This is a collection of 46 anecdotes, averaging about four pages each. Most are insightful, some are quite delightful. The stories cover a very wide range of marketing and client development topics, from referral networking to advertising, and there is something here for everybody. The authors include lawyers in large practices, small practices, and solo practices; as well as marketing professionals and corporate counsel.

A recurring theme is treating clients like people rather than cases. Robert D. Rachlin, of the firm Downs Rachlin Martin (with offices in NH and VT), says, "Many lawyers view clients like stereotypical physicians view patients: Ms. Smith is not seen as a multifaceted individual, but rather as...the gall bladder in 447." He encourages "newer lawyers to make a point of getting to know their clients, not necessarily socially, but in enough depth to...view their problems in context."

Theodore L. Banks, General Counsel for Kraft Foods in Northfield, Illinois, offers priceless advice on "how to make us fall in love" with your law firm. For example, in your promotional materials, "focus upon what your customer thinks is important." Instead,

most marketing materials that comes from law firms are of the 'me, me, me' variety. The lawyers talk about the information that boosts their egos the most...with little or no thought regarding whether these are things that current or future clients care about.

Banks describes how law firms missed the boat after Sarbanes-Oxley was passed, failing to grab a golden opportunity to prove their value:

Law firms deluged us with memoranda on the statute. Yes, that was a good idea, because everyone was desperate for information. It was clear that many firms simply had an associate regurgitate the statute in memo form....Other firms (but few) had experienced corporate lawyers distilling the statute into usable chunks, with guidance on how the law (and the rules) should be applied in the corporation -- a much better way to establish the firm as a leader in an area, and provide something that would earn the appreciation of in-house staff. But every firm missed the boat on a big opportunity: The in-house counsel's job is to counsel the employees of the corporation, and an extremely useful tool would have been the translation of Sarbanes-Oxley into an article that could be posted on a company intranet to explain what the law meant in language that non-lawyers could understand. Or, how about a PowerPoint presentation that the in-house staff could have used to outline the statute to management? It was an opportunity for outside counsel to lend their expertise and earn the gratitude of inside counsel. But it did not happen.

Keep this book in your brief case and read it on the train or plane, or keep it in your bathroom literature bin. You can learn a little something from just about every one of the anecdotes.