Tag Archives: michigan

Sexton begins term as president of the 2023 Legal Marketing Association International board of directors > Detroit Legal News #lmamkt

17 January 2023

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Thank you, Lisa and Danielle at Legal Marketing Association – LMA International, Joel and Matt from Tanner Friedman, and Brian and Brad from The Legal News. You’re always so good to me! Honored to be your front page, above-the-fold cover model. If only I could walk back that hair! Love you!

Link to article: https://legalnews.com/detroit/1519329/

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA), which represents thousands of legal marketing and business development professionals around the globe, is pleased to announce that Roy Sexton has begun his term as President of the 2023 LMA International Board of Directors. His appointment became effective on January 1, 2023.

Sexton is the director of marketing at Clark Hill Law, where he helps lead marketing, branding and communications efforts, collaborating with the firm’s exceptional team of marketing and business development professionals. Sexton has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business and strategic planning. He has been heavily involved in LMA as a regional and international leader and serves on numerous nonprofit boards and committees, including the Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor, Royal Starr Film Festival, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and EncoreMichigan.com. Sexton earned his Bachelor’s degree from Wabash College and holds two master’s degrees from an MA in theatre from The Ohio State University (M.A., Theatre) and the University of Michigan (MBA). He is also a published author with two books, “ReelRoyReviews,” Volumes 1 and 2, taken from his blog of the same name, http://www.reelroyreviews.com.

“I am honored to continue to serve on the LMA International Board of Directors, now as its president. I look forward to the furthering the association’s important work,” said Sexton. “LMA will continue to provide new and outstanding programming and opportunities for professional development and networking to our members and advocate for our profession, locally, regionally and internationally.”

“Being on the LMA International Board of Directors is the apex of one’s volunteer leadership within the Legal Marketing Association and is significant in advancing the legal marketing profession as a whole,” said LMA Chief Executive Officer Danielle Gorash Holland.

“LMA would not be the strong organization it is today without the stewardship, dedication and expertise of its volunteer leaders like Roy. As our President, Roy is expertly poised to advance our organization across all key channels, relying on his accomplished professional background, unique ability to lead with grace and humor, and his unwavering commitment to LMA and our members. It is my honor to be able to work alongside Roy, and the entire 2023 LMA International Board of Directors in shaping the future of LMA.”

Finding Your Voice: Leveraging Your Professional (and Personal) Brand on Social Media #lmamkt

15 January 2023

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Thank you, Madelyne Lawry and Ingham County Bar Association, for sharing this. Alexandra France and I were/are so grateful for the opportunity. ✨ And thank you, Charley Lawler, for suggesting this!

https://youtu.be/fZDakFLD5-Q

“With the rise of social media, knowing how to use it can be a vitally important tool. We had two experts from Clark Hill, Roy Sexton and Alexandra France, give an excellent presentation on its use and how to create a lasting presence on social platforms.”

Goals, Gratitude, Growth and … Playlists #lmamkt

6 January 2023

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Opening salvo for 2023: https://tinyurl.com/yyyuh96f (playlist links here too). Grateful for this community, for their hard work. I never felt I had a real career until I found Legal Marketing Association – LMA International. It has made all the difference!

Hello, 2023! It’s the beginning of a new year and it’s a time when one is expected to offer words of hope, inspiration, aspiration. Yet all I feel is perspiration. Don’t get me wrong. It is the honor of my CAREER to be tapped on the shoulder to serve you all as LMA’s international president, but I’d be lying if I didn’t fess up to a healthy amount of anxiety and imposter syndrome. Cue anyone in the bleacher seats to start whispering: “HE’s the president? Oh boy.”

BUT I should add that from my theater life, nerves on opening night are REQUIRED to give it your all on stage. It’s when I’m NOT nervous that I get, well, really nervous. And you should too! Nerves show we care, want to honor our commitment, and hope to not let anyone down. And that is assuredly what I’m feeling as I look ahead at the next 12 months. (That and the worry that there will be 4.5 existential crises to navigate – tempests in a teapot that will likely be forgotten before they even begin!)

You know what else I’m feeling, though? Gratitude. Gratitude for all of you – you incredible thought leaders, doers, culture changers, a**-kickers (can I type that?) for all you do for this industry and for our community. LMA is something special, something to treasure and something to evolve. It’s a community that has enriched our careers and our lives with advice and friendship, challenges and knowledge.

And we have robust goals for 2023 to continue our growth trajectory as THE authority for legal marketing. What are those goals you might be asking? Well, let me tell you!

Membership: Advance LMA value proposition through strategic engagement channels to strengthen inclusive member and volunteer retention and engagement, grow member recruitment and attain pre-pandemic membership levels. Focus on exceptional member value delivery and overall experience to reach 4,500 members in 2023.

Advocacy: Explore public policy initiatives to support and expand existing LMA advocacy channels to further position the association as “the” authority and voice for legal marketing.

Finances: Develop and deploy one- three- and five-year financial modeling to help inform future investments and expenditures that align with long-term strategic goals.

Education: Review and effectuate educational analysis on the desired future state of LMA educational offerings across LMA.

Regions: Assess and streamline operational practices with Regions and Local Steering Committees (LSCs) to determine and strengthen efficiencies and achieve greater alignment with LMA Headquarters (HQ) to the benefit of LMA membership.

Our committee co-chairs, Shared Interest Group (SIG) co-chairs and regional boards are all hard at work on their respective goals in support of these opportunities, and we will be sharing more of that info in upcoming communications. I do want to take this moment to express my appreciation for that incredible group of leaders as well as our HQ team and the International Board. They put in long hours to keep LMA moving forward, and without them, none of this would be possible. So please take a moment and thank a volunteer or HQ team member today for all they are doing!

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t put in a plug for our 2023 Annual Conference in Hollywood, Florida, in April. Register now and watch for more info, including an announcement about our fab keynote speaker, but I’m so grateful to our co-chairs Lee Watts, Jennifer Petrone Dezso and Megan McKeon, our HQ team, our incredible Annual Conference Advisory Committee (ACAC) and Pre-Conference Chairs for all of the heart and energy and hard work they are putting into this. The 2023 conference theme is AMPLIFY – amplify you, your career, your voice, your impact. This is a vibrant community, rich in creativity and innovation, and this event promises to be an incredible platform for you all. Our hope is that this content becomes instrumental for you in achieving your career and industry aspirations – so take a look at the incredible, impactful agenda and start marking those sessions that get you jazzed to attend!

One final note – a few months back I was procrastinating on household chores (apologies to my hubby), and I put this playlist together – “#LMA23 – AmpliMix.” 🎵Music was omnipresent in my home growing up (show tunes, jazz, pop, La Streisand…ALL of it) and listening, singing, dancing and carpool karaoke have always been my core therapy. So this playlist is a collection of songs that motivate me, lift me up and get me moving. (It’s on iTunes because I’m a dinosaur https://tinyurl.com/4wvuhuss, but HQ’s wonderful Jennifer Weigand also ported to Spotify here: https://tinyurl.com/ms83zcre.) I hope you enjoy some or all of it and possibly discover (and like) a song or artist that may be new to you.

Here’s to 2023. Excuse me while I dance my jitters away in my living room.

Love you all!

Roy
President, 2023 LMA International Board of Directors

Roy E. Sexton
Director of Marketing
Clark Hill

My dad Don Sexton brightening the bleak midwinter with this lovely surprise in today’s mail. 🥰✨ #family #song #lyrics #love #tshirt

New Year’s Resolution … legal marketing edition … #lmamkt

16 December 2022

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Honored to have my New Year’s resolution included in a feature in Of Counsel Magazine!

“Another personal resolution that carries firm-wide repercussions comes from the Detroit offices of the international law firm Clark Hill by marketing director Roy Sexton, who also serves as the 2023 president of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International. ‘My New Year’s resolution,’ he says, ‘is to keep elevating the level of discourse intellectually where legal marketing is concerned, to learn and share best practices from other industries, and to move us all forward in terms of more sophisticated ways of doing this work.’”

Thank you, dear pal Ross Fishman and new friend Steve Taylor, for the opportunity. AND kudos, Ross, for the magazine excerpting your Ultimate Law Firm Partner’s Marketing Checklist book, one section at a time. All of us are grateful for your leadership and everything you do for the profession and our community.

“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.

“Standing head and shoulders above the rest …” Managing Partners’ Forum judges’ comments on Clark Hill’s winning #SimplySmarter brand campaign … #lmamkt

6 November 2022

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I may have posted about this recognition a few times. But we are rightly proud! (Sorry. Not sorry.) As you might remember that, in June at The International Management Excellence Awards, the Managing Partners’ Forum named Clark Hill as the winner of the Best Marketing Campaign award for our new #SimplySmarter brand. Read more: https://www.clarkhill.com/news-events/news/managing-partners-forum-selects-clark-hill-for-best-marketing-campaign-award/

Here are screen grabs of the published summary of the various awards together with comments from the judging panel.

The judges noted (page 15) that “Clark Hill was a clear winner in this category, with its Simply Smarter rebrand and market engagement campaign standing head and shoulders above the rest. This campaign showed clear strategic understanding and deployment of brand as the identity and DNA of the firm’s people”.

2022 Awards – Winners Book PDFDownload

DeFur Voran LLP’s Elizabeth Bell joins us on this week’s Legal Marketing Coffee Talk … #lmamkt

3 October 2022

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Beth Little Bell, rock star!! Can’t wait! Thanks to fellow Wabash College alum and Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity brother Greg Castanias for introducing us!

FACEBOOK: https://fb.watch/f_-KbsfOiR/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6982723896588259328/

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/MtyT8DOgniM

Roy’s guest on our October 6 show will be Elizabeth Bell, who leads marketing efforts for DeFur Voran LLP. She has also worked in the legal space as a law firm administrator and paralegal. Spoiler alert: she, like Roy, is a Hoosier AND has a storied background with his alma mater Wabash College. (And she just may have attended Wabash’s fierce rival school DePauw … so sparks may fly!)

Beth is currently building a marketing program at her firm, and can speak to the opportunities and challenges facing the solo marketer. Roy and Beth will unpack how one can leverage servant leadership to help support a small firm on its growth journey and how to build out the resources needed to “do all the things” required for effective law firm marketing and business development when you are a mighty team of ONE!

An episode you won’t want to miss. Join us live this Thursday, October 6th at 3 PM right here on Facebook.

Legal Marketing Coffee Talk is brought to you by: By Aries and Kates Media.