I don't see any reference to careers or personal lives in those four key questions. And another thing: what's the difference between the first and third questions? Isn't a firm's image the way the world sees it?

Grella (a lawyer) and Hudkins (a CPA) give an example of a "good" vision statement, using a hypothetical 25-lawyer firm in small-town Indiana. The statement is four paragraphs long, 42 lines of text. It omits any reference whatsoever to the first, third, and fourth questions above – the firm's image and what's happening in the local market.

The authors also have a chapter on writing a mission statement. They warn that the mission statement should not be merely a marketing slogan. But the examples they give seem to be meant for public consumption as much as for internal guidance and inspiration. And get this: Grella's own firm's mission statement is about as bland, generic, and gratuitous as they come:

McGuire, Wood & Bissette, P.A., is committed to serving our clients' best interests with effective legal services of the highest quality at a reasonable cost, while adhering to the highest ethical standards and contributing to the well-being of our community.

What about advancing the careers of the firm's lawyers and other employees? If I were a lawyer in their firm, I'd ask, "What's in it for me?"

The marketing chapter
Of particular interest to marketing professionals is Chapter 12, titled "Marketing and Competitive Intelligence." It contains not quite a page and a half on the topic of competitive intelligence; the remaining 12 pages focus primarily on writing a strategic marketing plan.

In this material on strategic marketing, for example, the authors briefly discuss Yellow Pages advertising, pointing out that "lawyers and law firms are the single largest Yellow Pages advertiser. These ads cost tens of thousands of dollars annually for the firms that advertise. Does it work?" As a journalist, if I were writing this book, to answer that question I would pick up the phone and survey 20 lawyers and small firms whose ads appear in several phone books around the country, big cities and small. Grella and Hudkins answer the question by presuming it must work, because lawyers keep doing it.

The authors demonstrate the firm-wide marketing plan-writing process with a hypothetical case, using the same 50-lawyer firm in Indiana. They structure the plan in a three-tiered outline format, starting with goals in the Roman numeral position, strategies in the next tier, and tactics under each strategy. This is certainly a practical format, and the hypothetical case is instructive. Then they demonstrate the plan-writing process for an individual lawyer in that firm, using the same hierarchical format.

The authors wisely counsel that individual marketing plans should be tailored for each individual lawyer, but they give no guidance whatsoever on how to do that. They just say "adapt the form for...each individual." They advise that you should "carefully incorporate [the individual marketing plans] into the firm's culture," but offer no clue how to accomplish that. Reassuringly, though, they say, "As you can see, these marketing plans...are not 'rocket science.'"

Thomas C. Grella practices law with the Asheville, North Carolina, firm of McGuire, Wood & Bissette (www.mwbavl.com), where he is chair of the firm's Management Committee. In 2004 he served as vice chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.

Michael L. Hudkins, CPA, is the chief operating officer of McGuire, Wood & Bissette. He formerly practiced in the accounting firm of Hudkins-Pershing Accountants in Greencastle, Indiana.