Monthly Archives: July 2023

“Hotter than July.” The Legal Marketing Association is fired up this summer ― plus more playlists! #lmamkt #lma23

11 July 2023

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“Hotter than July.” That’s not just a kickass Stevie Wonder album, but is a phrase that could also be used to describe all of YOU! LMA is en fuego this summer. I’m inspired by all of the amazing content you are generating these days: thought leadership, webinars, social media, in-person presentations, social outings, conference planning, on and on. I try like the Dickens to keep up with it all, and am happy to report that is humanly IMPOSSIBLE. So kudos to y’all!

I was fortunate enough to make a trip to Toronto in June to join one of the Canada Region’s summer socials. And it was off the chain. Eighty attendees, vibrant dialogue, so much connection and just great fun. Kudos to Jessica Horowitz and team for all the hard work and planning! Thank you to Canada President Hans Chang for extending the invite AND for treating me to an incredible lunch the next day. You may or may not know this, but Hans was tapped as president-elect this year, but stepped up to the prez role in quick fashion when this year’s original president left our wonderful industry for another great opportunity. (A testament to how in demand you all are BTW!) Hans pivoted like the champ he is and quickly immersed himself. Didn’t skip a beat. He has led with heart and authenticity, and he shared with me that he sees himself as a steward, adding to what has come before and simply hoping to leave things a bit better than he found them. I’d say he’s doing very well at that mission! That’s all we can ask of ourselves as leaders.

While I was there, Canada Board Member Sara Short (communications) said these magical words: “I love your playlists! I’m going to miss those!” So you can blame her for this…another playlist to round out your summer fun. Hopefully as good for a glass of wine on the patio as a raging house party. You’re welcome! Here on iTunes and Spotify 🎵. And, yes, my beloved theater peeps Idina Menzel and Billy Porter are well-represented…but these ain’t no show tunes. You’ll see!

 

Roy July Pres mssg_canada 2 photo
Roy July Prez mssg_canada 1 photo

Shout out to the Midwest Region who is killing it with a series of meet-ups across the region. I was able to join the Michigan Architecture tour here in Detroit – thanks to John Reed and Andrea Oleszczak and team for planning such a thoughtful, inspiring, engaging afternoon. And I see you Kate Shipham, Amie Allison, Jason Klika, Rich Marsolais, Jennifer Shankleton, Tanya Riggan and other Midwest Board members getting your miles (and steps) in touring our Midwest LSCs. 

Midwest Michigan Architecture

 

The photos of these meet-ups are such great fun to see!

Kudos to our Northeast Region and Mid-Atlantic Region for following a similar model on socials AND launching some incredible educational content this summer. I know a recent client-service education event in the Northeast had over 115 attendees! Way to go, Northeast President Jay Linder, Mid-Atlantic President Kathryn Burke and respective teams!

(Sidenote: I worry when I start going down this path of shout-outs that I’m leaving someone out. Please know that this is all offered just in the spirit of celebration and that we are grateful for ALL of the efforts at play this summer!)

Speaking of the Midwest – thank you to Ashley Defay, Kate Harry Shipham, Lauren McNee, Sara Pierson and Rob Kates for this opportunity to reflect on being a gay man in this industry, my mid-year reflections on this wonderful role I get to carry, leadership lessons generally, and…The Little Mermaid. If you missed the interview, you can catch it here. It’s a pretty candid chat and all comes from the heart.

21DAY SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE

Kudos to Jennifer Forester, Jacob Eidinger, Erika Galarneau and the Social and Digital Media SIG team for their exceptional work on June’s “21-Day Social Media Challenge,” (login to view) in its second year. 

I didn’t think they could top themselves from last year…but they did. The conversations were robust and provocative and actionable. If you missed it this year, do NOT miss it in the future. It exemplifies what is so incredible about LMA: community: sharing knowledge and insight and connecting through learning. 

And as robust as our LMA community is, I must admit that we had a “shoot for the moon” goal of 4,500 members in 2023 as an International Board. Truth be told, the eddies of a shifting economy among other issues have conspired and we’re more likely to hit 4,100. Still growth from last year, but not as big as we’d hoped. And that’s ok. (For those ready to hit the “I told you so” button, I’m pre-empting you!) That said, the International Board is hard at work in a series of sub-teams looking at membership, regional growth, education and revenue diversification toward the end of yielding nuanced, achievable goals for next year. More to come on that. But that’s the job we signed up and we’re happy to support the continued evolution of this marvelous association. (Know someone who should be a member? Invite them to join LMA with our special Mid-Year Membership Offer!)

We’re halfway through this year and already we’ve had so many great events and impactful educational offerings. To date across HQ and regions, we have offered 100+ educational opportunities with thousands of attendees — in addition to the 1,100+ attendees at the 2023 Annual Conference (recordings available here)! And there are many more events happening now and planned for this year.

As you have likely seen on social media and beyond, we have a number of great regional conference offerings in the queue for this fall. Check out the schedule for your region and make sure to join one (or more!) to continue your growth and development as professionals. One last shout-out to our Southeast Region and President Laura Hudson. Not only are they planning a fab conference for THIS fall, but they are also already ahead of the curve, securing NEXT YEAR’S dates with a very thoughtful approach. Love seeing that collaboration, hard work and embracing of best practices. Go, team!

And while you may have a little downtime, consider sharing your expertise and submitting an educational session idea for the LMA 2024 Annual Conference Call for Content which is open only through July 17. You can alternately submit your name for consideration as a possible speaker or panelist.

Keep taking time for you where you can – and keep connecting meaningfully with each other! That’s why we joined this LMA club and what makes it all worthwhile!

Love you,

Roy

President, 2023 LMA International Board of Directors

Roy E. Sexton
Director of Marketing
Clark Hill

 

Save the Date! #LMA24 I April 3-5 I San Diego

Add Your Expertise! Call for Content Open Through July 17

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Legal Marketing IS “Rocket Science”: Great advice with a hint of spice!

10 July 2023

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“What Every Managing Partner Needs to Know About Marketing and Business Development” … VIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/sobbMm_Te4c

Thank you to Managing Partner Forum’s John Remsen, Jr. and Uri Gutfreund for hosting Susan Slifer, Lee Ashby Watts, and me for this robust, engaging conversation the other week. And we only got *spicy* once (catch it at the end!) when someone suggested legal marketing isn’t “rocket science.”

(I *may* have been triggered 😅)

From Answering Legal: Incredibly excited to get all these legal marketing experts in the same (virtual) room! You won’t want to miss this discussion July 18. Sign up for our Law Firm Summer Reboot Camp today, and gain access to a live panel presentation, featuring Jacob Eidinger, Lee Watts, Nancy Myrland, Toni Wells, and me.

Get your free ticket here: http://ow.ly/gN7I50Ooi4Q

“Yesterday belongs to us, Mr. Jones.” Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

5 July 2023

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Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York;

And all the clouds that lour’d upon our house

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;

Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;

Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,

Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.

William Shakespeare from the play Richard III

________________

One could argue, looking at the themes and box office performance of this year’s would-be summer blockbusters that actually we are in the “summer of our discontent.” Of course, I’m intentionally missing the point of this famous speech which observes that, in peace, those who’ve found power in the chaos of war long to return to those ugly moments that made them successful. Or maybe I’m not missing the point after all.

Much like The Flash (and as I understand a number of other big box office swings this summer), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is not simply a nostalgic cash grab, but a film focused on the corrosive nature of time and of nostalgia itself. Blessedly, there are no “multiverses” to be navigated here, but we do see time travel used as a metaphor, a rather effective one, for the regrettable state of our present world. Central to the conceit of the film: how some seek the golden glow of remembered peace and adventure as a balm; how others seek a return to darker, even more chaotic moments as their salve for the inexorable passage of time; and how some (Indy) try to deny any of it ever happened at all.

As directed by James Mangold (who swam in similar “past is prologue” waters with Logan), Dial of Destiny is a loving, if overlong, capstone on the storied careers of both Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford. It’s quite impossible at this point to separate the two. Yes, Ford has crafted similarly iconic hero figures in other silver screen franchises, but Indy (at least to this lay-viewer) has always dovetailed spectacularly with Ford’s apparent “curmudgeon with a heart of gold” real life persona.

The film would have benefited from about 2.5 fewer car/horse/boat/motorcycle/train chases. It’s a lot. And for a film ostensibly about the emotional collateral damage of a long life (mostly) well lived, it’s a bit hard to accept so much wanton destruction of personal property and commuters’ sojourns for sheer entertainment value.

Much like The Flash, the film truly shines in its quieter character-driven moments. Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge (making quite a name for herself in the action genre) is a welcome addition. Her winsome brand of cynical, pleading snark as Indy’s ne’er-do-well goddaughter is a nice juxtaposition to Ford’s rock-ribbed “not this again” comic exasperation. They play very well off one another, although a few too many lines get lost in, yes, all the car/horse/boat/motorcycle/train chases.

Mads Mikkelsen adds another notch on his (shiny black leather) belt of playing icy Teutonic baddies. This time a full-on Nazi. (I do hope America remembers we don’t like Nazis.) Mikkelsen plays all the grace notes of sly sociopolitical critique in the early moments of the film when he “seems” to be a reformed Nazi helping America win its much-vaunted space race. (The film is set in 1969.) Given that such things actually did (and do) happen in America, it’s a pointedly clever reminder that the great U.S. of A. is not above reproach in its opportunism and global empire building.

We quickly find out he ain’t reformed. They never are. (Remember that, America, at the voting booth, mmkay?) His hope is to find two parts of an ancient dial, crafted by ancient mathemagician Archimedes, that will allow him to, yes, time travel and help MAGAfy World War II. More or less. “Yesterday belongs to us, Mr. Jones,” Mikkelsen hisses at one point. Kander and Ebb wept.

And thus kicks off a 2.5 hour rollercoaster ride (remember the cars, horses, boats, motorcycles, trains?) for multiple parties to find the dial and avert/create disaster (but mostly it’s just Indy vs. the Nazis).

Along the way, we meet friends old and new from prior entries in the series. Much like Mangold did so effectively with Logan, we watch a man (Indy) come to grips (arguably peace) with the tumultuous threads of his life, the disappointment of looking back on it all and realizing all he has to show is a (literal) retirement clock, ultimately warily acknowledging he wouldn’t change one bit of it, even if he could.

Admittedly, watching one’s childhood screen idol wrestling with the emotional and physical storm of aging is haunting, mixed as it is with my own awareness of how quickly time travels. I sat there, gazing at the screen at fifty years old, with the same awe I had when I was nine soaking up Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time, thinking, “Wait, is Han Solo allowed to be in another movie!?” Indeed, he was and is little Roy … and we have been all the better for it.

Tempus fugit.

“You should seek the help of a mental health professional. The Justice League isn’t very good on that part yet. Trust me.” The Flash (2023)

3 July 2023

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Early on in DC’s latest cinematic effort The Flash, the titular hero (a manically charming Ezra Miller) averts a literal “baby shower” (i.e. babies and a cute rescue dog falling from the sky) when a Gotham City maternity ward starts crumbling after some criminal attack. (Honestly, I’m not sure what caused the near catastrophe … the opening sequence which also features Ben Affleck’s pitch perfect Batman is that chaotic, though nonetheless entertaining.)

After said rescue (yes, all CGI babies and pup end up … unscathed?), The Flash AKA Barry Allen tells an (also rescued) nurse, “You should seek the help of a mental health professional. The Justice League isn’t very good on that part yet. Trust me.” Honestly, it’s a line that is a bit unnerving given Miller’s real-life troubles. (Google him.) Yet also forms a kind of meta thesis for the whole enterprise, an epic existential meditation on regret and healing, wrapped in the wobbly cinematic logic of time travel and parallel universes. Everything Everywhere All at Once. In Spandex.

You see, Barry’s father (shaggy Ron Livingston … at his shaggiest) has been imprisoned (wrongfully Barry believes) for the murder of Barry’s mother. Barry realizes his ability to travel at light speed (he’s the fastest man alive, you might recall) and beyond light speed will allow him to step back in time and avert this family tragedy from ever befalling. And a carefully placed can of crushed tomatoes is the key. (You’ll have to watch the movie to understand.)

Even though Bruce Wayne (Affleck) cautions Barry not to go back in time because of some space/time continuum risk mumbo jumbo (not dissimilar to Willy Wonka intoning exhaustedly “no, don’t do that” to any number of the ill-fated Chocolate Factory brats), Barry does it anyway. And mumbo jumbo ensues.

It all works better than it should but is probably more enjoyable to nerds like me who have subsisted on a steady diet of DC Comics and tv shows and movies since birth. Fan service at its self-indulgently finest. 

Michael Keaton returns to form as another Batman (that would be the mumbo jumbo), and is a welcome reminder to how a grounded yet winking performance sells these summer blockbuster shenanigans. Sasha Calle is a lovely, wounded Supergirl with not nearly enough to do amongst the overstuffed spectacle. Michael Shannon, always a presence, pops up again as General Zod, who seems as beleaguered by superhero cinema as the rest of us at this point.

Oh, and Ezra Miller does double (triple?) duty as another version of himself from earlier in the timeline. It’s a shame his offscreen antics have overshadowed his talent. He really does excellent, nuanced work differentiating the performances, effectively capturing the angst and poignancy of interacting with one’s younger, more impulsive, less world-weary self.

Director Andy Muschietti, working from a screenplay by Christina Hodson, strives overtime to offer haunting and witty character moments throughout. The film is most effective when it’s quiet. That’s not often. But the stellar cast gives it their all, as if they are performing a reflective tragicomic piece by Thornton Wilder or Arthur Miller … but with a lot more kabooms, capes, and poorly rendered CGI. (Truly, the time travel nexus or whatever it is which appears repeatedly is astoundingly bad. Like all the SFX crew had to work with was an old Sega game console.)

But here’s the thing. I actually liked the film. A lot. Maybe in spite of itself. As a musing on what any one of us might do to turn back the clock and prevent life-altering experiences that weigh on our hearts, it’s quite astounding. And refreshing. It may be the most human-centric superhero flight of fancy to ever grace the silver screen. And a timely one as so many of us read the daily headlines and wonder how our world has become so cruel and unkind and callous. 

Or maybe the world has always been that way. And no amount of running back through time could change where we are now. And that’s ok?

That’s the ultimate lesson of The Flash. And it’s a sobering one. No wonder it’s not making any money.