, and if you’re interested, you can read that here (ignore the title, it’s not just a review). In addition to a desire to create a networking group, I also wanted to try and create something as inclusive as possible, NetworkingAF was born! Why is NetworkingAF inclusive? I’ve noticed for a while that many (most!?) networking events aimed at the legal sector involve alcohol in some format or other. And even when they don’t, they are often held on premises that serve alcohol. I know that for some people this is a problem – they don’t want to be around alcohol. This may be for religious or cultural reasons, they don’t enjoy alcohol, don’t want to drink, don’t want to be around people who drink, they are sober or sober curious. I don’t really care whether people drink or don’t drink (I quite like a wheat beer or a glass of wine, I’ll be honest). I do care though when I get a feeling that I might be inadvertently excluding people from enjoying an opportunity to network. NetworkingAF is therefore fully alcohol-free and takes place in a venue where no alcohol is served, ever. It’s a dry bar. And although alcohol-free wine- and beer-style beverages are served, this isn’t a route that we’ve gone down with the event. You won’t find any mocktails either. NetworkingAF’s vibe isn’t about perpetuating alcohol culture just in a booze-free way, it’s a recognition and celebration of getting together without needing either a drink, or a fake drink. At this point I should also point out that, because I don’t like to do things by half-measures, the food we serve is also super-inclusive. Again, an alcohol-free lifestyle for cultural or religious reasons may come hand-in-hand with dietary requirements. If this is you – please know that I want you to attend and be able to enjoy ALL aspects of the event. All of the food served is vegan, and you will have the opportunity to notify me of any dietary requirements in advance. We can (and we most certainly will) cater for you. Now I know that some of you will be rolling your eyes at this point – and all power to you. Nonetheless, I urge you to give into your curiosity and come along to the next NetworkingAF event on Thursday 2nd October at Hinterland, Manchester. Some of the attendees at our first NetworkingAF event in January are fully signed up beer and meat monsters, and they are now some of our biggest advocates / fans. Book your tickets to NetworkingAF now What: Alcohol-free networking at an alcohol-free venue (no alcohol on the premises). When: Thursday 2nd October 12.00pm – 2.00pm. Where: Hinterland alcohol-free bar, Basement, 16-20 Turner St, Manchester M4 1DZ. Why: Because not everyone wants to drink alcohol. Nibbles and small plates will be served but we’ll be encouraging people to mingle rather than stay seated to make for better networking opportunities. Book your tickets to NetworkingAF now. NetworkingAF is kindly supported by the following legal sector suppliers: LexRex Communications Cashroom Document Direct Forsyte Post Partner Lucas and Co Consultants BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW Victoria Moffatt is the founder and managing director of LexRex. A non-practising solicitor she has been supporting law firms with their PR for over a decade. Get in touch with Victoria to discuss your law firm’s PR needs.
On Thursday 17th July, my fellow Law Firm Supplier Network members and I hosted Summer Drinks at The Anthologist on St Peter’s Square in Manchester. If you came to the Christmas Drinks event or LexRex’s 10th anniversary party, you’ll know how much I like this venue. It’s beautifully laid out, the food and drinks packages are easy to order and logical (with great alcohol-free options that go beyond Diet Coke and Becks Blue), it is very accessible, and they cater well for allergies. All of this stuff is easy to ignore, but so helpful when venues get it right. Tell me more about Summer Drinks… The idea behind Summer Drinks was to bring together Manchester’s lawyers and law firm employees for a late afternoon and early evening get together. As with all of our Law Firm Supplier Network events, we wanted a lovely venue, tasty food and drink and most importantly – great people! This was our second drinks event, the first was our Christmas Drinks, which took place in December 2024 (and if you like the sound of this event, watch this space). You may also know that we run a twice-yearly alcohol-free networking event called NetworkingAF. This also happens in Manchester at a fully alcohol-free venue (no alcohol is kept on premises at all). Do book your ticket now if you’re free to attend for lunch on Thursday 2nd October. Summer Drinks delivered on all fronts, and the sun even put in an appearance. This was helpful as I’d booked an outside space, and I was slightly nervous of either rain or scorching summer sun. Thankfully, Manchester’s climate came good and we neither fried nor froze. I asked one of my fellow Law Firm Supplier Network partners what they thought of the event. Martyn Best, founder of Document Direct said, “From the moment the first guests arrived, it was clear everybody was ready for an evening of fun. The chatter started almost immediately, and there was a great mixture of new people and those I’d known for a while. The relaxed atmosphere meant we could mix and mingle, with a plentiful supply of great food and lovely drinks. “Victoria kept the evening flowing with her trademark mix of charm and organisation, making sure everyone felt included”*. *I didn’t pay him to say this. Feedback from our post-event survey was also very positive, with all respondents planning to attend future Law Firm Supplier Network events and one commenting that it was ‘fabulous’. What is the Law Firm Supplier Network? The Law Firm Supplier Network came into being as a result of a vision for a network that I’ve had for many years. I’d always wanted to create a networking group for lawyers and employees of law firms, having always wanted to access something like this when I was in practice. I can remember being expected to network but also never quite finding a space where I could get to know my fellow lawyer peers. I can also remember feeling that a lot of legal events were overrun by suppliers, which I’d find a bit frustrating because I wasn’t in the market to be sold to and because what I really wanted was to meet other lawyers. Although I could have created the network under the LexRex banner, it felt right to go out to market to my trusted network and build something collaborative. I’ve known Tracey, Alex, Martyn and Tom for a while now and not only do I trust them, I also like them. They were the first people I went to with the idea, and they all enthusiastically said an immediate ‘yes’ to being involved. Between us, we have strong networks, and most importantly, they make me laugh – what’s the point in doing business with people who don’t make you lol in a WhatsApp group!? We intentionally limit Law Firm Supplier Network attendees to lawyers and law firm employees, save where we occasionally invite an additional supplier sponsor. Not only does this model enable us to create the lawyer-space that I’ve always wanted, it also means we can bring these events to market free of charge for attendees. I understand that it can be frustrating for other suppliers who want to get involved, but at the moment, we have no plans to change this model. We may host a ‘Meet the Supplier’ or similar event in the future – and do feel free to email me if you’d like to be involved in this potential event as a sponsor. At the moment we are focussing on building our presence in Manchester, but if you’re based elsewhere and you’d like to see either Summer / Christmas Drinks or NetworkingAF in your location, do get in touch for a chat by emailing me. If you’d like early access to tickets to future Law Firm Supplier Network events straight into your inbox – sign up to the LexRex newsletter, Legal Resource today. Victoria Victoria Moffatt is the founder and managing director of LexRex. A non-practising solicitor she has been supporting law firms with their PR for over a decade. Get in touch with Victoria to discuss your law firm’s PR needs. Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn.
Why is networking important for lawyers? And how do you learn how to network? The phrase ‘networking’ can strike fear into the heart of many otherwise completely calm and sane people, particularly lawyers, I’ve found. I understand it though. Many people see networking as an instruction to go into a crowded room and ‘meet people’. Indeed, at one of the law firms I used to work at, we were encouraged to go out to a popular wine bar and ‘meet people.’ We thought it was great – we drank all the wine, got hideously drunk and got the 8.00 pm train home for takeaway on many a Friday night. I definitely didn’t puke on my own shoes one night. But I digress, and actually whilst the above ‘tactic’ was an interesting one, it definitely didn’t result in any new contacts or business for the firm (not via me anyway). Instead, networking should be undertaken strategically and although strictly speaking it falls into business development rather than marketing or PR, it’s something that PR and marketing-savvy lawyers will be careful to do well. So, what is networking? At its heart, networking is about adding people to your network and developing existing relationships. It’s about building closer relationships with people you don’t know well and maintaining strong relationships with people you know already and want to stay close to. If you want to be a partner or own a law firm at some point in the future, then you are going to need a book of work. That will only come about by being able to network and build business. But… networking doesn’t have to be about joining a dreaded 5.00 am networking group where YOU MUST BRING AT LEAST TWO REFERRALS OR WE WILL THROW YOU OUT. It can be as simple as keeping an eye on who is interacting with your content on LinkedIn and asking if they’d like to meet for a coffee. It can be hosting or attending an event – a seminar, drinks or something else. It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you use the time to develop those key relationships. Read on for more simple ideas for building your relationships. But first… How do I develop my networking skills One of the first things to understand is why you need or want to network. This is key for any effective PR and marketing tactic (including networking). For most lawyers, it will be to try and generate new work for the firm. For you personally, it might be because you are trying to get a training contract, you’re looking for a new job, or you want to apply for a more senior role or put yourself forward to be considered for partnership. Whatever your reason, you next need to think about who you need to meet, in order to most easily meet your objective. If you are building a book of work – think in detail about who your best work typically comes from and consider building a few different personas of ‘perfect’ clients. If you get work from referrers, or you want to build a route for this kind of instruction then again, map out an ‘ideal’ referrer. If you are looking for a new role or promotion, who do you need to get in front of internally or externally in order to make a good impression and become liked and trusted as a potential colleague or new partner. Once you understand what you are looking for, you can start to think about how to get in front of these people and build relationships. The aim is to move from somebody knowing about you, to meeting you, to liking you and finally to trusting you. What networking do I need to do? There are so many different ways to network, and the following are just a few suggestions that hopefully give you pause for thought and the ability to start creating your own networking plan. Networking events: There are so many groups, often sector-based, geographically-based, role-based-, and gender-based, that it can be hard to choose which is the best for you. If you are happy in a room full of people, try a few and see whether you meet anybody fitting your target audience. As an alternative, if you know that somebody you want to know is attending, why not make plans to meet them there? This gives you the opportunity to see how you feel on the day about dipping your toe into the networking pool, but with a safety blanket of a pre-arranged meeting. Educational seminars or workshops run by law firms can be very effective and provide great opportunities to build relationships with existing or lapsed clients of your own and your colleagues’ from other teams. Other professional services businesses also run this type of informative event, so do your research and try a few out. Seasonal parties, drinks events, charity nights, lunches or meals to mark religious or cultural events. As above, great opportunities to build and grow relationships. Small, informal events with handpicked guests. A few people with shared interests meeting for a lunch, drinks, coffees, sport, spectating, music – whatever you like. This sort of thing doesn’t have to be expensive but can be very effective at building deeper connections. Meeting for coffee or lunch on a 121 basis. Another great way to build those deeper connections where a more in-depth conversation is more appropriate or will help you to reach your goal. Zoom or Teams call. A 121 Zoom or Teams call is a great way to meet somebody, but without the initial effort of getting out of the office. This type of meeting allows you both to see whether you can get along, have interests in common etc, which you can then move along to a face-to-face if appropriate. The downside to a call rather than face-to-face is that you don’t quite achieve the same level of connection, and if possible, it’s always
On Tuesday 17th June, I was up and out relatively bright and early to make my way over to The Royal College of Physicians for the start of the Law Firm Ambition conference 2025. Competing effectively in the legal sector I was lucky enough to have been invited to speak on a panel all about how law firms can differentiate themselves from the competition and get more work as a result. It won’t surprise you to learn that my advice was all about reputation and specifically, how law firms can utilise PR to monetise it. Panel session insights: Competing with others for new business As part of the panel session, I spoke about two frameworks that we use at LexRex to effectively deploy PR strategies that help law firms to grow. One is the step-by-step framework we use to create effective PR strategies – and you can access that framework by downloading the Law Firm Leader’s Reputation Playbook. It provides deep insights into what makes an effective reputation, along with step-by-step exercises to help law firm leaders audit their reputation and start to utilise it to best effect. I also talked about the PESO framework, which we use to ensure that we consider four key aspects of PR when creating a strategy. They are Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned. Again, the Law Firm Leaders’ Reputation Playbook defines and explains this framework, giving actionable insights and advice on how you can use it to better leverage your reputation. I gave my top tips on how to create effective legal directories submissions (we went from very strategic to very tactical during the panel, I was asked to provide specifically actionable advice, which I think I did!) All of the legal directories advice and insights that I provided can be found in the Legal Directories Resource Hub, which you can access completely free of charge by becoming a member here. My top three takeaways for attendees were: Be strategic Remember that PR is a long game. Share your firm’s strategy with the people creating and delivering your PR strategy. However, the day wasn’t just about my insights. In fact, I played a tiny part in what was a hugely insightful and interesting set of presentations and breakout sessions. Here’s a brief insight into some of the speakers and sessions that took place on the main stage of the conference. Ben Hunt-Davies, Rower, gold-medal-winning Olympian and founder of Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? I’m fairly sure I’ve seen Ben speak in the past; his presentation is entertaining and gives plenty to think about. His hot take is essentially that we shouldn’t do anything in business unless it metaphorically ‘makes the boat go faster’. He talked at length about all the things that the eight-man rowing team did and concentrated on in their campaign to win gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 (spoiler – they won). Ben also talked about the difference between results and performance, and he recommended that we always concentrate on performance, because sometimes results can happen despite performance. I think this is a good lesson. Andrew Hedley, Hedley Consulting – The changing competitive landscape Andrew’s talk was all about strategy (a subject very close to my own heart at all times!) He was particularly keen to ask us to consider the fact that we can’t do everything all of the time, and that we need to be careful about how we allocate our scarce resources to achieve a competitive advantage. He also suggested we undertake horizon scanning for challenges, including: The firms we compete with today. New firms entering the market. The fact that clients want better, faster and cheaper (no change there!). The things that are costing us more. The things that will take away the need for us. And consider – how much we are prepared to change? I quite liked his definitions of between tactics = running faster, and strategy = running a different race. Managing Partner Secrets I can understand why this panel returns each year; the speakers were all very open, frank and funny with their insights. The panellists were Chris Allen (Blacks Solicitors), Victoria Davey (Gordons LLP) and Duncan Jackson (Buckles Solicitors LLP). The session was ably hosted by Chair, Alex Holt (Cashroom), with topics ranging from whether you should monitor your competition (Victoria said no, focus on what you are doing, Duncan said no, compete in your own locations and Chris said, yes absolutely, we are OBSESSED with the competition). Other topics included advice on CRM systems, how to get more work from your existing clients, why recruitment is so hard (and how to get better at it), AI, what ‘winning’ looks like, and how to get people back into the office. Being honest, this was probably my favourite session of the day. I really appreciated the time and honesty provided by the panellists. The latter sessions included a talk by Bernard Savage, who talked about how to be unique. His focus was on niches and how important it is not to have too many. He also suggested that firms avoid worrying about the competition. The day closed with a session by Dan Warburton. He suggested that firms need bold leadership for big results. Those in leadership positions need to lead by taking note of and dealing with ineffective behaviours by getting compassionate instead of angry, and finally by collaborating, not manipulating. He finished with the message that “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.” Sensible advice. In all, the Law Firm Ambition Conference was a really enjoyable event and is one I’d recommend to law firm leaders. This was the fourth iteration, and what I think is particularly effective is that each conference is themed. This should help the organisers to avoid the content becoming stale and will hopefully ensure a rotating roster of new speakers each year. The attendees from law firms were mainly at the senior end (perhaps due to the ticket price, which
A couple of months ago I wrote this blog: Why Dry Events are a Marketers Dream. My logic was that networking should be a space for everybody, a place to go and meet our target audiences, customers or clients, referrers and anybody else of importance to our business and / or career. Events should also be inclusive, although they can of course also be selective. Why alcohol-free events? I wondered whether, by often hosting events that revolve around or include alcohol, hosted in venues where alcohol is present or where it is sold on premises at different times of the day, we marketers might be guilty of excluding a significant number of people that we could instead be building relationships with. And by extension failing to be inclusive. As a sector, the legal profession isn’t perhaps known for its sobriety (when it comes to the demon booze at least) and my thinking turned to whether, in fact, I was missing a trick with my own events. Given that we are often perceived as a boozy profession, this means that it is quite likely that there are many of us who don’t, can’t or won’t drink on an enforced or selective basis. And of course, many people don’t drink for religious or cultural reasons, or simply choose not to. There are naturally many and widely varied reasons for not drinking, and movements like Dry January perhaps provide insight into the fact that for some people, not drinking ‘for a whole month’ might be an issue. Dig a little deeper and I’m sure there are people who simply can’t risk being around alcohol. Stopping to think about how alcohol has become and remains a social lubricant led me to consider whether there are any events that cater for the non-drinkers in the sector. To be honest I couldn’t find any. I’m sure breakfast seminars and conferences probably don’t feature alcohol for the majority of the time, but that’s not really the type of event that I mean. Introducing NetworkingAF All of this thinking led me, probably quite naturally, to decide to create my own alcohol-free networking event for lawyers – and NetworkingAF was born. To be clear, NetworkingAF isn’t about being judgy about drinkers or alcohol. You don’t have to be alcohol free to attend, nobody needs to share their alcohol status or reasons (if any) for not drinking – although feel free to if it’s important to you. This is an inclusive event for all the right reasons. NetworkingAF is just one of a series of ongoing events. Sponsored by the newly created Law Firm Supplier Network, it forms part of a calendar of events aimed at collaboration within the sector. Not all Law Firm Supplier Network events will be alcohol free, and not all events will look the same. But for now, the focus is upon creating peer-to-peer networking opportunities for lawyers and senior employees of law firms. Because the events are currently funded by law firm suppliers (including LexRex), we are intentionally limiting suppliers in attendance to those supporting the events. See below for a full list of the NetworkingAF partners. We may run a Meet the Supplier event later in 2025 to enable lawyers to meet and mingle with suppliers to the legal sector – and if this is of interest, please confirm here (please only provide responses if you are a lawyer or law firm employee). Book your tickets to NetworkingAF now Powered by the Law Firm Supplier Network, this informal networking event is aimed at senior lawyers and employees of law firms and aims to facilitate peer-to-peer networking amongst the legal profession. What: Alcohol-free networking at an alcohol-free venue (no alcohol on the premises). When: Thursday 30th January 12.00pm – 2.00pm. Where: Hinterland alcohol-free bar, Basement, 16-20 Turner St, Manchester M4 1DZ. Why: Because not everyone wants to drink alcohol. Nibbles and small plates will be served but we’ll be encouraging people to mingle rather than stay seated to make for better networking opportunities. BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW NetworkingAF is kindly supported by the following legal sector suppliers: LexRex Communications Cashroom Document Direct Actionstep Post Partner Victoria Moffatt is the founder and managing director of LexRex. A non-practising solicitor she has been supporting law firms with their PR for over a decade. Get in touch with Victoria to discuss your law firm’s PR needs.
