In a recent article in The American Lawyer, Calibrate CEO Jennifer Johnson speaks to recent pay increases, the state of overwork, and opportunities to create clearer career paths for marketing and business development professionals at law firms.
A recent study released by ALM found that most marketing and business development professionals at firms are relatively satisfied with their jobs, but continue to express concerns about workload, pay, and access to clients. The study highlights the top concerns of marketing professionals as well as compensation figures and pay trends across a range of roles in Big Law and midmarket firms.
Johnson noted that in June and July, following the survey data collection period, “there was a lot of movement and firms were willing to pay above-market rates to get the talent they wanted.” She expanded that recently, the search for business development professionals in New York was saturated with firms all seeking the same professional profile.
“They saw they weren’t getting what they were after, so they were willing to pay for the talent,” she said.
Her expectation is that, for now, movement between jobs at the higher-end will be settled for the coming months.
“There was a lot of movement this summer, firms looking for highly skilled professionals, and for now, it looks like that thirst has been quenched,” she said.
In addition to pay, the survey also dove deeper into job satisfaction, isolating volume of work for the role as the no. 1 concern for respondents across all positions.
“They are asked to keep doing more,” Johnson said. “Not more with less, just more. The people who ask about this often don’t have an appreciation for how the marketing roles work, and the marketers are not able to push back or redirect. So, you get something akin to a concierge service.”
The survey also sheds light on the lack of clear career paths for the majority of marketing and business development personnel, with only 26% of respondents feeling that their firm adequately articulates this. One leading cause of the ambiguity surrounding advancement is the lack of direct, client-facing sales for these professionals, with only 2% of employees outside of chairs, directors, and chiefs having direct client access.
“There are almost no client-facing sales from marketing and business development,” Johnson said.
While that doesn’t mean those people aren’t involved in pitch prep, background research on a client, and other elements that go into it, Johnson noted that if they were, there might be some more stickiness with the personnel, as well as more promotional opportunities for those that excel at client-facing work.
“They could add industry focus, be put on a client team or become a key account manager,” she said. “Those are some ways they could grow laterally in their position. Otherwise, they are likely up and out.”
