Estate Planning Lawyers Guilty Of "Failure To Market"?

In light of the recent brouhaha between me and another blogger, I thought this article in the Elder Law Journal was interesting (tip of the hat to Jeremy Richey). It says, in effect, lawyers aren’t doing enough marketing of wills, and that is a disservice to the public:

From the abstract:

Disappointing rates of intestacy may be as much a business problem as a legal one. In this interdisciplinary law and business article, the authors investigate whether widespread intestacy may be attributable in part to the failure of the legal industry to market wills effectively. Although attorneys can market within the boundaries of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the majority do not take full advantage of the range of permissible marketing strategies. This Article suggests that attorneys learn the basics of marketing strategy and rely on guidance from marketing experts in order to structure effective programs to educate the public on will drafting services. By integrating both law and business, estate planning lawyers can better serve current and future clients.

Comments

[Ben Glass]

Mark: you are right and this is something that other guy who was ranting about marketing will never get. Most of the ethical rules around the country start with a preamble about a lawyer's duty to educate the public and make the news about the availability of legal services known. Its a duty to market effectively. The estate planning you raise is a great example. Families are going un-protected because lawyers are doing a poor job of fulfilling their ethical duty to educate.

Marketing can be fun, profitable, educational, ethical and effective-- in short, a win-win for lawyer and client.

Hey, some will disagree with you and me and some will never get it.. that's OK too, the world is big...everyone's entitled to their opinion even if they show the shallowness of their thought by speaking in such disrespectful tones.

Have a great Thanksgiving

[Grant Griffiths]

Marketing done in the fashion of being educational based is key IMHO. The public certainly has a desire to know what is available and what they can expect from the legal process.

Lawyers who do educational based marketing are well in front of those who see marketing as a monster to be forever silenced. Lawyers have an obligation to provide information to the public in a form and fashion they can understand and use.

Great post Mark and please keep on showing those in the legal profession how to correctly to the public.

[will]

As an estate planner based in the UK I cannot agree that the industry fails to market itself, just typing estate planning or will writting on Google show this not to be the case.

It is unfortunate that people have a high level of apathy when it comes to ensuring their families financial future after they die.

I am always open to suggestions on how to improve our marketing, but having tried everything from Web to radio advertising, direct reponse to group talks I struggle to see what else the industry can do.

Regards
Wills
http://www.gb-legal.com