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“Be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Legal Marketing Association AMPLIFIES at Leaders’ Conference AND #LMA23 … #lmamkt

30 November 2022

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One of the great joys this year as Legal Marketing Association – LMA International prez-elect is being able to work with existing and incoming leaders to chart our path next year and beyond. One of our annual “rites of passage” is a two day (virtual for now) Leaders’ Conference where we convene leaders across our regions, committees, special interest groups, international board and more to connect and collaborate. Truth be told, I feel in my bones EVERYONE in LMA is a leader, and I don’t want anyone to feel left out. Got that trait from my mama!

The attendees get a small token of our gratitude for their volunteer hours and a note accompanies. Given that I think (and hope) these words may resonate more broadly, I’m sharing them here as well …

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” — Mother Teresa

Legacy isn’t what we accomplish in this brief moment (when we are honored to carry important titles), but rather it is what we inspire in those who follow us. Our collective calling, as change agents and as growth purveyors, is in elevating our profession overall, rising above the ephemeral and stretching beyond together. We have a unique privilege to ensure success for our next generation. THAT is the moment of amplification before us. Thank you for your service, for your hearts, for your hard work, and for your generosity of time and of spirit. You make a difference in this incredible LMA community.

Oh, and here’s a box of cool stuff to say thank you for being you, to help you amplify YOUR voice AND the voices of others, and to have a laugh (and think) or two.

Love you and grateful for you. Roy

P.S. We’ve also included a book from one of your fellow LMA members – and one of our Leaders Conference speakers – Jay Harrington. This book serves a “meta” purpose. There is great guidance in there around amplifying one’s brand and voice. These tips should prove helpful to you on your leadership journey AND as counsel you can take back to any attorneys you support on their respective growth paths. As our friend and colleague Terry Isner reminds us, “Put your oxygen mask on first so you can better help others with theirs.”

P.P.S. Thank you in advance to our two keynote presenters Jay Harrington and Alycia Sutor; our workshop facilitators from Second City Works including Kat Barker; our Annual Conference chairs Megan McKeon, Lee Watts, Jennifer Petrone Dezso; our many breakout and reflection leaders over the next two days; and our marvelous HQ team Danielle Gorash Holland, Holly Amatangelo, Morgan Frohling, Jennifer Weigand, Lisa M. Kamen. And to Emily Hillman and Kelly MacKinnon for these pics!

The 2023 Annual Conference Advisory Committee (ACAC) is excited to share that the #LMA23 education program is now available! Capitalize your 2022 budgets and use this educational programming experience to justify your attendance. Explore the full 2023 education program today: https://bit.ly/3itjRJJ

It’s ALIVE! Check out our just launched #LMA23 AMPLIFY agenda! This represents hundreds of hours of work from our amazing Legal Marketing Association – LMA International volunteers and HQ team and all of our presenters. So excited! I love what Annual Conference Advisory Committee (ACAC) member Mike Mellor said about this process, “I’ve been so honored to have been a part of the ACAC of this year’s LMA! We are bringing new voices and building frameworks for a more inclusive and richer experience in Florida, and we will all benefit from the vast array of perspectives from all around the world. We hope that everyone will raise their hands and participate this year – challenging the status quo is the best way to drive the industry forward!”

Special thank you to our co-chairs Lee Watts, Jennifer Petrone Dezso, and Megan McKeon and to our HQ team Holly Amatangelo, Kaitlin Heininger, Lisa M. Kamen, CAE, Danielle Gorash Holland, Ellie Hurley, Sarah Logan. And to our fab ACAC crew Amber Bollman, Jon Brewer, Joseph Edmonds, Tahisha Fugate, Mike Mellor, Ruth E. Morayniss, Gail Porter Lamarche, and Arthur Uratani. AND our wonderful pre-con session chairs Ashraf Lakhani, Brianna Leung, Justin Portaz, Jason Klika, Alé Simmons, Susan Slifer, Julie Hollander Eichelbaum, Christine Mitchell Harris, Bobbie Conklin, EJ Stern Bearman, Cheryl Bame, and Michael Blachly. I am in AWE of these amazing humans!

“Clark Hill understands that a strong visual presence is becoming more essential on Facebook than it once was.” Thank you, Good2bSocial! #lmamkt

29 November 2022

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Oh my goodness! Thank you, Guy Alvarez and Good2bSocial, for this lovely shout out to what we at Clark Hill Law are doing on Facebook. Kudos to my colleagues Alexandra France, Tommy Franz, and Guinevere Lehman Anderson for their leadership here and to our larger team and firm community for the beautiful content they help provide!

Original post: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/5-facebook-accounts-of-law-firms-who-5077567/

“Clark Hill understands that a strong visual presence is becoming more essential on Facebook than it once was. They find new and exciting ways to add visuals to their posts, whether it is a podcast sound bite with accompanying visuals or a professionally shot video. Clark Hill also uses Facebook as a place to share thought-leadership content and start conversations on topics important to their firm. They often share links to articles, rather than simply only advertising their successes.”

“Come over here. Who are you?” Feeling grateful for kindness and friendship … Passle CMO Series Podcast #Thanksgiving Special … #lmamkt

22 November 2022

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Thank you, Will Eke and Passle, for including my thoughts alongside those of so many fab legal marketing leaders in this lovely Thanksgiving special. LISTEN HERE: https://blog.passle.net/post/102i21h/cmo-series-thanksgiving-special

We are all grateful for YOU and for all you are doing for our profession and industry. EXCERPT:

“I’m Roy Sexton, Director of Marketing for Clark Hill Law and I am also the 2023 international President of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International. I am thankful for a group of humans I met early on when I joined the Legal Marketing Association. Gina Furia Rubel, Nancy Leyes Myrland, Heather Morse-Geller, Gail Porter Lamarche, Lindsay Griffiths, and Laura Toledo

“We’ve all kind of now moved on and gone our separate ways in some respects, but that was the core group. I tell this story quite a bit. I was at the Orlando LMA annual conference and shy and nervous, which nobody believes, and feeling very insecure and I was lurking around the pool. Nothing good usually comes from that. And they were all there as a social media special interest group, having a meetup.

“And Gina saw me and she said, ‘Come over here. Who are you?’ And sometimes I cry when I say this because she just wrapped me in love and got to know me during the course of that afternoon. And they became my mentors and my friends, and they have been with me ever since, supporting me, giving me hard truth, and helping show me the way through this profession.

“And I had always had a fairly serendipitous career until I met them. And it really locked in that I like what I do, I like who I support, and I will always credit them for the mentoring they provided me early on, the way they adopted me and the way they’ve looked out for me ever since.”

LISTEN HERE: https://blog.passle.net/post/102i21h/cmo-series-thanksgiving-special 🍁

#keepingfamiliesclose – my 2022 birthday fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor – #niftyfifty

15 November 2022

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Want to join me in supporting a good cause? In honor of my 50th (!!) birthday (December 28!), I’m raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor, and your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. This will be my sixth year of doing this birthday fundraiser for RMHCAA: I’m honored to be an RHMCAA board member but I’m even more honored to help support this incredible mission.

Donate here: https://givebutter.com/RMHCAApayforwardthekindness/roysexton

The mission of the Ann Arbor Ronald McDonald Houses is to provide families of children experiencing a serious illness or injury requiring hospitalization or treatment on an outpatient basis, a “home away from home” that assists in alleviating the families’ emotional and financial stress.

Oops, I did it again … an upcoming presidency, an upcoming webinar, and a real-time #Britney flame war

14 September 2022

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LMA is pleased to announce its 2023 International Board of Directors. The slate of candidates was ratified on September 2, 2022, and the newly elected and continuing officers and directors will begin their terms on January 1, 2023. More: https://legalmarketing.org/2023-International-Board

Legal Marketing Association – LMA International welcomes:

President
Roy E. Sexton
Director of Marketing
Clark Hill Law
Detroit, MI (Midwest Region)

Immediate Past President
Brenda Plowman
Chief Marketing Officer
Fasken
Vancouver, B.C. (Canada Region)

President-Elect
Kevin Iredell
Chief Marketing Officer
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
New York, NY (Northeast Region)

Secretary
Amy Payton Verhulst
Senior Business Development Manager
Jackson Lewis PC
Houston, TX (Southwest Region)

Treasurer
Andrew Laver
Business Development Manager
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Philadelphia, PA (Northeast Region)

Treasurer-Elect
Rachel Shields Williams
Director of Knowledge Management
Sidley Austin LLP
Washington, D.C. (Mid-Atlantic Region)

Member-At-Large
John Byrne
Chief Marketing Officer
Gould & Ratner LLP
Chicago, IL (Midwest Region)

Member-At-Large
Jessica Haarsgaard
Business Development Manager
Burr & Forman LLP
Greenville, SC (Southeast Region)

Member-At-Large
Diana Lauritson
Senior Marketing and Business Development Officer
Hogan Lovells
Washington, DC (Mid-Atlantic Region)

Member-At-Large
Trish Desilets Lilley
Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer
Stroock
New York, NY (Northeast Region)

Member-At-Large
Jaime Lira
Marketing Director
Cohen & Malad, LLP
Indianapolis, IN (Midwest Region)

Regional Leaders’ Committee Chair
Robin Devereux Gerard
Chief Marketing Officer
Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC
Newport Beach, CA (West Region)

Chief Executive Officer
Danielle Gorash Holland
Legal Marketing Association
Chicago, IL

So darn excited to work with these amazing souls, all of our fab volunteer leaders, our incredible membership, and marvelous HQ support team next year. ✨

REGISTER: https://bit.ly/3wwtImc … “Law firms and legal service providers: Know who’s gonna join us for Stack Ranking, Part 2 on 9/30?

“Meet our special guests: Roy Sexton of Clark Hill Law; Drew Hawkins of Womble Bond Dickinson US LLP; and Gordon Braun-Woodbury of Calibrate.

“Our esteemed colleagues will weigh in on the 2022 RubyLaw Legal Marketing Tech Study and opine on our insights. Come hear what they have to say!”

I seem to have started a flame war with Britney Spears 😂 – Britney, we do love you, but please stay kind.

“A Magical Combination: Law Firm Branding & Culture Development” … Thank you, Elise Holtzman and The Lawyer’s Edge, for making me feel so welcome and seen. #lmamkt

30 August 2022

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Thank you, Elise Slosberg Holtzman and The Lawyer’s Edge, for making me feel so welcome and seen and for all you do for our community. Love you!

Listen here: https://thelawyersedge.com/podcast/roy-sexton-interview/

“After supporting the rebranding of Clark Hill Law, Roy realized just how magical the combination of branding and culture development can be. In the process of branding, you’re uniting company values, the customer experience, and a diverse team, which, in turn, helps develop the true, authentic culture of your organization.”

Be a leader. Not a busybody.

14 July 2022

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One of the treasures unearthed at my parents‘ house. A cartoon my dad drew of my grandfather based on a Norman Rockwell image. Some of the humor clearly is of another era when a grown man taking good care of a cat was something tease-worthy.

That said, what I love about this, other than the creativity and the warmth it exhibits, is that it shows we’ve always been a “stand back and hold my beer” kind of family.

I will always be proud of that quality, and it will always be core to my personality.

#love #animals #family #art #beyou #bebold #bekind

A tale of two Susans: good will hunting … and abiding

25 June 2022

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Thank you, Goodwill Industries International, Goodwill Industries of Northeast Indiana, Inc. , Bill Warriner, and Lori McCutcheon! Susan is remarkable!

Original post: https://www.facebook.com/525651807446116/posts/5555854667759113/?d=n

There’s a bit more to all of this and I didn’t want to overdo my comment, but we were really struggling with a lot of this purging, and, as we pulled things off the truck, Susan was so complimentary about my mother’s taste and how well received her collection would be. It was such a relief and an encouragement.

And then we found out that Susan shares the same name … as my mother Susie Sexton. And there’s more: Goodwill Susan‘s mother was a professor at Ball State University in the speech department, and was one of my mother’s professors when she was there. My mother studied speech at Ball State. My mother wrote a couple of books, speaking at length about how much she loved her years there.

It all felt like fate, to be honest. And did our hearts a world of good!

#bekind

#Pride … meaningful media: Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 and Madonna’s I’m Breathless

13 June 2022

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Clark Hill assembled a list of “meaningful media” to honor Pride month, with contributions and (most importantly) heartfelt stories from all across our great firm. Thank you to my colleagues Hannah Reisdorff who organized the list’s development and Ray Koenig and Tobias Smith who are leading our overall Pride recognition activities. Here is my contribution to the list …

For me, there were two albums that helped me as a young high school man living in a small town in Indiana still trying to figure out what his sexuality might mean. Might be surprising to hear but in the late 80s there wasn’t a lot of good guidance for people like me. Lol. But I found a voice in two records that weren’t overtly LGBTQ but were recorded by artists who have always been allies to our community.

In 1989, I wandered into our mall’s Musicland and bought a cassette of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. It was all the money I had in my pocket, and that album with its day-glo, percolating inclusivity gave me a summer soundtrack that made me feel like the world could be a better place.

The following summer, I was chosen by the US Senate as a youth ambassador to Japan. A bit homesick, I bought another cassette, this time of Madonna’s I’m Breathless, a pastiche of songs from Dick Tracy and songs inspired by the film. Problematic as the song “Vogue” has become as we are increasingly sensitized to cultural appropriation, nonetheless its thundering pulse and message of liberation – as well as the fizzy camp with which the queen of pop delivered the album’s other show tunes – spoke to my soul and gave me a sense of self.

I still listen to both of these albums often, now streaming, and they transport me to a time of discovery and give me a sense of great gratitude that these artists were willing to push the envelope of popular entertainment and acceptance.

“Show up every day and keep moving forward, my friends!” – Heather Reid, Carolyn Manning, and Dominic Ayres on Legal Marketing Coffee Talk #lmamkt

4 February 2022

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View …

On Facebook: https://fb.watch/aYr3Z5UVcC/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robkates_legalmarketingcoffeetalk-legalmarketing-lmct-activity-6894074900764852224-5Ydl

YouTube: https://youtu.be/MmIBKvvbl9E

“Show up every day and keep moving forward, my friends!” – Heather Reid. And indeed she and Carolyn Manning and Dominic Ayres did today on Legal Marketing Coffee Talk with Rob Kates and yours truly! There may have also been appearances by Cher, Elvis, Britney Spears, Homer Simpson, a blue cow, Baby Yoda, and Mr. Ed. 🙌

Mostly we had a warm, substantive, candid, joy-filled, inclusive chat about culture and communications and (to swipe the title of Dominic’s fab new book) “How to Advance Your Career in Professional Services Marketing: Be More Purposeful and Strategic with Your Career Direction.” (Which you can order … right here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PLR7322/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_7AW38R2HCE6Y2CKBZQWH.)

Along the way, we talked about the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International’s fab #LMA22 conference this March in Las Vegas, tiny dogs who don’t like snowmaggedon, failed guitar lessons, creative heirloom family quilt displays (thank you again, Shoppopdisplays!), the rogue habits of grooms and their wedding registries, and more!

Thanks to these viewers for the love, support, and engagement today: James Barclay, Amy Payton Verhulst, Tahisha Fugate, Nancy Leyes Myrland, Marcia Delgadillo, Don Sexton, Rich Bracken, Gail Porter Lamarche, Jay Linder, and Susan Hunt – with shout outs in the show to Susie Sexton, Heather Morse-Geller, Deborah Farone, Jessica Aries, Laura Toledo, and more.