Stephanie Goldstein
LAW FIRM: Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
CATEGORY: Outstanding Media Exposure (law firm merger)
PR AGENCY: Weber Shandwick
BUDGET: $125,000
WEB SITE: http://www.wilmerhale.com
If the media have heard one too many David-and-Goliath stories, throw them a curve. Why not Goliath and Goliath?
"It's often the case in mergers that 'merger' is a euphemism for a takeover. That was not in any way, shape or form the case here, and we wanted to show that to both the internal and external audiences," says Lance Morgan, president of the Washington, D.C., office
of Weber Shandwick. In spring of 2004, he helped plug the merger of Hale and Dorr with Wilmer Cutler Pickering, two formidable law firms.
Both firms held places on American Lawyer's elite "A-List," an annual index that ranks the nation's 20 leading law firms based on a range of criterion. Stephanie Goldstein, chief marketing officer at the new Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and
Dorr, says: "There had never been a merger of two 'A-List' law firms and, as we talked about it more and more, it just became so obvious that this was the story to tell."
Yet unlike other recent law-firm mergers, neither firm in this case needed to merge in order to stay competitive.
So, the PR executives in-house and at the agency faced a huge challenge in getting the media to swallow that the deal was a "merger of equals."
Job One for the agency was to sit down with the law firms three months ahead of the planned "announce" date and a group they identified audiences, developed talking points and created an overall communications plan.
Once the merger was announced, PR executives were prepared to hand the media whatever information they needed to tell a convincing story of two equals coming together. They shared statistics about the firms, such as number of lawyers, offices, and success
stories. They also provided access to legal-industry experts as well as competitors.
Yet the media still wanted more; reporters pressed management for comments that would show some inequality among the firms, but spokesmen had been prepped and were able to deliver a consistent message.
Part of that message had to do not just with equality but also with business logic. If both firms were strong and successful, why merge? Here again, the PR pros rose to the occasion, training spokesmen to explain the ways in which the firms' practice areas and
strengths would complement one another.
With a PR budget of about $125,000, the campaign successfully influenced public opinion.
More than 80 articles appeared; the holy triumvirate of newspapers -- the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post -- devoted significant space to the merger with coverage the PR players say accurately reflected
the story.
While the media may not typically have sympathy for Goliath, reporters know a good story when they see or hear one. In this case, the PR team delivered what the media loves best: novelty.
"There have been a lot of law-firm mergers, but the thing that made this unique was the reputation of the firms," Morgan says. "These were two gilt-edged names."