Kelly Largey
LAW FIRM: Fish & Richardson
CATEGORY: Outstanding Legal Feature
PR AGENCY: Blumenthal & Associates
WEB SITE: http://www.fr.com
It was a "problem" many law firms would envy.
For three consecutive years (2001-03), Fish & Richardson (F&R) topped the IP Law & Business annual list of the best patent litigation firms nationwide.
The firm was pleased with the positive coverage, but it was also a bit perturbed that the publication (60,000-circ) singled out up-and-coming law firms for larger profiles.
While F&S helped to pioneer patent litigation -- Frederick Fish, whose early clients included Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, founded it in 1878 -- there was a perception in legal media that it also was the "same old same old."
However, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, F&R had morphed into a national entity with 330 lawyers specializing not only in patent litigation, but also in intellectual property (IP), and corporate law for such heavyweights as 3M, American
Online, Intel and Microsoft.
So, in anticipation of F&R capturing the No. 1 spot in IP Law & Business' 2004 list, F&R devised a PR strategy to pitch a major feature story.
"We started to talk about some of our interesting cases, our clients and we also focused on some of our younger attorneys," says Kelly Largey, director of client services. "As we told them more and more about who we are and some of the things we have
accomplished, the misperceptions fell away." F&R was quick to follow up the conversations with a detailed pitch letter and an outline to keep the fire burning. During the next few months, the firm continued to feed IP Law & Business editors stories
about developments at the firm.
The overriding goal was to convince editors that, by coming out on top of the list yet again, it was time for the magazine to give the firm a fresh look. And it did, with a cover story in the May 2004 issue titled "Go Fish." The article, later reprinted in American
Lawyer (a sister publication to IP Law & Business), exceeded F&R's expectations and boosted the firm's exposure with its sweet spots: in-house general counsel and IP counsel.
"We got great results" from the article, Largey says, adding that the firm's revenues continue to grow annually in the double digits. "You can't rest on your laurels when there is so much competition in the IP space, in which people are willing to pay premium
rates."